Fun-Time Baseball Hall: Your First-Ballot Angels

It's time again to announce the latest members of the Fun-Time Baseball Hall. Per the rules based on the age of a franchise, four Angels were selected as first-ballot inductees. There were a couple of players I thought would make it who did not.

The four Angels who will join these Tigers in the Hall are:

Nolan Ryan, Tim Salmon, Rod Carew and Garrett Anderson.

Here's the breakdown:

Jim Abbott	8 (40%)
Garrett Anderson	12 (60%)
Bob Boone	4 (20%)
Rod Carew	13 (65%)
Dean Chance	5 (25%)
Brian Downing	9 (45%)
Chuck Finley	4 (20%)
Jim Fregosi	7 (35%)
Bob Grich	10 (50%)
Wally Joyner	7 (35%)
Troy Percival	6 (30%)
Francisco Rodriguez	3 (15%)
Nolan Ryan	19 (95%)
Tim Salmon	15 (75%)
Frank Tanana	4 (20%)

Nolan Ryan (P)

Pitched for the Angels from 1972-79. Corresponding K totals (329, 383, 367, 186, 327, 341, 260, 223).

• Threw four no-hitters as an Angel. Seven for his career (three more than anyone in history).
• 5,714 career strikeouts (MLB record)
• Eight-time All-Star (1972-73, 1975, 1977, 1979, 1981, 1985, 1989).
• World Series champion (1969): Ryan saved Game 3 as a New York Met, pitching 2.1 shutout innings against the Orioles. The Game 3 win gave the Mets a 2–1 lead in the Series, which they went on to win in five games. It would be Ryan's only World Series appearance.
• MLB All-Century team
• Led the league in Ks 7 of 8 seasons while in California but also led the league in walks in six of those years, and finished second the other two seasons. Aside from Bob Feller in 1938, Ryan is the only man since 1900 to walk 200 batters in a season, which he did twice during his Angels' years.
• Ranks high on the list for four "negative" records: first all-time in walks allowed (2,795), first in wild pitches (277), third in losses (292—most in the post-1920 live-ball era), and ninth in hit batters (158).
• Traded from Mets in 1971 in a deal bringing Jim Fregosi to the Mets. Fregosi had been an All-Star in six of seven seasons. The deal was not controversial at the time.
• Ryan had a league-leading 329 Ks in his first season with the Angels, nearly a third more than the runnerup, and to that point, the fourth-highest total of the 20th century. Within five seasons, it would only be Ryan's fourth-highest K total. He also set a still-standing Major League record by allowing only 5.26 hits per nine innings, and posted a 2.28 ERA, to date the second-lowest in franchise history, trailing only Dean Chance's 1.65 in 1964. 
• Angels' totals: 138-121, 2,181 IPs, 2,416 strikeouts, 3.07 ERA, 1.294 WHIP
• Career totals: 324-292, 5,386 IPs, 5,714 strikeouts, 3.19 ERA, 1,247 WHIP

Tim Salmon (OF)

Played entire career (1992-2004, 2006) with Angels. Known as King Fish and Mr. Angel.

• Held status as one of the AL's elite power-hitting OFs throughout the decade. He finished seventh in MVP voting for the first time in 1995, when he finished third in AL with a .330 average, 34 home runs, 105, RBIs and posted an OPS above 1.000. Seventh in MVP voting again in 1997 (.296, 33 home runs, 129 RBIs.)
• AL Rookie of the Year (1993)
• Silver Slugger award (1995)
• World Series champion (2002): Crucial part of the team's playoff and World Series run, hitting two key home runs in Game 2 of the World Series against the Giants and batting .346 with a 1.067 OPS in the series overall.
• AL Comeback Player of the Year (2002) after career lows in 2001.
• Despite franchise record for home runs (299) and finishing with more than 1,000 RBIs, he was never selected an All-Star. Career HR total is the highest for any player (who played most of his career after the first All-Star game in 1933) to have never been selected to appear in an All-Star game.
• From 1993 to 2000 he only had two OPS lines below .900 and he never finished below .860.
• Career totals: .282, 299 home runs, 1,016 RBIs, 986 runs scored.

Garret Anderson (OF)

Played most of his career (1994-2008) with the Angels (appearing with the team under all three of its recent names - California/Anaheim/Los Angeles).

