The song that built the LA Angels

California Angels
California Angels | Robert Riger/GettyImages
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Jim Abbot and Gene Autry stand in the dugout
Jim Abbot and Gene Autry stand in the dugout | Ken Levine/GettyImages

Going way back in LA Angels history, well, all the way back; the beginning can be traced to one specific moment.

It was when the LA Angels founder went into a recording booth. 

Gene Autry started singing as a telegraph operator in the late 1920’s. It was a lonely job. He sang to pass the time.

When the showbusiness legend Will Rogers happened to hear Autry, he told him to go to New York. 

He gave the future LA Angels owner the names of a few contacts. 

After a few years of trying and succeeding to sing on the radio, Gene Autry headed to Hollywood to try out for the movies. He also kept recording songs. His movie career took off and he was known as the King of the Singing Cowboys. 

He recorded a number of country western songs, but where Autry really hit the mark was his recording of Christmas holiday songs. His all-time biggest seller was a tune called Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer. 

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