Always an Angel: Playing the Game With Fire and Faith

Professional baseball player Tim Salmon opens up about his hardships growing up and how a grandmother's faith set the stage for his remarkable career with the Angels, a team with an ingrained culture of losing that became one of baseball's elite teams by the time he retired. Salmon recalls the exploits of teammates Garret Anderson, Chili Davis, Chuck Finley, and Jim Abbott, who symbolized the grit and spirit of a team struggling for an identity, and he discusses the players who provided comic relief, including Rex Hudler diving through the post game spread with nothing on but his cleats. As eyewitness to some of baseball's all-time greatest moments, Salmon poignantly recalls Cal Ripken Jr.'s legendary streak of 2,132 consecutive games from a fresh perspective. Also included are accounts of his classic confrontations with fearsome pitchers Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson, and Roger Clemens.

Tim Salmon is a former professional baseball player who was one of the American League’s most consistent performers and who helped guide the Angels to their first world championship in 2002. He is the founder of the Tim Salmon Foundation, which supports Orange County charities assisting children in need. He lives in Scottsdale, Arizona. Rob Goldman was a team batboy and visiting clubhouse attendant for the Angels in the 1970s. He played baseball at Mendocino College and graduated with a BA in theatre arts from Sonoma State. He has acted in several films, including Dances with Wolves, JFK, and Overboard, and is the author of Once They Were Angels: A History of the Team, hailed as the “best sports history in years” by the New York Daily News and considered one of the definitive books on the Angels.