If you ask the typical baseball fan nowadays what their favourite season is, many will answer 2011 without thinking. That year saw one of the most thrilling final days in MLB history, with Tampa Bay and Boston duking it out for one wild card spot while St Louis scrambled past Atlanta for the other one. The Cardinals carried their hard-earned spot all the way to the World Series, where they came back from a 3-2 deficit to top the Rangers in dramatic fashion.

But stepping into the past reveals a treasury of forgotten seasons capable of vying with 2011 for that ultimate crown. 1991 saw two worst-to-first runs that culminated in the Blue Jays beating the Braves in a ten-inning, one-run Game 7. 1941 had the last season over .400 and the unbeatable 56-game hitting streak of Joe Dimaggio. Even in the far-distant past, 1908 stands out as a year in which the Cubs bested the Giants and Pirates in a three-way pennant tussle that came down to a replayed tie that might not have been a tie at all.

But even when these hidden gems are examined, one season is often forgotten, despite having everything you could ask for. Two divisions went down to the final game, the other two to the final week; the World Series, nicknamed the Suds Series, went to seven games and finished dramatically; two ancient rivals eliminated each other in the last weekend; Rickey Henderson stole his 130 bases; and on and on and on. It was a supercharged season, filled to the brim with spectacle and tension, heroism and tragedy, from its first day to its last.

This is the story of 1982.

We often look on baseball as a dichotomy in many ways. There’s the pre–modern era and the modern era; the years of steroids and the years without; the early era of Yankee dominance and the years of parity since.

But when looking at baseball this way, we often ignore a fascinating group of players: those caught in the middle. Consider, say, John McGraw, whose playing career opened in the 1890s with the Baltimore Orioles and whose coaching career ended with his resignation from the New York Giants over forty years later. In between, the game went from a fledgling sandlot endeavour to the national sport. In 1891, McGraw’s first year in the majors, the top salary belonged to Paul Cook, a Louisville and St Louis utility player who earned a whopping $2,000. When McGraw left the Giants in 1932, the top salary belonged to Babe Ruth, who earned $75,000.

Today, the highest-paid player earns nearly $40,000,000 a year.

The point is that the sport can change before players’ eyes. Baseball resists being divided into those nice, neat eras, because so many great players’ careers span them. And when it comes to the 1982 California Angels, the reason they came out atop the AL West in the last week of the season was because they had nabbed a superstar whose career had begun with no prospect of ever playing for anybody but the A’s—because given how great Reggie Jackson was, there’s no way even Charlie O. Finley would have traded him.

But seven years into Jackson’s career, Finley found that Catfish Hunter, one of the best players on the A’s, had no contract. The case started out bizarrely: Finley had somehow failed to sign Hunter’s contract, a fact which he initially brought up with the intention of claiming some of Hunter’s deferred money; Finley wanted to make interest on the $50,000 that Hunter’s contract stipulated would be put in an insurance annuity, not in Finley’s coffers, until it was eventually paid.

But when Finley pointed out that he’d never signed Hunter’s contract, Hunter and his agent, J. Carlton Cherry, realised that if the player had no contract, he wasn’t bound to pitch for the A’s at all. Hunter was baseball’s first free agent.

After keeping the bizarre situation secret for a whole year (in which the A’s, as it happened, won the World Series), Hunter sent the case to arbitration after the 1974 season and was, after lengthy deliberation, confirmed. Unbound from the iron thumb of Finley, one of baseball’s most notoriously cruel owners, Hunter replaced his $100,000 A’s contract with a $3,350,000 one from the Yankees—joining the only owner worse than Finley, George Steinbrenner.

Other A’s quickly followed suit, desperate to be freed from the reigning World Series champions. Sensing the downfall of his empire, Finley traded away his best player, Reggie Jackson, before Mr October had a chance to reach free agency. After one abbreviated season in Baltimore, Jackson was free to go wherever he wanted.

After a five-year stint with the Yankees, during which New York won two World Series and Jackson delivered his infamous ‘the straw that stirs the drink’ line, the superstar, now in his late 30s, tussled with Steinbrenner and ended up as a free agent once again. The Angels’ owner, Gene Autry—a former film and country music star and one of the few men in baseball who could challenge Finley or Steinbrenner for sheer grandiloquence—signed Jackson to five years in California for the last stint of the great outfielder’s career.

So with the help of Finley’s unsigned contract, Hunter’s huge Yankee payday, Steinbrenner’s bombasticism, and Autry’s five-million-dollar deal, one of the best players in baseball had ended up with a 21-year old team that had won just a single postseason game in its history.

Baseball, eh?

That win, in a 3-1 defeat during the 1979 ALCS, was still recent, but the Angels had subsequently fallen off a cliff. From 1977 to 1983, California went from fifth to second to first to sixth to fifth to first to fifth in their division. Aside from two AL West pennants, they only went over .500 once from 1971 to 1984.

The Angels had actually gotten kind of close in 1981, finishing just 13.5 games behind in the overall season (which extrapolates to about 20 games over a full 162-game season). It was better than 1980, at least, when they’d been a whopping 31 games off the pace, saved only from a distant last by the 59-103 Mariners.

