
One of the first Angels to play in Anaheim and eventually manage the Angels, Jim Fregosi will watch Angels play forever. Fregosi died this week after being removed from life support following a series of strokes suffered during a cruise. He was 71.
ESPN reports: “The six-time All-Star shortstop made his major league debut at 19 for the Angels. He played 18 seasons for the Angels, Mets, Rangers and Pirates. For his career, he had a .265 batting average with 151 home runs and 706 RBIs.
The Angels, who retired Fregosi’s No. 11 in 1988, said in a statement that he was a personal favorite of late owner Gene Autry. Fregosi made his major league managerial debut for the Angels at age 36.
“His contributions and passion for the Angels, both as a player and manager, have served as the standard for others within our organization through the years,” the Angels said.
“Jim’s induction into the Angels Hall of Fame and the retiring of his uniform No. 11, were among the prouder moments in club history. His personality was infectious, his love of the game legendary, and his knowledge endless.”
Fregosi left the Angels in a 1971 trade with the Mets that sent Nolan Ryan to California.”
Now you won’t find a peep about this on the KeeptheLosAngelesAngelsofAnaheim Facebook page because the folks over they don’t really care about Angels baseball, only the state of stadium negotiations. There hasn’t been a new post in nearly three weeks and they picked up three new likes in the past week to make it to 1,353 total. Pitchers and catchers are about to report, but you wouldn’t know it from this site.
Meanwhile, over at the Keep The Angels Facebook page, the Fregosi passing is the lead story and the likes are a lot higher. They are up to 32,903. So eliminate 30,000 of those likes and its still more than twice the fake fan page.
So RIP Fake Angels fan page. Might as well pull it down for all the effectiveness it’s had.
Friends who keep saying there’s no place else for the Angels to go ought to be keeping their eyes on St. Louis and see what happens in that city’s renegotiations with the Rams in lieu of an eye-popping purchase of a stadium-sized lot in Ingelwood. St. Louis has been playing hardball with the Rams and the property purchase just might signal a return of the Rams from the Midwest (the team has moved twice before; does anyone know the first city the Rams called home? Comment below).
I look forward to hearing Arte Moreno chime in on the state of stadium negotiations. Meanwhile, on the other side of the 57 freeway, the Anaheim Ducks are the hottest team in hockey. Buy some tickets. They are amazing.
hey cheminowski this was a nice post about fregosi until you became all petty with the lame facebook comparisons. rip fregosi.
Hey Jose —
Dan C. specializes in exploiting death to make cheap political points!
Nice commentary on Jim Fregosi Dan and something we can agree on for a change. Pondering on negotiations where the Angels might go how does the name “The Los Angeles Angels at The Great Park” ring with you? With the right negotiations, a multi use professional stadium for both football and baseball could be a real revenue generator for future Park deve;opment and maintenance. That makes a lot more sense than adding another golf course we don’t need.
I’m sure Jim Fregosi’s family is thrilled that a eighth-rate blogger is using their dearly departed to take pot shots at losers—but such is the state of the OC blogosphere…
I’m sure Fregosi’s family has bigger things on their minds and “thrilled” about nothing. Would you even know what position he played without the use of Google? He was a brilliant manager too.
As far as the “eighth-rated” well it’s fortunate I don’t really care what you think but thank goodness we have the Weekly here to provide an advertising platform for strip clubs, escort services, medical marijuana establishments and phone sex lines.
Ive been wondering why no one at the Angels or other parties have not suggested that the Great Park, or the old Tustin Air Base would be good possible new home for the Angels.
see the newest post…..
Thanks for the nice tribute. Fregosi is also loved in Philadelphia for taking a band of misfits and freaks and winning a pennant in 1993.
The first city the Rams called home was Cleveland, of course. They won the NFL title in 1945 in a game time temperature of -8 below. They got permission to move to LA (and a bigger stadium), but only on the condition that the team integrate racially. The rest, as they say, is history…
Thanks for the comment Mike; you are correct! The Rams are the most relocated team in the NFL is you count their stint in Anaheim as a move from LA. Cardinals are a close second with three moves.
Gustavo and Gabriel regularly exploit race while making racist comments. If you’re white, they can call you anything they want. Bigots both of them
I wish we could get to the point where all negative racially-charged names are out of fashion. “Gabacho” is as offensive as “Wetback” as far as I’m concerned. And I haven’t been called a “Pollack” (choose the spelling of your choice) since the 1970s until Gustavo used that in a comment about me a few years back.
The term “gabacho” is not nearly as offensive as “wetback,” Dan. It is pretty similar to “gringo”; Gustavo’s writing just makes it sound worse than it is. It’s sort of like Jews referring to non-Jews as “goyim” or “goys” — purely descriptive, although its context and tone can certainly make it sound insulting.
“Wetback” is itself a worse term than “Polack,” by the way. The latter has a long history of use as “of, from, or pertaining to Poland,” although U.S. anti-Polish prejudice in the 20th century made that sound bad too. In Hamlet, for example, Prince Fortinbras mentions the “Polack Wars” to refer matter-of-factly to “wars taking place in Poland.”
“Wetback” is — and I’ll spell it out in detail as based on your comment you apparently may not know this — a reference to Mexicans crossing the Rio Grande to enter the U.S. As such, it is both demeaning (“had to sneak in by wading through a river”) and insulting in a similar way to the word “illegals” by defining people solely by their participating in an illegal action.
Gustavo takes too many liberties for my taste in his jauntily flinging around these sorts of demographic terms — but I can’t recall him ever writing anything as jarring as equating “gabacho” with “wetback.” That’s bizarre. Please leave the Latino outreach efforts to others, tonto.
Gustavo and Diamond. Both douchebags. And that is not racist. Just true.
Really Greg, we’re going to score degrees of racist comments by levels of offensiveness? And this post has squat to do with Katino outreach for which you are poorly suited.
It’s true that I have never reached out to Katinos. (What are Katinos?)
My comment, by the way, was a reply to your comment — much as, if you need this explained, your comment was a reply to another comment. But let’s get to the main event:
Good question, Dan. Let me review the comment of yours to which I replied.
So am I to understand your point to be that “as offensive” is not “scor[ing] degrees of racist comments by levels of offensiveness” but “more offensive” is? That’s some mighty subtle logic you have there.
I should never comment on the iPad; the post has nothing to do with *Latino* outreach…I believe all racial slurs are equally offensive; is that the clarity you seek?
Since you’re here Greg, can you tell me who’s funding CATER? Who else is part of this organization other than Cynthia Ward?
For people hell bent on transparency, you’re very secretive. The rumor mill says its funded by the Tait Family Trust. He has the means to do so and willing bodies to attach their name to it.
C’mon, shed some light