Major league baseball team in Anaheim, California, outside of Los Angeles. Plays in the American League Western Division, at Edison International Field (formerly Anaheim Stadium). Changed their name to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in 2005.
The Los Angeles Angels joined the American League in 1961, part of baseball's first expansion since the 1901 creation of the American League (well, if you don't count the brief appearance of the Federal League). The Angels played the 1961 season at Wrigley Field (not the same place as the home of the Chicago Cubs), a former minor league park in L.A., then shared Chavez Ravine (now Dodger Stadium) with the Los Angeles Dodgers until 1966, when they moved to Anaheim and renamed themselves the California Angels. The Angels were owned for most of this time by actor Gene Autry ("The Singing Cowboy"), then by his widow until she sold the club to Disney. After their co-tenant, the NFL's Los Angeles Rams, moved to St. Louis, renovations were made to Anaheim Stadium to turn it into a baseball-only park called Edison International Field. To coincide with this, the team renamed itself the Anaheim Angels.
Disney put the team up for sale during the 2002 season as the Angels made an unlikely pennant run, inspired in part by a bizarre video clip picturing a monkey dancing around, called the "Rally Monkey." Qualifying as the wild card after a second-place finish in the West behind the Oakland Athletics, the Angels shocked the New York Yankees 3-1 in their AL Divisional Series, then beat the Minnesota Twins 4-1 in the ALCS to reach the World Series against the San Francisco Giants. The Angels then defeated the Giants in seven games, winning their first World Series title under rookie manager Mike Scioscia.
The Angels were purchased by California businessman Arturo Moreno in May of 2003. Moreno became the first Hispanic individual to own a controlling interest of a major league baseball team. | 
