Try to name that handicap!

“What’s in a name? That which we call an orange by any other name would smell as sweet.”

With apologies to Bill Shakespeare, let’s consider the possibilities of the sad decade of Angels’ frustration not being connected to injuries, bad trades and a revolving door of field managers.
Maybe the solution is simpler.

How about a new name?

It’s not like it’s a new idea. The team began as the Los Angeles Angels in 1961, then became the California Angels when they moved to Anaheim, shifting to Anaheim Angels for the Disney era. That was followed by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and now, circled back to Los Angeles Angels.

I’m not seriously promising that a new monicker would put them in the MLB playoffs, but … frankly, has anybody else got a better (i.e. more successful) idea?

The first, most obvious idea would be the Orange County Angels. That’s a little broader than “Anaheim” and more realistic than “Los Angeles.”

Or maybe the team name, “Angels.” is the real culprit. “Angels” sounds nice, but maybe too nice. It doesn’t evoke the spirit of hard-playing, nome plate-stealing team like, say, the Dodgers (used to be and sometimes still is).

To combine a local feature with a grittier image how about “The Sons of the Beaches”? (Crossing that out as witty but too controversial …).

I’m stumped for now. But if being a little “out-of- the box” has worked for the “leg-pulling” Savannah Bananas touring baseball tean, maybe it could work for us.