- The Los Angeles Angels were one of many franchises that were awarded during the 1960s. Former singing cowboy movie star Gene Autry was the team's principle owner and the nickname was chosen to represent the English translation of Los Angeles. The name was also intended to pay homage to a minor league team that had been successful in the city for decades.
- Most expansion teams in the major leagues spend their opening seasons just trying not to finish in last place, but the Los Angeles Angels broke this mold by actually contending for the American League pennant in 1962, their second year of existence. Amazingly, the sophomore team finished just 10 games behind the mighty New York Yankees that year, and pitcher Bo Belinsky tossed a no-hitter; the first in the history of Dodger Stadium.
- The Angels had been forced to share Dodger Stadium with the city's much more famous residents and the search for a new stadium of their own proved fruitless, so in 1965 owner Gene Autry struck a deal to move the team to the nearby suburb of Anaheim. The move precipitated the first of many name changes; they became the California Angels in an attempt to draw the allegiance of state baseball fans not already committed to the Dodgers or Giants.
- Despite their heady beginning, the Angels quickly tailed off into standard expansion team mediocrity. Nevertheless, in the 1970s, many Angels baseball games saw packed crowds as fans showed up to see one of the most dominating pitchers of all time show his stuff. Throughout his career, Nolan Ryan threw seven no-hitters and no less than four of those came when he was playing with the California Angels.
- Nolan Ryan's last year with the Angels was 1979, which was also the first year the California Angels made the playoffs. Although World Series gold eluded the team in the 1980s, the Angels managed to come close several times. In 1982, the Angels held a 2-0 lead in the playoffs and needed just one more victory to get to the World Series, but managed to blow three straight games to the Milwaukee Brewers. Four years later, the Angels were literally just one strike away from going to the World Series but managed to lose the playoffs to the Red Sox.
- The Walt Disney Company officially gained control of the team in 1996 and promptly changed the name again, this time to the Anaheim Angels. Some fans protested this move because it essentially downsized the fan base from all of California to what is a rather small city. Disney also changed the familiar logo of the team, leading to a new style that was universally ridiculed. The team's fortunes did not immediately fare any better.
- In 2002, the Anaheim Angels finally made it to the World Series and won the championship. The next year Disney sold the team to Angels Baseball L.P. A few years later the team officially changed its name to the rather awkward Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The decision to include Los Angeles as part of the team's official designation resulted in protests and outrage over the idea of a team not located in Los Angeles naming itself after the city. The retention of the city name Anaheim as part of the team's name was a legal decision based upon compliance with the team's lease agreement with that city.
