Before Walter O’Malley brought the Dodgers to Southern California in 1958, Los Angeles belonged to the Angels. A part of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League (PCL), it was a minor league affiliate of the Chicago Cubs and was as loved in its time as Brooklyn loved its bums. The 1956 PCL championship Angels team was led by the slugging Steve Bilko, a minor league superhero who somehow never made a mark in the big leagues. His memory is given a much-deserved revival in this book. While Bilko is the main focus, chapters are also given over to the voices of other 1956 Angels, with surviving former players such as Gale 'Windy' Wade and Jim Fanning speaking of where their careers in baseball went after their time with the team. These reminiscences are enjoyable on their own. . . . VERDICT Undoubtedly, both old-time and younger baseball fans will relish the stories here. This volume will fit in nicely in any public or sports-focused library, especially in the Southwest.

Library Journal

Before the Brooklyn Dodgers departed the fabled Ebbets Field in New York City in 1958 for the City of Angels, one of the key reasons leading to the exodus was the public frenzy for an much admired minor league player, Steve Bilko, and his red-hot Los Angeles Angels two years earlier. Former Denver Post sportswriter White relives that miracle season when the beer-guzzling, hefty Bilko, with his mighty bat, ignited the lowly minor league team in the Pacific Coast League during a historic year. Written in a subdued voice without any sensational prose, Bilko, known as the Sergeant of Swat and Mr. Biceps, is a stirring tribute of a superstar shining on a small stage, guiding 'baseball’s last great minor league team,' slugging 313 homers in the minors, but the highly hyped athlete’s luck fizzled in the majors with only 76 round-trippers. However, Bilko dazzled the sports world for the incredible 1956 season, at a time when Yankee star Mickey Mantle pursued Babe Ruth’s home run record nationally and baseball fans held their breath. Weaving in anecdotes from Bilko’s teammates and rivals both in the minors and the pros, White’s precise, powerful account of a remarkable, unlikely athlete who peaked too early without achieving too much when his dream finally came true.

Publishers Weekly

The old Angels are the subject of one of the best sports books of 2014: The Bilko Athletic Club: The Story of the 1956 Los Angeles Angels, by Gaylon H. White. The book, one you definitely should put on your holiday wish list, was an obvious labor of love for White, who grew up in L.A. . . .In the book, White writes not only about Bilko, but he offers interesting profiles of others, such as Gene Mauch, an infielder with the Angels who was considered a brilliant baseball mind despite a somewhat star-crossed career as a major-league manager.

Daily Herald

For a generation of baseball fans in Nanticoke and Southern California, of course, Bilko’s career was always more than decent. He was larger than life, and the story of his days on the diamond bring back floods of warm memories. With The Bilko Athletic Club, White lets everyone else get a little taste of those memories too.

The Citizens Voice

For a generation of baseball fans in Nanticoke and Southern California, Bilko's career was always more than decent. He was larger than life, and the story of his days on the diamond bring back floods of warm memories. With The Bilko Athletic Club, White lets everyone else get a little taste of those memories too.

Sunday Voice

The Bilko Athletic Club provides an in-depth account of the '56 Angels, and describes how popular baseball was on the West Coast even before the major leagues arrived. It also tells the fascinating story of one of baseball's greatest minor league legends, Steve Bilko.

Polish American Journal