Lefty starting pitcher Frank Tanana was a flame thrower with the Angels early on in his career. He gave the Angels and amazing 1-2 punch at the top of the rotation with Nolan Ryan. Tanana pitched 8 years for the Angels in which he appeared in 225 games (218 starts) and he was 102-78 with a 3.08 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP. Tanana was at his best from 1975-1977 when he was a youngster (21-23 years old). During that time frame he pitched in 99 games (98 starts) for the Angels and he was 50-28 with a 2.53 ERA and a 1.06 WHIP. He has a amazing 59 complete games and 14 shutouts in those three seasons! Tanana was a three time All-Star with the Angels and he led the American League in strikeouts in 1975 with 269 of them. Tanana’s name is all over the record books for the Angels. He is #2 all-time in complete games (92) in team history, #2 in shutouts (42), #5 in games started (218), tied for #4 in wins (102), #6 in ERA (3.08), #3 in WHIP (1.17), #4 in innings pitched (1,615 1/3) and he is #4 in strikeouts (1,233). The heavy workload early in Tanana’s career really took his fastball away and he reinvented himself as a junkballing lefty and he had a very long and successful career after he left the Angels. But, his best pitching days of his career were definately with the Angels.

When you are a ex-catcher playing left field and you have the nickname of the Incredible Hulk it seems unlikely that you would be batting lead-off but that’s exactly where Brian Downing batted in the line-up and it worked. The Angels batted him at the top of the line-up because of his batting eye as he had great plate discipline. Downing played in 1,661 games in his 13 years for the Angels and he was 1,588 for 5,854 (.271 avg, .813 OPS) with 889 runs scored, 222 homers, 846 RBIs and 27 stolen bases. Downing walked 866 times for the Angels while whiffing 759 times which was part of the reason he was leading off. Downing is all over the all-time lists for the Angels as he is #3 in games played, #3 in hits, #8 in OPS, #3 in runs scored, #3 in homers, #3 in RBIs and #2 in walks. In summation, Downing is one of the most underrated players in Angels’ history.