First General Manager of The AL Angels
Haney was not out of work long. In 1960 he made a brief return to broadcasting, teaming with Lindsey Nelson to call weekend baseball for NBC television. Then, the following year, the American League granted an expansion team to Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Angels, and its owner, Gene Autry, chose Haney to operate the team and its organization for him. While the Angels usually struggled on the playing field during Haney's tenure as GM from 1961 to 1968, they did finish a surprising third in 1962, and contended for the 1967 pennant as well. Haney made the team competitive in its early years by selecting future stars such as the shortstop Jim Fregosi and the pitcher Dean Chance in the expansion draft, and acquiring sluggers such as Leon Wagner and Lee Thomas. Haney also oversaw the Angels' relocation in 1966 from Chavez Ravine down the freeway to Anaheim Stadium in Orange County.
Upon his retirement at the end of the 1968 baseball season, Haney became a part-time consultant for the California Angels, and he was succeeded as the team's general manager by Dick Walsh.
Haney died on November 9, 1977 at age 79 in Beverly Hills, California, when he suffered a severe heart attack.
Read more about this topic: Fred Haney
Famous quotes containing the words general, manager and/or angels:
“At that,
his small size,
keen eyes,
serviceable beak
and general truculence
assure his survival—”
—William Carlos Williams (1883–1963)
“Nothing could his enemies do but it rebounded to his infinite advantage,—that is, to the advantage of his cause.... No theatrical manager could have arranged things so wisely to give effect to his behavior and words. And who, think you, was the manager? Who placed the slave-woman and her child, whom he stooped to kiss for a symbol, between his prison and the gallows?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“There are so many intellectual and moral angels battling for rationalism, good citizenship, and pure spirituality; so many and such eminent ones, so very vocal and authoritative! The poor devil in man needs all the support and advocacy he can get. The artist is his natural champion. When an artist deserts to the side of the angels, it is the most odious of treasons.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)