A to Z Angels: George Brunet

Name: George Brunet           
Position: Starting pitcher                                            
Throws: Left
Bats: Right                                               
Number(s): 43

Years Played As an Angel: 1964 -1969
Angels’ Stats: Win – Loss 48 – 62, ERA 3.13, WHIP 1.202, Shutouts 14
Career Stats: Win-Loss 69-93, ERA 3.62, Strikeouts 921, Shutouts 15

How He Was Acquired: Purchased from the Houston Colt .45s in 1964

Why You Should Know Him: Brunet pitched for the Angels in six consecutive years and had ERAs of 2.56 in 1965; 2.86 in 1968 and 3.31 in 1967.  Brunet’s WHIP were as low as 1.056 in 1968 and1.107 in 1965 – highest WHIP was 1.488. After his career in the majors was over Brunet pitched 14 more seasons in the minor leagues with most of those seasons being in the Mexican League. He posted 3,175 minor league strikeouts to go with his 921 major league strikeouts for a total of 4,096 strikeouts in 33 years of professional baseball.

Memorable Moments/Games: In 1968 George Brunet threw 5 shutouts and had 3 shutouts in 1965. He averaged over 200 innings pitched in all but one full year with the Angels.

Anecdotes and Quotes: Brunet was inducted into the Mexican Hall of Fame in 1999

Where is He Now?: Brunet passed away in 1991 at the age of 56

Contributed by Bruce Nye - AngelsWin.com Columnist

A to Z Angels: Mike Butcher

Name: Michael Dana Butcher                

Nickname: Mike

Position: Pitching Coach, Pitcher                                         

Throws: Right

Bats: Right    

Number(s): 23                                            

Years Played as an Angel: 1992-1995

Years Coached as an Angel: 2007-present

Angels’ Stats: 11-4, 9 Saves, 4.47 ERA

Career Stats: same

How He Was Acquired: Spent one season as pitching coach of the Tampa Bay Rays before taking over the same position with the Angels, the only team he ever played for, in 2007, replacing Bud Black.

Why You Should Know Him: Butcher won six games in relief for the Angels in 1995. He was part of a bullpen that included Troy Percival and Lee Smith. In 115 career appearances for the Angels, he never made an error. His first two wins came at Yankee Stadium, two days apart.

Butcher spent six seasons as a pitching coach in the Angels minor league system before taking over the job in Tampa Bay. He was the pitching coach at rookie level Butte in 2000, AA Arkansas in 2001, AAA Salt Lake City in 2002, and the Scottsdale Scorpions of the Arizona Fall League in 2003.

Memorable Moments/Games: When the Angels blew a ninth-inning lead to the Red Sox at Fenway Park in mid-September, several Angels players and coaches, including Butcher, let the home plate umpire know that they didn’t appreciate two controversial non calls, either one of which would have gotten the Angels out of the inning with the victory. The team responded with a win over Josh Beckett the next day and the Angels finally defeated the Red Sox in the playoffs less than a month later.

Anecdotes and Quotes: Butcher was the first member of the Angels to hear about Nick Adenhart’s tragic accident. He was called at his home at 2 a.m. and spent the night at the hospital with Adenhart’s father, Jim. He remembered a conversation with Adenhart earlier that night after his stellar performance versus Oakland.

“I walked up to him and asked him, ‘How’d it feel? Did you feel the ball coming off your fingertips like it’s supposed to?’” said Butcher. “He said, ‘Butch, I got it.’ That was a pretty special moment. “To see a kid figure it out that early and to understand it and own it. It was only a few hours later when he lost his life.”

Contributed by Brett Borden - AngelsWin.com Columnist

A to Z Angels: Rick Burleson

Name:  Rick Burleson                     
Nickname:  Rooster
Position:  Shortstop                                    
Bats:  Right    
Throws:  Right
Number(s): 7
                                             
Years Played As an Angel: 1981-1986
Angels’ Stats: .281 Avg., 244 hits, 39 2Bs, 75 RBIs
Career Stats: .273 Avg., 1401 hits, 256 2Bs, 449 RBIs

How He Was Acquired: Traded in December 1980 from Boston (along with Butch Hobson) for Mark Clear, Carney Lansford and Rick Miller.

Why You Should Know Him: Burleson was one of the best defensive shortstops of his era, setting a major league record for double plays in a season by a shortstop with Boston in 1980, and a major league record for assists in a game (15 in 20 innings) with the Angels in 1982. Burleson was injured early in that season, replaced by fellow veteran Tim Foli.

Burleson was a four-time All-Star (once with the Angels…1981), starting in 1977 for the American League. He won a Gold Glove in 1979 and a Silver Slugger Award in 1981. 

After injury-plagues seasons in ’82, ’83 and ’84, he missed the entire ’85 season, then won Comeback Player of the Year honors in 1986.

Burleson finished his career with the Baltimore Orioles in 1987.  

