L.A. council says no to Angels name change

[question everything]

Wednesday, November 17, 2004

L.A. council says no to Angels name change

City Council members want to keep the baseball team identified with Anaheim.


City News Service

LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously today to go on record against a plan to change the Anaheim Angels team name to the Los Angeles Angels for marketing purposes.

"I think it's disrespectful to us," said Council President Alex Padilla, a huge Los Angeles Dodgers fan and a former star pitcher at San Fernando High. "I don't think it's right that they benefit economically from our good name."

(snip)

The Anaheim City Council and Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle, citing a stadium agreement with the home team, agree. They have threatened to sue if Angels owner Arte Moreno proceeds with the plan.

The Los Angeles Angels, a reference to the City of Angels, was the name a Pacific Coast League minor-league club decades ago. The same name was given to the Major League expansion franchise when it began in 1961. Owner Gene Autry changed the name to California Angels when he moved the club to Anaheim in 1966.

http://www.ocregister.com/ocr/2004/11/17/sections/local/local_breaking_news/article_313945.php

[VOX]

1. Actually, I'd like to see the Angels reunited with Los Angeles...

Even if in name only. If greater New York can field MLB teams in both leagues, why can't L.A.? Why can't the Angels be allowed to benefit from big-market exposure?

The Angels have played second fiddle to the Dodgers since their inception in 1961 -- the Dodgers purchased the Pacific Coast L.A. Angels, and moved them to Seattle. (The Dodgers also purloined the interlocking "LA" logo from the PCL Angels, too.) From 1961-65, the Angels were tenants of the L.A. Dodgers, having to pay rent at both Writley Field and Chavez Ravine. That was why they moved in the first place.

Gene Autry came within a whisker of building a stadium in Long Beach, but the city fathers there insisted on calling the team the Long Beach Angels. Autry refused.

Thus the move to Anaheim, and the long-standing difficulty in placing the Angels on a map -- the California Angels? Where exactly is that? The Anaheim Angels? Glance at any AL standings to see how out of place that small city's name is, alongside New York, Chicago, Detroit, Seattle, Baltimore, etc.

[Carla in Ca]

2. Well, the City Council got THIS right!

The Dodgers have had a long and distinguished career in Los Angeles. I don't have to detail all of the achievements here but when the Angels, a Triple-A club in my opinion, win for the first time, they get a little too cocky. The fans are a bunch of snobs which is quite befitting for the county they play in.

Orange County was originally created so the 'white folk' could escape Los Angeles in the first place! The fact that they now want to come sniveling back to have a bigger share of the market makes my blood boil. Their one black player, Garrett Anderson, was the MVP was he not? But he wasn't included on any sports shirt that I have noticed.

This die hard Dodger fan says "Urrrrrr OUT!