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.

Dave Winfield

By the time Dave Winfield arrived in Anaheim in 1990, he had already built a Hall-of-Fame resume in the Major Leagues playing for the San Diego Padres and New York Yankees.

Over his first 16 seasons in baseball, he appeared in 12 All-Star games, won seven Gold Gloves, and six Silver Slugger Awards. He finished in the top ten of MVP voting six times. In 1988, the year before he suffered a major back injury, he batted .322/.398/.530 with 25 home runs and 107 RBIs for the Yankees.

Winfield was one of the premier all-around players in baseball when a back injury forced him to miss the entire 1989 season. A year later, after contract squabbles with George Steinbrenner and the Yankees led him to be traded to the Angels for Mike Witt, it was uncertain how the 37-year-old would respond to a new atmosphere after missing so much time due to a debilitating injury late in his career.

Over the first 20 games of the 1990 season in New York before the trade, he struggled at the plate, batting .213 with only two home runs. Upon arriving to Anaheim, he found new life. The right fielder finished the season batting .275/.348/.466 over 112 games with the Angels. He hit 19 long balls and drove in 72 runs.

At the end of the season, he was named the American League Comeback Player of the Year.

Winfield played one more season with the Angels, in which he hit 28 home runs as a 39-year-old who still had some pop left in his bat. He later signed as a free agent with the Blue Jays and ultimately finished his Hall-of-Fame career with the Indians. He tacked on six more seasons to his career, beginning with his resurrection in 1990 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.