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Former Outfielder Leon Wagner Dies
.c The Associated Press
01/06/04 20:24 EST
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP)
- Leon Wagner, a former outfielder who hit 211 home runs in a 12-year
big-league career, has died, the Anaheim Angels said Tuesday. He was 69.
The Angels said Wagner,
who played for them from in their first three years of existence - from
1961-63 - died of natural causes Saturday in Los Angeles.
Wagner was known as ``Daddy
Wags'' during his playing days.
``Leon was one of the
first true sluggers to don an Angels uniform and will be fondly remembered
by the fans,'' said Tim Mead, the team's vice president of communications.
``The Angel family sends its deepest sympathies to the Wagner family.''
Wagner, a native of Chattanooga,
Tenn., played in 442 games for the then-Los Angeles Angels, hitting 91
homers and driving in 276 runs.
He had team-leading totals
of 37 homers and 107 RBIs in 1962, when he finished fourth in the AL Most
Valuable Player voting, and 26 homers and 90 RBIs in 1963.
Wagner was traded to
Cleveland for first baseman Joe Adcock and pitcher Barry Latman on Dec.
6, 1963. He played for the Indians for four-plus seasons before finishing
the 1968 campaign with the Chicago White Sox.
He started and finished
his big-league career with the San Francisco Giants, where he played in
1958-59 and again in 1969. He played one season for the St. Louis Cardinals
before joining the Angels.
Wagner finished his career
with a lifetime batting average of .272 and 669 RBIs.
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