RIP Andy Etchebarren

[Lou]

Wait, I thought it was so-called doc. 

[Angel Oracle]

I remember Etchebarren catching Ryan here in 1977, the night Ryan set the MLB record for most games with 10+ K's.

R.I.P. Andy.  

[Mrinsider]

I was coaching the little league Angels over 25 years ago and we had stated The season 0-8. So I called the professional Angel baseball team and asked for some advice. Ended up at Tim Meads desk and he agreed to send out Andy Etchebarren (3rd base coach at the time) to help me with a quick lesson with the kids. He taught my son Chris and another child how to throw a circle change up. We went 8-1 and won the second half championship. I made a thank you video that the Angels played on the scoreboard on Father’s Day and they called it future Angels. Our kids got a limo ride to the stadium, sat in the press box and sang the National Anthem.

I remember Andy being great with the kids and we were all very impressed with his baseball knowledge. 

[ten ocho recon scout]

On 10/6/2019 at 3:24 PM, lbjames said:

Back in 1971, when I was a kid, they held an autograph session at Andy Etchebarren's liquor store in Hacienda Heights.  The Orioles were in town to play the Angels.  It was mobbed with kids and I remember waiting in line a long time.  But I was able to get a ball autographed by Brooks Robinson, Dave McNally, Jim Palmer, Davey Johnson and Etchebarren.  I still have it somewhere. 

As someone born after, in an age of athletes in limos and having stocks in medical companies, I yearn to to a time when ballplayers sold booze, and kids hung out there.

Simpler times. Bowl haircuts and what not. Lots of iron on graphic t shirts. Ice cream from thrifty. Every adult smoking, etc.

[ten ocho recon scout]

9 minutes ago, Mrinsider said:

I was coaching the little league Angels over 25 years ago and we had stated The season 0-8. So I called the professional Angel baseball team and asked for some advice. Ended up at Tim Meads desk and he agreed to send out Andy Etchebarren (3rd base coach at the time) to help me with a quick lesson with the kids. He taught my son Chris and another child how to throw a circle change up. We went 8-1 and won the second half championship. I made a thank you video that the Angels played on the scoreboard on Father’s Day and they called it future Angels. Our kids got a limo ride to the stadium, sat in the press box and sang the National Anthem.

I remember Andy being great with the kids and we were all very impressed with his baseball knowledge. 

Dude, honestly, if none of the other regulars here chime in here, everyone sucks. This is the kind of the thing that makes people lifelong loyal....

And tim mead is the man...

[Stradling]

12 minutes ago, Mrinsider said:

I was coaching the little league Angels over 25 years ago and we had stated The season 0-8. So I called the professional Angel baseball team and asked for some advice. Ended up at Tim Meads desk and he agreed to send out Andy Etchebarren (3rd base coach at the time) to help me with a quick lesson with the kids. He taught my son Chris and another child how to throw a circle change up. We went 8-1 and won the second half championship. I made a thank you video that the Angels played on the scoreboard on Father’s Day and they called it future Angels. Our kids got a limo ride to the stadium, sat in the press box and sang the National Anthem.

I remember Andy being great with the kids and we were all very impressed with his baseball knowledge. 

Awesome story.  I believe Andy grew up maybe 20 miles from the stadium in Hacienda Heights.  Your story seems to be the overwhelming opinion of the guy he was.  Thanks for sharing. 

[Mrinsider]

17 minutes ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

Dude, honestly, if none of the other regulars here chime in here, everyone sucks. This is the kind of the thing that makes people lifelong loyal....

And tim mead is the man...

My call got transferred like 5 times till I finally talked to Tim. He was so kind, he did ask a couple times and “ You called Us?”

Tim and I  became good friends and Tim booked me for video projects with the Angels. I actually introduced Tim to Our group and Chuck. 

[ten ocho recon scout]

14 minutes ago, Mrinsider said:

My call got transferred like 5 times till I finally talked to Tim. He was so kind, he did ask a couple times and “ You called Us?”

Tim and I  became good friends and Tim booked me for video projects with the Angels. I actually introduced Tim to Our group and Chuck. 

@Chuckster70, this is the kind of thing this site should pimp.

Ive been lucky enough to have been around Tim Mead a handful of times. Absolute definition of a gentleman. In all honesty, I count that alongside of the Skaggs tragedy for low points of the last few years. (Tim leaving)

Skaggs obviously more depressing, but Mead more "wow/loss". 

Talk to any player the last few decades, and Mead was a surrogate dad. Like I said, total gentleman face to face.

Edited October 8, 2019 by ten ocho recon scout

[Chuck]

48 minutes ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

Dude, honestly, if none of the other regulars here chime in here, everyone sucks. This is the kind of the thing that makes people lifelong loyal....

