High Desert’s Landen Crouch: Singing for angels in the outfield and church goers
High Desert resident and longtime baseball fan Landen Crouch will return to Angel Stadium in Anaheim on May 13 to sing the "National Anthem" and "Take Me Out to the Ball Game."
In April, the Phillies came to Anaheim to take on the Angels. During the seventh inning stretch of one game, Crouch stood atop the Angel dugout and sang "Take Me Out to the Ball Game."
“There’s a ton of cheap tickets available on Seat Geek so I would love to see you there,” said Crouch, 33, the staff worship minister at High Desert Church in Victorville, who seems to have made the stadium his second singing home.
Nerve-wracking debut
With microphone in hand, Crouch made his debut at Angel Stadium in June 2023 when he sang the National Anthem before a crowd of 27,716. He would later return in September to sing again.
Crouch confessed that his singing debut at the stadium was a "little nerve-wracking" as he tried to remain focused solely on the song and not the nearby Chicago Cub players or his favorite team, the Angels, which included personal favorites Mike Trout and now former Angel Shohei Ohtani.
Crouch explained that the moment before he sings, “everyone in the stadium is quiet," with a bit of pressure on him "to make sure to do it right.”
'Coming ‘full circle’
Singing at the Cardinals/Angels game on May 13 is a "full-circle moment," said Crouch, an Arkansas native, who moved to the High Desert in 2019. Crouch explained that he’s a University of Arkansas Razorbacks fan “through and through,” and grew up rooting for the St. Louis Cardinals with his dad.
“My childhood team will be playing against the team of my new home, and a team I'm developing a deep connection with," he said.
Crouch’s interest in the Angels sparked as a child as he watched the 1994 Disney film “Angels in the Outfield,” a favorite along with the movie “Rookie of the Year.”
“I went all-in with baseball in 1998 when I was 7 years old during the home run race between the Cardinals’ Mark McGwire and the Cubs’ Sammy Sosa,” he said.
From Arkansas to Southern California
Crouch explained that his path to singing at Angel Stadium began during the COVID-19 pandemic and with National Anthem audition video.
In 2021, the University of Arkansas used a video of Crouch singing the National Anthem before its regional final baseball tournament game against Nebraska.
With a boost of confidence after his video played before 11,000 college baseball fans, Crouch submitted an audition video for the Angels and he was selected to sing in 2023.
Joining the Angel family
With Angel Stadium a 90-minute drive from home, Crouch has been to more Angel games in the last four years than Cardinal games at Busch Stadium, a five-hour drive from his former home in Arkansas.
“It's just been really easy to latch on to the Angels through the access I have to the park and the prices of the tickets,” Crouch said. “I've enjoyed going several times a year.”
Crouch added that his 9-year-old son very quickly decided he was going to be an Angels fan in 2021 after attending his first game.
“It's a connection we had initially, but now the whole family is in,” Crouch said. “At this point, we very much feel part of the Angels family.”
Crouch said he’s taken his kids to games one-on-one to make special memories. He and his wife have also celebrated an anniversary there.
“All in all, wherever life takes us in the long run, these are special memories we are making and enjoying right now as a family,” Crouch said.
Daily Press reporter Rene Ray De La Cruz may be reached at RDeLaCruz@VVDailyPress.com. Follow him on X @DP_ReneDeLaCruz
This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: High Desert’s Landen Crouch: A regular singer at Angel Stadium
