The world according to Jim:
• Are you sure the Angels aren’t still cursed?
(And please save the Arte Moreno one-liners. We’ll get to that discussion again at some point, promise.) …
• The old story, remember, was that the team was hexed because what was then known as Anaheim Stadium was said to be built on a Native American burial ground. There was never any evidence to verify that – or, as I noted in The Press-Enterprise right before the 2002 postseason, “City of Anaheim historians have said there is no evidence to indicate that it’s true but nothing to prove it isn’t, either.”
And that legend understandably died after that year’s World Series, when the then Disney-owned franchise did something that some longtime employees believed wasn’t possible. A World Series championship and a subsequent five division titles in six years seemed to put the talk of curses, hexes and jinxes to bed. …
• But maybe not. A franchise that has played in only three postseason games (and won none) since 2009 has become a forlorn afterthought. You can blame Moreno’s decision to rename them the “Los Angeles” Angels (as many fans have), or suggest that former Anaheim mayor Harry Sidhu put a curse on them as he went out the door in 2022, after getting tied up in corruption allegations over stadium negotiations with the team. …
• Whatever the cause, are you thinking now that Mike Trout should have heeded the suggestions of seemingly every pundit on the East Coast and bailed on the Angels, rather than re-upping for 12 seasons and $426.5 million in 2019?
With Trout’s most recent season-ending injury, this one a second torn meniscus in four months, he will have played 36, 119, 82 and 29 games the last four seasons. Might he have been more fortunate had he gone to the Yankees, or Phillies, or anywhere else besides Anaheim? Who knows. Maybe whatever Anthony Rendon (58, 47 and 43 games the last three seasons and 33 so far in this one) brought with him from D.C. was contagious. …
• So let’s do a survey. What do you think: Burial ground hex, name change hex or outgoing mayor hex? I’d vote for Arte’s attempt to latch onto Los Angeles, and I suspect many Angel fans agree. …
• Our friend from the other paper in the market, Bill Shaikin, posed the question of what this succession of injuries over the last four seasons (calf, back, hand, knee) will do to Trout’s Cooperstown chances. It might not be as damaging as you think.
The career totals in the counting stats (home runs, hits, RBIs) will take a hit from four seasons of relative inactivity, but as newer Hall of Fame voters cast their ballots with more consideration to analytics, Trout’s WAR (currently 86.0, using Baseball Reference’s formula) should still play. …
• Who knows? The three-time AL MVP (and four-time runner-up) has six more years under contract, and maybe he’ll stay healthy. (And maybe Arte will change the name back to Anaheim Angels, too, but I’m not holding my breath.) …
• And while we’re on the subject of franchises that can’t catch a break, Justin Herbert’s plantar fascia injury threw a wet blanket over all the optimism and good feelings of Jim Harbaugh’s first training camp as Chargers coach. The team has an “expectation” that he’ll be back for the Sept. 8 regular-season opener against the Raiders. I’ll believe it when I see it. …
• The Athletic published a list a few weeks ago ranking every team affected by college football realignment, estimating how much each would be helped or hurt on a scale from plus-5 (best chance to win) to minus-5 (best chance to be buried). And since Friday made it official – L.A. is now Big Ten territory, and there’s no turning back – it’s worth noting that USC is a minus-2, and UCLA is a minus-4.
The reasoning: USC was, if not dominant every year, at least feared in the Pac-12, but now it might be fifth banana to Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State and (gulp) fellow newcomer Oregon, which was ranked a plus-2. UCLA? Let’s hope the fans and administrators have patience with new coach DeShaun Foster, because on this list the Bruins are bottom feeders. …
• So, even with all that Fox money pouring into the coffers, how long will it be before USC and UCLA administrators realize they might have gotten in over their heads? …
• If you make the 26-mile journey to Catalina, as my wife and I did last week to celebrate our anniversary, you might be surprised at the Chicago Cubs love in town. One T-shirt store, Island Threadz, has a corner that’s all Cubs apparel and memorabilia, including a TV monitor showing the 2016 World Series over and over and over. (I also spotted a “W” flag flying on the main drag, similar to the one that flies over Wrigley Field when they win.)
A display at an Avalon T-shirt store recognizes the Chicago Cubs’ 30-year relationship with Santa Catalina Island as a spring training site, from 1921 through 1952, with the additional motivation of selling shirts and memorabilia. (Photo by Jim Alexander, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Actually, there’s a good reason. William Wrigley Jr. bought controlling interest of the Santa Catalina Island Company in 1919, and to this day his descendants still own it. Accordingly, Wrigley’s Cubs held spring training on the island from 1921 through 1951. …
A “W” flag, signifying a Chicago Cubs victory, flies from a flagpole along the Avalon waterfront. (Photo by Jim Alexander, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
• Which makes me wonder. The Pittsburgh Pirates trained at San Bernardino’s Perris Hill Park (now Fiscalini Field) in 12 different springs, the first in 1935 and the last in 1952. Anyone in San Bernardino know of any acknowledgement of those days?
Failing that, how about getting the Pirates to play an exhibition at the city’s San Manuel Stadium next spring? Especially if it’s Paul Skenes’ turn to pitch.
jalexander@scng.com