Before Albert Pujols, they were big deals too

Wayne Gretzky, Shaquille O’Neal, David Beckham and Manny Ramirez made their names elsewhere before a championship quest brought them to Southern California.

Not all of them left town with a title. But each created a big enough imprint to rank them as the four biggest acquisitions made by Southern California sports teams — at least until the Angels on Thursday reached agreement with slugger Albert Pujols, a three-time National League most valuable player.

Here’s a look at the impact of those four deals, in chronological order:

The Great One arrives

Gretzky, months removed from his fourth Stanley Cup title with the Edmonton Oilers and newly married to actress Janet Jones, was traded from Edmonton to the Kings on Aug. 9, 1988 for young forwards Martin Gelinas and Jimmy Carson, three first-round draft picks and $15 million.

Oilers owner Peter Pocklington badly needed the cash. Kings owner Bruce McNall had cash then, before his financial shenanigans would send him to jail.

“To me, Wayne Gretzky isn’t only the best player in hockey, but he’s also the ambassador of hockey,” McNall told The Times. “It was never a question of whether to do it. I had to do it.”

Attendance, advertising and merchandise sales soared. Gretzky triggered a youth hockey boom that has sent dozens of California kids to the college and NHL ranks. He won three scoring titles and an MVP trophy and helped the Kings reach the Stanley Cup final in 1993 for the first time, almost single-handedly carrying them past the Toronto Maple Leafs in the conference finals.

But McNall’s financial woes began to mushroom and the team’s performance suffered. McNall sold 72% of the Kings to businessmen Jeffrey Sudikoff and Joe Cohen in 1994 but they had financial problems too, and the club fell into bankruptcy in 1995.

Gretzky clashed with the new owner, AEG, over upgrading the talent and finally asked to be traded. He was dealt to St. Louis on Feb. 27, 1996 and retired in 1999 holding more than 60 NHL records. The Kings, who built a statue in his honor outside Staples Center, haven’t been back to the Cup final since.

Clear the track, here comes Shaq

When the Lakers signed O’Neal as a free agent on July 18, 1996, Executive Vice President Jerry West called it “a rebirth,” and stayed with that theme in expressing his happiness.

“I’ve often thought that the birth of my children was something I’ll never forget,” he told The Times, “and just the excitement of this, for us to sign him, really ranks there with it.”

To make room for his seven-year, $120-million contract, the Lakers had to trade three players and reconfigure their roster, but it was worth it. O’Neal was the muscle behind the Lakers’ 2000 NBA championship, their first in 12 years and first of three in a row.

“He has a personality to go with his enormous ability,” West said, “and in Los Angeles, it’s a town with personalities and it’s a town that will embrace a person like this.”

O’Neal slam-dunked and charmed his way into fans’ hearts while winning those three titles and reaching the NBA Finals in 2004. When rioting fans burned a police car after the Lakers’ 2000 title, he wrote a check for $42,893 to pay for a new one.

As huge as Los Angeles is, it wasn’t big enough for the egos of O’Neal and Kobe Bryant. Their clashes became divisive; O’Neal was traded to Miami on July 15, 2004 for Caron Butler, Lamar Odom, Brian Grant and a first-round draft pick. He won a title there before the Lakers won two more.

“It’s certainly a disappointing day in a lot of ways in Los Angeles, I can’t deny that,” General Manager Mitch Kupchak said. “He’s had an impact in so many ways on the franchise and the city of Los Angeles.”

End it like Beckham

Beckham joined the Galaxy in 2007 amid a hail of confetti and hype, getting a contract supposedly worth $250 million to sell soccer to masses that had resisted its appeal as a spectator sport.

“David Beckham is a global sports icon who will transcend the sport of soccer in America,” MLS Commissioner Don Garber gushed.

Maybe not. MLS attendance boomed wherever Beckham visited but it might have grown anyway as the sport grew at all levels. MLS’ TV rights fees and expansion fees also increased, but it’s difficult to say how much can be attributed to Beckham, whose actual salary was $32.5 million over five years.

Unfortunately, injuries and international commitments made him mostly an occasional presence here. Beckham played only five MLS games for the Galaxy in 2007, 25 games in 2008, 11 in 2009 and seven in 2010 before bouncing back for a terrific 2011 season. He was battling back and hamstring problems when he set up the Galaxy’s goal in its 1-0 championship victory over Houston.

“Being successful always feels good,” he said. “It’s always nice to have doubters along the way. And it’s always nice to prove them wrong.”

Beckham’s contract with the Galaxy is over and he has said he will take his time in deciding his future. If the MLS Cup game was his last for the Galaxy, his Los Angeles career had the ultimate Hollywood ending.

Manny being … well, you know

The Dodgers got a gift when the Boston Red Sox, shattered by locker-room strife, sent Ramirez to them as part of a three-way trade on July 31, 2008 and agreed to pay the $7 million Ramirez was owed the rest of the season.

The Dodgers thought it was the best thing that had happened to them. For a while, it was.

Ramirez, the 2004 World Series MVP, was instrumental in the Dodgers’ 2008 NL West title and sweep of the Cubs in the NL division series before they fell to the Phillies in the NL Championship Series. He batted .396 with 17 home runs and drove in 53 runs in 53 games after arriving.

“He works extremely hard. He just wants to play baseball and go home and be with his family. How can you not respect and love a guy like that?” Nomar Garciaparra told ESPN.com after the trade.

Fans did love him, and the Dodgers established a “Mannywood” section in left field for his admirers and gave him a two-year, $45-million extension.

The affair was passionate but brief. In 2009 he was suspended 50 games for violating baseball’s drug policy. Injuries plagued him and in 2010 he was put on waivers and claimed by the Chicago White Sox on Aug. 30. “His personality changed, he lost his swagger,” then-Manager Joe Torre told The Times.

The Mannywood sign was gone before he was.

helene.elliott@latimes.com

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