The 1970 California Angels season was the 10th season of the Angels franchise in the American League, the 5th in Anaheim, and their 5th season playing their home games at Anaheim Stadium. The Angels finished the season third in the American League West with a record of 86 wins and 76 losses.
Offseason October 22, 1969: Rubén Amaro Sr. was released by the Angels.Rubén Amaro at Baseball-Reference October 24, 1969: Mel Queen was purchased by the Angels from the Cincinnati Reds.Mel Queen at Baseball-Reference 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.Pedro Borbón at Baseball-Reference January 14, 1970: Bill Harrelson and Dan Loomer (minors) were traded by the Angels to the Cincinnati Reds for Jack Fisher.Jack Fisher at Baseball-Reference
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.Clyde Wright at Baseball-Reference His 22 wins that year are a franchise record as of 2024, tied with Nolan Ryan's 1972 season.Los Angeles Angels Top 10 Single-Season Pitching Leaders at Baseball-Reference
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. at Society for American Baseball Research
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.MLB Scores and Standings Thursday, September 03, 1970 at Baseball-Reference 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.Ken McMullen at Baseball-Reference 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.Mike Krukow at Baseball-Reference August 31, 1970: Tony González was purchased by the Angels from the Atlanta Braves.Tony González at Baseball-Reference
Roster 1970 California Angels Roster Pitchers Catchers
Infielders Outfielders
Other batters Manager
Coaches
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 Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI C Joe Azcue 114 351 85 .242 2 25 1B 146 511 140 .274 12 68 2B 162 672 169 .251 2 36 SS Jim Fregosi 158 601 167 .278 22 82 3B 124 422 98 .232 14 61 LF 156 614 202 .329 14 86 CF Jay Johnstone 119 320 76 .238 11 39 RF 137 407 97 .238 18 47
Other batters Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI Tom Egan 79 210 50 .238 4 20 Bill Voss 80 181 44 .243 3 30 Jarvis Tatum 75 181 43 .238 0 6 Billy Cowan 68 134 37 .276 5 25 Tommie Reynolds 59 120 30 .250 1 6 68 107 26 .243 0 12 26 92 28 .304 1 12 17 63 17 .270 0 7 Doug Griffin 18 55 7 .127 0 4 Mickey Rivers 17 25 8 .320 0 3 Ray Oyler 24 24 2 .083 0 1 Tom Silverio 15 15 0 .000 0 0 9 6 1 .167 0 1 Randy Brown 5 4 0 .000 0 0 Jim Hicks 4 4 1 .250 0 0 Marty Perez 3 3 0 .000 0 1
Pitching
Starting pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Player G IP W L ERA SO 39 260.2 22 12 2.83 110 39 227.0 16 13 4.24 99 38 208.2 7 13 4.01 164 37 194.2 11 10 3.01 62
Other pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Player G IP W L ERA SO Greg Garrett 32 74.2 5 6 2.65 53 17 69.2 2 5 4.13 53 8 24.0 1 1 2.62 12
Relief pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Player G W L SV ERA SO 62 7 4 17 2.94 50 Eddie Fisher 67 4 4 8 3.04 74 Paul Doyle 40 3 1 5 5.14 34 Dave LaRoche 38 4 1 4 3.44 44 34 3 6 9 4.20 44 Steve Kealey 17 1 0 1 4.15 14 4 0 0 0 5.06 5 3 0 0 0 3.86 3 Harvey Shank 1 0 0 0 0.00 1
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
Further reading