The 1962 Los Angeles Angels season involved the Angels finishing third in the American League with a record of 86 wins and 76 losses, ten games behind the World Series Champion New York Yankees. The 1962 Angels are one of only two expansion teams to achieve a winning record in its second season of existence in the history of Major League Baseball (the other is the 1999 Arizona Diamondbacks of the National League, who finished as NL West Champions at 100–62). The 1962 Angels was the first Angels team to reside at Dodger Stadium, called Chavez Ravine by the team.
| 1962 Los Angeles Angels | ||
|---|---|---|
| League | American League | |
| Ballpark | Chávez Ravine | |
| City | Los Angeles | |
| Owners | Gene Autry | |
| General managers | Fred Haney | |
| Managers | Bill Rigney | |
| Television | KHJ | |
| Radio | KMPC (Buddy Blattner, Don Wells, Steve Bailey) | |
| ||
Offseason
- October 19, 1961: Del Rice was released by the Angels.[1]
- November 27, 1961: Bo Belinsky was drafted by the Angels from the Baltimore Orioles in the 1961 rule 5 draft.[2]
- December 4, 1961: Ramón Hernández was purchased by the Angels from the Pittsburgh Pirates.[3]
Regular season
On May 5, Bo Belinsky threw the first no-hitter in the history of the Angels and the first one at Dodger Stadium, beating the Baltimore Orioles 2–0.
Season standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York Yankees | 96 | 66 | .593 | — | 50–30 | 46–36 |
| Minnesota Twins | 91 | 71 | .562 | 5 | 45–36 | 46–35 |
| Los Angeles Angels | 86 | 76 | .531 | 10 | 40–41 | 46–35 |
| Detroit Tigers | 85 | 76 | .528 | 10½ | 49–33 | 36–43 |
| Chicago White Sox | 85 | 77 | .525 | 11 | 43–38 | 42–39 |
| Cleveland Indians | 80 | 82 | .494 | 16 | 43–38 | 37–44 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 77 | 85 | .475 | 19 | 44–38 | 33–47 |
| Boston Red Sox | 76 | 84 | .475 | 19 | 39–40 | 37–44 |
| Kansas City Athletics | 72 | 90 | .444 | 24 | 39–42 | 33–48 |
| Washington Senators | 60 | 101 | .373 | 35½ | 27–53 | 33–48 |
Record vs. opponents
Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | BAL | BOS | CHW | CLE | DET | KCA | LAA | MIN | NYY | WSH | |||
| Baltimore | — | 8–10 | 9–9 | 11–7 | 2–16 | 10–8 | 8–10 | 6–12 | 11–7 | 12–6 | |||
| Boston | 10–8 | — | 8–10 | 7–11 | 11–6 | 10–8 | 6–12 | 10–8 | 6–12 | 8–9 | |||
| Chicago | 9–9 | 10–8 | — | 12–6 | 9–9 | 9–9 | 10–8 | 8–10 | 8–10 | 10–8 | |||
| Cleveland | 7–11 | 11–7 | 6–12 | — | 10–8 | 11–7 | 9–9 | 6–12 | 11–7 | 9–9 | |||
| Detroit | 16–2 | 6–11 | 9–9 | 8–10 | — | 12–6 | 11–7 | 5–13 | 7–11 | 11–7 | |||
| Kansas City | 8–10 | 8–10 | 9–9 | 7–11 | 6–12 | — | 6–12 | 8–10 | 5–13 | 15–3 | |||
| Los Angeles | 10–8 | 12–6 | 8–10 | 9–9 | 7–11 | 12–6 | — | 9–9 | 8–10 | 11–7 | |||
| Minnesota | 12–6 | 8–10 | 10–8 | 12–6 | 13–5 | 10–8 | 9–9 | — | 7–11 | 10–8–1 | |||
| New York | 7–11 | 12–6 | 10–8 | 7–11 | 11–7 | 13–5 | 10–8 | 11–7 | — | 15–3 | |||
| Washington | 6–12 | 9–8 | 8–10 | 9–9 | 7–11 | 3–15 | 7–11 | 8–10–1 | 3–15 | — | |||
Notable transactions
- September 8, 1962: Art Fowler was released by the Angels.[4]
