COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. -- Longtime Los Angeles Angels media relations director Tim Mead has been appointed president of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

The 61-year-old Mead has spent 40 years working in baseball, all with the Angels. He has been their vice president of communications the past 22 years. He was saluted by several Angels players, including star outfielder Mike Trout, on Twitter.

You have been nothing but good to me, Tim... To say I'm going to miss you is an understatement. Congratulations, you deserve every ounce of this opportunity!! Thank you for everything!! pic.twitter.com/vX5W8cqmwx — Mike Trout (@MikeTrout) April 30, 2019

"It's an opportunity that you had to jump on," Mead said before Tuesday's game against the Toronto Blue Jays. "To have the chance to be a caretaker of the game, the milestones and the memories, and work with greatness that have already accomplished the things they've accomplished and be around them I think is a privilege and an honor."

Mead becomes the seventh president in the 80-year history of the organization and will succeed Jeff Idelson, who announced in February he would retire after the Hall of Fame induction ceremony in July.

In his most recent position with the Angels, Mead oversaw the team's media relations, publicity and broadcasting operations. Before that, he served as Angels' assistant general manager from 1994 to 1997.

Mead said he did not know when he would finish with the Angels and head to Cooperstown. He said Idelson approached him about the position during spring training and then he had a meeting with Hall chairman Jane Forbes Clark earlier this month.

"I'm fortunate to know several members of the Hall of Fame already and heard from a few of them today. I look forward to those relationships and that new network," Mead said.

Mead was born in Athens, Greece, and graduated from Cal Poly in Pomona, California, with a communications degree. He began his career as an intern in the Angels' public relations department in 1980. He was appointed director of media relations in 1985 and assumed the role of assistant vice president of media relations in 1991.

Mead also received the 2000 Robert O. Fishel Award for public relations excellence, awarded annually by Major League Baseball to an industry executive who excels at promoting the sport.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.