Memorable Moments/Games: Just a couple of days after turning 15 double plays against Seattle in 1982, Burleson told teammates he felt better than ever before a game against the Twins. During that game, though, he threw the ball across the diamond and felt a terrible pain, “like someone had stuck an ice pick into my shoulder and then pulled it out.” Burleson would miss the Angels’ playoff run that season.

Anecdotes and Quotes: Burleson was angry with Angels manager Gene Mauch for the way he was utilized in 1986. Mauch quipped: “If a fine young man like Rick Burleson doesn’t like you, you must have a personality problem. And in my case, it’s too late to change.

Contributed by Brett Borden - AngelsWin.com Columnist

FoxSports.com calls upon AngelsWin.com

Back in November of 2009 the senior editor of Scout.com Denis Savage, contacted Chuck Richter to provide Angels minor league content for their 2010 Fantasy Baseball and Scout.com Prospect Guide -- which hit the magazine racks in most stores this week.

After reading through the work that many talented writers for FoxSports and Scout provided information, this guide is a must own. It is rich in content for fantasy baseball players, keeper league owners, those who follow your team statistically or if you have interest in the farm system for your team. On page 67  David Saltzer and I provided a top 20 prospect list for the guide, a state of the farm which breaks down the bats, arms, sleepers and notes which prospects are on the horizon.

I encourage you all to go out and grab a copy for just $4.95 today.

A to Z Angels: DeWayne Buice

Name: DeWayne Allison Buice        
Nickname: Buice
Position: Relief Pitcher               
Throws: Right
Bats: Right                   
Number(s): 41 and 38

Years Played As an Angel: 1987-1988
Angels’ Stats: 8-11, 4.06 ERA, 155.1 IP, 147 K's
Career Stats: 9-11, 4.23 ERA, 172.1 IP, 157 K's

How He Was Acquired: Signed with the San Francisco Giants as a free agent in 1977.

Why You Should Know Him:  De Wayne Allison Buice at the age of 29 made his major league debut for the California Angels in 1987 on April 25th after the team signed him as a free agent in 1986. Buice went on to to pitch in 57 games for the California Angels, leading the club with 17 saves. In 2007, his best season in his short 3-year career in the big leagues, Buice went 6-7, a 3.39 ERA and fanned 109 batters in 114 innings pitched, against 40 walks.  His 109 strikeouts that season was a franchise best until Francisco Rodriguez struck out 123 out of the pen during the 2004 season. Buice had a 88-92 MPH fastball and a devastating forkball when kept down in the zone.

Buice was also one of the original managing partners of the Upper Deck trading cards company, a position he held from 1988 to 2000. As the story is told, Buice was in downtown Yorba Linda, California one evening in November 1987, looking for a particular Chinese restaurant in the area, and after looking around the neighborhood without success, he went into a baseball card shop called "The Upper Deck" to ask the person working there if they knew the whereabouts of the restaurant.

After Buice Major League career was over in 1989, he collected $2.8 million dollars for his stake in the Upper Deck Baseball card company. Buice felt he wasn't being paid fairly so he battled the Upper Deck executives in court and reportedly won seventeen million in the lawsuit.

'The Buice Payment' by Darren Rovell - ESPN.com

Even if he wasn't a household name to the average baseball fan, employees at Upper Deck in Carlsbad, Calif., cringed at hearing his name. And for anyone who looked at the company's finances, it would be impossible to avoid him.

"Every month on the profit-and-loss statement, 'The Buice Payment' was a line item wedged under gross sales and returns," said a former executive with Upper Deck, who worked with the company for 10 years.

The company was originally scheduled to pay Buice his millions over a four-year period, but due to the baseball strike in 1994, which temporarily destroyed Upper Deck's business, Buice agreed to a six-year payment plan.

"When the business wasn't good in 1995 and 1996 because of the lasting impact of the strike, we'd make sure to sell inventory out of the back door in order to help pay off Buice," the executive said. "Sales were down so much that for those couple years all our profits were going to him."

On the day in 1998 that Upper Deck cut its last check to Buice, there was a party at company headquarters and the top brass ordered everyone to work just a half day. Later that year at the Christmas party, Upper Deck CEO Richard McWilliam told employees that the company's deal with Buice was the worst deal it had ever done.

Memorable Moments/Games:  Buice is one of six pitchers in the Angels' 48-year history to strike out at least 100 batters in a season without starting a game (109 in 1987). The others are Mark Clear (105, 1980), Bryan Harvey (101, 1991), Troy Percival (100, 1996), Scot Shields (109, 2004) and Francisco Rodríguez (123, 2004). 

Anecdotes and Quotes:  "I still eat Corn Flakes and Top Ramen, so it's not the money," Buice said. "Don't get me wrong, I don't want anybody taking it away from me. But one thing about playing in the minors until I was 30 was that I got to know who I was and I don't feel I have to change.". De Wayne Buice earned $27 million from a 12% stake in the Upper Deck company,  which was far more than he earned as a major league ball player.