Roster
| 1962 Los Angeles Angels | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roster | |||||||||
Pitchers
| Catchers Infielders
| Outfielders
| Manager
Coaches
| ||||||
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 | Buck Rodgers | 155 | 565 | 146 | .258 | 6 | 61 |
| 1B | Lee Thomas | 160 | 583 | 169 | .290 | 26 | 104 |
| 2B | Billy Moran | 160 | 659 | 186 | .282 | 17 | 74 |
| SS | Joe Koppe | 128 | 375 | 85 | .227 | 4 | 40 |
| 3B | Félix Torres | 127 | 451 | 117 | .259 | 11 | 74 |
| LF | Leon Wagner | 160 | 583 | 169 | .290 | 26 | 104 |
| CF | Albie Pearson | 160 | 614 | 160 | .261 | 5 | 42 |
| RF | George Thomas | 56 | 181 | 43 | .238 | 4 | 12 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Earl Averill Jr. | 92 | 187 | 41 | .219 | 4 | 22 |
| Jim Fregosi | 58 | 175 | 51 | .291 | 3 | 23 |
| Steve Bilko | 64 | 164 | 47 | .287 | 8 | 38 |
| Tom Burgess | 87 | 143 | 28 | .196 | 2 | 13 |
| Eddie Yost | 52 | 104 | 25 | .240 | 0 | 10 |
| Leo Burke | 19 | 64 | 17 | .266 | 4 | 14 |
| Ed Sadowski | 27 | 55 | 11 | .200 | 1 | 3 |
| Gordie Windhorn | 40 | 45 | 8 | .178 | 0 | 1 |
| Marlan Coughtry | 11 | 22 | 4 | .182 | 0 | 2 |
| Billy Consolo | 28 | 20 | 2 | .100 | 0 | 0 |
| Tom Satriano | 10 | 19 | 8 | .421 | 2 | 6 |
| Frank Leja | 7 | 16 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Gene Leek | 7 | 14 | 2 | .143 | 0 | 0 |
| Ken Hunt | 13 | 11 | 2 | .182 | 1 | 1 |
| Dick Simpson | 6 | 8 | 2 | .250 | 0 | 1 |
| Chuck Tanner | 7 | 8 | 1 | .125 | 0 | 0 |
| Ed Kirkpatrick | 3 | 6 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bo Belinsky | 33 | 187.1 | 10 | 11 | 3.56 | 145 |
| Eli Grba | 40 | 176.1 | 8 | 9 | 4.54 | 90 |
| Don Lee | 27 | 153.1 | 8 | 8 | 3.11 | 74 |
| Ken McBride | 24 | 149.1 | 11 | 5 | 3.50 | 83 |
| Ted Bowsfield | 34 | 139.0 | 9 | 8 | 4.40 | 52 |
| Bobby Darwin | 1 | 3.1 | 0 | 1 | 10.80 | 6 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dean Chance | 50 | 206.2 | 14 | 10 | 2.96 | 127 |
| George Witt | 5 | 10.0 | 1 | 1 | 8.10 | 10 |
| Fred Newman | 4 | 6.1 | 0 | 1 | 9.95 | 4 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tom Morgan | 48 | 5 | 2 | 9 | 2.91 | 29 |
| Jack Spring | 57 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 4.02 | 31 |
| Art Fowler | 48 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 2.81 | 38 |
| Ryne Duren | 42 | 2 | 9 | 8 | 4.42 | 74 |
| Bob Botz | 35 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3.43 | 24 |
| Dan Osinski | 33 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 2.82 | 44 |
| Jim Donohue | 12 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3.70 | 14 |
| Julio Navarro | 9 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4.70 | 11 |
| Joe Nuxhall | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10.13 | 2 |
Awards and honors
- Bill Rigney, Associated Press AL Manager of the Year
Farm system
Dallas-Fort Worth affiliation shared with Philadelphia Phillies
Notes
References
- 1962 Los Angeles Angels team page at Baseball Reference
- 1962 Los Angeles 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.