1970 California Angels season

1970  California Angels
League	American League
Division	West
Ballpark	Anaheim Stadium
City	Anaheim, California
Owners	Gene Autry
General managers	Dick Walsh
Managers	Lefty Phillips
Television	KTLA
Radio	KMPC (Dick Enberg, Don Wells, Dave Niehaus, Jerry Coleman)
←  1969 Seasons 1971  →

The 1970 California Angels season involved the Angels finishing third in the American League West with a record of 86 wins and 76 losses.

Offseason

• October 22, 1969: Rubén Amaro Sr. was released by the Angels. ^[1]
• October 24, 1969: Mel Queen was purchased by the Angels from the Cincinnati Reds. ^[2]
• November 25, 1969: Pedro Borbón, Vern Geishert and Jim McGlothlin were traded by the Angels to the Cincinnati Reds for Alex Johnson and Chico Ruiz. ^[3]
• January 14, 1970: Bill Harrelson and Dan Loomer (minors) were traded by the Angels to the Cincinnati Reds for Jack Fisher. ^[4]

Regular season

Coming off a disappointing 71-91 1969 season, the Angels rebounded to finish 86-76, tying their 1962 season as their best in franchise history up to that point. As of 2024, this is the only season that saw the Angels hold a winning record for all 162 games of a season, starting the season 5-0 and never falling back to .500 from there on.

On July 3, Clyde Wright pitched a 3-walk no-hitter against the Athletics, the first no-hitter at Anaheim Stadium since its first game in 1966. Wright would go on to be only the 2nd 20-win starter in franchise history that year and finished 6th in Cy Young voting. ^[5] His 22 wins that year are a franchise record as of 2024, tied with Nolan Ryan's 1972 season. ^[6]

Throughout the year, Alex Johnson was involved in a tight batting race with Carl Yastrzemski, Tony Oliva, and Luis Aparicio. After 161 games, Johnson was trailing Yastrzemski by only .0013. On the last day of the season, Johnson went 2 for 3 against the White Sox, legging out an infield single on his 3rd at-bat to beat Yastrzemski by .0004. As of 2024, Johnson is the only batting champion for the Angels. ^[7]

The Angels remained in the American League West race throughout the season, and by September 3, they were only 3 games back of the division lead heading into a 3-game set against the division-leading Twins in Anaheim. ^[8] However, after being swept by them, the Angels collapsed, losing their next 6 in a row and going 5-17 from September 4 to September 26 to fall out of the postseason race for good. According to Alex Johnson, it was as though the team gave up on the season following being swept by the Twins. ^[9]

Season standings

• v
• t
• e

AL West

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Minnesota Twins	98	64	.605	—	51‍–‍30	47‍–‍34
Oakland Athletics	89	73	.549	9	49‍–‍32	40‍–‍41
California Angels	86	76	.531	12	43‍–‍38	43‍–‍38
Kansas City Royals	65	97	.401	33	35‍–‍44	30‍–‍53
Milwaukee Brewers	65	97	.401	33	38‍–‍42	27‍–‍55
Chicago White Sox	56	106	.346	42	31‍–‍53	25‍–‍53

Record vs. opponents

1970 American League record v t e Sources:
Team	BAL	BOS	CAL	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIL	MIN	NYY	OAK	WSH
Baltimore	—	13–5	7–5	9–3	14–4	11–7	12–0	7–5	5–7	11–7	7–5	12–6
Boston	5–13	—	5–7	8–4	12–6	9–9	7–5	5–7	7–5	10–8	7–5	12–6
California	5–7	7–5	—	12–6	6–6	6–6	10–8	12–6	8–10	5–7	8–10	7–5
Chicago	3–9	4–8	6–12	—	6–6	6–6	7–11	7–11	6–12	5–7	2–16	4–8
Cleveland	4–14	6–12	6–6	6–6	—	7–11	8–4	7–5	6–6	8–10	7–5	11–7
Detroit	7–11	9–9	6–6	6–6	11–7	—	6–6	8–4	4–8	7–11	6–6	9–9
Kansas City	0–12	5–7	8–10	11–7	4–8	6–6	—	12–6	5–13	1–11	7–11	6–6
Milwaukee	5–7	7–5	6–12	11–7	5–7	4–8	6–12	—	5–13	3–9–1	8–10	5–7
Minnesota	7–5	5–7	10–8	12–6	6–6	8–4	13–5	13–5	—	5–7	13–5	6–6
New York	7–11	8–10	7–5	7–5	10–8	11–7	11–1	9–3–1	7–5	—	6–6	10–8
Oakland	5–7	5–7	10–8	16–2	5–7	6–6	11–7	10–8	5–13	6–6	—	10–2
Washington	6–12	6–12	5–7	8–4	7–11	9–9	6–6	7–5	6–6	8–10	2–10	—

Notable transactions

• April 7, 1970: Jack Fisher was released by the Angels. ^[4]
• April 27, 1970: Aurelio Rodríguez and Rick Reichardt were traded by the Angels to the Washington Senators for Ken McMullen. ^[10]
• June 4, 1970: Mike Krukow was drafted by the Angels in the 32nd round of the 1970 Major League Baseball draft, but did not sign. ^[11]
• August 31, 1970: Tony González was purchased by the Angels from the Atlanta Braves. ^[12]

