On May 15, 2003, Arte Moreno, a Mexican-American businessman purchased the then Anaheim Angels for $184 million from The Walt Disney Company. This came roughly 8 months after the club had just won their first and only World Series title in the Fall of 2002. For the Walt Disney Company, there was no better time to sell then just after the club was at its highest value, and Moreno who had longed for a pro club for years jumped on the opportunity. Arte was initially very popular with fans as he had such a willingness to spend money on free agents and made Angels Stadium a great place to enjoy a game! However, as we approach the 22^nd anniversary of his purchase of the now Los Angeles Angels, the relationship between the fans and the owner has never been more strained and more complicated. As a devote Angels fan myself, it is time for Mr. Moreno to relinquish our club and SELL THE TEAM!

Arte’s Tenure as the Angels Owner

Now from an outsider who isn’t dialed in, you may look at Moreno and see all the money he has shelved out for top free agents, the success the club had from 2004-2014 (winning the division 6 times during this era), and the amazing stadium experience and think, “Damn, he can’t be that bad! It seems like he’s really trying to make the team competitive!” That is where you would be wrong, as Moreno is possibly the most medaling owner in the current era of Major league Baseball. His constant overpaying for aged free agents has handicapped the Angels for years. His signings of Albert Pujols, Josh Hamilton, CJ Wilson, Gary Matthews Jr, Justin Upton, and of course the worst of them all, Anthony Rendon, have plagued the GMs’ ability to sign players and field a competitive roster. Everyone’s first instinct is, well Arte is the owner, he doesn’t sign the players… I assure you, he has overridden all TEN of the general managers that have worked for the Angels during his ownership. You read that correctly, the Angels have had 10 GM’s in the 22 years Arte has owned the club; this is a huge red flag and a sign that there is supreme instability at the top. Being the Angels GM is not a coveted job because the entire world knows that it is Arte who makes key decisions and will override his GM to overpay someone who doesn’t deserve it; look at Anthony Rendon’s contract for reference…

One thing Moreno did that was severely unpopular with fans was when he changed the name of the team to the “Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim” in 2005; just one year after purchasing the club. This was so unpopular with fans, and it was a joke of sports talk shows and media everywhere. Then in 2015, the team was officially known as “Los Angeles Angels” which is a name the fans hate even more because it makes no mention of the city the team plays actually plays in! Anaheim is 2 hours away from Los Angeles with traffic; this name makes ZERO sense. Us Angels fans want to go back to being the Anaheim Angels, or better yet, the California Angels!

Current State of the LA Angels

We have briefly discussed the past, but let’s talk about what is going on right now, and why there is such a strong contingency of fans who YEARN for Arte to sell the team and return to his home in New Mexico. The last decade of Angels baseball has been nothing short of a nightmare. 2014 was the last time the Angels made the playoffs; this stands as the longest postseason drought in the MLB… Mike Trout has only played in one playoff series in his life, and it was a sweep at the hands of the Kansas City Royals back in 2014; that’s 11 years ago. I was 21 the last time the Angels made the playoffs, I am currently 32. I have lived a third of my life without the Angels even MAKING the postseason. Meanwhile, for 5 years this club had the best two players in the league and still couldn’t contend! Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout may be the greatest duo to ever don the same uniform at the same time; statically speaking. As fans, we always knew the Angels needed pitching. Every offseason we would pray to the Baseball Gods that Arte would come to his senses and invest in pitching. Instead, he would invest in a mid-30s, past their prime big name player who would be hurt and on the IL by May. Every. Single. Year. We are exhausted. We have had enough, and we want our team back. Losing Shohei Ohtani was the final straw. Not trading away Ohtani and receiving real assets for him was the worst move in Major League Baseball history. The Angels had the best guy on one of the worst teams and they knew they weren’t going to pay him; but for whatever reason Arte decided to be on the Titanic and go down with his sinking ship. Arte’s constant horrible decision making and lack of baseball knowledge have cost this team years of success, and quite frankly, it has cost Mike Trout a really amazing career. The real loser in all of this unfortunately is Trout. He is the greatest player I have ever seen play in person, and he will never be the best player on a World Series team. Currently in his age 34 season, he has battled numerous injuries for the last 5 years and is no longer a lock to play even 100 games per season. He gave this team EVERYTHING he had in his early career only for the team to not support him and get him the pieces he needed to compete and to win. As Angels fans, we will always love Mike Trout and know how important he is to baseball, but the baseball community will never see him this way, and honestly they have every right; he never competed on the biggest stage and that will always haunt is career.

“Calling all Angels” (Fans)..

For 6 months in 2022, there was a glimmer of hope! It was the most exciting 8 months for Angels fans far and wide. On August 23, 2022, Arte Moreno announced he would look into selling the team! I was elated, I was over the moon, it didn’t feel real! That is because it wasn’t; Arte rescinded his stance during the subsequent offseason stating that he had no plans to sell. Honestly, I doubt Arte has social media, because if he did he would have seen how much he is reviled and how happy we were for those 8 months when we thought our franchise had hope. So as I write this, I am “Calling all you Angels” fans, please show your support at games and wear “Sell the Team” t-shirts. We need to take a stand against a horrible owner who has made every wrong move for 22 years. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. This man tarnished Mike Trout’s career, let Shohei Ohtani walk out the door, and paid a player who openly said he doesn’t like baseball almost $400 millon!!! This needs to end, so say it one time with me loud so he can hear us – SELL THE TEAM, ARTE!!!!!