# 1965 Los Angeles / California Angels season

The 1965 Los Angeles / California Angels season was the fifth year of play for the American Major League Baseball franchise. The 1965 Angels finished seventh in the American League with a record of 75 wins and 87 losses, putting them 27 games behind the AL Champion Minnesota Twins. It was also the final season for the franchise in the city of Los Angeles before moving to their new stadium in nearby Anaheim for the following season. In their fourth and last year as tenants at Chávez Ravine, the Angels drew only 566,727 fans, eighth in the ten-team Junior Circuit and almost two million fans fewer than their landlords, the Dodgers, who were en route to the 1965 world championship.

## Midseason name change

The 1965 Angels are the only team in 20th century Major League Baseball history to undergo an in-season name change. The club began the season under its original identity, the Los Angeles Angels, but with the imminent move to Anaheim, owner Gene Autry changed the name of the team to the California Angels — effective immediately — on September 2, 1965, with only 28 games left in the season.
The name change was reflected in the Angels' new caps, on which an interlocking "CA" in fancy block letters replaced the former interlocking "LA". The new caps retained the distinctive white halo around the navy-blue crown. Because the team's home and road uniforms of the time simply read "ANGELS" across the shirtfront, they did not change.

## Offseason

* October 14, 1964: The Angels traded a player to be named later to the Milwaukee Braves for Phil Roof and Ron Piché. The Angels completed the deal by sending Dan Osinski to the Braves on November 29.
* December 3, 1964: Bo Belinsky was traded by the Angels to the Philadelphia Phillies for Rudy May and Costen Shockley.
* Prior to 1965 season: Bob Smith was signed as a free agent by the Angels.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteAmerican League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Minnesota Twins | 102 | 60 | .630 | — | 51‍–‍30 | 51‍–‍30 |
| Chicago White Sox | 95 | 67 | .586 | 7 | 48‍–‍33 | 47‍–‍34 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 94 | 68 | .580 | 8 | 46‍–‍33 | 48‍–‍35 |
| Detroit Tigers | 89 | 73 | .549 | 13 | 47‍–‍34 | 42‍–‍39 |
| Cleveland Indians | 87 | 75 | .537 | 15 | 52‍–‍30 | 35‍–‍45 |
| New York Yankees | 77 | 85 | .475 | 25 | 40‍–‍43 | 37‍–‍42 |
| Los Angeles/California Angels | 75 | 87 | .463 | 27 | 46‍–‍34 | 29‍–‍53 |
| Washington Senators | 70 | 92 | .432 | 32 | 36‍–‍45 | 34‍–‍47 |
| Boston Red Sox | 62 | 100 | .383 | 40 | 34‍–‍47 | 28‍–‍53 |
| Kansas City Athletics | 59 | 103 | .364 | 43 | 33‍–‍48 | 26‍–‍55 |

### Record vs. opponents

1965 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | KCA | LAA/ CAL | MIN | NYY | WSH |
| Baltimore | — | 11–7 | 9–9 | 10–8 | 11–7 | 11–7 | 13–5 | 8–10 | 13–5 | 8–10 |
| Boston | 7–11 | — | 4–14 | 8–10 | 6–12 | 11–7 | 5–13 | 1–17 | 9–9 | 11–7 |
| Chicago | 9–9 | 14–4 | — | 10–8 | 9–9 | 13–5 | 12–6 | 7–11 | 8–10 | 13–5 |
| Cleveland | 8–10 | 10–8 | 8–10 | — | 9–9 | 9–9 | 9–9 | 11–7 | 12–6 | 11–7 |
| Detroit | 7–11 | 12–6 | 9–9 | 9–9 | — | 13–5 | 10–8 | 8–10 | 10–8 | 11–7 |
| Kansas City | 7–11 | 7–11 | 5–13 | 9–9 | 5–13 | — | 5–13 | 8–10 | 7–11 | 6–12 |
| Los Angeles/California | 5–13 | 13–5 | 6–12 | 9–9 | 8–10 | 13–5 | — | 9–9 | 6–12 | 6–12 |
| Minnesota | 10–8 | 17–1 | 11–7 | 7–11 | 10–8 | 10–8 | 9–9 | — | 13–5 | 15–3 |
| New York | 5–13 | 9–9 | 10–8 | 6–12 | 8–10 | 11–7 | 12–6 | 5–13 | — | 11–7 |
| Washington | 10–8 | 7–11 | 5–13 | 7–11 | 7–11 | 12–6 | 12–6 | 3–15 | 7–11 | — |
NOTE: The Los Angeles Angels changed their name to California Angels on September 2, 1965, with the season in progress.

