- Two World Series tickets: $220
- Parking: $10
- Program: $10
- Souvenir apparel: $104
- Rally monkey: $15
- Two hot dogs, two sodas, one pretzel: $17
- Watching home team win World Series, with son, after 41 years of futility: Priceless, baby.
My son is 9, a little older than I was when my dad took me to my first Angels game somewhere around 1966.
Going into Game 6, the Giants were 8-0 with Baker’s kid in the dugout. Now they’re 8-2. Angels players also had their family members on the field . . . after winning Game 7.
Giants pitcher Livan Hernandez came into the World Series with a 6-0 record in postseason play and announced, “I never lose in October.” After losing Game 3 and Game 7, he’s now 6-2.
Most of of the Angels players — including almost all of the starting lineup and pitching staff — have been with the team their entire major league career, including Troy Glaus, Garret Anderson, Darin Erstad, Tim Salmon, David Eckstein, Bengie Molina, Shawn Wooten, Orlando Palmeiro, Chone Figgins, Troy Percival, Jarrod Washburn, John Lackey, Francisco Rodriguez, Ramon Ortiz, Scott Schoeneweis, Brendan Donnelly and Scot Shields.
It used to be pretty common for an athlete to spend his entire career with one team. Now it’s very unusual, especially for top players like Glaus, Anderson, Erstad, Salmon and Percival.
By contrast, almost none of the Giants starters or pitchers are homegrown products, the exceptions being Rich Aurelia, Russ Ortiz, Chad Zerbe and Aaron Fultz.
The Angels have three starting position players earning $375,000 or less: Adam Kennedy ($375,000), Eckstein ($280,000) and Molina ($225,000). The lowest-paid Giants players are David Bell and Reggie Sanders at $1.75 million.
The Angels have three starting pitchers earning $575,000 or less: Ortiz ($575,000), Washburn ($350,000) and the Game 7 winner, Lackey ($200,000). The lowest-paid Giants starter is Game 7 loser Livan “I never lose in October” Hernandez at $2.95 million.