But with Jackson and Doug DeCinces, a .301 hitter with the Orioles in 1981, the Angels were a contender in the West. It’d be a hard task; the A’s, Rangers, and White Sox had all gone over .500 in 1981. But California had a shot, especially in this year of all years.

The showdown for the AL West was set. The White Sox and Royals had gotten better; the A’s and Rangers were aiming to cling to their dominance. It was to be a showdown for the ages.

The Angels started 3-3, including dropping two of three to the Twins (who would lose 102 games that year). With the White Sox getting off to a great start—eventually winning their first eight—California was faced with an immediate deficit.

Facing a three-game series with the Mariners, California had to get back on track. The first game made it to a gobsmacking eighteen innings before it was suspended, as the teams scored two runs apiece in the first nine, then added one more each in the 15th. The Angels won game two in more conventional fashion when Bobby Grich slammed a walk-off double in the tenth. They took the next matchup, too, with the Angels’ aptly named Angel Moreno tossing a complete game despite striking out just two to defeat Gaylord Perry 3-2. In between, the 18-inning drama was resumed on April 14; after loading the bases in the bottom of the 19th, the Mariners’ Gene Nelson induced a game-saving groundout, but a single, bunt, intentional walk, and walk-off single doomed him in the 20th.

The Angels had won, 4-3. Both teams had 15 hits. Only eleven longer games have been played since.

After that exhausting affair, the Angels took on the Twins, a game that promptly went to extra innings. Yet again, California won, this time on a two-out two-run homer in the bottom of the tenth off the bat of Doug DeCinces. The home run was given up by Doug Corbett.

Ballpark numbers suggest that the average player comes to the plate about 3600 times during his career. Assuming half of the 20,000 or so MLB players in history have been pitchers and half batters, that half of the 32 Dougs to play in the league have been the former and half the latter, and that the average season contains perhaps 55 walk-off homers and 120,000 at-bats, the odds of a single walk-off home run hit by one player named Doug off of another in baseball history are about 0.25%.

In all likelihood, this is the only one.

Jon Bois stats aside, the Angels had their fourth straight win. They swept the Twins, eventually winning seven in a row, and by April 27 had stormed into first place in the division, up 2.5 games on the White Sox, who were 2-6 in their last eight.

But the team’s expected leader, Reggie Jackson, wasn’t contributing. For March and April, Jackson was batting just .188, and heading into a crucial series with the Yankees, it almost seemed as if Steinbrenner had made the right move in letting his superstar walk.

Jackson, of course, slammed a home run in the seventh inning to seal the game, prompting chants first of ‘Reggie! Reggie!’ then of ‘Steinbrenner sucks!’ The Angels took two of three from New York and held on to the division lead until a three-game losing streak dropped them into a tie with the White Sox. Chicago and California would tussle for the lead, both winning plenty of games, through the end of May, when both the Sox and Angels fell into long ruts, losing seven in a row virtually simultaneously.

That brought the Royals to the fore, as Kansas City surprised everyone by charging from 5.5 games back to the AL West lead in just over a week. The fight went on as the White Sox receded for the time being, allowing KC and California to wear one another out.

The Angels were now playing spirited ball. From June 11 through the end of the month, they didn’t lose consecutive games once, going on a 13-5 tear to claim a three-game lead. They promptly blew it before they could even kick back and take in the penthouse feeling, dropping two to the Rangers, three to the Royals, two to the Orioles, and one more to Cleveland before they finally ended the losing streak at 9. The damage was done, though, and they had no hope of taking the lead before the All-Star Break, as the Royals now held a three-game lead with four to play.

That’s when Kansas City dropped four and the Angels beat Cleveland and swept the Yankees to grab a one-game lead.

Bobby Grich, who would put together a .371 OPS that year while hitting double-digit homers for the fourth year of a streak that would end at seven, was one of three Angels All-Star starters, sharing honours with Fred Lynn and Reggie Jackson. Rickey Henderson, who would steal 130 bases that year, was the only non-Angel in the outfield.

When the Angels came back, they stayed hot. 11-7 through the end of July was, ultimately, enough to hold their one-game lead going into the last two months of the season. The AL West pennant was getting nearer.

The White Sox had nearly dropped out of the race, as a four-game losing streak put them at 49-49 in late July. But by August 16, Chicago was right back in it, having gone 15-3 to close in on the squabbling Angels and Royals. California and Kansas City hadn’t made much progress, even though the Angels’ schedule was in a particularly thin run. From August 17 through September 5, the Angels would play solely over-.500 teams: eight against the 64-52 Red Sox, six against the 60-57 Tigers, and five against the 68-49 Brewers.

The pennant was at stake.

The Angels ended up 9-10 against the monstrously difficult slate, losing four of their last five to fall two games back. The White Sox had gone 8-11 since their closest approach, and now sat 5.5 games back. It was the Royals’ race to lose, and when they won their fifth straight on September 15 to take a two-game lead again, it didn’t even matter that California had just won five straight.

