Angels: 3 players who resurrected their careers in Anaheim

UNSPECIFIED - CIRCA 1990: Pitcher Bert Blyleven #28 of the California Angels pitches during aN Major League Baseball game circa 1990. Blyleven played for the Angels from 1989-92. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)
UNSPECIFIED - CIRCA 1990: Pitcher Bert Blyleven #28 of the California Angels pitches during aN Major League Baseball game circa 1990. Blyleven played for the Angels from 1989-92. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)
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Pitcher Bert Blyleven of the California Angels. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)
Pitcher Bert Blyleven of the California Angels. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images) /

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.

1990: DAVE WINFIELD OF THE CALIFORNIA ANGELS WALKS OFF THE FIELD AT ANAHEIM STADIUM IN ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA DURING THE 1990 SEASON. (CREDIT: STEPHEN DUNN/ALLSPORT).
1990: DAVE WINFIELD OF THE CALIFORNIA ANGELS WALKS OFF THE FIELD AT ANAHEIM STADIUM IN ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA DURING THE 1990 SEASON. (CREDIT: STEPHEN DUNN/ALLSPORT). /

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.

ANAHEIM,CA – CIRCA 1989:Bert Blyleven of the California Angels wears a rally hat in a game at the Big A circa 1989 in Anaheim,California. (Photo by Owen C. Shaw/Getty Images)
ANAHEIM,CA – CIRCA 1989:Bert Blyleven of the California Angels wears a rally hat in a game at the Big A circa 1989 in Anaheim,California. (Photo by Owen C. Shaw/Getty Images) /

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.

NEW YORK – CIRCA 1986: John Candelaria #45 of the California Angels looks into the camera for this portrait prior to the start of a Major League Baseball game against the New York Yankees circa 1986 at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx borough of New York City. Candelaria played for the Angels from 1985-87. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)
NEW YORK – CIRCA 1986: John Candelaria #45 of the California Angels looks into the camera for this portrait prior to the start of a Major League Baseball game against the New York Yankees circa 1986 at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx borough of New York City. Candelaria played for the Angels from 1985-87. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images) /

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.

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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.

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