LA Angels: Vladimir Guerrero and the 12 Greatest Outfielders in Team History

I am imagining Pirates and these pirates wield swords made of paper halos. Behind them sits a sinister rally monkey pounding a sheet metal drum singing with the divinity of Gene Autry.

Topically this is tender: Introducing any Angel of any era beckons memories like a voodoo charm bracelet the spirits of the dead.  

Before ingesting the 12 greatest outfielders in Angel’s history bear in mind this: I am but 29...nearing 30 fast as a freight train, but still, only 29. 

I was born in a steroid era that redefined the game as we knew it, and quite honestly, created atmospheric electricity for the home run ball. 

Am I saying I deter from listing outfielders who did/do not consistently hit with power? Not at all, but I am willing to admit that from my discernment of the position one should be a middle of the lineup hitter whom was/is feared.

Food for thought: our memories are make-believe.

They're like believing in Santa Claus, as fictitiously delicious as our league memoir seems, it is as incredulous as a Big Fish, and because of that, we're doomed to the ineptness of our insidious generational bias. 

12: Reggie Jackson, RF, 1982-1987

In order to understand Reggie Jackson better we must separate the man, a player who struck out often and lacked any semblance of plate discipline, from the legend, Mr. October, a Godzilla at the plate known for his postseason heroics and a life-time total of 563 home runs, ranking 13th all-time. 

By the time Jackson joined the Angels organization he was 36, showing signs of age old wear and beginning his decline into the annals of mediocrity. 

Or so it seemed.

Despite playing just 94 games in 1981 with the Yankees and hitting a career low .237, Jackson bounced back in 1982 by hitting .275 with 39 home runs and 101 RBI's with the halos. 

Over a five year span Mr. October belted 123 home runs with the club, bound a superstar core with Rod Carew and an up and coming Wally Joyner, and hit his fabled 500th with the team in 1984.

11: Don Baylor, LF, 1977-1982

Longtime manager and player, Don Baylor was an immeasurable sight in the batter's box. At 6'1" and weighing close to 200 pounds. The muscular and handsome Baylor was best known for getting beaned on behalf of the team by standing centimeters from the inside corner.

His best season with the Angels came in 1979, when he hit .296 with a career high 39 home run and 139 RBI's. That season Baylor won his only MVP award. He was unlike most power hitters as he was known most for plate discipline, striking out more than 100 times only once in his 19 year career.

10: Darin Erstad, LF, 1996-2006

Often what makes a man "great" is but a single moment.

For longtime Angel Darin Erstad, this is just the case. Camped in center during Game 7 of the 2002 World Series against the Giants, Erstad awaited a fly ball from Kenny Lofton that capped the Angels first franchise title, cementing them from that moment on as perennial contender.

Since the infamous "catch," the Angels have attracted high profile names like Vladimir Guerrero, Torii Hunter, and recently, Jose Reyes, and won the AL West five times.

An old-fashioned ball player best known for his grit and work ethic, the Angels number one selection in 1995 proved to be worth it all— in his ten year career he won two gold gloves, was named to two all-star teams and won a batting title in 2000, hitting .355. 

9: Devon White, CF, 1985-1990

"Devo," Devon White, was no hitter, but the man was sure electric out in center. Garnering praise for his acrobatics and his long lean gazelle’s' stride, the speedy Jamaican native set the stage for future Angels, like Torii Hunter.

Over his six year career with the club, White was named to one all-star team, a two-time gold glove winner and from 1987-1990, set the stage offensively for the team averaging close to 30 stolen bases per season.

8: Gary Pettis, CF, 1982-1987

The same goes for the Oakland native, Gary Pettis.

He was born with a batting ability as poor as an armless orangutan peeling a banana but, was gifted with a supernatural trait for home run thievery.

Over the course of his six years with the team, the lightening quick switch hitter stole an Angel’s team record, 186 bases.

He won two gold glove awards with the Angels and five for his career, and in 1986 with his fiery personality on the field, helped fuel the Angels in the ALCS with nine hits in seven games. 

7: Jim Edmonds, CF, 1993-1999

Only a handful of players come around with the purely natural intangibles to play the game of baseball. Edmonds was one of these types of people.

A "five-tool" ballplayer with both a dynamic flair and grace in the outfield and beautifully left handed batting stroke with power to both right and left made the game look almost lazily easy.

In fact so easy, the native Southern Californian, with a cool and debonair personality, had his bag personally packed by Mo Vaughn, who questioned his work ethic.

Edmonds won two gold glove awards in his Angel career and was named to one all-star game. His best season came in 1995 when he hit .290 with 33 home runs and 107 RBI's.

If anything plagued Edmonds it would be his health, which, beginning in 1999, when Edmonds diving for a ball in center injured his shoulder and was limited to just 55 games, became a far too common occurrence.

