1970 California Angels season

Offseason

• October 22, 1969: Rubén Amaro Sr. was released by the Angels.
• October 24, 1969: Mel Queen was purchased by the Angels from the Cincinnati Reds.
• November 25, 1969: Pedro Borbón, Vern Geishert and Jim McGlothlin were traded by the Angels to the Cincinnati Reds for Alex Johnson and Chico Ruiz.
• January 14, 1970: Bill Harrelson and Dan Loomer (minors) were traded by the Angels to the Cincinnati Reds for Jack Fisher.

Regular season

Coming off a 71–91 1969 season, the Angels rebounded to finish 86–76, tying their 1962 season as their best in franchise history up to that point. As of 2024, this is the only season that saw the Angels hold a winning record for all 162 games of a season, starting the season 5–0 and never falling back to .500 from there on.

On July 3, Clyde Wright pitched a 3-walk no-hitter against the Athletics, the first no-hitter at Anaheim Stadium since its first game in 1966. Wright would go on to be only the 2nd 20-win starter in franchise history that year and finished 6th in Cy Young voting. His 22 wins that year are a franchise record as of 2024, tied with Nolan Ryan's 1972 season.

Throughout the year, Alex Johnson was involved in a tight batting race with Carl Yastrzemski, Tony Oliva, and Luis Aparicio. After 161 games, Johnson was trailing Yastrzemski by only .0013. On the last day of the season, Johnson went 2 for 3 against the White Sox, legging out an infield single on his 3rd at-bat to beat Yastrzemski by .0004. As of 2024, Johnson is the only batting champion for the Angels.

The Angels remained in the American League West race throughout the season, and by September 3, they were only 3 games back of the division lead heading into a 3-game set against the division-leading Twins in Anaheim. However, after being swept by them, the Angels collapsed, losing their next 6 in a row and going 5-17 from September 4 to September 26 to fall out of the postseason race for good. According to Alex Johnson, it was as though the team gave up on the season following being swept by the Twins.

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Notable transactions

• April 7, 1970: Jack Fisher was released by the Angels.
• April 27, 1970: Aurelio Rodríguez and Rick Reichardt were traded by the Angels to the Washington Senators for Ken McMullen.
• June 4, 1970: Mike Krukow was drafted by the Angels in the 32nd round of the 1970 Major League Baseball draft, but did not sign.
• August 31, 1970: Tony González was purchased by the Angels from the Atlanta Braves.

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

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Farm system

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Idaho Falls

Notes

References

• 1970 California Angels team at Baseball-Reference
• 1970 California Angels team page at www.baseball-almanac.com

References

1. [https://www.baseball-reference.com/a/amaroru01.shtml Rubén Amaro] at ''Baseball-Reference''
2. [https://www.baseball-reference.com/q/queenme02.shtml Mel Queen] at ''Baseball-Reference''
3. [https://www.baseball-reference.com/b/borbope01.shtml Pedro Borbón] at ''Baseball-Reference''
4. [https://www.baseball-reference.com/f/fisheja01.shtml Jack Fisher] at ''Baseball-Reference''
5. [https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/wrighcl01.shtml Clyde Wright] at ''Baseball-Reference''
6. [https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/ANA/leaders_pitch_season.shtml Los Angeles Angels Top 10 Single-Season Pitching Leaders] at ''Baseball-Reference''
7. Merrick, Thomas. "October 1, 1970: Alex Johnson snatches AL batting crown from Carl Yastrzemski as Angels hand White Sox their 106th loss".
8. [https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/index.fcgi?year=1970&month=09&day=03 MLB Scores and Standings Thursday, September 03, 1970] at ''Baseball-Reference''
9. Goldman, Robert. (2006). "Once They Were Angels". Sports Publishing L.L.C..
10. [https://www.baseball-reference.com/m/mcmulke01.shtml Ken McMullen] at ''Baseball-Reference''
11. [https://www.baseball-reference.com/k/krukomi01.shtml Mike Krukow] at ''Baseball-Reference''
12. [https://www.baseball-reference.com/g/gonzato01.shtml Tony González] at ''Baseball-Reference''