Remember back in the days the Anaheim Angels of Anaheim were winning the West, taking the pennant and then ending the Fall Classic as World Series champions?
Yes, how soon we forget 2002.
But a hero from the Halos' glory days is returning to the Big A.
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It's Scott Spiezio, who hit a fastball thrown by San Francisco's Felix Rodriguez over the right field wall in Game 6 of the '02 Series for a three-run homer that helped the Angels come from behind for the victory before winning the match-up outright in Game 7.
That homerun, which you can view at MLB.com, has been ranked the second-greatest moment in Angels baseball history. But Spiezio will not be leaving his Morris, Illinois, home to re-enter Angel Stadium to re-live his past baseball glory–heck, he won't even be playing ball. He's been chosen as Grand Marshal for Saturday's 2013 Monster Energy AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship presented by Feld Motor Sports.
“Looking back at my career, Angel Stadium will always have a special
place in my heart, and, while the venue is home to baseball, it also
serves as a special place for the world's top racers that compete in
Monster Energy Supercross,” says Spiezio in the race announcement. “It always amazed me how our
field could be transformed into a racetrack and returned to its natural
state in a seamless manner. This same place is where I, along with some
of the greatest teammates I have ever had, laid claim to the Angels
first World Series Championship.”
In honor of Spiezio's return, “Angels baseball fans”–who in this case would be any adult–is being offered motocross tickets for $23, or $12 off the face value, by using the password “SPIEZIO” at Ticketmaster.com. The deal, in honor of Spiezio's No. 23 jersey when he hit that magical homer, is only valid at the $35 price level, and it expires Friday.
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OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.