Top 5 Los Angeles Angels Shortstops of All-Time

4 of 6

David Eckstein won two World Series Championships during his career. The first came for the Angels where he was the team’s X-Factor. Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports /

3. David Eckstein –

Another of the famous shortstops who wore #22 was David Eckstein. Eckstein may have been small in stature, but he was big on heart. He was not the prototypical shortstop coming to the Angels from the Boston Red Sox in 2001. Eckstein was really not even a shortstop he was actually a second baseman. However, he worked his butt off in Spring Training in 2001 and made the team when the Angels left for Anaheim.

Eckstein’s numbers in four seasons with the Angels were pretty impressive a .278 average with 17 home runs and 170 RBI’s stealing 82 bases while scoring 340 runs. He also had a .347 OBP.

His rookie season he had a respectable .971 fielding percentage and batted .285 with four HR’s and 41 RBI’s. Eckstein also stole 29 bases and scored 82 runs. However it was the 2002 season that put him in this list for Best All-Time Angels shortstops.

In 2002 the team started out 6-14 and they were struggling to score runs. Enter Eckstein. In the second game of a three-game series with the Toronto Blue Jays, Eckstein hit a 2nd inning grand slam as part of an 11-4 victory (I was there at the game). The very next day the Angels went to extra innings and found themselves trailing 5-4 in the bottom of the 12th inning. Eckstein came up with two outs and the bases loaded again, could lightning strike twice. Eckstein answered that question with a resounding yes as he smacked a walk-off grand slam to win the game 8-5. The Angels took off on an eight-game winning streak after that, and when the dust had settled they had 99 wins, and clinched their first playoff berth in 16 seasons.

Eckstein didn’t stop there with two grand slams, as he hit one more a month and a half later setting a major league record for grand slams in a season with three. He finished the regular season batting .293 with eight home runs and 63 RBI’s stealing 21 bases and scoring 107 runs. In the playoffs he batted .294 with six RBI’s and nine runs scored and caught the final out to knock out both the Yankees and Twins.

He continued to play well in the next two seasons, but 2002 and David Eckstein will be forever connected together. He was truly the Angels X-Factor in his career in Anaheim and was loved by all for his enthusiasm, hustle, and leadership by example.

Next: #2 is #2