Ballparks # 21 - Angel Stadium, Anaheim, California

Angel Stadium, Anaheim, California (29 August 2022)

8/29/22

This year’s vacation became a broad plan to visit friends and add to a couple of my life quests. At the front and back ends of a trip to Hawaii that included a visit to the capitol in Honolulu, we spent time in Los Angeles and saw the California Angels and Los Angeles Dodgers play in their home parks.

It is interesting to note that after the ancient treasures of Fenway Park (1912) in Boston and Wrigley Field (1914) in Chicago, Dodger Stadium (1962) and Angels Stadium in Anaheim (1966) are the third- and fourth-oldest ballparks in the majors.

The Big ‘A’ looms over the parking lots and freeway

Angel Stadium (29 August 2022)

Like New York and Chicago, L.A. is the only other city that hosts two Major League teams. We can quibble about metro areas and how the San Francisco Giants and Oakland A’s could qualify, but I’m guessing fans there will say they’re not related in the same way.

Unlike the New York and Chicago baseball histories, the Dodger-Angels origin stories are more intertwined since both teams appeared on the scene within four years of each other. The Dodgers moved to Los Angeles from Brooklyn in 1958 and played the first four years in the Los Angeles Coliseum. Meanwhile, the American League expanded in 1961 and the California Angels were born. They played their first year in old Wrigley Field where the Pacific Coast League (Triple A) Angels played for 33 years. There had been an Angels team in L.A. since 1903, and with the arrival of the Major League Dodgers, the minor league team had to vamoose to Spokane, Washington. In 1962, the Dodgers moved into their new digs in Chavez Ravine. That same year, the Angels began a four-year stint playing their home games in the same ball park. That’s 162 games on that field. I can imagine the groundskeeping and merchandizing challenges, but those were less commercial times. Finally, in 1966, the current home of the team opened in Anaheim..

April 9, 1966 - First Game at the New Anaheim Stadium

(Photo taken from J. Goldberg, MLB Ballparks, From Oldest to Newest,

Baseball Digest, 3/31/2017)

The stadium was originally designed as a baseball-only facility. However, when the football Rams moved out of the Coliseum in 1980, they had to play in a stadium that met NFL standards. A 23,000 -seat addition turned the open outfield space into multi-deck seating that enclosed the field. This was promptly removed when the Rams fled to St. Louis in 1996 and the current baseball-only setting was restored (the occasional concert and Monster Jam vehicle spectacle notwithstanding).

Center Field, Angel Stadium (29 August 2022)

Not-so-artfully-hidden among the fake rocks and wasted water cascade that decorate straight-away center field are a couple of TV cameras. For the viewers at home, the most important perspective is from behind the pitcher. TV fans need to see the pitcher, batter, catcher and umpire along with that superimposed strike zone that tells you if the ump is calling strikes right.

Palm Trees and Ample Parking

Angel Stadium (29 August 2022)

Anaheim fit that mid-century ethic of “We are the booming boomers of the modern age. We all drive cars. The suburbs are where it’s happening. The cities are increasingly unsafe and we have ample parking.” Just two miles from Disneyland, the stadium was another anchor and draw to the ‘burbs.

Many thanks to our friend and host Jeff for navigating the L.A. road system to get us there and home safely. We arrived in the bright southern California late afternoon and I was immediately struck by a familiar sight. Loud Yankee fans. Give me a break.

It’s one thing to accept that my Orioles live close enough for obnoxious Yankee fans to make the short run down the coast. When both teams were good, the O’s were smart to schedule the Yankees on weekends so their fans could enjoy the Inner Harbor attractions before spoiling the games in Camden Yards. But we’re on the other side of the country. The winningest team ever has fans everywhere.

Beyond the Outfield, Angel Stadium (29 August 2022)

But I digress…even if all the fans close to me sported pinstripes and sounded like they just stepped off a Bronx subway. They do bring their own kind of energy. When home run leader Aaron Judge was intentionally walked twice, their boos were among the loudest fan responses of the night. Late in the game, we had exited early to make the long walk to the car. The loudest cheer of the night spilled over the outfield fences. The Angels finally pitched to Judge and he hit a homer.

The Angels two stars shone well. Mike Trout had been out a while with an injury. Recently back with the team, he banged out a couple of hits. The hero was the Japanese sensation, Shohei Ohtani who hit a two-run homer that was the difference in the end.

Shohei Ohtani Gets His Due (29 August 2022)

Back when the Angels won the World Series in 2002, a player brought out a cowboy hat to honor the team’s late founder and owner, cowboy entertainer Gene Autry. Today’s players don’t have the same historic connection (or same hat) but they like the hat idea as a cool part of the home run celebration. The shot here is right after Ohtani hit his home run. The ‘8/29/22’ link at the top of this post will take you to the full box score of the game.

California Angels 2002 Championship Display

Angel Stadium (29 August 2022)

Speaking of ‘winning it all,’ there is a display of the championship trophy and memorabilia that celebrate the team’s only World Series triumph (including the original Gene Autry hat, center/front). After beating the Yankees and Twins in the playoffs, they took the National League Giants to seven games before prevailing. A look at the team roster that season, twenty-one years ago, will show no future Hall of Famers…just a group of journeymen who put it all together for one glorious run.

Thanks to the Person who Invented Cup Holders on Railings

Angel Stadium (29 August 2022)

Finally, for the more serious fans and baseball trivialists, it was here that the following happened.

· Hall of Famers Rod Carew (on 8/4/85) and George Brett (on 9/30/92) stroked their 3000th hit here.
· Hall of Fame pitcher Don Sutton won his 300th game here (6/18/86).
· It was here that Ken Griffey Sr. AND Jr. became the first (and only, I suspect) father-son duo to hit back-to-back home runs (9/14/90).
· Lastly, for the Uber-trivial...it was here that Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson hit his first, 500th and last career home run (# 563)...each time with different teams.