Nicknamed the "Singing Cowboy," Gene Autry gained fame by crooning on radio, in films, and on television for more than three decades beginning in the early 1930s. When Major Leaugue Baseball announced it was going to put an expansion team in Los Angeles, Autry purchased the rights to the team for $350,000 and named them the Los Angeles Angels (now the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim). Autry remained a diehard baseball fan throughout his lifetime and attended his final Angels game only 10 days before he died. Following his death in 1998, the Angels retired the No. 26 in his honor.