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6: Chili Davis, LF, 1988-1990, 1993-1996

Otherwise known as "Chili Bowl," for a bad haircut he received as a child growing up in Jamaica,. He was the man with one of the most epic names in Angels history and was also one of their best ever in the outfield.

Playing two stints with the club, Davis was the offensive rock in the middle of the lineup during the wayward and dysfunctional years of the team's losing.

Despite the downtrodden nature of playing for the laughable cellar dwelling Halos, Davis took on his role with a sure sensibility. 

The best stretch of Davis's Angels career occurred from 1994-1996. He was named to one all-star team, hit .308, smashed 74 home runs and drove in 265 runs.

5: Brian Downing, LF, 1978-1990

Brian Downing is the metaphor for hard work.

The man, who began his career as a catcher, suffered a broken wrist in 1980 and was forced to evolve his career if he wished to maintain it.

Known around the league with the nickname of "the incredible hulk, " Downing had bar none the greatest work ethic of any ball player lifting weights at a time when they were still taboo.

The result? Six pack abs? Yes, but no.

The result was an American League record by committing no error over a 244 game span.

Throughout his career Downing was the underappreciated star who hit long balls with clutch timeliness and anchored the Angels clubhouse.

Despite being named to just one all-star game, Downing hit 222 home runs with the Angels, batted a consistent .267 and set the bar in the outfield defensively. 

4: Torii Hunter, CF, 2008-Present

When the Angels signed the spider man—four time all-star, nine time gold glove winner—to a five year deal in 2008, they locked up not only one of the greatest defensive outfielders of all-time but a phenomenal citizen as well.

Hunter, best known for his inner city efforts, gives a predominant chunk of his salary each year in order to fund baseball programs in low-socio economic environments. The programs are geared toward breaking the lineal dysfunction of family gangs and to keep kids off the street, and drug free.

Despite the 36-year-old's struggles this season, hitting .259 with 20 home runs and 75 RBI, his anchor in the outfield the last few years has been the very thing to help ease out the Vladimir Guerrero era. 

Had the Halos not had a superstar smile like Hunter's, it is fair to believe the fans might have grown restless with what would have seemed like a directionless decision to let Vlad walk.

Hunter has hit over 20 home runs and 75 RBI's in each of his seasons and given Mike Scioscia a dangerous much needed bat in the central parts of the lineup.

3: Tim Salmon, RF, 1992-2006

Many would argue Tim Salmon is not only the greatest outfielder in Angel’s history but the greatest Angel of all-time. And though I find those claims to be a bit over sentimental, I cannot argue against his accolades.

The 1993 American League Rookie of the Year splashed on the scene quickly, hitting the ball with a high hit for average and a consistent gut of power.

Salmon was the face of the franchise for the majority of his 13 years with the team and despite a career average of .282 with 299 home runs, never played in an all-star game.

Despite the blighted politics of all-star balloting, Salmon had HUGE years. 

In 1995 he hit .330 with 34 home runs and a 105 RBI and in 1997 hit .296 with 33 home runs and 129 RBI. Most importantly, the man was a class act who demonstrated integrity by his play on the field.

2: Garret Anderson, LF, 1994-2008

Oakland might have had their eighties steroid junkies in the Bash Brothers, but what Garret Anderson completed with Tim Salmon was something to behold.

The two dictated a team's game plan with their ability to hit for average, hit the ball out the park and then go on and rob others in the outfield with solid defensive play.

Though the less heralded at times, Anderson, was the better of the two.

Over the recourse of his fourteen years, the quiet Anderson hit .293 with 287 home runs and 1,365 RBI. His sweet stroke often found the left or right field corner for a stand up double.

Anderson saved the best season of his career for the right moment: In 2002, the star finished fourth in MVP balloting, while hitting .306 with 29 home runs and 123 RBI.

He was monumental in the teams postseason run to title success with crucial clutch hits, and opened up the game for both Salmon and power hitting Troy Glaus, burrowed between the two in the lineup.

1: Vladimir Guerrero, RF, 2004-2009

It takes one, two and then the third pitch to know just how legendary Vladimir Guerrero is, because by pitch three a dust- touching- ankle- breaking- fast ball- in- the- dirt, is sailing 450 feet to left center.

Maybe it's the shy smile and the overt kindness toward everyone that is the reason the 6'3" behemoth of a man disappears in talks of greatest ever. 

From 2004-2009, Angel fans were given a gift by Arte Moreno, it was Vladimir Guerrero.

Arguably the largest name in Angel’s history, Guerrero quickly broke out on the scene in 2004, winning an MVP while hitting .337 with 39 home runs and 126 RBI.

Over a six year span with the club, the Dominican hit .322 with averages of 28.8 home runs and 102.8 RBI.

His largest than life persona swept the many fans off their feet and for a time the Halos garnered the greatest player in the American League.

Not to mention his cannon of an arm slinging balls home from right.

When his career is all said and done his mythical size and the feats by which he knocked the ball out of the park will become Henry Ruth legendary.