And tim mead is the man...

I agree, @ten ocho recon scout. Tim Mead did all kinds of things like this to so many people over his 40+ years in this organization. 

@Dave Saltzer was able to catch up with Tim when he took a trip over the summer to Cooperstown, Tim's new gig as President of the Hall of Fame. We got some really good stories from his 40-year tenure with the ball club. This video should be going up soon, right Dave? I'm anxious to see it. 

[Chuck]

29 minutes ago, Mrinsider said:

My call got transferred like 5 times till I finally talked to Tim. He was so kind, he did ask a couple times and “ You called Us?”

Tim and I  became good friends and Tim booked me for video projects with the Angels. I actually introduced Tim to Our group and Chuck. 

@Mrinsider, DAN!! I cannot thank you enough for introducing me to Tim in our LA Times Angels Message board suite party. What a hell of game that was against the Tigers too, that we walked off on. I believe Speizio hit a walk-off HR against Todd Jones, the Tigers closer after Jeff Weaver shut us down for pretty much the entire game. I remember we picked up Ron Gant at the deadline that year. 

Anyhow, Tim came into the suite after the game and talked to us as a group and individually. Tim and I hit it off so well after our chat that we exchanged numbers and email addresses. Three years later, he said I should create an Angels website since I have some background in web and IT work, so I threw a few ideas at him and when he gave me the thumbs up, AngelsWin.com was launched in Feb of 2004.

I believe that was the season of the 2000 Angels. @Pablo (RIP my friend) and a few of us were there. Maybe @ScottT and @Deek too? I know @Salome was there and Big Del who is no longer an Angels fan after moving to Cincy.

I'm forever grateful for you Dan for introducing me to the man who has mean so much to this website and our events. We couldn't have done it without him over the years. I'm even more grateful for introducing me to one of the greatest and most respected man I've ever known. Tim called me when he caught word of both my dad and mom's passing and offered condolences and an ear for me to talk to and cry. 

PS: Dan, I'll still never forget in January of 2004 when you called me when I was in my hot tub at 9:30 or so at night on a Sunday to tell me we're signing Vlad Guerrero per your sources. 45 minutes later it was all over the news. Your little birdies always flew back in the day as you had a ton of insider info before there was a Twitter or MLB Network for Baseball coverage! 

Miss ya pal, get on here more often. 

[Mrinsider]

10 hours ago, Chuckster70 said:

@Mrinsider, DAN!! I cannot thank you enough for introducing me to Tim in our LA Times Angels Message board suite party. What a hell of game that was against the Tigers too, that we walked off on. I believe Speizio hit a walk-off HR against Todd Jones, the Tigers closer after Jeff Weaver shut us down for pretty much the entire game. I remember we picked up Ron Gant at the deadline that year. 

Anyhow, Tim came into the suite after the game and talked to us as a group and individually. Tim and I hit it off so well after our chat that we exchanged numbers and email addresses. Three years later, he said I should create an Angels website since I have some background in web and IT work, so I threw a few ideas at him and when he gave me the thumbs up, AngelsWin.com was launched in Feb of 2004.

I believe that was the season of the 2000 Angels. @Pablo (RIP my friend) and a few of us were there. Maybe @ScottT and @Deek too? I know @Salome was there and Big Del who is no longer an Angels fan after moving to Cincy.

I'm forever grateful for you Dan for introducing me to the man who has mean so much to this website and our events. We couldn't have done it without him over the years. I'm even more grateful for introducing me to one of the greatest and most respected man I've ever known. Tim called me when he caught word of both my dad and mom's passing and offered condolences and an ear for me to talk to and cry. 

PS: Dan, I'll still never forget in January of 2004 when you called me when I was in my hot tub at 9:30 or so at night on a Sunday to tell me we're signing Vlad Guerrero per your sources. 45 minutes later it was all over the news. Your little birdies always flew back in the day as you had a ton of insider info before there was a Twitter or MLB Network for Baseball coverage! 

Miss ya pal, get on here more often. 

Chuck,

Thanks for the kind words and your vivid memories so great to remember stuff. Tim is just a great guy and always made time for a handshake and a smile. I’ll try to post more often, I do read stuff daily from Angelswin so congrats.

The one other thing I remember from Andy coming out to see my little league team is he lined up all 15 kids and had each one of them throw him two pitches. He said, “number one and number 15  are your pitchers” . I said, “1 is my second baseman (my son) and 15 is my right fielder.“ He than replied, “ What am I doing here then?” I said Ok Ok those are my new Pitchers”.  The kids uniform numbers went from smallest child 1 to 15 the largest kid on the team. It was so cute.