Brian Downing joined the Angels via trade from Chicago in 1978, and the Catcher would go to his first and only All-Star Game in 1979.

Downing moved to the Outfield at the start of the 1980s, and he remained with the Angels until 1990.  While he never gained a second All-Star Game appearance, Downing brought a nice balance of power and plate patience.  From 1982 to 1990, Downing had at least 14 Home Runs, peaking with 29 in 1987, which coincided with his league-leading 106 Walks.  

As an Angel, Downing had 222 Home Runs and 1,588 Hits and was inducted into the Angels Hall of Fame in 2009.

In 1995, the California Angels made the number one pick Darin Erstad, a former Golden Spikes Finalist from Nebraska.  Erstad debuted for the Angels the following season, and he was arguably the first building block that would see the team win it all in 2002.

Erstad would twice to go the All-Star Game (1998 & 2000), and in his latter All-Star year, the Outfielder had career highs in Batting Average (.355), Home Runs (25), RBIs (100), and led the American League in Hits (240).  Erstad was a crucial part of Anaheim's 2002 World Series Championship, a three-time Gold Glove winner, collecting 25 Hits in that post-season.

Erstad remained with the Angels until 2007, and he had 1,505 Hits for the team with 114 Home Runs and 170 Stolen Bases.

If you were a fan of the Montreal Expos in the 90s and early 00s, you knew that if you had a star, they would eventually leave for greener pastures because your team could not afford to keep them.  Such was the case for Vladimir Guerrero, who, after four All-Star appearances and 234 Home Runs as an Expo, joined the Halos in 2004.  

You could say (and we are) that Guerrero saved his best performance for his debut campaign with the Angels.  Guerrero captured the MVP on the strength of 39 Home Runs, 126 RBI, .337/.391/.598 performance and it ushered in a new four-year streak of All-Star Games.  During that run, "Vlad the Impaler" never had led that 27 Home Runs, 108 RBIs, and a .317 Batting Average, and he was without a doubt one of the top offensive players in baseball.

Guerrero played with the Angels until 2009, signing with Texas and departing SoCal with 173 Home Runs and a Slash Line of .319/.381/.546.  The Angels inducted Guerrero into their Hall of Fame in 2017.

After seven seasons with the Baltimore Orioles, one of the most revered men amongst sabremetricians signed with the California Angels as a Free Agent after the 1976 season.

Playing mostly at Second Base, Grich brought his strong defensive skills and patient batting to the Angels.  A three-time All-Star with Baltimore, Grich would go to three more in California.  He would have his best power numbers with the Angels, blasting 30 Home Runs with 101 RBIs in 1979, and he was eighth in MVP voting.  In the strike-shortened 1981 campaign, Grich had 22 Home Runs, which was enough to co-lead the American League.  That year, he led the AL in Slugging (.543) and OPS+ (165) and earned his only Silver Slugger.

Grich played until 1986 and would have 1,103 Hits as an Angel.  In 1988, Grich became the first person to be inducted into the Angels Hall of Fame.