The Angel Name Game: Profit and Los Angeles

John Roehling doesn’t sell power hitters, but he sells forklifts.

He doesn’t work at Angel Stadium, but his office is close enough that he can walk to the games.

He doesn’t have the visibility of Arte Moreno, but he has the same philosophy.

The name of his Anaheim-based firm?

Equipment Co. of Los Angeles.

“It’s simple,” said Roehling, the owner. “When people outside the area think of Orange County, they think of it as being part of Los Angeles.”

You see? It’s simple. An Anaheim businessman wants to attract the largest possible number of customers, so he reminds everyone that he is part of Los Angeles.

A smart move. A money move. A move that potentially will result in more business, which means more money for the city of Anaheim, which means everybody wins.

John Roehling does it and he’s being honorable.

The Angels want to do it and they’re being devious?

Although one cannot seriously compare a vendor of heavy equipment to a team of heavy hitters, their bottom line is the same, the argument just as silly.

The Angels supposedly are denying their heritage and shaming their people by considering replacing “Anaheim” with “Los Angeles?”

Los Angeles is the Angels’ heritage.

Just like with Roehling’s company.

“We started 29 years ago in Los Angeles, and we’ve since moved around, but that is how we’re originally known,” Roehling said.

And the Angels would not be shaming their people, they’d be embracing more of them, the thousands of season-ticket holders who don’t live in Anaheim, the 35% who don’t even live in Orange County.

Yeah, just like Roehling.

“Seventy-five percent of our business comes from L.A. County,” he said. “Our name just makes sense.”

Little about the opposition to the Angels makes sense, Anaheim city officials cutting off their growth to spite their face.

On Tuesday they again threatened legal action against the Angels if the team name is changed, citing the 8-year-old lease agreement in which the team adopted the name “Anaheim” in exchange for $30 million in stadium renovation funds.

Yet it is precisely that name change that would help pay back that $30 million, some of which has already poured into city coffers through ticket sale fees and sales taxes paid by

fans who crowd Anaheim

restaurants, bars and gas stations.

Moreno’s Angels have the third-highest payroll in baseball, a stadium amazingly filled to 94% of capacity, and a newly crowned league most valuable player in Vladimir Guerrero.

Since taking over the team two years ago, Moreno has tried to think huge and win big.

After being saddled in recent years by ownership groups whose vision demeaned Anaheim as a small market, city officials should be delighted with this effort.

Can’t they see that Moreno is now angling for the increased TV revenue that would come with a “Los Angeles” designation -- a difference of as much as $15 million a year?

And that maybe this could lead to Moreno’s ability to back the lucrative arrival of an NFL team to play in a site next to the stadium?

Yet Anaheim says its name isn’t for sale.

Although eight years ago, it was very much for sale.

“We will do whatever we can to help them augment their business

Yet that name represents the fourth-smallest city designation in baseball, attached to a team playing in its second-largest market.

Translated, the Angels are able to sell only from a population base of 332,000 while trying to compete in a market of 16 million. It’s like trying to win a network ratings war while being able to advertise only on public television.

Anaheim voters would be wise to wonder how much money it will eventually cost their city to maintain a team name that isn’t even on that team’s shirts, or logo or schedule.

All because some politician doesn’t want to be known as the one who allowed the invasion of that boogeyman known as “Los Angeles.”

Let’s be honest. That’s what all this howling is about.

It’s not about supporting Anaheim, it’s about fearing Los Angeles.

It’s not about a city, it’s about a county, about a curtain, about a paranoia, and it’s just plain outdated and dumb.

My favorite protest thus far came in a letter to The Times, from a gentleman who vowed to never again attend an Angel game if “Anaheim” was replaced by “Los Angeles.”

This huge Anaheim supporter had an address listed as ... Garden Grove?

“All we’re trying to do is enhance our economic viability,” said Tim Mead, Angel spokesman. “We’ve done nothing, we’re only exploring concepts.

“We enjoy a tremendous partnership with the city of Anaheim, and we want it to remain that way.”

There’s no reason it can’t.

What the Angels are trying isn’t unusual. A couple of months ago, the reigning champions in the four major sports all had monikers of places other than their actual address.

The New England Patriots, Detroit Pistons, Florida Marlins and Tampa Bay Lightning.

In an age of regional sports marketing, the Los Angeles Angels works.

And for those politicians who disagree, I’ll expect to be seeing you at the reopening of Disney’s Anaheim Adventure.

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Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Plaschke, go to latimes.com/plaschke.