The Nice List, Angels style. Who made the cut?

I have followed the Angels baseball team for a little over 40 years and have met many Angel players through the years. So keeping with the Christmas time that we are in Here is a top ten nice list of players I have encountered.

The Angels for the most part don’t have very many bad guys that I have encountered. There were a few that I have met and then some whose reputations were negative from what I have heard from people.  However, that’s not what I am going to focus on.

I will instead focus on the positive guys who I have met through the years that seemed to go out of their way to be good guys. Some of these players I have met while reporting for Halo Hangout and others I met as a kid growing up going to Angel games or even as an adult as well. It is hard to condense my list to just ten players, but I tried.

So without further adieu here we go with the top 10 nice guys from my personal experiences starting with number ten.

#9- Jim Abbott – 

Jim Abbott was one of the best athletes to ever don an Angel uniform and he did it twice from 1989 to 1992 and then again from 1995 to 1996.  What made Abbott so unique was that he was born with only a baby-like hand which he couldn’t stretch out.  He would balance his glove on his right hand and switch it onto his left after he would throw a pitch and he very rarely made errors.

While in college at the University of Michigan he also hit close to .400 one-handed.  He even got a triple in a Spring Training game for the Angels.  He also pitched a no-hitter for the Yankees in 1993 which was definitely a special moment.

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My only encounter with Abbott was not very long about five minutes in 1990 when I was down in the right field-corner and he signed an autograph for me and I had a short conversation with him. He was very nice & genuine, standing there signing autographs for like 20 minutes.  I have also heard from pretty much everyone who has had an encounter with him has said nothing but nice things about him.

Abbott handled all the fanfare surrounding his physical challenge with grace and class even when things were not going well for him on the mound (1996 Abbott went 2-18 with a 7.48 ERA), I feel lucky to have met him even if it was for only a short time.

#8 – Bengie and Jose Molina –

It’s very rare that two brothers play on the same team at the same time and play the same position.  It’s even more rare when that duo is part of a World Series Championship.  That is exactly what Bengie and Jose Molina got to do in 2002 when the Angels won their only World Series.

That season at different times I was able to get both the Molina brothers autographs and pictures with them on Autograph Sunday’s that the Angels used to have.  They both always took their time with each person that the interacted with including me and a couple of my friend’s sons.

On game days that year I brought a few of my students from the private Christian elementary school where I taught.  These students were silent auction winners and wanted to meet some Angel players. Both the Molina brothers were always willing to come over and take pictures with them, sign autographs and answer baseball questions the kids had.  They never made you feel like you were bothering them.

Flash-forward to 2019, I asked Jose Molina, who is now a coach on the Angels staff, for an interview about the team and the current catching situation and he took five to seven minutes with me and was just as nice and friendly as I had remembered him to be when he played for the Angels.  The whole Molina family including younger brother Yadier Molina are nothing but class and it has been a pleasure to get to talk with them and watch them play.

#7- David Eckstein “The X-Factor”

David Eckstein is still one of the most popular Angels who ever donned the Angels uniform.  He played for the team from 2001-2004 and was a key player in the 2002 World Championship team as well.  I had a special connection to Eckstein as I watched him play in college at the University of Florida (I went to Florida State their biggest rival). Eckstein always killed the Noles during his time playing for the Gators.  However, I respected the heck out of him for how hard he played.

Flash-forward to 2002.  Early in the season Eckstein also took part in autograph Sunday and I happened to be wearing a Florida State Animals t-shirt (The Animals is a spirit group who supports the FSU baseball team).  When I went to get a picture and autograph with him he noticed my Animals shirt. He immediately asked me if I was a part of the group and I said I had been.  He said “I love these guys even when they were ragging on me. It made the game even more fun to be a part of.” We talked for a few minutes that day.

However, any time that season that I would bring anyone down to meet him, as soon as he saw me he would nod and then come over and see us and talked to whoever was with me. He would take pictures, sign any autograph they wanted to get.  This went on for the next three seasons.  Eckstein believed very strongly about being a role model for kids.

The final thing I will tell you about Eckstein is his passion for helping others.  He and his wife Ashley run The Transplant House in Florida near where Eckstein grew up and they raise money for organ donations especially kidneys.  Eckstein even went a step further as he donated one of his kidneys to a family member after he retired from baseball after the 2010 season.  Four members of Eckstein’s family donated their kidneys to help their family members.

#6 – Jered Weaver –

Jered Weaver has been one of my all-time favorite Angels so it was fitting that he was the first Angel I ever got to interview for Halo Hangout.  I went to Inland Empire to watch two of Weaver’s injury rehab starts.  It was exciting to watch him and see him look good knowing that he would be back to the Angels soon.

After he pitched both evenings for the 66ers I was able to interview him both times and was nervous as heck as Weaver towered over me.  He could probably tell I was nervous, but he couldn’t have been more gracious.  He was very easy-going and friendly.  Weaver even posed for a picture with me which I later found out was taboo for reporters from Tim Mead (former Angel Vice Preseidnet of Communications) who was at both starts by Weaver.

