The Los Angeles Angels are a Baseball Short This Season

There’s a baseball missing in Angels games this season—the one Rex Hudler used to flip up and down every inning.

I know, the departure of Rex is old news already, but before we completely move on without him, I wanted to say how much I miss him—every time Jose Mota or Mark Gubicza opens their mouth.

Mota sounds like the human equivalent of Morse code, with so many stops and starts between words he sounds like someone who recently went to broadcasting school and is trying to remember what they told him to say.

Gubicza is a color analyst without color.

Gone is the unbridled enthusiasm of Rex Hudler, the pure joy at being at the ballpark. I’m not saying the other two aren’t thrilled to be there, but Rex treated every day at the ballpark like a minor leaguer getting his first taste of the bigs.

Yes, his grammar was horrible, his overt allegiance to the Angels annoying to some, and his run-on sentences legendary.

But he gave the booth an identity and made games fun. Rex was starting to become part of the Angels sound. Rex Hudler on the air? It must be baseball season!

Fans loved him, players loved him, even dogs loved him. Only Fox did not.

And they were the ones with the money.

The new guy with Gubicza, Victor Rojas, is fine and clearly knows the game, but he sounds as clean as a perfectly washed car. He could be doing a Phillies game, or the Houston Astros, or any other team that gave him a scorebook and prep time.

Rex was Angels through and through.

It’s unlikely he’ll catch on with another team. As a fan, you had to have lived Hud as a player to appreciate him as an announcer.

He’s not polished enough to fit in the booth for just any team.

So I wish Hud well, and say good bye to one of the most colorful color analysts the Angels have had. There’s enough of a vacuum already with the loss of the talented and much missed Rory Markas. It’s a shame we had to lose the comfort of Hud’s voice as well.

Maybe next year Fox will bring Rex back.

But probably not.