# 1969 California Angels season

The 1969 California Angels season was a season in American baseball. In the first season following the split of the American League into two divisions, the Angels finished third in the newly established American League West with a record of 71 wins and 91 losses.

## Offseason

* October 8, 1968: Eddie Fisher was traded by the Cleveland Indians to the California Angels for Jack Hamilton.
* October 15, 1968: 1968 MLB expansion draft
** Paul Schaal was drafted from the Angels by the Kansas City Royals with the 27th pick.
** Steve Hovley was drafted from the Angels by the Seattle Pilots with the 35th pick.
* November 6, 1968: Rubén Amaro Sr. was purchased by the Angels from the New York Yankees.
* December 2, 1968: Pedro Borbón was drafted by the Angels from the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1968 rule 5 draft.
* December 12, 1968: Ed Kirkpatrick and Dennis Paepke were traded by the Angels to the Kansas City Royals for Hoyt Wilhelm.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteAL West :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Minnesota Twins | 97 | 65 | .599 | — | 57‍–‍24 | 40‍–‍41 |
| Oakland Athletics | 88 | 74 | .543 | 9 | 49‍–‍32 | 39‍–‍42 |
| California Angels | 71 | 91 | .438 | 26 | 43‍–‍38 | 28‍–‍53 |
| Kansas City Royals | 69 | 93 | .426 | 28 | 36‍–‍45 | 33‍–‍48 |
| Chicago White Sox | 68 | 94 | .420 | 29 | 41‍–‍40 | 27‍–‍54 |
| Seattle Pilots | 64 | 98 | .395 | 33 | 34‍–‍47 | 30‍–‍51 |

### Record vs. opponents

1969 American League recordsvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | CAL | CWS | CLE | DET | KC | MIN | NYY | OAK | SEP | WSH |
| Baltimore | — | 10–8 | 6–6 | 9–3 | 13–5 | 11–7 | 11–1 | 8–4 | 11–7 | 8–4 | 9–3 | 13–5 |
| Boston | 8–10 | — | 8–4 | 5–7 | 12–6 | 10–8 | 10–2 | 7–5 | 11–7 | 4–8 | 6–6 | 6–12 |
| California | 6–6 | 4–8 | — | 9–9 | 8–4 | 5–7 | 9–9 | 7–11 | 3–9 | 6–12 | 9–9–1 | 5–7 |
| Chicago | 3–9 | 7–5 | 9–9 | — | 8–4 | 3–9 | 8–10 | 5–13 | 3–9 | 8–10 | 10–8 | 4–8 |
| Cleveland | 5–13 | 6–12 | 4–8 | 4–8 | — | 7–11 | 7–5 | 5–7 | 9–8 | 5–7 | 7–5 | 3–15 |
| Detroit | 7–11 | 8–10 | 7–5 | 9–3 | 11–7 | — | 8–4 | 6–6 | 10–8 | 7–5 | 10–2 | 7–11 |
| Kansas City | 1–11 | 2–10 | 9–9 | 10–8 | 5–7 | 4–8 | — | 8–10 | 5–7–1 | 8–10 | 10–8 | 7–5 |
| Minnesota | 4–8 | 5–7 | 11–7 | 13–5 | 7–5 | 6–6 | 10–8 | — | 10–2 | 13–5 | 12–6 | 6–6 |
| New York | 7–11 | 7–11 | 9–3 | 9–3 | 8–9 | 8–10 | 7–5–1 | 2–10 | — | 6–6 | 7–5 | 10–8 |
| Oakland | 4–8 | 8–4 | 12–6 | 10–8 | 7–5 | 5–7 | 10–8 | 5–13 | 6–6 | — | 13–5 | 8–4 |
| Seattle | 3–9 | 6–6 | 9–9–1 | 8–10 | 5–7 | 2–10 | 8–10 | 6–12 | 5–7 | 5–13 | — | 7–5 |
| Washington | 5–13 | 12–6 | 7–5 | 8–4 | 15–3 | 11–7 | 5–7 | 6–6 | 8–10 | 4–8 | 5–7 | — |

### Notable transactions

* April 3, 1969: Bo Belinsky was purchased by the Angels from the St. Louis Cardinals.
* May 14, 1969: Bobby Knoop was traded by the Angels to the Chicago White Sox for Sandy Alomar Sr. and Bob Priddy.
* June 5, 1969: Rudy Meoli was drafted by the Angels in the 4th round of the 1969 Major League Baseball draft. Player signed June 13, 1969.
* June 15, 1969: Tom Satriano was traded by the Angels to the Boston Red Sox for Joe Azcue.
* July 26, 1969: Billy Cowan was purchased by the Angels from the New York Yankees.
* July 30, 1969: Bo Belinsky was purchased from the Angels by the Pittsburgh Pirates.
* September 8, 1969: Hoyt Wilhelm and Bob Priddy were traded by the Angels to the Atlanta Braves for Mickey Rivers and Clint Compton.

