If you are an old geezer like me, you know that during World War II, the NFL ran so short of players because of the war that for three years between 1942 and 1945, the league merged the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Philadelphia Eagles into one team, the Phil-Pitt Steagles. With baseball season fast approaching, I thought to myself, why not take a similar approach with my two favorite baseball teams, the California/Los Angeles Angels and the Minnesota Twins.
The idea was to build an all-time team out of players who played for both teams. I have such a split loyalty since for various reasons the days of my youth were split between living in either Twins and Angels territory, and I chose the Angels as my Southern California team as I had an intense hatred of the Tommy Lasorda Dodgers.
With that, allow me to introduce the Calisota Twingels:
Manager:
- Bill Rigney (don’t anybody dare ask why Gene Mauch didn’t get the nod here…)
Catchers:
- Greg Myers
- Butch Wynegar
Infield:
- 1B Don Mincher
- 1B-2B Rod Carew
- 2B-SS Rob Wilfong
- SS Leo Cardenas
- 3B Gary Gaetti
- 1B-3B Dave Hollins
Outfield:
- Lyman Bostock
- Ken Landreaux
- Don Baylor
- Dave Winfield
- Dan Ford
- Torii Hunter
- Chili Davis
Utility:
- Vic Power
- Ron Jackson
- Pat Borders
Pitchers:
- SP Bert Blyleven
- SP Dean Chance
- SP Geoff Zahn
- SP John Candelaria
- SP Dave Goltz
- RP Dave LaRoche
- RP LaTroy Hawkins
- RP Brian Fuentes
- RP John Verhoeven
- RP Paul Hartzell
- RP Ramon Ortiz
Dubsism 
Entertaining list. Some great characters like Dean Chance, Vic Power,
Disco Danny Ford and the first Chinese player in the majors, Rob Wil Fong.
Sorry to report that Don Mincher is no longer signing autographs:
http://www.tributes.com/show/Don-Mincher-93320274
I continue my quest to assassinate anyone who ever referred to the great Poppa Jack (Ron Jackson) as “Poppa up”.
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And of course, you of all people would understand my Anti-Mauch position.
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Oh, and does this mean you will be assassinating HHG?
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Mauch’s genius in bunting for one first-inning run with his 3-4 hitters coming up haunts me to this day. Shouldn’t Dave Henderson be in the HOF for the HR/dagger to Gino’s heart in 1986 ? It also set up John MacNamara’s 1986 WS date with destiny as one of the truly terrible managers in bb history.
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While Donnie Moore’s blood will always be on Gene Mauch’s hands, to me the really egregious crime he committed as the Angels manager was squandering Fred Lynn’s incredible performance in the 1982 ALCS by his insistence on pitching to Paul Molitor, who in that series hit .316/2 HR/5 RBI while the next four guys in the Brewer line-up behind him batted a cool .158. Then, we he finally decided it was time to pitch to those guys, he thought it would be a great idea to challenge a bunch of “dead-red” hitters with fastballs from the likes of Bruce Kison, Dave Goltz, and Andy Hassler.
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I remember when Lyman Bostock was murdered.
Sad damn story.
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Let’s shore up the pitching staff with Luis Tiant, JC Romero and Ron Perranoski.
Let’s use Tom Brunansky in a DH/4th OF role.
The catchers are marginal at best – let’s sign Pat Borders and Brian Harper.
Orlando Cabrera could probably hold his own in that motley crew of utility players too.
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Nice adds…now, if only Scott Aldred had pitched for the Angels…
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[…] an all-time team out of players who played for both teams, just like I’ve already done with my two favorite teams. I thought since I’d created a team from my favorites, why not create a natural rival for […]
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[…] damn good roster of just guys who played for the Angels and the Twins. Imagine what a contender the Calisota Twingels would be if you could put this team on the field with everybody in their […]
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[…] won the American League West division three times between 1979-1986; with players from the “Griffith Express” such as Lyman Bostock, “Disco” Dan Ford, Rob Wilfong, Geoff Zahn, Dave Goltz, […]
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[…] won the American League West division three times between 1979-1986; with players from the “Griffith Express” such as Lyman Bostock, “Disco” Dan Ford, Rob Wilfong, Geoff Zahn, Dave Goltz, and Hall of […]
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