A sixth-grader recounts his love of the Angels and his experience at three of the World Series games.
By Sean Crane/Special to The Malibu Times
Scott Spiezio’s three-run homer during the seventh inning of the sixth game to save the game and the series for the Angels. Also, Tim Salmon, my favorite player, hitting two home runs in game two of the World Series.
These memories are what I will tell my friends and family about when I am an adult and look back at the 2002 World Series.
My name is Sean Crane and I am a sixth grader at Our Lady of Malibu School. I have been an Angels fan all my life. My grandparents have had Angels tickets for 20 years and I have gone to games with my parents since I was two years old. This World Series, I was fortunate to be able to go to three of the four games played at Edison Field-one, two, and six. Game two and six were the most exciting because they had nonstop action and the Angels were behind in both and came back and won.
The World Series games were much more exciting than the regular season games because the games were sold out to very excited fans, who showed up with their “rally monkeys” and were handed “thunder sticks” as they entered the gates. The “thunder sticks” made it very loud with more than 45,000 fans banging them together loudly. At home, after the games, our ears were still ringing. It was 100 times louder and more exciting than watching the game on TV. It was fun watching Barry Bonds hit home runs and striking out. It was also fun watching David Eckstein, the Angels shortstop, because he plays so hard. My favorite pitcher is Troy Percival, and I was able to get his autograph when I was about seven years old. My favorite player is Tim Salmon who plays right field and has been with the Angels the longest.
I would think the best thing about playing in and winning the World Series, is knowing that you are the best team in the U.S. I think the Angels really deserved to win the World Series because they were a good team, plus it is the first time they have even played in the Series since the team was first started, 42 years ago, by Gene Autry. The Angels played together as a team and each player played his hardest and also supported other teammates. I think the close teamwork is what helped them to win the World Series.
I look forward to next year’s season and hopefully I will watch them win next year’s World Series.
After my flag football game last Wednesday, I was able to meet Mike Scioscia, the manager of the Angels. His son was playing on the other football team and I talked to him after the game and got his autograph. He was very nice, and asked me how I liked the games that I had attended.