Roster

1970 California Angels
Roster
Pitchers 40 Lloyd Allen 29 Tom Bradley 26,48 Terry Cox 48 Paul Doyle 24 Eddie Fisher 43 Greg Garrett 39 Steve Kealey 37 Dave LaRoche 34 Rudy May 47 Andy Messersmith 41 Tom Murphy 46 Mel Queen 42 Harvey Shank 19 Ken Tatum 39 Wally Wolf 38 Clyde Wright		Catchers  2 Joe Azcue 28 Randy Brown 30 Tom Egan Infielders  4 Sandy Alomar Sr. 11 Jim Fregosi 44 Doug Griffin  7 Ken McMullen 1,42 Ray Oyler 42 Marty Perez  1 Aurelio Rodríguez 15 Chico Ruiz  9 Jim Spencer		Outfielders 14 Billy Cowan 25 Tony González 17 Alex Johnson 10 Jay Johnstone  3 Rick Reichardt  6 Roger Repoz  5 Tommie Reynolds  3 Mickey Rivers 33 Tom Silverio  8 Jarvis Tatum 32 Bill Voss Other batters  5 Jim Hicks		Manager 36 Lefty Phillips Coaches 22 Rocky Bridges 20 Fred Koenig 7,27 Pete Reiser 21 Norm Sherry

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	Joe Azcue	114	351	85	.242	2	25
1B	Jim Spencer	146	511	140	.274	12	68
2B	Sandy Alomar Sr.	162	672	169	.251	2	36
SS	Jim Fregosi	158	601	167	.278	22	82
3B	Ken McMullen	124	422	98	.232	14	61
LF	Alex Johnson	156	614	202	.329	14	86
CF	Jay Johnstone	119	320	76	.238	11	39
RF	Roger Repoz	137	407	97	.238	18	47

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Tom Egan	79	210	50	.238	4	20
Bill Voss	80	181	44	.243	3	30
Jarvis Tatum	75	181	43	.238	0	6
Billy Cowan	68	134	37	.276	5	25
Tommie Reynolds	59	120	30	.250	1	6
Chico Ruiz	68	107	26	.243	0	12
Tony González	26	92	28	.304	1	12
Aurelio Rodríguez	17	63	17	.270	0	7
Doug Griffin	18	55	7	.127	0	4
Mickey Rivers	17	25	8	.320	0	3
Ray Oyler	24	24	2	.083	0	1
Tom Silverio	15	15	0	.000	0	0
Rick Reichardt	9	6	1	.167	0	1
Randy Brown	5	4	0	.000	0	0
Jim Hicks	4	4	1	.250	0	0
Marty Perez	3	3	0	.000	0	1

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Clyde Wright	39	260.2	22	12	2.83	110
Tom Murphy	39	227.0	16	13	4.24	99
Rudy May	38	208.2	7	13	4.01	164
Andy Messersmith	37	194.2	11	10	3.01	62

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Greg Garrett	32	74.2	5	6	2.65	53
Tom Bradley	17	69.2	2	5	4.13	53
Lloyd Allen	8	24.0	1	1	2.62	12

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Ken Tatum	62	7	4	17	2.94	50
Eddie Fisher	67	4	4	8	3.04	74
Paul Doyle	40	3	1	5	5.14	34
Dave LaRoche	38	4	1	4	3.44	44
Mel Queen	34	3	6	9	4.20	44
Steve Kealey	17	1	0	1	4.15	14
Wally Wolf	4	0	0	0	5.06	5
Terry Cox	3	0	0	0	3.86	3
Harvey Shank	1	0	0	0	0.00	1

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Hawaii Islanders	Pacific Coast League	Chuck Tanner
AA	El Paso Sun Kings	Texas League	Del Rice
A	Quad Cities Angels	Midwest League	Mike Stubbins
Rookie	Idaho Falls Angels	Pioneer League	Bob Clear

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Idaho Falls

Notes

1. Rubén Amaro at Baseball-Reference
2. Mel Queen at Baseball-Reference
3. Pedro Borbón at Baseball-Reference
4. Jack Fisher at Baseball-Reference
5. Clyde Wright at Baseball-Reference
6. Los Angeles Angels Top 10 Single-Season Pitching Leaders at Baseball-Reference
7. Merrick, Thomas. October 1, 1970: Alex Johnson snatches AL batting crown from Carl Yastrzemski as Angels hand White Sox their 106th loss. at Society for American Baseball Research
8. MLB Scores and Standings Thursday, September 03, 1970 at Baseball-Reference
9. Goldman, Robert (2006). Once They Were Angels. Champaign, Illinois: Sports Publishing L.L.C. p. 91. ISBN   9781582611631.
10. Ken McMullen at Baseball-Reference
11. Mike Krukow at Baseball-Reference
12. Tony González at Baseball-Reference

References

• 1970 California Angels team at Baseball-Reference
• 1970 California Angels team page at www.baseball-almanac.com
• Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN   978-0-9637189-8-3.

Further Reading

• Goldman, Rob; Ryan, Nolan (2006). Once They Were Angels. Sport Publishing, LLC. ISBN   9781582611631.