The Los Angeles Angels made two considerable offers in attempts to acquire Mark Teixeira in the late 2000's. Their second offer ended up bringing the slugging first baseman to the Halos for a brief, but excellent, 54 games to conclude the 2008 season.
As the off-season went on, the Angels continued to make attempts to lock up the then 28-year-old to a long-term deal but could not match the eight-year, $180 million deal the New York Yankees matched and would settle for a compensation draft pick in the upcoming 2009 MLB Draft.
Teixeira and the Yankees would go on to beat the Angels in the American League Championship Series and then go on to win the 2009 World Series, in which Teixeira was named Most Valuable Player.
Just a few months prior to Teixeira celebrating with champagne during a parade in The Bronx, a young man spent his spring playing baseball in front of scouts just 140 miles south of Yankee Stadium. His talents were noticed, and he was drafted in June. The selection came as the 25th overall pick by the Angels, the compensation pick from Teixeira's departure. The young man was Mike Trout.
On Monday night, at Yankee Stadium, a reminder of the connection between the two sluggers arose with Trout hitting two home runs and landing one homer shy of Teixeira's career mark of 409.
"He's the greatest, the greatest of all time," Aaron Judge said of Trout following the game. "Every time he comes to The Bronx, man, he puts on a show."
The multi-home run game was the 31st of Trout's career, an already franchise-leading marker.
Despite the effort and near milestone, the Angels would fall to the Yankees after blowing a multi-run lead in the ninth inning. Yankees slugger Aaron Judge also hit two home runs in the game.
"It was definitely a battle," Trout told reports postgame. "A fun one to be part of... To go blow for blow like that back and forth with both teams - it's pretty cool."