Counting Mike Trout and Albert Pujols this year, there have now been 117 Angels selected to the American League All-Star team since the franchise fielded its first team in 1961. Do you think you could name the first Angel player to be a member of the starting squad at each position? I’ll warn you, right here, that getting all of the answers correct requires a full breadth of Angel’s history knowledge.
So who was the first Angel to be named the starting pitcher for the All-Star team? The most recent one is Jered Weaver who had the honor in 2011. But who was the first? Nolan Ryan? Frank Tanana? Clyde Wright? Mark Gubicza‘s favorite trivia answer, Dean Chance? Nope. Sorry. None of the above. The first Angel to be named the American League’s starting pitcher was Ken McBride way back in 1963.
Kenny was a sinkerballer who was known for his pinpoint control, and he was coming off of a 1962 season that saw him go on a stretch where he won ten games in a row. At the All-Star break in 1963, he had a 2.76 ERA, 95 strikeouts, a 1.07 WHIP, and had thrown seven complete games. Kenny had a good first inning, inducing ground ball outs from the first three batters he faced, but by the time his three innings of duty were over, he had given up three runs, mostly because he couldn’t handle Willie Mays of the Giants. McBride issued a walk and an RBI single to Mays, who stole second base both times he got on board, and he ended up scoring a run.
Alright, that was a hard one. How about the first three starting outfielders to play in the All-Star game? You should be able to get at least one of these, yes? Jim Edmonds? Fred Lynn? Alex Johnson? All good guesses, but no. The first Angel to start in the outfield for the American Leaguers was Leon “Daddy Wags” Wagner in 1962. At the All-Star break, Leon had a .358 on-base percentage and 25 home runs. He played in both of the All-Star games that year (yes, there was a time when baseball played two All-Star games a season in an effort to generate extra revenue for the players’ pension fund), but he shone in the second one that was played at Wrigley Field. Leon went 3-for-4 in that game with a home run and a spectacular sliding catch in left field. For his efforts, he became the first American Leaguer to win the All-Star Game MVP award, which had been handed out for the first time in 1962.
The next year, the Angels had another outfielder starting for the American League in 5-foot-5 center fielder Albie Pearson. A former Rookie of the Year back in 1958 with the Washington Senators, Albie had regained the attention of the baseball world in 1962 when he led the league in runs scored with 115, and in 1963, at the All-Star break, he had scored 44 runs, had a .389 on-base percentage, and had hit six home runs. Albie went 2-for-4 in the 1963 All-Star Game with a double and a run scored.
The Angels wouldn’t have another starting outfielder in the All-Star Game until 1979 when Don Baylor hit third and played in left field for the American Leaguers. This was the year Baylor won the AL MVP award, and it was no wonder because, incredibly, Don already had 85 RBI at the All-Star break. He also had a .383 on-base percentage and 23 home runs. He kept his groove on in the big game, going 2-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI-double off of Steve Carlton.
The first Angel third baseman to start in an All-Star game wasn’t Doug DeCinces, nor was it Carney Lansford. It was someone more recent than that. That’s right, you guessed it. It was 2002 World Series hero Troy Glaus. He got the start the next year, in 2003 when he had a .352 on-base percentage and 15 home runs at the break. It was his third All-Star selection, but his first as a starter. He didn’t have such a great game, though. He was fine on defense, but he went 0-for-3 at the plate with two strikeouts, one while facing Jason Schmidt and the other while facing Kerry Wood.
The first Angel shortstop to be chosen as a starter for the All-Star team should be a no-brainer. Of course, it was Jim Fregosi. He was a six-time All-Star with the Angels, and the first time he was selected, in 1964, he was a starter. At the break that year, Fregosi had a .410 on-base percentage and 10 home runs. He was all of 22 years old, yet manager Al Lopez penciled him in as the team’s lead off hitter. Fregosi played the entire game. He scored the first run of the contest when he led off with a single against Don Drysdale and then was driven in himself three batters later by a Harmon Killebrew single. Jim contributed to the scoring once again in the seventh inning when he hit a sacrifice fly that scored Elston Howard.
Now for a trickier one. Who was the first Angel to be the American League’s starting second baseman? Was Bobby Grich the first? Maybe Sandy Alomar, or Bobby Knoop? Well, you have to go back even further for the correct answer for this one. In 1962, Billy Moran became the first. At the break, he had a .326 on-base percentage and was leading all MLB second basemen with 11 home runs. He was also a fantastic defensive second baseman with tremendous range and by many accounts had the strongest throwing arm in the league. He also had an impressive streak of 58 errorless games at second that had just ended that June. In the sixth inning of the ’62 All-Star Game, Billy hit a single into left-center and became the first Angel to ever get a hit in an All-Star Game. The hit moved Rich Rollins to third base where he scored from when the next batter, Roger Maris, hit a sacrifice for the American League’s only run that day.
The first Angel to start an All-Star Game at first base should be a gimme. Who else could it be but Rod Carew? What you may not know was that he wasn’t a starter in 1979, his first year with the Halos, as the honor that season went to Boston’s Carl Yastrzemski. Carew would get the start the next year, in 1980, when he had a .408 on-base percentage and one home run at the break. Rod had a great game in 1980. Manger Earl Weaver had Carew bat second in the line-up, and Rod went 2-for-2 with a walk, a double, a stolen base, and a run scored.
Now, to finish off this little exercise, there is the last position, catcher. Who was the first Angel to be honored as the American League’s starting All-Star catcher? Bengie Molina? Bob Boone? Brian Downing? Buck Rodgers? Sorry, but this one is a trick question. The Angels have never had a starting catcher in the All-Star Game. Not once. The great Bengie Molina somehow never even made the team as a reserve, if you can believe that. The Angels have had three catchers make the team as a reserve — Lance Parrish in 1990 when Cleveland’s Sandy Alomar, Jr. was the starter, Bob Boone in 1983 when Milwaukee’s Ted Simmons was the starter, and Brian Downing in 1979 when Kansas City’s Darrell Porter was the starter.
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