Angels: 3 players who resurrected their careers in Anaheim

Several players have resurrected their careers in Anaheim while wearing an Angels uniform. We broke down the top three examples.

When your team name is the Angels, it’s hard to ignore spiritual metaphors. After all, this is the same team who was featured in Disney’s classic, Angels in the Outfield. So on Easter Sunday, I thought it would be fun to look back at players who resurrected their careers in Anaheim.

The Angels have a rich history of players making comebacks wearing the halo on their caps. Six players have been named comeback player of the year, from Clyde Wright in 1970 to Tim Salmon in 2002.

Modern day fans remember Tim Salmon, who missed much of the 2004 season and all of the 2005 season recovering from a left knee and right rotator cuff injury. It seemed as if his career was over, before he returned in 2006. While still not at full strength, and only able to participate in 76 games, he proved he could still hit Major League pitching and ended his career on his own terms.

Salmon is a great comeback story, but in this article, I want to focus on players who made their names somewhere else, only to falter in their careers, before finding new life with the Angels. These are players who many outside of California might not remember having played in Anaheim, but whose time with the team represented a pivotal moment late in their careers.

Let’s look back at three players who resurrected their careers with the Angels.

Bert Blyleven

Hall-of-Fame starter Bert Blyleven, who my dad always liked to call, Bert “be home by eleven,” led the league in losses in 1988 with the Minnesota Twins. The right-hander was 37-years-old that season, having already built a legendary career, but it seemed like Father time had finally caught up to him.

Blyleven was 10-17 in 1988 with a bloated 5.43 ERA over 33 starts. He allowed the most earned runs in baseball, and hit 16 batters, also a league high. The only reason he was allowed to pitch so many innings was because of the name on the back of his jersey.

So when the Angels acquired him in the offseason for three minor leaguers (most notably, Paul Sorrento), it was thought to be a trade to bring the Dutch pitcher back home to end his career in a familiar setting.

Little did anyone know at the time, he had one more great season left in his arm.

Blyleven put together a miraculous comeback season in 1989. He went 17-5 as a 38-year-old; his ERA, which hadn’t dropped below four runs in three years, finished at 2.73. He led the American League with five shutouts, and finished fourth in Cy Young voting.

The Villa Park resident was named American League Comeback Player of the Year.

Unfortunately, the magic would end after that 1989 season, but Angels fans will never forget the Orange County resurgence of Bert Blyleven.

John Candelaria

Nicknamed, The Candy Man, John Candelaria, made his name pitching for the Pittsburgh Pirates in the late seventies, and as part of their championship team in 1979.

The 6-foot-7 left-hander won twenty games in 1977, leading the league with a 20-5 record and 2.34 ERA. He remained a steady pitcher for the Buccos, until 1985, when the team moved him to the bullpen after he failed to recapture the starting magic he demonstrated in ’77.

Disgruntled with management over his new role, the Angels were able to acquire him in a mid-season trade in 1985.

Energized by a change of scenery, the Candy Man went 7-3 with a 3.80 ERA to finish off the ’85 season. He would then become an integral part of the 1986 team that advanced to the American League Championship Series. He went 10-2 with a 2.55 ERA over 16 starts that year, with impressive 8.0 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9 ratios. He made two starts against the Red Sox in the playoffs, allowing only one earned run over 10.2 innings of work.

The Sporting News named Candelaria the 1986 American League Comeback Player of the Year. After his superb ’86 campaign, the Angels traded him the following September to the Mets for minor leaguer Shane Young and Jeff Richardson.

Candelaria found a way to hang around in the big leagues until 1993 when he retired as a Pittsburgh Pirate at the age of 39.