You definitely know you’re in a different climate when you’re playing in Southern Cal, especially in Angel Stadium.”
—Rex Hudler, former Los Angeles Angels TV play-by-play broadcaster
After spending the franchise’s first five seasons bouncing around the San Fernando Valley like a misplaced foster child, the Los Angeles Angels finally found a home in Anaheim, colorfully nicknamed the Big A. Just when the Angels felt situated in their own home, the Los Angeles Rams came into town and assumed roommate duties for 15 seasons. Sharing a stadium with an NFL team, however, can have its perks, as the seating capacity, once Anaheim Stadium had been renovated and remodeled, shot up from 43,250 to 65,000. In 1995 the great football exodus out of Los Angeles (Raiders, too) sent the Rams to St. Louis, and with an average attendance of 23,367 fans, left Angels fans with a great view of empty red seats over the next two seasons. Luckily, as in its movies, new team owner Disney came in and saved the day, returning the Big A to its original glory, a baseball-only facility named Edison International Field of Anaheim. The stadium would eventually be renamed Angel Stadium of Anaheim.
No one knows whether or not the success of the film Angels in the Outfield fueled Disney’s decision to buy the team, but once the company did, there was no question who was signing the checks in the Angels organization, especially when arriving at the ballpark. Former Angels TV broadcaster Rex “Hud” Hudler notes, “You’re going to come into the parking lot and you’re going to see two big major league style hats. They’re the same thing Major League players wear, but look like they would fit a giant. They also have some large baseball bats all congregated together in the front of the entrance way. There’s not any other place in the 30 teams and cities that have that.” For fans, this touch of Disney continues through the gate. Beyond the center-field wall, where once was a sea of red bleachers unoccupied by Angels fans, lies the famous rock pile. Equipped with shooting fountains, the rock pile is an assembly of giant boulders, some of which are even arranged to form a large “A.” Beyond the rock pile today, with the stadium once again unenclosed, while watching the game fans can observe traffic conditions on the Santa Ana Freeway, as well as the Amtrak trains passing through Anaheim on their way to Los Angeles. Opening the stadium back up, while allowing fans to see out, also allows for the weather to come in, which in Southern California can be known to change the game completely.
No Having Fun When There’s No Warm California Sun
The word “California” evokes many images. Upright surfboards anchored to the bronzed sand by their fiberglass fins. A classic convertible seemingly parting the tall palm trees lining the sidewalks along streets like Rodeo Drive and Santa Monica Boulevard. A bikini-clad body scampering through the shallow waves of the Pacific Ocean. The common denominator in all three is, as ’60s doo wop artists the Rivieras sang, that “Warm California Sun,” and it’s only natural the sun and its elements would find their way into Angel Stadium of Anaheim, making for quite a unique day game experience. A former player, Rex Hudler, recalls: “I remember being a young player. Coming to the ‘Big A’ when I was on visiting teams, stretching before games, looking into the stands at all the good looking California girls. Wow. I knew I was in the big leagues.” Hudler would eventually play in an Angels uniform and go on to broadcast for the team for 10 years before calling games for the Kansas City Royals.
While the day games at the Big A may bring to life lyrics written by groups like the Beach Boys, night games—once the sun dips its spherical flame below the Pacific’s blue horizon—give players from back East something they’re not used to during the summer: cool weather. Hudler states, “Playing in California is different because there’s no humidity. When you play in other parks from the Midwest on back, you start dealing with humid conditions, and it’s totally different. You have to condition yourself a different way as far as hydration goes. At nighttime in California, it gets cool. In the 60s even. They’re not used to that. Typically, I used some under garments to keep me warm because my legs would cramp up in the cool California evening. You have to find a different way to stay warm in California. You have to guard against not hurting your muscles by keeping some extra clothes on.” With the coast just six miles away, Angel Stadium of Anaheim catches some of that ocean breeze, which at night can cause a fly ball to just die. It’s no coincidence the Angels pitchers with the best stats in recent years (Jared Weaver, C. J. Wilson) have been those who left half the fielding to their teammates and the other half to the skies. Of course, in order to win, they need to battle that cold front as well.
