I recently re-watched the movie The Rookie with Dennis Quaid and got to thinking about what a cool story Jim Morris had. When I told my wife that it was based on actual events, she was very interested. Then I thought that there may be other lesser-known but just as impressive stories like this that I had never heard.

So what are some other amazing baseball stories? Please share your favorites. For example, the life of Moe Berg is a great story. Obviously, Jim Abbott is another.

The lesser known the better. Thanks.

Who? Oh yeah, our 25th pick yesterday. He was the only invited prospect to attend the draft broadcast. I was once invited to a girl's birthday party in 1st or 2nd grade and I was the only one who showed up, so I guess Bud Selig knows how she felt :(

Anyhoo, Trout seems like a cool, humble kid. He definitely heaps a lot of praise on our beloved Angels, especially for a guy who probably grew up a Yankees fan (or is South Jersey Phillies territory?). I will definitely be pulling for this guy. Make him a millionaire, Halos!

I just picked up a copy of this week's Sports Illustrated (Oct. 6) and turning to the back to Phil Taylor's piece saw HalosHeaven jump off the page. Not only that, but HalosHeaven member, Northwest, is featured prominently in the story, and there is also a quote by user wallispdub. Taylor referenced this fanpost by Northwest about whether he should shave off his rally moustache to please his girl.

So check it out.

At the very least, Northwest can consider this a warning to prevent his chick from reading the latest SI.

Whatever happened with that anyway, dude? Can we blame the playoff debacle on your girlfriend then?

HigzCrest OUT

http://deadspin.com/358024/baseball-season-preview-los-angeles-angels-of-anaheim

I figure he's still sleeping, so I'll post a link to his Angels preview since I just saw it.

Nice summary. Last line is the best.

As much as I love the comments on Deadspin, most of those attached to Mat's story are retarded. The same tired jokes about the name and the same unfathomable lack of respect.

Anyway, congrats to Rev for getting to write for one of the best websites out there.

Now back to my Cindy McCain photos.

OK, so he only played like half of a season for the Halos, but Jim Leyritz was charged with DUI homicide for ramming what I can only imagine was his huge SUV into another car while he was drunk and killing the driver in the other car. I thought this was at least bigger news than Erstad moving to Houston (no offense, goat). Click the link for the story.

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/7611338

Anybody want to make predictions whether or not Stony makes a move for the "big bat?"

Rosenthal thinks Griffey would be a good fit:
http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/6994298

Well, maybe. He kinda sorta says he would be a good fit, then he says it would add to the logjam, so I'm not really sure what his point is. He also doesn't make any predictions.

Über-nerd Tim Kurkjian predicted on Baseball Tonight (Baseball Last Night??) that the Halos would stand pat, which I also believe will be the scenario given Stoner's track record and the fact that what we REALLY need (despite all the "expert" analysis and speculation) is the currently elusive power-hitting third-baseman (which we denizens of Halos Heaven all realize of course - except maybe for that dude who wants Adam Dunn on the team...)

So, what are your predictions?

I say the Angels will do nothing, and 52-33 tells me that's not necessarily a bad thing.

P.S. In the comments, please refrain from referring to Mark Teahen as a power hitter.

Anybody watch Rome is Burning today? The subject of the "Final Burn" was how the Angels are the new L.A. team. He was absolutely merciless slamming the Dodgers and basically singing the Angels praises, and he destroyed Jeff Kent in the snottiest way possible. It was just awesome. Anybody who responds to this with the tired "Jim Rome is a dick" comment wasn't watching today's show.

Just picked up a copy of the new book "Angels Essential" by Steven Travers. Maybe you already know this Rev, but he thanks Halos Heaven in the Acknowledgements section at the beginning. PANTHAH.

As fas as the book itself, I'm almost done with it and it's pretty good. Lots of cool stuff on Bo Belinsky, but many other Angel greats get kind of glossed over. It also has a pretty religious bent to it, but not so much that an atheist like me is rolling his eyes.

One thing that did bug me about it is that the subtitle is "Everything You Need to be a Real Fan." As if the book is reserved for bandwagoneers or something.

http://msn.foxsports.com/fantasy/story/6425098

Above is a link to Mike Harmon's middle reliever fantasy rankings.

I think everyone here will agree that it's about time Scot Shields got some jizz from the East Coast-biased sports press.

