There are 35 Angels with over 2,000 plate appearances. Leroy Stanton is one of them. In 2,009 Plate Appearances he hit 47 regular season homeruns as an Angel, tied withDave Winfield (in only 1103 PAs) and Bobby Bonds (nearly identical to Winfield at 1106 PAs).
In other words, Stanton saw a lot of action as an Angel, never truly excelling into greatness, never swooning into uselessness. That is why he and his 594 games under the Halo stand at #68.
Rob McMillin of The 6-4-2 L.A. Baseball Blog looks back:
Leroy Stanton was a top prospect from the Mets system who came to the Angels in the best trade the club ever made (for Nolan Ryan). He still holds the franchise record for most home runs in a single regular season game -- three, in a July 10, 1973 game, his third being a two-run game winner (His 3 in a game are tied with Garret Anderson, Troy Glaus, Dave Winfield, Wally Joyner, Reggie Jackson, Doug DeCinces, Fred Patek, Carney Lansford, and Lee Thomas for that record). The right-handed outfielder previously hit .303 with 19 homers with 94 RBIs at AAA Tidewater in 1971.
The Angels' principle right fielder 1972-1975, he spent significant time at center in 1976. Mostly batting fifth and sixth his first two years with the club, he slipped as low as seventh in 1974 -- the year with three managers -- but in 1975 found himself batting cleanup in a significant number of at bats for the first time in his major league career.
The coming of Bobby Bonds and Bruce Bochte to the outfield demoted him to fourth outfielder status in 1976, and once more he was batting at the bottom half of the order -- when he was in the game. He left the Angels as an unprotected player in the 1976 expansion draft, when he became a Mariner; he spent two more years in the majors, and retired after the 1978 season.
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The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly!
I knew this day would happen! I have been waiting two years for this. During the 2006-2007 off season you had Leroy Stanton in 68th place on the all-time Angels list. I woke up this morning to find that Stanton has moved up to 64th place in your updated Top 100 Angels list. Say it ain’t so, Reverend! If I was doing the rankings I would have Leroy Stanton roughly drop from # 88 to # 94 in the all-time Angels batting order. Stanton belongs in the 90’s not in the 60’s.
Leroy Stanton did not create a good first impression for me. In games I went to at the Big A Stanton started off with an 0 for 16 streak. That ended on 01 Oct 74 with a 6th inning triple off of Ken Holtzman. The next batter Dave Chalk singled Stanton home. Stanton then went 13 more at bats without a hit. On the morning of 26 May 75 Stanton was batting .033 (1 for 30) at games I went to. That afternoon Stanton recorded singles in his first two at bats off of Cleveland’s Fritz Peterson.
I saw Stanton get an rbi before I saw him get a hit. The rbi came in an 18 Apr 74 game. In the bottom of the 7th inning with the Twins leading 3-1 and Bill "Soup" Campbell on the mound Stanton came to the plate with one out and runners on the corners. Stanton grounded to second baseman Rod Carew. Baserunner Tom McGraw stopped in his tracks to force Carew to throw to first base for the first out. McGraw got in a 4-3-6 run down long enough for Frank Robinson to score from third base. Leroy Stanton got credit for the rbi but it was McGraw who really earned it.
Jeff Prugh wrote in the L.A. Times:
"Lee Stanton’s once blazing bat was cold again and he has now gone 0 for 10.
The crushing blow was Brye’s home run. "One pitch" moaned Winkles. "At three and two Tanana decided he was going to challenge the hitter. He threw it high and . . ."
But there were some pluses for Winkles. He praised the alert base running of Tommy McGraw, who stopped abruptly between first and second to force a rundown that delayed a seventh inning Minnesota double play long enough to allow Frank Robinson to score from third.
"Anybody else," Winkles said, "probably would have charged right into second base out of habit. McGraw did a helluva job on that play."
The first rbi I saw Leroy Stanton get with a hit was on 19 Apr 76 in the bottom of the third inning. Stanton was batting .113 (6 for 53) prior to hitting an rbi double off of Mike Cuellar. Stanton’s double chased Cuellar. The ineffective (15 batters faced and 8 hits allowed) Cuellar was immediately replaced by Wayne Garland.
Overall Leroy Stanton had 12 hits in 88 at bats in the 34 games saw him play. He had a .136 batting average, a .240 on base average, and a .216 slugging percentage. Stanton had 5 doubles, 1 triple, and zero home runs in those games. His 7 rbi included 3 which scored on ground outs (including the non-force double play mentioned above).
Unquestionably the all-time Leroy Stanton highlight I saw was his 8 May 76 game winning single to score Jerry Remy in the bottom of the 13th inning off of Cleveland’s Tom Buskey in a Halo’s 4-3 win. An inning earlier Stanton had a game-tieing rbi groundout to score Bobby Bonds off of Jim "Popcorn" Kern. This was the only 2 rbi game I ever saw Stanton have. That was the Good for Leroy. Everything else was Bad and Ugly.
For the geographically challenged the Dodgers Dusty Baker hit homers towards Bakersfield whereas the Angels Leroy Stanton popped fouls towards Stanton. Reverend, I don’t know how you got Leroy Stanton up to # 64. Perhaps you went to his three home run game on 10 Jul 73 in Baltimore?
Below is a list of all the damage I saw Leroy Stanton do. The last game I saw Stanton play was on 24 Jun 77 for the Seattle Mariners in Milwaukee. Stanton had a 5th inning rbi single to spoil a Lary Sorensen shutout. Stanton’s 1 for 4 game for the Mariners gave him a .250 career average for the Mariners to contrast with his .131 (11 for 84) career batting average as an Angel in games I went to. The pitchers listed below are the opposition starting pitchers. I have also included Angel games I went to from 1972 to 1976 in which Stanton did not play. The 4-3-6, 4-3, and 6-3 notations refer to the rbi groundouts I saw Stanton have. If Stanton did not have an extra basehit, stolen base, caught stealing, grounded into doubleplay, or game winning hit there is a zero as a seventh number on that game line.
