Farewell to Angel Manager Mike Scioscia

There has been 21 managers for the Angels and to tell you the truth there is only one that I remember, and that is Mike Scioscia.  Even though I considered myself a fan and went to as many games as my budget would allow, only the players stood out not the managers, most of them didn’t last long enough to make enough of an impact to be remember by most fans. 

List of Los Angeles Angels managers

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Los_Angeles_Angels_managers

Managers came and went. Starting in 1961 until 2000, Angel managers didn’t last very long.  Then in 2000 Mike Scioscia became the Manager of the Anaheim Angels under the ownership of the Walt Disney Company and a new era in Angel baseball began.

Growing up as a LA Dodger fan, I actually got to see Mike play for the Dodgers, and he was great as their catcher.  It all started when he was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1st round of the 1976 amateur draft.  Then a few years later in 1980, he replaced  Steve Yeager as their catcher and went on to play 12 years for the Dodgers.

Dodger manager Tommy Lasorda helped lobby Scioscia to sign with the Dodgers after the team drafted him out of Springfield (Delaware County) High School  in 1976.

Scioscia immediately made himself invaluable to the Dodgers by making the effort to learn Spanish in order to better communicate with rookie sensation Fernando Valenzuela in 1981.

Scioscia was a key player on the Dodgers’ 1981 and 1988 World Series champion teams.

After his playing career ended, Scioscia spent several seasons as a minor league manager and major league coach in the Dodgers organization before being hired as the Angels manager after the 1999 season.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Scioscia

As a manager, Scioscia led the Angels to their only World Series championship for now in 2002.

 I remember when the Angels won the World Series in 2002 and the players from the that year’s team it was a really great team that Mike out together. And I loved to watch them play, they were good, I mean real good, with  Bengie Molina, as their Catcher,  Outfielders Tim Salmon,  infielder Chone Figgins and let’s not forget Francisco Rodriguez as pitcher.

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/teamstats/roster.php?y=2002&t=ANA

Unfortunately, by the time the Angels won the world series in 2002, it was too late for the original owner Gene Autry to actually see them win it all, but his wife, Jackie is still alive and got to see Autry’s beloved Angels take down the SF Giants in 7 games with Mike Scioscia as their manager.

It was a sad day for a lot of Angel fans when at the end of this 2018 season, Mike announced his retirement.

https://www.foxnews.com/sports/scioscia-wont-return-as-angels-manager-ending-19-year-tenure

On his final day as Angels manager, Mike Scioscia finally handed over the script

https://www.ocregister.com/2018/09/30/hoornstra-on-his-final-day-as-angels-manager-mike-scioscia-finally-handed-over-the-script/

After 19 years as manager, who does the ‘now’ owner Arte Moreno hire replacing Mike Scioscia as the new manager of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim .

http://www.staradvertiser.com/2018/10/01/sports/sports-breaking/angels-seek-new-manager-when-mike-sciocia-quits-after-19-seasons/

Here are five candidates to replace Mike Scioscia as Angels manager

https://www.idahostatesman.com/sports/mlb/article219476240.html

I want to wish the best for Mike in his retirement, and to let him know that he will be missed.