Dead ahead lies one of the easiest weeks on the team’s schedule. One game with the Mariners, who the Royals had just topped in extras for the second win of the series; three with the Twins, who were 23.5 games back of KC; and three with the Angels, a series that could effectively seal the division title.

It’s time for a miracle.

September 16: The Mariners’ Joe Simpson slams a men-on-the-corners triple to left field to give Seattle a 4-2 lead and eventual victory in Kansas City. Up north, the Blue Jays’ Willie Upshaw hits a bottom-of-the-12th walk-off to upend the Angels. AL West standings: Royals lead, Angels two games back.

September 17: The Jays again top the Angels, this time by a comfortable 6-2 score. Over in Minnesota, though, comes news of a shocker: despite a two-run homer to draw within one run in the top of the 9th, the Royals are taken down by the 54-93 Twins. AL West standings: Royals lead, Angels two games back.

September 18: California finally beats Toronto, coming back from a 6-2 deficit with an eighth-inning walk with the bases loaded that ties the game, then taking the lead with Fred Lynn’s bases-loaded single in the top of the 9th for the go-ahead runs. The Twins continue their unthinkable dominance, blowing out the Royals by an 11-5 score. AL West standings: Royals lead, Angels one game back.

September 19: The Angels take a second straight win in Toronto to split the series, plating three runs in the top of the seventh without a single hit from their three All-Stars. Minnesota earns a preposterous sweep with three runs in the third and six in the fifth for another blowout. AL West standings: Royals and Angels tied for first.

The Angels are right back in it. The division is tied. California’s won two in a row; KC’s lost four straight. The Royals are vulnerable, and they slip into Anaheim Stadium under the roar of a 42,000-strong crowd.

The Angels strike first, with Bob Boone’s single sending Don Baylor home for the opening run in the second. The Royals’ Lee May ties it up in the top of the fourth with a homer to deep left field, but Tim Foli, a 31-year-old journeyman who hasn’t hit a home run since May, matches him to give the Angels the lead once again. With an insurance run in the bottom of the seventh, California’s flying high when the top of the ninth rolls around.

Down 3-1, Kansas City needs magic. They’re trying to avoid a fifth straight loss, having fumbled the division lead in less than a week. It’s desperation time for the Royals; they dominated the late 1970s, but only made the 1981 postseason thanks to the bizarre split-season format. They need this pennant almost as much as the Angels do.

Hal McRae and Frank White lead off with singles. Lee May, whose home run in the fourth remains the Royals’ only score, hits a groundout that puts men at the corners. John Wathan hits another groundout, but KC gets McRae home to cut the lead to one. Jerry Martin, who will hit fifteen home runs this year, steps up to the plate. Luis Sánchez, a young reliever for the Angels who pitched four innings in the 8-6 win over Toronto two days ago, has been called upon to get the first two outs. Now, with the tying run on second and the go-ahead run staring him in the face, Sánchez is in the biggest moment of his career to date.

Martin hits a low groundout to Ron Jackson at first base, who tags the bag and puts the Angels into first place. The game is over.

The next night, with over 50,000 in attendance, the Angels’ Daryl Sconiers, in one of his fifteen plate appearances all year, manages one of his two hits all year in the bottom of the ninth to send pinch-runner Gary Pettis home. And in the series finale, Brian Downing and Doug DeCinces hit home runs in the bottom of the eighth to put the Royals away in an 8-5 win that closes the series sweep and put California three games up.

The next night, Kansas City finally wins, topping the A’s by a comfortable 7-4 margin. But the damage is done. With two losses to Oakland and another to California, the Royals have effectively lost the pennant.

A slight slump in the last series between the Angels and Royals gives KC an outside chance; down two games with three to play, they need either a sweep of Oakland and just one-of-three for the Angels (against the moribund Rangers) or two-of-three from Oakland and a sweep of the Angels. But the Angels’ 6-4 comeback victory on the second-to-last day of the season decides it, and California are the AL West champs. Just for fun, Gary Pettis (whose pinch-running in the second game of the crucial Royals-Angels series helped win it) wallops a walk-off homer to complete the sweep.

Less than a month after the Royals’ historic collapse, the Angels did likewise, losing a 2-0 lead in the ALDS to the high-flying Brewers. But the regular season still stood as a monument to California and its fans. Each game of the critical series against the Royals more than doubled league-average attendance figures. Overall, the Angels had the second-highest average attendance, second only to their cross-town rival the Dodgers. It was a huge improvement from 1981, when the Angels had actually ranked behind the Royals.

Relocation rumours have followed California/Anaheim/Los Angeles since they came into being back in 1969. Up until 1982, there weren’t many rebuttals to the claim that the Angels were doing just fine. But things had clearly changed for the better now, and from 1982 on, California didn’t go three years without a winning season until 2016-19 (a stretch in which they’ve gone 80-82 twice).

The Angels had won the pennant by miraculous means. No more were they a team of long stretches of futility, a team that only occasionally rose to the fore with one bright season amid a dreadful rut. They were in LA to stay, and for the first time in the team’s then-short history, the future was truly bright.

🢀 Part 1: Atlanta

Part 3: Milwaukee 🢂