Little did I know a week later I would be able to go to Angel Stadium to watch Weaver make his first start in two months and interview him in the Angel locker room post-game there he was more business-like but he was still cool.  I will never forget my time with Jered Weaver and he will always be one of my favorite Angels ever.

#5 – Mike Trout

Some people may be surprised that I would not list Mike Trout at number one.  Don’t get me wrong as he is a great guy to talk to, friendly, funny, and he never makes you feel that you are wasting his time.  Mike Trout is an awesome guy to interview and talk to and if I had a chance to just sit and talk to him about life and baseball history I assuredly would rank Trout even higher on this list.

For a superstar he is amazingly gracious and his love for the game of baseball exudes from him.  My favorite quote was when an MLB.Com reporter asked him if he was having more fun out there that evening as compared to the first two days of his rehab assignment when he had gone 1 for 7 instead of the 3 for 3 that night the reporter asked that question.

Trout’s demeanor immediately changed and he was almost perturbed at the question, but he held his tongue and gave a very pointed and real answer that made me love him as a person even more “I’m always having fun out there. I love playing this game every day,” Trout said.  That’s what makes Mike Trout second to none is his love for the game of baseball.  It’s definitely refreshing.  He is a winner in my book.

#4 – Keynan Middleton –

Keynan Middleton is one of the nicest players you will meet plus he has a great sense of humor to boot.  I first met him when he was in Single-A Inland Empire as a 20-year old.  I ran into him in the clubhouse and we had a ten-minute conversation about where he is from, which was Portland, Oregon. It wasn’t even an official interview.

Flash-forward two years later I see Middleton, who had just been called up, in the Angels dugout and he sees me and says ‘Hey how you doing man’.  I didn’t even think he was talking to me, but when I realized he was I was in shock that he remembered me.  We touched base and I asked him how he was doing so far and he said things were good.

A year later after he had been anointed the Angels’ closer I went to interview him for real this time and he was just as kind and gracious. He even joked around with me.  I asked him one of those typical questions ‘How do you deal with blowing a save, like the game the other night’. Middleton looks at me deadpanned and said ‘I had forgotten all about that already, thanks for bringing it up again and reminding me about it’. I was looking very upset as I thought I had upset him which was not my intention at all.

Then Middleton cracked a big smile and said ‘I’m just kidding man’ and then he answered the question I had asked.  I also got to interview him last July when he was down in Inland Empire again as he was rehabbing from Tommy John Surgery and he was again great to talk to.  I was having a particularly bad day and Middleton’s enthusiasm and smile definitely cheered me up.

I will always have a special place in my heart for guys that I am able to watch before they make it big, and especially when they are as kind and genuine as Middleton is. Thank you Keynan!!!

#4 – Matt Shoemaker 

Matt Shoemaker is another fan-favorite and for good reason.  He is a genuinely nice guy.  I have had the pleasure of interviewing him four different times and he has been great to talk to every time.  You will never hear him say a bad thing about his teammates or anyone for that matter. Shoemaker is also not afraid to talk about his faith in God which he did multiple times with me.

In addition he also has a great sense of humor and he is very humble as well. Shoemaker is a guy that I could talk to forever about anything not just baseball.  He is just simply one of those good guys. Beside openly talking about his faith my favorite Shoemaker moment was in one interview I was asking him about a line drive that hit him in the rear end it looked like.  I asked him about it as most of the reporters there thought it him in the leg or in the back or something.

Shoemaker’s response was ‘It hit me in the butt, which was a good place because I have a lot of padding there’. Later I asked him about a play where he was trying to field a throw from then Angel prospect Matt Thaiss at first base and they could not connect on the play. Shoemaker’s response ‘He threw me a knuckleball that was hard to get to,’ but then he recanted ‘I’m just kidding, he made a great play and throw and I should have caught it. That’s on me.’

As always taking the blame for another player not blaming anyone for his mistake. I was sad to see Jered Weaver go as well as David Eckstein, and now Kole Calhoun, but the player I truly miss the most out of these guys is Matt Shoemaker.  I wrote an article saying as much early this season wishing him the best in Toronto and hoping his injury wasn’t serious (unfortunately it was. Torn ACL). Shoemaker sent me a personal message on Twitter personally thanking me for writing the article and that it meant a lot to him.  That’s just the kind of guy Shoemaker is.

#3 – Clyde Wright –

Many Angel fans may not know Clyde Wright. All I can say is you are missing out.  Wright was a pitcher for the Angels in the late 60s and early 70s pitching alongside two of the best pitchers in Angel history in Dean Chance (he got the first Cy Young in club history) and Hall of Famer and No-Hit Machine Nolan Ryan.  Wright had his moments for the Angels including throwing the first no-hitter in Angel Stadium history in July of 1970 and winning 22 games that season for the Angels.

Wright’s son Jaret pitched in the big leagues as well for Cleveland and Atlanta in the late 1990s and early 2000s.  Clyde Wright became a liaison of sorts for the Angels and is still going strong at age 78 years young.  If you sit inside the Angels Press Dining Room, Wright will always come in and stay for a few innings before heading out to check out how people in the suites are doing to see that things are okay with their experience.