Where is He Now?:  Buice final game in the big leagues was on June 27, 1989 as a member of the Toronto Blue Jays. De Wayne Buice is currently the Reno Astros' co-owner.

What to do about the bench...

by Brent Hubbard - Angelswin Senior Columnist

Lately there have been a ton of bench threads on the message boards, so I think we should discuss it here. And lets be honest, if that's all we have to worry about, the Angels are in really good shape.

In my quick roster analysis, I believe there are 19 players who are guaranteed a spot if healthy. They are as follows: OF/DH Rivera, CF Hunter, OF/DH Abreu, OF/DH Matsui, INF Wood, INF Izturis, SS Aybar, 2B Kendrick, 1B Morales, C Napoli, C Mathis, SP Weaver, SP Pineiro, SP Saunders, SP Santana, SP Kazmir, RP Fuentes, RP Rodney, RP Shields. That's 11 hitters and 8 pitchers.

Read more »

A to Z Angels: Lyman Bostock

Name: Lyman Wesley Bostock, Jr.

Nickname: Abdul Jibber Jabber

Number(s): 10

Position: Center Field

Throws: Right

Bats: Left

Years Played As an Angel: 1978

Angels’ Stats: 147 Games, 568 AB, 5 HR, 71 RBI, .296 AVG

Career Stats: 526 Games, 2,004 AB, 23 HR, 250 RBI, .311 AVG

How He Was Acquired: Lyman was acquired via free agency after he spent the first three years of his young career with the Minnesota Twins.

Why You Should Know Him: Lyman didn’t grow up with the tools at his disposal that man of us enjoyed growing up. His Willie Mays basket catch style was not developed in homage of the great NY/SF Giants center fielder, rather he was forced to use a left hander’s fielding glove as a youngster which made it awkward for him to catch a fly ball normally. Even as a professional, it was a trait that he had hard time shaking this habit, but it never held him back. Strong and quick with the bat, he finished 4th and 2nd in AL batting average (.323, .336) in his first three years of major league experience.

He was a man of character, conviction and a deep respect for his past and what it had done to prepare him for the future. In the winter of ‘77/’78, Lyman enjoyed being one of the most sought after free agents of the free agent era until Gene Autry ‘s Angels came to terms on a $2.7 Million 5 year contract with the young centerfielder. Paying his respect for his past and the people that supported him, he donated his first $10,000 of his big contract to his church back home in Alabama.

Frustrated by a slow start Lyman offered to pay back his salary to Autry stating "If I can't play up to my capabilities, I don't want to get paid for it." When the Autry refused to allow him to pay back his salary, he decided to seek applications from hundreds of different charities from which to choose to donate his salary instead. His conviction allowed him to recover to the form that made the Angels want him over the winter finishing the season with a .296 batting average.

September 23, 1978

In the heat of one of the Angels first pennant chases in it franchise history, Bostock went 2-4 on road at Chicago’s Comiskey Park against the White Sox. After the game Lyman drove to Gary, Indiana to visit his uncle Thomas Turner whom he spent much time with growing up without his father. A confluence of events transpired over the next 8 hours that Angel fans mourn to this very day and ask themselves what could have been. As Lyman & His Uncle drove Turner’s goddaughter Barbara Smith across town they reached the intersection of 5th and Jackson. It was here that Barbara Smith’s estranged husband who was following them from Turner’s home, opened fire with a .410 gauge shotgun which he shot into the backseat of the car aiming for whom he thought was his wife Barbara, but was actually Lyman. Bostock was shot in the temple and died shortly after at a local hospital.

The age of 27 is a mercurial age. An age for which many discover themselves, figure out their path in life and get ready to walk down that path and accept their role in their world. Many who knew Lyman would say that he had reached this apex much sooner than most and knew that his gift was just that a gift and that any day it could be taken away. So it was easy to see why he cherished the fact that fans would wait for hours after games to say hello and often would stay until he signed every last autograph he could. It was also understandable how much he appreciated his gift in the way that he supported the baseball program at his alma mater California State University Northridge.

Memorable Moments/Games: Two weeks before Bostock left us, he showed his fiery passionate side by charging the mound against Al Hrabowsky of the Kansas City Royals after he was nearly hit in the head by one of Hrabowsky’s fastballs. Once at the mount he delivered a blow to Hrabowsky that Kermit Washington would be proud of.

On July 24th, 1976 Bostock not only hit for the cycle against the Boston Red Sox in the second game of a double header, but also recorded 12 of his 17 putouts of the day which is an American League record that still stands today.

References:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=bostock

http://www.angelfire.com/journal2/davismi/lymanbostock.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/27_Club

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyman_Bostock

http://www.insidesocal.com/tomhoffarth/archives/2008/09/lyman-bostock-3.html

Contributed by Jim Streifel - AngelsWin.com Contributor