ANGELS MILESTONES

The American League voted on October 26, 1960 to expand to 10 teams for the 1961 season.  Gene Autry was awarded the Los Angeles franchise.  The new club had Fred Haney as the General Manager and Bill Rigney as the manager.

Gene Autry's Angels played their first game ever on April 11th, 1961 vs the Baltimore Orioles. The Angels finished their first season in 1961 with a 70-91 record. The club's .435 winning percentage still stands as the best of any expansion team in major league history.  They moved from Wrigley Field to Dodger stadium the next year, where Bo Belinsky threw a no-hitter. The Angels would go on to literally shock the baseball world by challenging the powerhouse New York Yankees for the American League pennant. In 1964 Dean Chance won the Cy Young Award with a 20-9 record and a 1.65 ERA at the age of 23. The Angels moved to Anaheim Stadium in 1966 and played their first regular season game at the Big A on April 19 as the California Angels.

On the last day of the season in 1970, Alex Johnson became the first (and only) Angel ever to win a batting title when he edged Boston's Carl Yastrzemski on the last day of the season.  On May 15th, 1973, Nolan Ryan became the first right-hander in the club's history to throw a no-hitter when he defeated the Royals in Kansas City, 3-0. Two months later in Detroit, Nolan Ryan would strike out 17 Tigers on July 15th for his second no-hitter. Ryan tossed the third no-hitter of his career by defeating Minnesota, 4-0, in 1974 and his fourth in 1975 against the Baltimore Orioles. In 1979 the Angels won their first Division Title with Don Baylor leading the way as the American League's Most Valuable Player.

The Angels won their second Division Title in 1982.  Reggie Jackson hit his 500th home run at the Big A on September 17th, 1984. That same year on Sept. 30th in Arlington, Texas,  Mike Witt of the Angels became the 13th pitcher in major league history to toss a perfect game. In 1986, Don Sutton got his 300th win as the Angels won the American League West and came so agonizingly close to the ultimate goal of a World Series appearance.

The Angels retired Nolan Ryan's #30 on June 16th, 1992. Ryan posted a 138-121 record and a 3.06 ERA with 4 no-hitters in 291 games with the Angels. In July of 1995, Garrett Anderson became the first rookie to win the Player of the Month Award by hitting .410 with 22 runs scored, eight doubles, seven homers and 35 RBI in 25 games and Tim Salmon won the Rookie of the Year Award. In front of 43,311 fans in 1998, the Angels opened their greatly remodeled stadium as Edison International Field.

In 2002 the Angels began the year mired with the worst record in team history and finished up a magical recovery with the best mark after the regular season. It paved the way for an historic, memorable run through the postseason that culminated with a dramatic World Series championship, the first in the history of the franchise. In 2003, Arte Moreno purchased the Angels from the Walt Disney Company and the Angels won the Division Title in 2004. Angels outfielder Vladimir Guerrero went on to win the American League Most Valuable player that year. The Angels won the American League West for the second consecutive year in 2005 behind the Cy Young winning performance of Bartolo Colon. 

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