I have had the great opportunity to speak with Clyde Wright on numerous occasions and have interviewed him twice both times for about 30 minutes because of his mesmerizing stories about everything baseball from back when he played up to present-day.  Wright is definitely a Southern gentlemen and tells some of the best stories about baseball I have ever heard.

I told him my family Iives in the Nashville area one time and we had a 10-minute conversation about Tennessee, and the South.  Since then he almost always asks me about how my father and mother are doing.  He really loves working for the Angels and being a part of the organization.  He is not afraid to give his opinion on anything baseball and it always very insightful.  Wright would be a guy you would like to go out to a bar with or have over to your house for dinner. He is the genuine article and I always cherish the conversations about baseball I have had with him over the years.  Clyde Wright is a Class Act all the way.

#2 – Taylor Ward 

Most Angel fans do not have a high opinion of Taylor Ward and it is understandable as he has yet to reach his potential as a first round draft pick in 2015 out of Fresno State.  Two years ago he switched from catcher to third base and had a tremendous year in Triple-A which gained him his first call-up at the end of the 2018 season where Ward hit six homers and drove in 15 runs in 40 games and a .178 batting average.  Last season he only received 42 at-bats getting eight hits with a homer and two RBIs.

He has now been playing a lot of left field and could make a bid to make the Angels as a utility man in 2020.  So you might ask why I like Ward so much.  In 2016 I went down to Inland Empire numerous times to cover Angel pitchers doing rehab assignments and since Ward was still a catcher at that time I always interviewed him to find out how the Angel pitcher’s stuff looked.  He was always very honest and genuine as well as friendly.

Ward never made you feel like you were bothering him and he always had a smile on his face when we were talking about baseball. I told him I would see him in two years in Anaheim and lo and behold he was called up two years later.  When I came into the Angel dugout one afternoon and came up behind he turned around and got a huge smile on his face and said ‘How are you doing’ and shook my hand.  We talked for a few minutes informally about his time in the majors thus far.

Later that month I came to interview him and I asked him if he had time to be interview. Ward said, ‘Sure always for you, what do you need’. Ward spent about 10 minutes talking to me and was just as gracious and genuine as always.

Flash-Forward to September of this past season.  Ward had a tough season only getting called up for five games all season before September.  He was 1 for 10 at that point.  Ward was just as gracious and as open about his season’s frustrations.  But he was the first to admit ‘I still have some things to work on which is why I haven’t been called up yet. I’m going to continue to work hard all the off-season to get better’.

I am truly hoping Ward will get an opportunity this season to prove himself, but I also know the odds are stacked against him.  No matter what happens Taylor Ward is someone who I will always think highly of for his kindness, grace, and honesty.

#1 – Jack Howell

If you were an Angel fan back in the 1980s you might remember Jack Howell as a young third baseman with power.  Howell played with some Angel legends such as Don Baylor, Rod Carew, Bobby Grich, Brian Downing, and Mike Witt.  Howell came back later at the end of his career and mentored some of the young Angels that would eventually win the World Series in 2002. Darin Erstad, Tim Salmon, Garret Anderson, and Troy Percival.

Jack Howell has now worked in the Angels organization since 2016 in the minor leagues as a field coordinator and now for the past two seasons he has been the manager of the Low-Single-A Burlington Bees.  Howell has mentored and coached  some of the Angels top prospects Jo Adell, Brandon Marsh, Jahmai Jones, Matt Thaiss, Jared Walsh, Jordyn Adams, Hector Yan, and Jose Soriano.  Many of his players have spoken very highly of Howell and his tutelage in the minors.

I got a chance to meet Howell this past summer when I was in Burlington visiting my cousin who worked for the Angels in Burlington in 2019.  My cousin also spoke very highly of Jack Howell and how he treated everyone including him with respect and cared about everyone.

When I sat down to interview him it was like I was talking to a family member.  He was so genuine and friendly and loved telling stories about his playing days as well as talking about the players within the organization that I asked him about.  We talked for about 30 minutes that day and throughout the next couple of days I was there we talked a couple of more times.  He also would text me to thank me when I wrote an article about him or any of the Burlington players.

I have texted him to ask him questions for a story I did on the greatest comeback in Angel history in 1986 when the Angels rallied for eight runs in the bottom of the 9th to beat Detroit 13-12.  Howell started the rally and got two hits during it which drove in two runs.  He also came on a podcast as a guest from his hotel room after an eight-hour bus ride to the city the Bees were playing that night.

Howell is one of the most caring and kind people I have come across in all my sports coverage I have done.  He is a great baseball mind, but is also a great person and wants to make a difference in the lives of anyone he comes in contact with and is a great teacher of the game as well as a student of the game.

All of these players on this list are great guys and exemplify what it means to not only be a professional, but also role models as well.  There are some guys that were hard to leave off the list such as David Fletcher and Kole Calhoun, as well as Justin Upton, J.C. Ramirez, and the father and son combination of Torii Hunter Sr. and Torii Hunter Jr. They are all class acts as well and I am thankful for the opportunity I have had to interview them as well.  I hope everyone has had a great Christmas if you celebrate the holiday.  If not I hope you have a great holiday season and month of December as we close out 2019.  Have a great night.