Characters, Personality Set the 1961 Angels Apart : Baseball: The surprising success and sometimes bizarre behavior of the expansion team created lasting memories.

Ken Hunt was broadcasting the news from a 1,000-watt radio station in East Grand Forks, Minn., just across the state line from North Dakota. It was an off-season job for the 27-year-old New York Yankee outfielder.

But on this December morning in 1960, Hunt could barely keep his mind on work. He read the reports, but kept an eye on the wire services at all times.

At that moment, the Los Angeles Angels and Washington Senators, two expansion teams, were in the process of drafting players. Hunt knew he had been left unprotected by the Yankees and was anxiously awaiting word.

“I lived in holy terror that Washington would take me,” Hunt said. “I didn’t like the city and I wasn’t particularly fond of the ballpark there. When it came across the wire that the Angels had drafted me, I was so happy I just stopped reading the news.”

Then a thought crossed Hunt’s mind.

“The Los Angeles Angels?”

Many wondered the same thing.

In whirlwind fashion, the Angels were formed during the winter of 1960. The franchise was awarded to Gene Autry and Bob Reynolds on Dec. 7. During the next seven days, they hired a general manager and manager, and selected 30 players in the expansion draft.

It was a curious mix of veterans and younger players, many of whom had unique personalities and questionable talent. A number of publications predicted they wouldn’t win 50 games. They won 70.

Their surprising success and sometimes bizarre behavior made for lasting memories. Few may recall the Dodgers of 1961 (they finished second), but many remember that first Angel team--for the personalities, if nothing else.

“I had more fun on that team than any other team I played on,” said outfielder Lee Thomas, now general manager of the Philadelphia Phillies. “We had a bunch of guys that no one else wanted and we had a ball.”

And played some, too.

Autry and Reynolds, who co-owned Golden West Broadcasting, pursued an expansion franchise only after a syndicate headed by Hall of Famer Hank Greenberg fell apart. A day after getting the team, they hired former Milwaukee Braves’ Manager Fred Haney as their general manager.

Casey Stengel turned down an offer to manage the club, so Haney selected Bill Rigney--two days before the expansion draft.

“I had no idea what to expect, I just needed a job,” said Rigney, who had been fired by the San Francisco Giants that June.

A job wasn’t the only thing Rigney got. Six months later, a doctor discovered he had an ulcer.

On Dec. 14, officials from the Angels and Senators gathered at the American League office for the draft. The talent pool was supplied by the other eight AL teams, who each could protect 25 players on their 40-man roster.

“Fred and I had a difference of opinion on the draft,” Rigney said. “He thought we needed some name players who fans would recognize because we were competing with the Dodgers. I felt we need players who would help us the next year and the next year and the next year. So we compromised.”

As a result, the Angels ended up with veterans Bob Cerv, Ted Kluszewski and Eddie Yost, and rookies such as Dean Chance, Jim Fregosi and Bob (Buck) Rodgers. The rookies spent most of that first season in the minor leagues.

The rest of the roster was filled with guys who had been reserves on other teams.

“I always knew very well I wasn’t going to make the Yankees, not with a Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris around,” said Hunt, who had only 44 major league at-bats before coming to the Angels. “So this was a new start for me. It was a chance to play.”

Those first Angels were anything but routine.

Ken Aspromonte, a veteran infielder, came back to the hotel one day during spring training only to find his roommate, burly first baseman Steve Bilko, sitting in the bathtub with a case of beer at his side.

“He looked like a beached whale,” Aspromonte said. “The water was overflowing from the tub and he was drinking one beer after another. Steve didn’t like the hot sun.”

Bilko, like many of his teammates, preferred to do his work when the sun went down.

“I never knew what the guys did off the field,” Rigney said. “But I was sure I could find a team meeting in some bar.”

Said pitcher Ken McBride: “It was an interesting collection of players. We had more than our share of characters.”

The cast included Bilko, Hunt, catcher Ed Averill and pitcher Eli Grba. Later, the group would include outfielder Leon Wagner, purchased from a minor league team, and outfielder Lee Thomas and pitcher Ryne Duren, both acquired from the Yankees in May.

Duren, who is a recovering alcoholic, was a terror on the mound--setting an American League record that season by striking out the first seven batters in a game--and worse off it.

One night, he was running around the hotel, shouting and knocking on doors. Finally, Grba decked him and carried Duren back to his room.

