1934 Los Angeles Angels season

1934 Los Angeles Angels
Minor league affiliations
	Pacific Coast League (since 1903);
Location
	Wrigley Field (since 1925); Los Angeles (since 1903);
Results
Record	137–50
League place	1st
Other information
Manager(s)	Jack Lelivelt
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The 1934 Los Angeles Angels season was the 32nd season in the history of the Los Angeles Angels baseball team. The 1934 team won the Pacific Coast League (PCL) pennant with a 137–50 record, the best record in league history. Jack Lelivelt was the team's manager. The team played its home games at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles.[1]

The team was selected by Minor League Baseball as the greatest minor league team in baseball history.[2] The 1934 Angels were also selected in 2003 by a panel of minor league experts as the best team in the PCL's 100-year history.[3]

At the end of the regular season, the PCL arranged a seven-game series between the Angeles and an all-star team made picked from the best players on the other PCL teams.[4] The Angels won the series, billed as the "Little World Series", four games to two.[5][6]

Right fielder Frank Demaree won the PCL batting championship with a .383 average and also led the circuit with 173 RBIs, 190 runs scored, and 45 home runs.[7][8] Center fielder fielder Jigger Statz hit .324 and stole 71 bases.[2] Left fielder Marv Gudat appeared in all 188 games for the 1934 Angels and compiled a .333 batting average.[2] All three members of the outfield (Demaree, Staz, and Gudat) were later inducted into the Pacific Coast League Hall of Fame.

The team also included three pitchers who won 20 games. Fay Thomas led the team with a 28–4 record (.875 winning percentage), a 2.59 earned run average (ERA) and 204 strikeouts.[9] Thomas was also later inducted into PCL Hall of Fame. Mike Meola compiled a 20–5 record, and Lou Garland went 21–9.[9]

Players

Batting

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
RF	Frank Demaree	186	702	269	.383	45	173
CF	Jigger Statz	183	760	246	.324	6	66
LF	Marv Gudat	188	758	242	.319	4	125
1B	Jim Oglesby	188	725	226	.312	15	139
2B	Jimmie Reese	180	733	228	.311	3	85
C	Gilly Campbell	145	459	140	.305	17	97
3B	Gene Lillard	171	592	171	.289	27	119
SS	Carl Dittmar	151	517	152	.294	3	73

[9][2]

Pitching

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; PCT = Win percentage; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	PCT	ERA	SO
Fay Thomas	41	295	28	4	.875	2.59	204
Lou Garland	41	249	21	9	.700	2.67	91
Mike Meola	42	248	20	5	.800	2.90	93
John Campbell	48	283	19	15	.559	2.63	80
Roy Henshaw	38	196	16	4	.800	2.76	120
Emmett Nelson	29	171	14	5	.737	2.53	72
Dick Ward	20	137	13	4	.765	2.63	54