Leroy Stanton 1972-1977
Date Team Opp Pitcher AB R H RBI BB K X-basehits, SB-CS, GIDP, GWH
29 Aug 72 Cal Det M Lolich 4 0 0 0 0 2 0
31 Aug 72 Cal Det W Fryman 2 0 0 0 1 1 0
02 Sep 72 Cal Bal J Palmer 3 0 0 0 0 1 0
16 Apr 74 Cal Min J Decker 2 0 0 0 1 2 0
18 Apr 74 Cal Min R Corbin 3 0 0 1 0 0 GIDP 4-3-6 rbi
07 May 74 Cal Cle J Perry -—————————
07 Sep 74 Cal Chw J Kucek -—————————-
11 Sep 74 Cal KC A Fitzmorris -—————————-
01 Oct 74 Cal Oak J Hunter 4 1 1 0 0 2 3B
05 Apr 75 Cal LAD D Rau 4 0 0 0 0 0 GIDP
07 Apr 75 Cal KC S Busby -—————————-
11 Apr 75 Cal Chw C Osteen 4 0 0 0 0 1 0
13 Apr 75 (1) Cal Chw J Kaat 3 1 0 0 2 2 SB
13 Apr 75 (2) Cal Chw S Bahnsen 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
24 Apr 75 Cal Tex J Brown -—————————
25 Apr 75 Cal Oak D Hamilton 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
27 Apr 75 (1) Cal Oak V Blue 1 0 0 0 0 1 0
27 Apr 75 (2) Cal Oak J Odom -————————-
09 May 75 Cal Bos R Wise -————————-
13 May 75 Cal NYY D Medich 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
26 May 75 Cal Cle F Peterson 3 0 2 0 0 0 0
27 May 75 Cal Cle G Perry -—————————
28 May 75 Cal Cle E Raich 1 0 0 0 0 1 0
30 May 75 Cal Bal J Palmer -—————————
31 May 75 Cal Bal M Cuellar 2 0 0 0 0 0 0
01 Jun 75 Cal Bal R Grimsley 2 0 1 0 0 0 0
07 Sep 75 Cal KC A Fitzmorris 5 0 0 1 1 2 0 4-3 rbi
19 Sep 75 Cal Min B Blyleven -—————————
09 Apr 76 Cal Oak M Torrez 2 0 0 0 2 1 0
10 Apr 76 Cal Oak V Blue 3 0 1 0 1 0 2B, CS
11 Apr 76 Cal Oak S Bahnsen 3 2 1 0 1 0 2B
16 Apr 76 Cal Det J Coleman 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
19 Apr 76 Cal Bal M Cuellar 4 0 1 1 0 0 2B
20 Apr 76 Cal Bal D Alexander 1 0 0 0 0 1 0
21 Apr 76 Cal Bal J Palmer -—————————
08 May 76 Cal Cle D Eckersley 5 0 1 2 2 0 CS 6-3 rbi (GWH-13)
09 May 76 Cal Cle F Peterson 3 1 1 0 0 0 2B, GIDP
12 May 76 Cal Tex B Singer 4 0 2 0 0 0 GIDP
14 May 76 Cal Min D Goltz 3 1 0 0 0 1 0
15 May 76 (1)Cal Min B Blyleven -—————————
15 May 76 (2)Cal Min P Redfern 4 0 1 1 0 1 2B
28 May 76 Cal KC D Bird 3 0 0 0 0 0 0
29 May 76 (1)Cal KC S Busby 1 0 0 0 0 1 0
29 May 76 (2)Cal KC A Fitzmorris 0 1 0 0 1 0 0
05 Sep 76 Cal Oak S Bahnsen -—————————-
06 Sep 76 Cal Oak V Blue 4 0 0 0 0 1 0
15 Sep 76 Cal KC D Bird -—————————
20 Sep 76 Cal Tex B Blyleven -—————————
24 Jun 77 Sea Mil L Sorensen 4 0 1 1 0 1 0
_________________________________________________
Totals 88 7 12 7 12 22 2B (5), 3B (1), SB (1), CS (2), GIDP (4), GWH (1)
BA .136 OBA .240 Slug .216
Yetijuice - December 16, 2008
Lotta Good Points there
Using Bill James WIN SHARES, Leroy Stanton ranks 57th all tie in franchise history – and without completely deferring to James, you may have the better argument as Win Shares inevitably rewards players who stuck around – for example, if there was a weakness at the position and one player showed up there a lot while the team bided its time as it ws strong in other parts of the lineup, well taht player ends up with more Win Shares than an impact player who had one or two great years at a position but moved on.
Despite its inherent flaws, I used the WS in compiling this year’s list, then threw in postseason impact (Stanton had none), but the list is organic and every once in a while there is that “thud” when a player is out of his element (high or low).
Stanton’s Rankings:
BILL JAMES: #57
REV-HF: #64
YETI-J: #94
Rev Halofan - December 16, 2008
Stanton was a good Angel in a bad era
At a time when the team was averaging as low as 2.93 runs a game, LeRoy put up OPS+s of 110, 91, 116, and 123. He stabilized the RF position, and played with flair. At least in the games I — not Yetijuice — attended.
mattwelch - December 16, 2008
AnaheimHalos61 - December 17, 2008
Yetijuice
I’m impressed with the pitchers you got to see, Lolich, Blue, Palmer, Blyleven, Eckersley, G, Perry, Osteen, not to mention you must had seen Ryan and Tanana pitch a time or two.
tanana40 - December 17, 2008
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