The Los Angeles Angels Of The Pacific Coast League

Long before the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants brought the major leagues to California in 1958, professional baseball thrived on the West Coast in the form of the Pacific Coast League (PCL). Minor only in name, the league featured intense rivalries, a huge fan base, and such future Hall of Famers as Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams. The Los Angeles Angels won 14 PCL pennants and stood as the league's premier franchise. This year-by-year chronicle of the Los Angeles Angels from 1903 to 1957 includes an overview of the PCL and a wealth of statistical information, including an all-time player roster, a list of important team records, lineups, and attendance information. Based in part on personal interviews with former Angels players, this history offers a nostalgic look back at the PCL and the early days of baseball in the West.

While Jackie Robinson’s 1947 season with the Brooklyn Dodgers made him the first African American to play in the Major Leagues in the modern era, the rest of Major League Baseball was slow to integrate while its Minor League affiliates moved faster. The Pacific Coast League (PCL), a Minor League with its own social customs, practices, and racial history, and the only legitimate sports league on the West Coast, became one of the first leagues in any sport to completely desegregate all its teams. Although far from a model of racial equality, the Pacific Coast states created a racial reality that was more diverse and adaptable than in other parts of the country. The Integration of the Pacific Coast League describes the evolution of the PCL beginning with the league’s differing treatment of African Americans and other nonwhite players. Between the 1900s and the 1930s, team owners knowingly signed Hawaiian players, Asian players, and African American players who claimed that they were Native Americans, who were not officially banned. In the post–World War II era, with the pressures and challenges facing desegregation, the league gradually accepted African American players. In the 1940s individual players and the local press challenged the segregation of the league. Because these Minor League teams integrated so much earlier than the Major Leagues or the eastern Minor Leagues, West Coast baseball fans were the first to experience a more diverse baseball game.

Like all of America, Los Angeles first caught baseball fever in the 19th Century. The sport that writers dubbed the national pastime soon spread to every part of the Southland. Members of Riverside's Cahuilla Indian tribe played ball, Issei immigrants from Japan played besuboru, Mexican American kids played béisbol. African American players from the Negro Leagues gathered for wintertime training, while talented local ballplayers stocked the rosters of Major League teams: Fred Snodgrass, Walter Johnson, John "Chief" Meyers, Gavvy Cravath. As the game, the Los Angeles Angels and the Hollywood Stars of the Pacific Coast League provided an exciting and entertaining brand of Minor League baseball. The arrival of the Dodgers from Brooklyn in 1958, a controversial decision that continues to be debated to this day, finally brought Major League Baseball to L.A. (with the Angels arriving in the American League in 1961). The Los Angeles Public Library's photo collection supplied the images for this book (and the accompanying exhibition). Many of the pictures were originally published in the Valley Times and Herald-Examiner newspapers. Others came from the groundbreaking "Shades of L.A." project. Together, they capture L.A.'s unique contribution to the national pastime: famous players and anonymous weekend warriors; changes in uniform style and ballpark architecture; and the timeless essence of a game roiled by social change. Play Ball!

Negro League ballplayers, earning paychecks comparable to those of blue-collar workers, needed an off-season source of income to make ends meet. Many of them found the answer in baseball, by joining racially integrated barnstorming teams that toured the country after the regular season ended, or by playing in the organized winter leagues that operated in Florida, California, and several Caribbean and Central and South American countries. This history recounts the experiences of American black ballplayers outside of the Negro Leagues—often in places where a lack of prejudice contrasted sharply with conditions at home. Tracing the development of the game in each location and the unique character of each winter league, it details the contributions of the Negro League players and collects their statistics in each of the winter leagues.

A favorite was Lou "The Mad Russian" Novikoff, who won the Triple Crown in 1940 (batting .343, with 171 RBIs and 41 homers) while playing for the league runner-up Los Angeles Angels - thanks in no small part to his wife, Esther, who could be heard from her box seat behind home plate verbally abusing Lou during each of his appearances at the plate. Another was Hollywood Stars player-manager Bobby Bragan, who was tossed from a game in 1953 against the rival San Diego club after slamming his chest protector to the ground to protest what he considered some bad calls by the umpire. Ordered to pick up his equipment, Bragan refused and instead proceeded to remove his shin guards, mask, glove, and cap. Banished to the dugout, he added his uniform top, shoes, socks, and a few towels to the pile. Bragan and the Stars survived the ensuing fine and suspension to win the pennant handily.

Over the past 60 seasons, the Los Angeles Dodgers have risen to the pinnacle of Major League Baseball, winning 21 National League pennants and 6 World Series titles. Amid the backdrop of Hollywood glitz and glamor, the iconic franchise owes its consistent success to the talents and efforts of many. This encyclopedia provides stats and biographical details for all of them. Sections cover the 1958-2016 seasons, influential players and executives, Dodgers traditions, and season and career records. An all-time player roster and list of all-time managers are included.