He throws right and bats right and does it all pretty good. I mean, he's no slouch either hitting or fielding, having won 8 consecutive Gold Glove Awards and batting a cool .272 with 213 home runs under his belt. Torii is a class act and his presence on the team is just what the Angels needed to give Vlady some protection in the lineup and to cover center field. I guess the only downside to the Angels signing Torii is that now Gary isn't playing center field on a regular basis anymore.

Now, you might be all ready to accuse me of jocking Torii hunter, and you'd be right to, but seeing as how this is the first article of many in this series, you'd better get used to it, because this series is all about how great the Angels (and everything that could even be remotely linked to the team) are.

Now it's time to get down to business. Have you seen Torii being interviewed? He's a great sportsman, adding a unique element to an already great organization. He brings a great level of enthusiasm, professionalism, and ability that has to be a breath of fresh air for all the guys in the Halo dugout.

Do you want a little background on the guy? Great if you do, too bad if you don't. He started his major league carreer on August 22nd 1997 with the Minnesota Twins and played with them under the roof of the (sorry Twins fans) poor excuse for a baseball field in Minnesota for 10 years before being accepted into baseball heaven with the Halos here in Anaheim. Don't double check that please, I'm not sure of my math but I'm thinking that it must be pretty close.

Here's a cool little fact that might win you over to the winning side and get you to wear that Angels gear: Torii's name was not named after thestyle of gate appearing at the front of Japanese Shinto shrines.

Here's another cognomen related fact for you (your cognomen is your last name by the way, especially if you were/are an ancient roman citizen): His brother, who shares the same cognomen is named "Tram".

Just taking a quick look at Torii's Wikipedia page and there is a little section near the bottom that is labeled "Controversy" and at first I was a little worried. I mean, for as much ballwashing as I was prepared for as I began to write this article I was taken aback at the thought that good old number 48 wasn't going to live up to the hype. Well, it turns out that his major controversy was pretty minor. You see, the huge controversy surrounding Hunter is that he had sent the Kansas City Royals some bottles of $500 champagne to thank them for sweeping the Tigers and sending the Twins to win the AL Central title. Did you know there's a rule against that? Check it, there is, rule 21b or something in the MLB Bible or some such.

Now, it's the end of the article and I'm just going to lay out all the cards in one final attempt to convert you Halo Haters to total Angels fandom. The guy hits well, plays center field well, has a brother named Tram, and was nice enough to send the Royals some champagne, which I'm sure was appreciated since Kansas City might be the biggest city in Missouri, but it's still in Missouri (sorry Missouri!).