• Played with Braves (2009) and Dodgers (2010).
• Due to longevity, Angels' franchise leader in GPs, ABs, hits, total bases, singles, doubles, grand slams, extra-base hits, career RBIs, single-game RBIs, and consecutive games (12) with an RBI. Classic "counting stats vs. rate stats" case.
• Three-time All-Star (2002, 2003, 2005). 2003 All-Star Game MVP (Potch was there!). 2003 Home Run Derby Winner.
• World Series champion (2002). Hit a key bases-clearing double in Game 7.
• Two-time Silver Slugger Award winner (2002-03)
• In 2002, finished fourth in AL MVP voting after hitting .306, 29 home runs, 123 RBIs. Scored career-high 93 runs. Never scored 100 or more in a season, hinting at his main weakness as a player: an inability to take walks and thus a low OBP.
• On August 21, 2007, he drove in a team-record 10 runs, including a grand slam and a three-run homer, in an 18-9 win over the Yankees. He became the 13th player in history to have 10 RBIs in a game.
• Began experiencing chronic ailments, including arthritis and plantar fasciitis in his feet, in 2004 that limited his playing time/production.

Angels' totals: .296, 272 home runs, 2,368 hits, 1,292 RBIs, 1,024 runs
Career totals: .293, 287 home runs, 2,529 hits, 1,365 RBIs, 1,084 runs

Rod Carew (1B/2B)

Played for the California Angels from 1979-85. Played for the Minnesota Twins from 1967-78. Had seven good seasons in California after a phenomenal run in Minnesota.

• 18-time All-Star - every year of his career except his last. With Twins won the AL MVP (1977); AL Rookie of the Year (1967). A second basemen until late 1975, Carew moved to first base for his final 10 years in the league. In 1991, Carew became only the 23rd player elected to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. 
• Achieved greatest success, by far, as a Twin. In 12 seasons, had 200 or more hits four times and batted .334. Finished top 10 in AL MVP voting six times. Won 7 batting titles.
• In 7 seasons as an Angel, highest hit total was 179 and batted .314. Hit better than .300 five times. Highest MVP voting was 26th. Did not win a batting title in California. After 8 straight years in Minnesota playing 140 or more games, his totals in California were: 110, 144, 93, 138, 129, 93, 127.
• As a Twin, Carew won the AL batting title in 1972 (.318) without hitting a single home run. Carew batted .388 in 1977 (his MVP season), the highest since Ted Williams hit .406 in 1941.

Minnesota totals: .334, 74 home runs, 733 RBIs, 950 runs, 271 SBs.
California totals: .314, 18 home runs, 282 RBIs, 474 runs, 82 SBs.
Career: .328, 3,053 hits, 1,015 RBIs, 1,424 runs scored, 353 SBs.


Note: Vladimir Guerrero was not eligible until next year based on our Hall's requirement that a player must be three full seasons removed from suiting up for the team in question. A couple of borderline candidates who did not make the first-year ballot - Don Baylor, who won the AL MVP as an Angel, and Mike Witt, who threw a perfect game with the club and had some solid Angels counting stats, likely will join the ballot for Year Two.

Rules, etc.:
As always, when voting, please keep in mind a player's body of work for the team featured. It's your call whether longevity for a team and counting stats is a key deciding factor or if you prefer judging a player's impact on the franchise made possibly in a relatively short time. 
 


First-year balloting will differ from subsequent years, when percentage voting will come into play.

• For teams in existence since 1920 or before, 7 players - the top vote-getters - will win first-ballot induction.
• For teams established between 1921-1940, 6 players will win first-ballot induction.
• For teams established between 1941-1960, 5 players will win first-ballot induction. 
• For teams established between 1961-1975, 4 players will win first-ballot induction.
• For teams established between 1976-1990, 3 players will be inducted. 
• For newer expansion teams, the ballots will be grouped and the top three from all of these teams will be inducted.
• Roughly one year after a team(s) is featured, a second ballot will be held. 
• Four more players will enter the Hall for each team in existence since 1940 or before. Three more for teams established between 1941 and 1975. Two more for teams established after 1976. One more total for the combined newer expansion teams.* 
* I intend to fully adhere to these rules but I possibly will add a percentage requirement also for second-year induction, which I know for sure I'll implement in subsequent years.