#50 12/06/60 –Baseball Winter Meetings, St. Louis – L.A. Angels Franchise Created


 In 1960, Gene Autry, the “Singin’ Cowboy,” learned that the Dodgers, whose games were broadcast by one of his radio stations (710 KMPC-AM), were planning on granting broadcasting rights to another station. He also heard that the American League was planning on creating an expansion team in the Los Angeles area. Therefore, Autry went to baseball’s winter meetings in St. Louis seeking to secure the broadcasting rights for the new ball club. When the deal was almost scuttled by Dodger owner Walter O’Malley’s demand for $450,000 in territorial indemnification, Autry and his partner, Robert Reynolds, ended up making a bid to buy the team themselves. Autry first needed to secure a $1.5 million letter of credit. Then he made his pitch at a joint meeting of the owners of both leagues. After the American League agreed to allow the NL to create an expansion team in New York in 1962, and Autry agreed to pay the Dodgers $350,000 in indemnification fees, they were granted the rights to the AL expansion franchise that became the Los Angeles Angels.

Autry immediately hired general manager Fred Haney and field manager Bill Rigney who were in charge of assembling a team. They had to work fast, because a special expansion draft was held on Dec. 14, 1960, only eight days after the franchise was formed, for the Angels and fellow expansion team Washington Senators to draft the rights to 28 players left unprotected by other Major League teams. Those drafted by the Angels included: Eli Grba, Jim Fregosi, Dean Chance, Albie Pearson, Ken McBride, Bob Rodgers, and Ted Kluszewski.

The team would begin play the following spring at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles with this group of rookies and cast-offs. That inaugural year, the Angels went 70-91, establishing the best mark ever for an expansion team.

Thus the Angels were born – a team that experienced ups and downs, triumphs and tragedies. Although the Angels would never quite reach their potential while Gene Autry was still alive, they provided many magical moments throughout the years until, in 2002, they would finally achieve their greatest goal – the world championship that had always been just out of reach. Since that magical season, the Angels have become one of the premier franchises in baseball. They have won 8 divisional titles, produced a Rookie of the Year, two MVPs, and two Cy Young winners. More importantly, they’ve become a symbol of hope and joy that burns brightly in the hearts of millions of fans in southern California and throughout the world.