“We were definitely a team that liked the night life,” Hunt said.

So much so that one evening in Washington, after the team’s flight to New York had been postponed four hours, Rigney refused to turn his players loose.

“I was scared I’d have to call the police in to get them back to the airport,” he said.

As a compromise, Rigney called restaurant owner Duke Ziebert. Though his Washington establishment was closed on Sundays, Ziebert opened it for a private party.

“Everything was going fine, then one of the waiters asked Averill if he wanted some wine,” Rigney said. “That opened the flood gates. When the bill came, it was around $1,200.”

Things weren’t much better at home. Grba and Hunt rented a house in Inglewood, which became a hub of social activity--not just for the Angels, but any team that was in town.

To this day, Grba said it’s hard to separate fact from fiction.

“I think if Ken and I did everything we were accused of doing, we would have been dead long ago,” said Grba, who like Duren is a recovering alcoholic. “But we did do our share.”

Rigney was asked to mold those individuals into a group. He felt the team had talent, but it was difficult to convince outsiders.

“We began feeling like second-class citizens,” Rigney said. “Someone from the Dodgers would get $200 to $300 for a speaking engagement, and one of us would maybe get $25. The papers said we wouldn’t win 50 games. That stuff brought us together as a team.”

The Angels opened in Baltimore and vented some of their anger.

Kluszewski and Cerv hit home runs in the first inning, and Grba went the distance in a 7-2 victory.

“I remember Mr. Autry was in the front row, grinning from ear to ear,” Hunt said. “We were all pretty excited. You would have thought we had won the World Series.”

The Angels lost their next seven games.

“That first game was important,” Rigney said. “We knew we’d end up with at least one in the win column.”

The Angels may not have been good, but they were exciting to watch.

One night in Washington, Duren was protecting a lead in the ninth. He needed one strike to end the game and decided to come with a spitter.

Trouble was, he didn’t let Averill, his catcher, know it.

“Ryne threw the ball and I heard Eddy scream,” Rigney said.

Said Hunt: “The ball bounced off Ed’s knee and he went down. By the time our third baseman got the ball, two runs had scored and we’d lost.”

In their first televised game in Cleveland, Hunt and Wagner converged on a fly ball, which neither caught.

“I said Wags, ‘You got it?’ He said, ‘No, do you?’ ” Hunt said. “By the time we figured it out, two runs had scored.”

In a doubleheader in Kansas City, Thomas went nine for 11, including three home runs and eight runs batted in during the second game. Still, the Angels were swept.

“You just never knew what was going to happen or how we were going to lose,” pitcher Tex Clevenger said.

For the Angels, there was no better place than Wrigley Field, where they played their first season before moving to Dodger Stadium.

Wrigley Field was located south of the Coliseum in Los Angeles. It was a cozy stadium modeled after Wrigley Field in Chicago. The capacity was 20,500, which led to a league low in attendance. Its power alleys were short, which lead to a league high in home runs.

The Angels had five players hit 20 or more homers: Wagner (28), Hunt (25), Thomas (21), Averill (21) and Bilko (20). In all, 248 home runs were hit there, still the major league record.

“Guys would hit the ball, then pound their bats on the plate because they thought they’d popped up,” said Thomas, who played right field. “I would just turn around and watch the ball go over the fence. Pitchers hated the place.”

“Personally, I liked pitching in Wrigley,” McBride said. “It made me a smarter pitcher. If you walked a couple of batters, it could be 3-0 real quick.”

Others weren’t quite as fond of the place.

“I was never so happy to see a stadium vacant as that place,” said Milt Pappas, who pitched for Baltimore in 1961.

The Angels drew only 603,510 fans--166,522 of which attended the nine games with the Yankees--many of whom rooted against the home team.

The Angels, who were swept that season at Yankee Stadium, won six of the nine from the American League champions at Wrigley Field.

“As the season wore on, we showed some people,” Grba said. “I think we earned some respect.”

The Angels had a strong second half, going 45-44. They finished eighth, a half-game behind Minnesota.

The highlight of the season came in early August, when Ted Bowsfield pitched a complete game to beat Washington. It was the team’s 50th victory.

The Angels retired to Ziebert’s restaurant for a pennant-clinching-type celebration, complete with champagne.

“Ted walked up to me and handed me the ball,” Rigney said. “He told me, ‘There’s No. 50 and there’s more to come.’ That team had a lot of characters, but it also had some character.”