Throughout the team’s history, the Angels have sported a trend of acquiring big bats to help out-muscle that crisp southern California air. Free agent names like Pujols, Baylor, Guerrero, Jackson, Hamilton, and Teixeira have filled the lineup cards to accompany the products of the Angels’ farm system, a system that would prove quite effective for the Angels throughout the early 2000s. Rex Hudler comments on an Angels roster unique to that of championship winners of the past: “In baseball, you can win a few different ways, but the main way to win is by homegrown talent. Having the fans be able to watch young players from when they were minor leaguers until they become major leaguers. To be able to watch Tim Salmon, Garret Anderson, Troy Glaus, Darrin Erstad, Benji Molina, John Lackey, and Francisco Rodriguez. There were so many homegrown guys, and that made it a warmer feeling. Even when you win with veterans or you win with free agents you go out and buy, winning is everything in professional sports, and there’s still a happy fan base; but, there’s even more happiness from a loyal fan base when you have your own players.” Perhaps the member of the Angels roster providing the most happiness in the early 2000s was a two-foot-tall domestic primate.
The “Monkey Rallied” 2002 World Champion Anaheim Angels
On June 6, 2000, the Angels were trailing the San Francisco Giants in a seemingly meaningless interleague game. Suddenly the stadium’s Jumbotron screen in right field (a feature courtesy of Disney ownership) displayed a clip from the film Ace Ventura: Pet Detective showing a capuchin monkey jumping up and down above the superimposed words “Rally Monkey.” The Angels would eventually “rally” in the ninth inning to win the game 6–5. The next night, with the Angels and Giants tied 9–9 in the bottom of the eighth, the scoreboard once again was alight with the jumping capuchin monkey. Three singles later, the Angels scored the go-ahead run, then held off the Giants in the top of the ninth to win, and the legend of this iconic pop culture mascot was born.
Flash forward two seasons to 2002 and we find a new-look Angels squad, starting with their uniforms. Rex Hudler says, “In 2002, they changed the color of the uniform to red, the favorite color of former team owner Gene Autry. That made the visual much better. They went from that ugly periwinkle blue—that looked more like a glorified softball uniform—to red, ‘the cowboy’s’ favorite color. It was a beautiful uniform, and that made the fans feel real good. It turned out to be the last year the Autrys owned the Angels.” Now dressed presentably enough to be taken seriously by visiting teams, the 2002 Angels “wore out the tape” on the Rally Monkey video en route to their first World Series title. Hudler adds, “The Halos had 43 come from behind wins that year. It was really a fresh baseball season, unlike any other I’ve ever participated in over 30 years of being in baseball as a player and a broadcaster. It was a very unique time, and to see and feel the excitement every day. I couldn’t wait to come to the yard. I looked forward to engaging fans. They were so excited. They couldn’t wait to see who was going to win.” It just so happened that 61 percent of the time the Angels were the winning team, as their 99–63 record—although second in the division to an Oakland A’s team that would become the subject of the Oscar-nominated film Moneyball—earned them a wild card spot in the playoffs against the defending American League champion New York Yankees.
Over the first 14 postseason games, six of the Angels’ nine victories happened in come-from-behind fashion. With the 15th game being game 6 of the 2002 World Series, the Angels would reacquaint the Giants with the Jumbotron-hogging nemesis who had debuted against them back in the summer of 2000. Trailing 5–0 in the bottom of the seventh inning and in the World Series 3–2, the Angels, down to their last breaths, summoned the power of the Rally Monkey. Taking a cue from their unassuming mascot, the Angels scored six runs over the next two innings to take a 6–5 lead. Troy Percival closed out the game, and virtually the Giants, with his ninth inning save. Hudler notes, “Game 6 of the World Series was phenomenal. We came back and won from five runs down. That’s one of the greatest games that I’ve ever seen. In game 7, they were just waiting to get beat because they knew they couldn’t beat the Angels and the Rally Monkey.” Hardly the five-run mountain of the night before, the Angels erased an early 1–0 deficit to go on to win game 7 and with it the 2002 World Series. The championship being the franchise’s first, Rex Hudler describes how important the title was for the Angels organization: “Winning cures all. That’s a term in baseball that you hear, and it really fits for that situation. The Angels had arrived, and they finally won a world championship. With that championship, it also erased all of the pain over the years of not making it. They had a lot of painful moments in Angels history, so part of the joy from that championship was the cleansing of the whole Angels nation.”