### Notable transactions

* May 13, 1965: Merritt Ranew was purchased by the Angels from the San Francisco Giants.
* June 8, 1965: Joe Henderson was drafted by the Angels in the 5th round of the 1965 Major League Baseball draft.
* June 15, 1965: Phil Roof was traded by the Angels to the Cleveland Indians for a player to be named later and cash. The Indians completed the deal by sending Bubba Morton to the Angels on September 15, 1965.

### Roster
## Player stats
### Batting
#### Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Pos | Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| C | Buck Rodgers | 132 | 411 | 86 | .209 | 1 | 32 |
| 1B | Joe Adcock | 122 | 349 | 84 | .241 | 14 | 47 |
| 2B | Bobby Knoop | 142 | 465 | 125 | .269 | 7 | 43 |
| SS | Jim Fregosi | 161 | 602 | 167 | .277 | 15 | 64 |
| 3B | Paul Schaal | 155 | 483 | 108 | .224 | 9 | 45 |
| LF | Willie Smith | 136 | 459 | 120 | .261 | 14 | 57 |
| CF | José Cardenal | 134 | 512 | 128 | .250 | 11 | 57 |
| RF | Albie Pearson | 122 | 360 | 100 | .278 | 4 | 21 |

#### Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| Lou Clinton | 89 | 222 | 54 | .243 | 1 | 8 |
| Vic Power | 124 | 197 | 51 | .259 | 1 | 20 |
| Jim Piersall | 53 | 112 | 30 | .268 | 2 | 12 |
| Costen Shockley | 40 | 107 | 20 | .187 | 2 | 17 |
| Al Spangler | 51 | 96 | 25 | .260 | 0 | 1 |
| Merritt Ranew | 41 | 91 | 19 | .209 | 1 | 10 |
| Tom Satriano | 47 | 79 | 13 | .165 | 1 | 4 |
| Julio Gotay | 40 | 77 | 19 | .247 | 1 | 3 |
| Rick Reichardt | 20 | 75 | 20 | .267 | 1 | 6 |
| Ed Kirkpatrick | 19 | 73 | 19 | .260 | 3 | 8 |
| Bob Smith | 23 | 57 | 13 | .228 | 0 | 5 |
| Tom Egan | 18 | 38 | 10 | .263 | 0 | 1 |
| Joe Koppe | 23 | 33 | 7 | .212 | 1 | 2 |
| Charlie Dees | 12 | 32 | 5 | .156 | 0 | 1 |
| Dick Simpson | 8 | 27 | 6 | .222 | 0 | 3 |
| Phil Roof | 9 | 22 | 3 | .136 | 0 | 0 |
| Jackie Hernández | 6 | 6 | 2 | .333 | 0 | 1 |
| Gino Cimoli | 4 | 5 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 1 |

### Pitching
#### Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Fred Newman | 36 | 260.2 | 14 | 16 | 2.93 | 109 |
| Dean Chance | 36 | 225.2 | 15 | 10 | 3.15 | 164 |
| Marcelino López | 35 | 215.1 | 14 | 13 | 2.93 | 122 |
| Jim McGlothlin | 3 | 18.0 | 0 | 3 | 3.50 | 9 |

#### Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| George Brunet | 41 | 197.0 | 9 | 11 | 2.56 | 141 |
| Rudy May | 30 | 124.0 | 4 | 9 | 3.92 | 76 |
| Jack Sanford | 9 | 29.1 | 1 | 2 | 4.60 | 13 |
| Ken McBride | 8 | 22.0 | 0 | 3 | 6.14 | 11 |

#### Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
| Bob Lee | 69 | 9 | 7 | 23 | 1.92 | 89 |
| Aubrey Gatewood | 46 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 3.42 | 37 |
| Ed Sukla | 25 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4.50 | 15 |
| Barry Latman | 18 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2.84 | 18 |
| Jim Coates | 17 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 3.54 | 15 |
| Ron Piché | 14 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 6.86 | 14 |
| Don Lee | 10 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6.43 | 12 |
| Dick Wantz | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18.00 | 2 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Seattle Angels | Pacific Coast League | Bob Lemon |
| AA | El Paso Sun Kings | Texas League | Chuck Tanner |
| A | San Jose Bees | California League | Rocky Bridges |
| A | Quad Cities Angels | Midwest League | Harry Dunlop and Ken Blackman |
| Rookie | Idaho Falls Angels | Pioneer League | Fred Koenig |