The Angels Are in the Playoffs!
And I have a very special reason to be excited - this gives me an excuse to tell my only “Angels in the Playoffs” story. Come back with me to 1979. The Angels are matched up against the Orioles in the best-of-five American League Championship Series. The Angels have lost the first two games, and are now straining to avoid elimination. They trail by a run in the bottom of the ninth, with two outs and nobody on.
I am back East, watching on television. The Eighties haven’t happened yet, and the Lakers haven’t trounced Dr. J and my Sixers yet, so I don’t have a full loathing of Southern California. Yet. I am casually waiting for the mighty Birds to wrap this up. But hark, what is this? Forty thousand fans are clapping their hands and chanting “Yes We Can! Yes We Can!”
Uhh, hello, my mellow fellows - ninth inning, two outs, nobody on, down a run - maybe you can, but no, you won't. Relax. Don’t you people have a beach to go to, or something?
“Yes We Can! Yes We Can!” And now, the erstwhile final batter hits a soft line drive right at the centerfielder, who, strangely, elects to have the ball bang off his glove for a two base error. Turn up the volume! “Yes We Can! Yes We Can!”
Hmm. The next batter walks. The winning run is on base! This crowd is, like, totally not chilled out, man. This feels like watching a crowd at a real ballgame at the Stadium - they are just going mad. “YES WE CAN! YES WE CAN!”
At this moment, the camera pans across the crowd, and settles on the owner's skybox. Hey, the announcer informs us, there is Gene Autry, proud owner of the Angels. And who is that next to him, they wonder. Closer, please. My goodness, who is this with furrowed brow, cupping his chin in his hand as he peers intently at the drama below? In his most portentous baritone, the announcer says “Look who is seated next to Gene Autry. That is former President Richard Nixon. Just imagine - all the pressure that man has been under… and now this.”
No, I couldn’t imagine. The Angels did pull out a thrilling win that night before meekly submitting on the morrow. The Series was Orioles v. Pirates, “We Are Famileee”. Great autumn. And, much later, Nixon managed a comeback of his own.
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