ANAHEIM, CALIF. — The Angels knew they were headed for an attendance drop-off after Monday's season opener against the Twins, so they used gimmicks and giveaways to lure people back to The Big A.
Joe Christensen's Sunday Insider: Dodgers' loss is Angels' gain
It looked as if Mike Scioscia would become a Dodgers lifer, but then the other team in town stole him away.
April 11, 2010 at 5:00AM
On Tuesday, the Angels handed out red Snuggies and asked fans to use them at the same time, setting a Guinness world record for blanket coverage.
On Thursday, the team handed out bronze-painted Mike Scioscia busts, commemorating his 2009 AL Manager of the Year award.
"That's a sin," Scioscia said. "I don't even know if it looks like me. This is a face you want to forget, not make a bust out of."
But anyone who's followed baseball in Los Angeles for the past decade knows Scioscia is king. The Dodgers made a big mistake in 1999 when they let him slip from their grasp.
The franchises have reversed roles since Scioscia made the jump. The Dodgers used to be the model organization. Walter O'Malley broke hearts in Brooklyn when he relocated the franchise to L.A., but under his son Peter's stewardship, the organization was the definition of class and stability. The Dodgers had two managers from 1954 to 1996 -- Walter Alston and Tommy Lasorda.
But when Peter O'Malley sold the team to the Fox Corp. in 1998, the organization soon lost its roots. Scioscia had helped the Dodgers win two World Series as a catcher before he began coaching and managing in their minor league system. Instead of recognizing him as someone they couldn't lose, the Dodgers let him go down the freeway.
At the time, the Angels were run by Disney and something of a laughingstock. But by 2002, Scioscia led them to their first World Series title.
Disney sold the team to Arte Moreno in 2003, and the new owner has continued to pump money into the team's payroll. Meanwhile, Scioscia has helped form a foundation for the entire organization, which continues to produce home-grown talent. They've won five of the past six AL West titles.
Fox sold the Dodgers to Frank and Jaime McCourt in 2004. Now, those two are going through a messy divorce. Frank McCourt originally promised to keep the team's payroll among baseball's top quarter. But after going to back-to-back NL Championship Series, the Dodgers were not big spenders this offseason and failed to land the ace pitcher Manager Joe Torre desperately needs.
The Dodgers' payroll ($95 million) ranks 11th in the majors, one notch lower the Twins ($97 million), which added to the ridicule after journeyman Vicente Padilla got pounded in his Opening Day start for the Dodgers.
Baseball's shifting sands in Los Angeles go deeper than each team's manager's office. But the Angels were right to honor Scioscia with the busts. At the rate he's going, his likeness could be bronzed in Cooperstown someday.
Only 34 years old, Jeremy Zoll has worked his way up the organizational ranks since coming to the Twins in 2018.
