Book Review: Tales from the Angels Dugout

Tales of the Angels Dugout: The Championship Season and Other Great Angels Stories.
By Steve Bisheff
Published by Sports Publishing LLC.
P. 183

This is part of a series of sports books going under titles such as Tales from the Dugout and Tales from the Mound, which are published by Sports Publishing LLC. This is one of several that we will review for you this summer.

Although this book tends to be serious it will be a delight to any of the true Angels faithful. Author Steve Bisheff chronicles the Angels, a team whose name once belonged to a minor league team of the Pacific Coast League, from their rebirth as a Major league team to their glory days as World Champions in 2002.

The path that they took was a long and checkered one - with good teams, great players, and wonderful seasons. Until last year they always fell short. Sometimes however it’s not just the destination that makes great memories, it’s the trip and how you got there.

This book really is that story, from the purchase of the AL franchise Angels by the “Cowboy” Gene Autry and their entry into the Majors in 1961 - to their improbable World Series victory over the San Francisco Giants in 2002. In that forty-one year span the Angels had two miracle seasons, 2002 and the one in 1962 that many consider one of the most incredible managerial feats of all time. We all remember last year when Garrett Anderson broke the back of the Giants with a 2 run double to give the Angels a final lead they would never relinquish and earned the Angles their first World title - but few of us remember or even know about 1962.

In 1962, their second year in existence, the Angels made a run for the money. Under manager Bill Rigney and playing in Dodger Stadium they made a play that came within days of being one of the greatest upsets in sports competing head to head with the New York Yankees who sported guys with names like Mantle, Maris, Berra, Ford and more. Until losing two of their best pitchers on consecutive days in August the Angels held the lead. Even when Labor Day rolled around they were within 4 games, only to fall short. However when you considered what their team was -made up of misfits and rejects from other teams and look at the manager who made them work, you realize what an incredible accomplishment it really was.

That team in many ways resembled the 2002 version of the Angels, scrappy, overachieving, and never giving up. In 1962 the luck gave out, but in 2002 with a team largely devoid of the kind of superstars found in larger markets, played as a team and played brilliantly - becoming a lot more than the sum of their parts. From the genius of Mike Scioscia in the dugout and GM Bill Stoneman in assembling the team, to the role players in Brandon Donnelly and Shawn Wooten, they all contributed to a day that Gene Autry would have loved.

Autry had tried before to put together the team that could be champions and had always fallen short, but he put great names on the teams and let them do their best. The story of the great and unusual Angels who have been with this team over the years would have been entertaining enough. How could it not be with names like Nolan Ryan, Dean Chance, Reggie Jackson, Rod Carew, Don Baylor, Fred Lynn, Paul Abbott, Bobby Grich and Jim Fregosi?

The book deals with all of them and many, many more, but the heart of the book is the 2002 season and playoffs with game by game breakdowns, the stories behind the scenes, and of the players - Glaus, Erstad, Eckstein, Anderson, Washburn, Appier - many of whom make the author’s All Time Angels team in the last chapter. However the book is not just about the past, it’s also about the future, including the bright spots on the Angels farm teams and their hopes for repeating in the near future. That future does not look like this year but Angel fans can wait - at least a year or two for the team to make their return to the post season.

The book does have one thing about it that I absolutely hated. There was a chapter towards the end where a conversation between Mike Scioscia and John Wooden the 92 year old basketball coach. I felt that the interview was out of place, uninteresting, and had no place in a baseball book. Mercifully it was only a few pages long and did not greatly effect my enjoyment of the book.

Sadly unless you are an Angels fan you won’t enjoy this book as much as you might the lighter hearted books in the Tales from the Dugout Series. Still it’s a good read and well worth your time and money. Give this book 2 balls of 4 and raise it all the way to 3 if you are a die hard Angels fan.

Our Rating System is based on a four ball system as follows:
One Ball: Average. It has something to say but is nothing special.
Two Balls: Something men usually have - also means its a cut above average, and worth reading/owning.
Three balls: Stands out from its peers and is highly recommended.
Four Balls: More than just what two men have when hanging out together, it means it is an exceptional book that truly earns a walk - straight to the local book store to get a copy.

At Home Plate

Book Review: Tales From the Angels Dugout

The Championship Season and Other Great Angels Stories