For once they're saying what we Angels fans have known all along. I bet I can guess who will be the highest-ranked closer when Harmon gets to those ratings. The era of Mariano Rivera is over - this is the dawning of the age of K-Rod.

http://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/Week-of-Mon-20050221/013615.html

This is a story from a couple of years back that appeared in the New York Times Magazine. Some of you may be familiar with it or the info within, but for those who aren't I think you (like me) will find some really surprising and juicy details about Kendry's past and path to the majors. Particularly interesting I think is the odd relationship with his agent and the explanation of Kendry's complex (and unprecedented??) contract.

Since the jury's still out on Kendry, I thought the story just as pertinent now as it was before the Angels signed him.

If nothing else, I'm sure acuna77 will love it!!!!!!!!!!

So the Hall of Fame ballot was released today and of course the headline is Mark McGwire's first appearence and the subsequent resurrected steroids debate (I for one think Big Mac should be in).

Anyway, Angel great and Higz-personal-favorite Wally Joyner is on the ballot. As much as it pains me to say it, I don't think Wally should be in the Hall. While his career numbers are impressive, he just isn't HOF material IMO. What do y'all think?

(BTW, Devon White is also on the ballot)

The following is excerpted from a thread on AN about how the Angels own the Yankees (specifically in the postseason). Enjoy!

WAHHHHH! WAHHHHH!
------------------------------------------------------

"it's the injuries!
they didn't exactly help us in the postseason. the first beane playoff year, we had gil heredia starting game 5 because of needing to clinch threw off the rotation. however, the next year, dye shattered his leg in game 4 (coupled w/ petite's gem in game 3 beating zito 1-0). the next year, huddy pitched w/ a hip injury (probably shouldn't have played) and got lit up by the twins in both his starts. and finally, in '03, mulder, who was a machine that year, was out. so while its popular to say the a's always choke, 1) we always played tough series, and 2) we've almost always had at least one major injury.

by salarycap on Mon Aug 14, 2006 at 09:52:01 AM PST

The rotation has always been
thrown off I think, because the A's don't clinch until the last few games because they go 8-24 in the first few weeks of the season.  This year though maybe they can take care of business soon.

by carp on Mon Aug 14, 2006 at 09:55:02 AM PST
[ Parent ]

I can think of an
unresolved major injury that could doom our chances this year.

by mikeA on Mon Aug 14, 2006 at 10:13:00 AM PST
[ Parent ] ------------------------------------------------------

Continue reading this post »

Since it's an off day, I thought it would be cool to hear about your guys' stories of catching home runs and/or foul balls at Angels stadium. I have been to 5-20 Angels games per season for like the past 23 years or so and have never gotten a home run ball or even a foul ball. I'm sure a lot of fans go their whole lives without getting a ball at a game, but then there seem to be people who get a lot.

So let's hear some stories, ballhogs!

As if we didn't already know, Ozzie Guillen is a total jackass. Check out this story from FOXSports about his recent comments:

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/5716942

Does he know what country he lives in? I say go back to Venezuela.

What DEFCON is Guillen's managerial career at?

I'm certainly against political correctness, but there is so much wrong with the shit this guy is spewing, I don't even know where to begin.

A lot of you have probably seen this already, but I thought I'd let everyone know that the Angels official website has a really cool page up on Angels history. It has all kinds of stuff like old footage, team records, an all-time roster, individual records, and so forth.

Check it, check it ooooouuuutttt...

http://losangeles.angels.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/ana/history/index.jsp

For a good laugh, check out this Dayn Perry story on top 2B prospects:

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/5542108#

He's got Kenny Howdrick as the #1 2B prospect... ok, fine.

But scroll down to the #5 dude - Alberto Callaspo. Uh, Dayn, what's wrong with this picture? Oh right, Callaspo has been D-Backs property for about 2 months now.

Now I understand why his Power Rankings (whatever that means) don't make any sense...

For those who didn't see the commercial during the game last night, the show "Before the Bigs" on (I think) Fox Prime Ticket will feature Figgy on Tuesday at 8:30. I'm sure we'd all like to know exactly what his favorite episode of "The Andy Griffith Show" is. Myself, I'm kind of partial to any episode that features Floyd the Barber prominently.

R.I.P Don Knotts.