Angels’ name might change again. What California lawmakers are considering

The Los Angeles Angels have been a chaotic mess lately. First, owner Arte Moreno was going to sell the team, then he wasn’t, then fans showed up shirtless and started demanding he sell it. Earlier this year, they had a rat infestation. Over the weekend, a Dodgers fan wrangled an opossum. Now, they might have to change their name … again. 

Let’s start at the beginning. 

The “Angels” nickname was never random. It traces back more than a century to the old Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League. A powerhouse club that played near downtown LA from the early 1900s until the Dodgers arrived from Brooklyn in late 1957 and began playing here in 1958. 

The name itself is pretty straightforward. It’s the English translation of “Los Angeles,” which literally means “The Angels.” Coincidentally, the franchise has deeper historical roots to Southern California long before MLB and the Dodgers moved West. 

Did you know that when they played at Dodger Stadium from 1962 to 1965, the Angels were the ones to call it Chavez Ravine? A name that is still used to this day.

In 1961, famous cowboy actor and singer Gene Autry, who had been living in Los Angeles making movies since the 1930s, secured an MLB expansion franchise.

He wanted to keep the continuity from the PCL team, but Dodgers owner Walter O’Malley held the rights to the Angels’ name. He ultimately sold it to Autry for $350,000, and the Los Angeles Angels were reborn.

Then came all the rebrands. 

The team became the California Angels after moving to Anaheim in 1966 with the purpose of marketing itself statewide. The name remained until Disney bought the team in 1997 and changed the name to the Anaheim Angels after raising public funds to help renovate the stadium. 

When Moreno bought the team in 2005, he wanted to chase the lucrative Los Angeles media market. That’s when the most awkward name in sports was created, “The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.” Thankfully, the name was shortened to its current iteration — the Los Angeles Angels — in 2016. 

Now, nearly two decades later, California lawmakers are trying to drag the franchise back toward Anaheim Angels again. If Assembly Bill 2512 passes, the Angels could once again be forced to go back to the Anaheim Angels, whether Moreno likes it or not. 

So, that’s the strange history behind the franchise that was born in Los Angeles, raised in Anaheim, marketed to all of California and forever caught in an identity crisis between Hollywood and Orange County.

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