### 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 | Joe Azcue | 80 | 248 | 54 | .218 | 1 | 19 |
| 1B | Jim Spencer | 113 | 386 | 98 | .254 | 10 | 31 |
| 2B | Sandy Alomar Sr. | 134 | 559 | 140 | .250 | 1 | 30 |
| 3B | Aurelio Rodríguez | 159 | 561 | 130 | .232 | 7 | 49 |
| SS | Jim Fregosi | 161 | 580 | 151 | .260 | 12 | 47 |
| LF | Rick Reichardt | 137 | 493 | 125 | .254 | 13 | 68 |
| CF | Jay Johnstone | 148 | 540 | 146 | .270 | 10 | 59 |
| RF | Bill Voss | 133 | 349 | 91 | .261 | 2 | 40 |

#### 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 |
| Roger Repoz | 103 | 219 | 36 | .164 | 8 | 19 |
| Bubba Morton | 87 | 172 | 42 | .244 | 7 | 32 |
| Lou Johnson | 67 | 133 | 27 | .203 | 0 | 9 |
| Tom Egan | 46 | 120 | 17 | .142 | 5 | 16 |
| Tom Satriano | 41 | 108 | 28 | .259 | 1 | 16 |
| Vic Davalillo | 33 | 71 | 11 | .155 | 0 | 1 |
| Bobby Knoop | 27 | 71 | 14 | .197 | 1 | 6 |
| Billy Cowan | 28 | 56 | 17 | .304 | 4 | 10 |
| Dick Stuart | 22 | 51 | 8 | .157 | 1 | 4 |
| Jim Hicks | 37 | 48 | 4 | .083 | 3 | 8 |
| Winston Llenas | 34 | 47 | 8 | .170 | 0 | 0 |
| Buck Rodgers | 18 | 46 | 9 | .196 | 0 | 2 |
| Rubén Amaro Sr. | 41 | 27 | 6 | .222 | 0 | 1 |
| Randy Brown | 13 | 25 | 4 | .160 | 0 | 0 |
| Jarvis Tatum | 10 | 22 | 7 | .318 | 0 | 0 |
| Marty Perez | 13 | 13 | 3 | .231 | 0 | 0 |
| Bob Chance | 5 | 7 | 1 | .143 | 0 | 1 |
| Chuck Cottier | 2 | 2 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |

### 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 |
| Andy Messersmith | 40 | 250.0 | 16 | 11 | 2.52 | 211 |
| Tom Murphy | 36 | 215.2 | 10 | 16 | 4.21 | 100 |
| Jim McGlothlin | 37 | 201.0 | 8 | 16 | 3.18 | 96 |
| George Brunet | 23 | 100.2 | 6 | 7 | 3.84 | 56 |

#### 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 |
| Rudy May | 43 | 180.1 | 10 | 13 | 3.44 | 133 |
| Clyde Wright | 37 | 63.2 | 1 | 8 | 4.10 | 31 |
| Steve Kealey | 15 | 36.2 | 2 | 0 | 3.93 | 17 |
| Vern Geishert | 11 | 31.0 | 1 | 1 | 4.65 | 18 |
| Greg Washburn | 8 | 11.1 | 0 | 2 | 7.94 | 4 |
| Lloyd Allen | 4 | 10.0 | 0 | 1 | 5.40 | 5 |
| Rickey Clark | 6 | 9.2 | 0 | 0 | 5.59 | 6 |

#### 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 |
| Ken Tatum | 45 | 7 | 2 | 22 | 1.36 | 65 |
| Eddie Fisher | 52 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3.63 | 47 |
| Hoyt Wilhelm | 44 | 5 | 7 | 10 | 2.47 | 53 |
| Pedro Borbón | 22 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 6.15 | 20 |
| Bob Priddy | 15 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4.78 | 15 |
| Phil Ortega | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10.13 | 4 |
| Wally Wolf | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11.57 | 2 |
| Tom Bradley | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 27.00 | 2 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Hawaii Islanders | Pacific Coast League | Chuck Tanner |
| AA | El Paso Sun Kings | Texas League | Del Rice |
| A | San Jose Bees | California League | Tom Morgan and Eddie Bressoud |
| A | Quad Cities Angels | Midwest League | Fred Koenig |
| Rookie | Idaho Falls Angels | Pioneer League | Norm Sherry |