Leon Wagner, 69; Baseball Slugger and Original Member of Los Angeles Angels

Leon “Daddy Wags” Wagner, an original member of the Los Angeles Angels who held the franchise home run record for 16 years, has died. He was 69.

Wagner died Sunday at his Los Angeles home of natural causes.

Known for his easygoing approach to baseball and unique sense of humor, Wagner was an excellent hitter who played three seasons for the Angels, starting with their first season as an expansion team in 1961.

Wagner, a native of Chattanooga, Tenn., led the Angels in home runs and runs batted in for two seasons, 1962 and 1963, finishing with 91 home runs and 276 runs batted in.

“Leon was one of the first true sluggers to don an Angels’ uniform and will be fondly remembered by the fans,” said Tim Mead, the club’s vice president for communication, in a statement. “The Angel family sends its deepest sympathies to the Wagner family.”

Wagner’s best season with the Angels was 1962, when he hit 37 home runs and drove in 107 runs, a performance that earned him fourth place in American League Most Valuable Player voting and an All-Star game appearance.

The Times’ Jim Murray wrote about Wagner in that All-Star game on July 6, 1962: “The face is chocolate brown and the eyes are merry and bright, as if the owner is constantly laughing at some inner joke -- or at you. The cheekbones are high and seem to have two plums in them, or a case of the mumps that went up.

“Two years ago, if Leon Lamar Wagner were in the game in the same outfield with Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris, he’d be the one with the autograph book.... But when the umpire calls “Play ball!” at Washington’s new stadium, the fellow in left field with the halo around his hat and delighted grin on his face will be old “Cheeky,” the American League’s home-run and RBI leader to date.”

Wagner’s career with the Angels did not end on a positive note, however. After leading the team with 26 homers and 90 RBIs in 1963, he was traded to the Cleveland Indians for Joe Adcock and Barry Latman.

Wagner did not like the deal and ripped then-Angel General Manager Fred Haney, calling him “a Khrushchev,” a reference to the then-premier of the Soviet Union, and declared that he had “nothing against Cleveland -- but I’d rather have been traded somewhere in the United States.”

The Angels responded with a news conference to outline the team’s unique financial relationship with Wagner, who had run into debt as a businessman.

Wagner had opened a clothing store on Crenshaw Boulevard in Los Angeles with the slogan, “Get Your Rags From Daddy Wags.” Unfortunately, not too many did and Wagner was faced with foreclosure. The Angels helped him out with a loan that Wagner paid back through salary deductions.

Wagner went on to have three good seasons with the Indians, including another 100-RBI year in 1964. He retired after the 1969 season.In his 12 major league seasons, Wagner played for the San Francisco Giants (1958-59 and 1969), St. Louis Cardinals (1960), Angels (1961-63), Cleveland Indians (1964-68) and Chicago White Sox (1968), posting a career batting average of .272 with 211 home runs and 669 RBIs.