Game #4 – LA of Anaheim Angels and… the 2nd Best Baseball Museum Ever
The fourth baseball stadium of our trip to all 30 stadiums was Angels Stadium of Anaheim, home of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The stadium is very nice and pleasant, and it looks very good for an older stadium. It has been recently renovated, and the water display in center field is very lovely. Overall, we liked it and think its a good place to watch a game.
Before the game, we headed a local establishment called Throwbacks. We hung out for a bit with Steve’s friends Kristen and Jessica before making our way to the game. The cool thing about Throwbacks is how they transport people to the game. They have their own short bus to take patrons to and from the bar to the game. The short bus was a great time and we met some really cool and fun Angels fans. Would definitely recommend @shortbusbar!
We snapped our obligatory photo in front of the stadium and walked past the two huge Angels helmets flanking the main entrance. I must admit, the helmets are a pretty cool touch.
All five of us made it in time for the first pitch once again, making us 4 for 4 in seeing first pitches, although we’ve been close every time. It’s going to be a fun streak to maintain.
The Angels were taking on the Blue Jays in the first game after Jered Weaver’s no hitter against the Twins. Brandon Morrow of the Blue Jays was taking on Dan Haren for the home team in what we were thinking would be a pitchers duel. Well, Morrow lived up to his end of the deal, pitching a 3-hit shut out. But Haren was credited with 5 runs and the Angels lost 5-0.
One thing the B4B team was really hyping up was Albert Pujols breaking his homerless streak at our game. We had seats in left field, right in his home run zone so we were ready. His first at bat came with Mike Trout on first with 1 out, and we all attempted to guess what he would do in the at bat. Adam said home run, Steve said single, but Chase nailed it saying ground out, although it was actually a double play. The rest of the game kind of went the same way for Pujols and he finished with no hits. He did break his home run streak against the Jays two days later. So we missed the no hitter by one day and Pujols first home run for the Angels by 2 days.
We were fortunate to watch the game with 10 matches from Big Brothers Big Sisters of Orange County. It was very fun to meet and hang out with them. Even though the outcome of the game wasn’t ideal, everyone had fun and enjoyed the nice stadium and comfortable weather. B4B became Angels fans for sure.
After the game, we didn’t really know what we were in for when our host Bill invited us to check out his friend’s Angels museum. We said of course we would like to see, but didn’t really have any sort of expectations. Needless to say, the place was incredible and it was the greatest personal collection of baseball memorabilia we’ve ever seen.
The office building the collection was housed in wasn’t too far from the stadium, so after a fun ride on the short bus, we headed right over to meet George and Jeff. George has been collecting baseball memorabilia since he was young, I’m sure, and Jeff is his son who has followed his dad’s passion. We met the two of them and we were immediately enthralled listening to the stories they told. Jeff and some of his buddies actually did a baseball stadium tour very similar to what we are doing by car back in 2004. He shared some great stories about his adventure, and we could definitely see his love for the game of baseball.
It was easy to see George’s passion for baseball from the moment we met. His life literally revolves around baseball because his collection was years of time and effort and care in the making. The first room George opened amazed all of us. It was full of Angels memorabilia from the floor to the ceiling and stuff was attached to the rafters in the ceiling. Little did we know that there were 7 (SEVEN!) more rooms equally amazing. We really thought the collection was over after the first room, and we would have been completely amazed and satisfied.
The rooms were so very well organized, and the one requirement for items in the collection was that they had to have a ball, bat, or glove. They didn’t have just Angels items, they had anything from garden gnomes, Christmas ornaments, bobble heads, figurines, Disney characters, and a room full of pinball machines. It didn’t matter what it was, if it had a ball, bat, or glove it was in the collection. He had a collection of ticket stubs for every game that Mark McGwire homered in 1998 when he hit 70. That was my personal favorite.
George and Jeff are two of the most dedicated baseball fans I’ve ever met, and we were definitely fortunate to meet them and get a personal tour of their collection. The stories they told added an ever more personal touch to the items and made the experience even better. It was an absolute highlight of the trip so far. But we still expect it to be the 2nd best baseball museum behind this one.
Gm 1– 4/13 @ Safeco Field – Oakland A’s @ Seattle Mariners
Oakland wins 4-0 (WP – Colon, LP – Hernandez)
Gm 2 – 4/24 @ O.Co Stadium – Chicago White Sox @ Oakland A’s
Oakland wins 2-0 (WP – Milone, LP – Floyd, SV – Balfour)
Gm 3 – 4/27 @ AT&T Park – San Diego Padres @ San Francisco Giants
San Diego wins 5-3 (WP – Luebke, LP – Hacker, SV – Street)
Gm 4 – 5/3 @ Angels Stadium – Toronto Blue Jays @ LA Angels of Anaheim
Toronto wins 5-0 (WP – Morrow, LP – Haren)
B4B ON!