South Angel Baseball Club is a baseball club located in the suburb of South Angel, St Michaels, Albaland. They are the only professional club from the city and are one of sixteen teams that formed the inaugural season of the Albaland Baseball League. They are affectionately known as The Angels, or more recently, The Red Wings.
Priest Joseph Forbes – a fan of using sport and athletics as a way to keep teenagers out of trouble – established the club in 1899 due to the popularity of baseball in the area. With the west coast of Albaland having strong Catholic beliefs, Forbes regularly organised friendly games against other churches in the city for his team, before advocating for the benefits of sport within religion in nearby cities Kelton, Douglastown and Grandtully. His interest in baseball also helped lift the ban on the sport in Crocketford in 1905, and he was instrumental in helping Douglastown BC with old uniforms after visiting the club who struggled financially. Following his death in 1919, the club honoured his legacy by naming the grandstand in left field the Priest Joseph Forbes Grandstand, and the Forbes Award is given to the fans favourite player through a vote each season.
The Angels had mixed success in the Alba Shield prior to the Albaland Baseball League which began play in the 1910 baseball season. After falling in the Second Round of the Alba Shield in 1907, South Angel had great success in the competition in 1908, reaching the Quarter-Finals after eliminating Abner Arduaine, before falling 6-3 to Kirkpatrick Town. In 1909, the club smashed Dungoil Star 8-0 in the First Round, before losing 7-1 away from home to Maryburgh Angel, a club that named themselves after South Angel.
The team plays out of Murdo Hughes, located in the eastern residential suburb of Stonewall, having moved there in 1906 to make use of availability of land. The average sized park is hitter-friendly, with 9 foot walls extending all the way around the outfield that is slightly below average in distance. Centre field extends out to 405 feet with both bullpens situated either side, giving it the nickname “Pen Alley”. Triples are hard to come by due to the average-to-short outfield, but increased home runs mean a groundball Pitcher will have success here.
The team plays in only white and red.