Article: A Review of the Blue Jays in 'Angels in the Outfield'

[Mike LeSage]

With the Blue Jays in Anaheim to take on the Angels, we look back at a classic "series" from the mid-90s.

In July 1994, Disney released the movie Angels in the Outfield. It featured a star-studded cast of actors, including Danny Glover, Tony Danza, Christopher Lloyd, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Neal McDonough, Adrien Brody and Matthew McConaughey. They all played characters on the Angels' side of the ball, though, so we won’t concern ourselves with them. Instead, let's talk about their first opponent. The first time we see the Angels in action, it’s in a series against the Toronto Blue Jays. 

Many movies have been made about baseball, and the Jays are still waiting for their chance to feature. Even when not the focus, you can’t make a baseball movie without an opponent. Still, we almost never see Toronto make an appearance. At most, we’ve been relegated to "montage team" status when the team that is the focus of the movie inevitably goes on a winning streak. So, this “family sports fantasy comedy-drama film” (great descriptor, Wikipedia) represents the most screen time the Blue Jays have been afforded. 

The first game we see of the series is pretty limited (JG-L is watching through binoculars from a tree outside the stadium), and we join the game in the top of the eighth inning. A glimpse of the scoreboard shows the Jays are up 7-0 with 12 hits so far. Right-handed hitter Ackers is up to bat, and his .282 batting average is displayed on the screen. The last Blue Jay to hit .282 was Corey Dickerson in his 46 games with Toronto in 2021. What should be a routine flyout leads to a collision in the outfield, and the ensuing pitching change sparks a benches-clearing brawl. The Toronto manager, played by the director of the film (one of only two credited Blue Jays), calls his team back, yelling, “Not our fight.” Blue Jays win.

Images courtesy of Walt Disney Pictures.

The second game sees JG-L getting inside the stadium, and we get a pitchers duel. Leading off for the Jays we have third basemen, Warren Barley. He hits an absolute rocket up the middle, almost taking out the Angels pitcher. The launch angle couldn’t be more than a degree or two – if Barley can add some lift to his swing, he could be in for a monster season. I timed it out going frame-by-frame, and by my calculation, this hit had an exit velocity of 136 mph. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has the hardest hit ball in the league so far this year, which clocked in at 120.4 mph.

We jump to the top of the 6th, and the Jays have only managed three more hits after that leadoff blast. The Angels’ play-by-play announcer notes that they’ve “kept the hard-hitting Blue Jays silent,” so we know, at least relative to the Angels, the Jays can rake. That brings Toronto left fielder Asher Lazzato to the plate. He’s hitting .293 on the season, and if he can keep that pace up, he’ll leapfrog George Bell’s 1984 and Carlos Delgado’s 1998 seasons for 49th place on the Jays' single-season leaderboard. Lazzato makes LOUD contact with the first pitch he sees. The movie elects to switch to slo-mo here, which makes statistical analysis tricky. Based on the trajectory of the ball, it looks like more bark than bite and should be a catchable ball at the warning track. Angels right fielder Ben Williams gets a terrible jump and takes a worse route tracking the fly, which makes his divine catch all the more unbelievable. We don’t get to see the next batter, but his announced name/nickname combo is enough that we’ve gotta note it here: “Batting next for the Blue Jays, number 58 ‘The Irminator’ Irving Nator.” Just perfect. 10 out of 10, no notes.

The Irminator must not have gotten a hit, because we jump to the bottom of the ninth and the Toronto stat line hasn't changed. An unnamed Blue Jays pitcher (number 20 in your programs) stands on the mound. Considering this is 1994 and there’s a one-hit shutout in play, we’re going to assume this is the starter. We don’t see complete games much anymore – Kevin Gausman had two last season and led the league! Back in ‘94, though, the Jays had at least one complete game from every starter in the rotation. Pat Hentgen led the team with 6, Todd Stottlemyre had three, Juan Guzmán did it twice, and Dave Stewart and Al Leiter had one each. Number 20, whose last name might be Brown, is unfortunately on the wrong side of another divine intervention, and the game ends with an Angels walk-off home run.

Just like that, it’s the end of the Jays' time in the movie. There’s a flash in a montage of a play at third base, but it doesn’t offer much to analyze. The biggest takeaway from this exercise should be that it’s time for Toronto to get a leading role. Lights up, let’s go!

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