Page 16 - 2019 Angels Media Guide_Neat_NEW

the angels & mlb remember

and Drew Garcia who spent eight years in the He appeared in 40 games in 1961 and 1962 and
Chicago White Sox farm system. threw eight complete games in the Angels’ first
AUGIE GARRIDO, who won five season. He expressed his fiery personality often
too. Offended when his former teammate hit
College World Series titles with home runs in consecutive at-bats against him,
two schools and ranks No. 1 on Grba circled the mound and shouted insults
the career victories list in college at Mickey Mantle as the future Hall of Famer
baseball, died March 15th of last rounded the bases in Grba’s first visit to Yankee
year. He was 79. Stadium in 1961.
Garrido won three national Born to Serbian immigrants in Chicago on Aug.
championships with Cal State 9, 1934, Grba learned to play baseball participat-
in memoriam
Fullerton in 1979, 1984 and 1995.
He also won titles at Texas in 2002 and 2005. He ing in a game called Strikeouts at a young age.
He became a three-sport star at Bowen High and
last coached the Longhorns in 2016, leaving the signed with the Boston Red Sox after graduating
game with 1,975 career wins dating to 1969. He in 1952. Grba debuted with the Yankees at the
was inducted into the College Baseball Hall of age of 24 on July 10, 1959, shortly after finish-
Fame in 2016. ing a two-year stint with the United States Army.
Garrido also coached at San Francisco State, Cal He helped the 1960 Yankees win the American
Poly and Illinois. He was a special assistant in the League pennant and logged his only appearance
Texas athletic department since his final season of the 1960 World Series, which the Pittsburgh
with the Longhorns. Pirates won, as a pinch-runner.
Garrido won 25 conference championships and A few months later, the Yankees left Grba un-
national coach of the year honors six times. He protected for the expansion draft, cementing his
was the first coach to win national champion- place in Angels history.
ships with different schools. Over his career, Gar- Grba won the first game the Angels ever played
rido’s teams played in the College World Series — a complete game at Baltimore in which he
15 times. allowed only two runs on April 11, 1961 — and
He spent 20 years at Texas, which hired him away collected an additional 19 victories before being
from Fullerton in 1997 to replace Cliff Gustafson, released in 1963. He compiled a 28-33 record
who won two national championships with the and 4.48 ERA (536.1 IP – 267 ER) in 135 games
Longhorns and had the program on a regular ro- over five seasons.
tation at the College World Series. Grba, who wrote about his journey in baseball
Garrido’s personality of California cool and his and his grappling with sobriety in the 2016 book
aura as a Zen-master coach who talked as much “Baseball’s Fallen Angel,” did not return to An-
about thinking about winning as swinging a bat, gel Stadium in an official capacity until 2011. He
took some time to take root at Texas. But once threw out the ceremonial first pitch of the season
he did, Garrido had the Longhorns back among in celebration of the Angels’ 50th anniversary.
the nation’s top programs. His best years with
the Longhorns were from 2002 to 2010 when he
won the two national titles and had six 50-win LENNY GREEN, who played brief-
seasons. ly for the Angels in 1964, and
Garrido’s teams produced 15 first-round picks in played six games for the 1968
the Major League Baseball draft and 27 players World Series champion Detroit
won All-America honors 34 times. Tigers in his final MLB season,
The Vallejo, California, native played college died Jan. 6th on his 86th birthday.
baseball at Fresno State, where he played in the Green attended Detroit’s Persh-
College World Series in 1959. He played six sea- ing High School and made his
sons in the minors with the Cleveland Indians Major League debut with the Bal-
organization before taking his first head coach- timore Orioles in 1957. He played regularly in the
ing job at Sierra High School in Tollhouse, CA, in outfield for the Washington Senators/Minnesota
1966. Twins from 1960-1963.
As a 34-year-old free agent, Green signed a con-
tract to return to his hometown team in 1967,
ELI GRBA, the first player to throw although he spent much of the next two seasons
a pitch for the expansion Los An- in Triple-A Toledo.
geles Angels in 1961, died Jan. In 1967, Green played in 58 games with the Ti-
14th following a three-month gers, who fell just one game short of the Ameri-
battle with pancreatic cancer. He can League pennant that year. He went 7-for-16
was 84. with four walks, a home run and a double in the
Grba, a bespectacled pitcher with final month of the season, playing mainly as a
a competitive spirit, was known pinch-hitter and pinch-runner as the Tigers were
fighting for a playoff spot.
as the Original Angel. With the
opening selection of MLB’s first expansion draft He played the final Major League game of his
in December 1960, Angels general manager Fred career on June 30, 1968. Green finished the sea-
Haney made Grba the first addition to the An- son in Toledo and the Tigers went on to win the
gels’ inaugural roster. World Series three months later.
Grba proved himself a durable fixture for the After his playing career, Green worked as a secu-
early Angels teams led by manager Bill Rigney. rity supervisor at Ford.
ANGELS MEDIA GUIDE
4_InMemoriam.indd 14 3/11/19 5:14 PM