Hud’s Most Memorable Moments
As a TV broadcaster, Rex Hudler would turn his broadcasting duties over to the networks during all the Angels’ postseason appearances; however, that didn’t mean his presence wasn’t still felt in the stadium. Hudler had nicknamed Angels shortstop David Eckstein “X Factor” because he “factors in on almost every play.” Thanks to an adopted Japanese baseball tradition, that nickname was realized. Watching a playoff game with his wife, Hudler recollects, “My first experience with thunder sticks was when I was playing in Japan. They were loud and it was crazy. During the Angels 2002 World Series, the organization used those type of thunder sticks and passed them out to their fans. When David Eckstein came to the plate, they were crossing those thunder sticks, making an ‘X’ for ‘X Factor.’ I’ll never forget my wife looked at me and said, ‘See what you did? See what you started?’ It was unlike any moment. I wasn’t digging myself. I was just proud. I felt like a proud broadcaster that could bring that in and bring in a nickname the fans could relate to. It was really special to see that.”
Perhaps some of Hud’s most cherished memories of Angel Stadium of Anaheim come from outside the gates. Hudler notes, “Southern California fans—Angels fans in particular—get the bad rap around the league for not being as passionate. Coming late to the games and leaving early. Every fan base is different in different parts of the country, depending on the team and years of success they’ve had. Coming there to Angel Stadium as a broadcaster was so much fun. There was energy. There was passion. I would love to get out of my car and walk into the gates at 4:00, and there would be people out in front of the stadium underneath the red hats. They would yell, ‘Hud, what are we gonna do tonight?’ They would look at me like I was one of the players. They felt like I was a big part of their team and I was just a broadcaster.”
From the booth, Rex Hudler’s most memorable game at Angel Stadium of Anaheim took place on August 21, 2007, against the always well-traveled New York Yankees. The “homegrown” left fielder, Garret Anderson, went 4 for 6, knocking in a team record 10 RBIs and homering twice in an 18–9 route of the Yankees. Hudler comments: “That was a phenomenal individual feat. I couldn’t believe it was happening. That’s two or three weeks’ production for most guys. That was really special. Whenever the Yankees are in town, it’s always a sellout crowd. I remember looking at my broadcast partner, Steve Physioc, saying, ‘He already has six RBI’s. Can he get anymore?’ And I’ll be darned if—with three guys on—he didn’t come up with a grand slam to get 10 RBI’s. That was phenomenal.” Being among the 44,000 plus witnesses to Anderson’s feat, Hudler relinquished his duties to the sea of red, saying, “It was really special to hear the crowd. In moments like that, when you’re a broadcaster, and the crowd cheers, and something like that happens, you just lay out. You don’t have to say anything. You just let the crowd tell the story. It was neat to see that moment for Anderson, personally, as a broadcaster. To sit back and watch that.” Anderson’s 10 RBIs were just one short of the American League record, coincidentally set by the Yankees’ Tony Lazzeri in 1936.
Angel Stadium of Anaheim Today
Though the organization has taken on more names than a CIA operative, and their home has undergone enough reconstructive surgery to make it eligible to star in The Real Housewives of Orange County, the Angels have not moved an inch in the team’s 49 seasons in Anaheim. Granted, the Northridge earthquake of ’94 gave the stadium a good shake, causing a Jumbotron screen and a scoreboard to collapse. Disney replaced the Jumbotron with an even bigger one, which today displays the Rally Monkey superimposed into the latest Hollywood movies every time the Angels trail or are looking to break a tie. As far as personnel, the homegrown talent of Rex Hudler’s broadcasting days, and Hud himself, have moved on; however, the Angels’ farm system continues to reel in the “big fish.” Mike Trout, a 22-year-old hitting prodigy, exploded into the league in 2012, earning himself the Rookie of the Year award and coming in second (albeit narrowly) in AL MVP voting to triple-crown winner Miguel Cabrera and again in 2013, before receiving first place honors in 2014. Today, instead of “X”-shaped thunder sticks, red, trout-shaped hats swim throughout the stadium atop the heads of Angels fans, making The Big A look like a foam hatchery. More than a decade after the team’s magical 2002 season, overly punctual fans still seek shade beneath the giant Angels hats outside the gate, waiting for the next familiar face to walk by so they can shout, “What are we gonna do tonight?”