Monday, March 29, 2010

1981 California Angels



Transition Year
This was a transition year for the Angels. This is two years after they appeared in the ALCS losing to Baltimore, and one year before they would lose again in the ALCS to the Brewers.

They made many changes before the season and this is reflected in the Topps Traded set which has 10 Angel cards in the 132 card set.

New to the Angels in '81 were Geoff Zahn, Rick Burleson, Butch Hobson, John D'Acquisto, Juan Beniquez, Fred Lynn, Steve Renko, Jesse Jefferson, Bill Travers, Ed Ott, Doug Rau, and Ken Forsch. Gone from the 1980 squad are Mark Clark, Carney Lansford, Rick Miller, Joe Rudi, Frank Tanana, John Montague, Jim Barr, Dave LaRoche, and Dickie Thon. That is quite a turnover of players.

Strong Lineup
Looking at this starting lineup, how did this team have a losing season. You have an infield of Hall-of-Famer Rod Carew, Bobby Grich, Rick Burleson, and Butch Hobson. Fred Lynn, Dan Ford, and Brian Downing make up the infield. Don Baylor was the DH. This seems like a solid lineup on paper, but looking at the stats for 1981, all the players received from Boston during the off season fell off a cliff. Also the pitching wasn't very good. That is probably the difference between the 1979/1982 teams and the 1981 team.

Update 1: added O-Pee-Chee cards to checklist on 5/31/2010

Starting Players
__ TT 810 C Ed Ott CAL
__ TO 100 1B Rod Carew CAL
__ TO 182 2B Bobby Grich CAL
__ TT 771 3B Butch Hobson CAL
__ TT 743 SS Rick Burleson CAL
__ TO 263 LF Brian Downing CAL
__ TT 797 CF Fred Lynn CAL
__ TO 422 RF Dan Ford CAL
__ TO 580 DH Don Baylor CAL
__ TT 733 CF Juan Beniquez CAL

Starting Pitchers
__ TT 764 SP Ken Forsch CAL
__

SP Mike Witt
__ TT 821 SP Steve Renko CAL
__ TT 856 SP Geoff Zahn CAL

Relief Pitchers
__ TO 601 CL Don Aase CAL
__ TO 454 RP Andy Hassler CAL
__ FL 419 RP Jesse Jefferson TOR
__ TO 340 RP Bruce Kison CAL
__

RP Luis Sanchez
__ TO 286 SP Dave Frost CAL

Other Players
__ TO 121 OF Larry Harlow CAL
__ TO 288 OF Bobby Clark CAL
__ TO 410 3B Bert Campaneris CAL
__

UT John Harris
__

UT Daryl Sconiers
__ TO 311 IF Freddie Patek CAL
__ TO 711 UT Joe Ferguson LAD
__

LF Tom Brunansky
__

3B Steve Lubratich
__

UT Brian Harper
__ TO 221 C Bob Davis TOR
__ OP 221 C Bob Davis CAL
__

SP Angel Moreno
__ TO 427 RP John D'Acquisto MON
__ OP 204 RP John D'Acquisto CAL
__ TT 818 SP Doug Rau CAL
__ TT 845 SP Bill Travers CAL
__

RP Mickey Mahler
__ TO 227 RP Alfredo Martinez CAL

Manager/Coaches
__ FL 274 MG Jim Fregosi (or DO 414)
CAL
__

MG Gene Mauch

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