Angel Stadium - March 27th


First stop on my Southern California baseball weekend was Angel Stadium. The "big caps" area a unique decoration as you enter. New Era, the company that make the caps the players use, posted signs claiming these mammoth chapeaus are "size 649-1/2."

And speaking of oversize...


These concrete balls serve as a barricade separating cars and pedestrians at the entrance. They do stir up visions of now-Governor Schwarzenegger using them as exercise gear in his Hollywood days.

I can't resist the palm trees, especially at the outdoor food court along the 3rd base line.


Vladimir Guerrero's home run was the Angels' lone highlight of a 2-2 10-inning tie.


While not dramatically distinctive or blatantly retro, Angel Stadium has a comfortable layout, even the upper deck seats offer a good view. A bit reminiscent of Kansas City's Kauffman Stadium.

Most ballparks now do a "baseball race" or other animated time-filler between innings. The Angels use a trio of cartoonish characters -- their "King" rocked his way to a win tonight.

Finally, a brief blast from the past....


The landmark "Big A" scoreboard now resides in the stadium parking lot behind the right field bleachers. Here's what it looked like on my first visit to what was then Anaheim Stadium in July 1969.

The seating area now blue, was an orangey-red as captured on Kodachrome. Note how sparse the crowd was for this middle of season game in the '60s. This was shot from upper left field, in what's now called the 500-level seats.


Comments

Jere said…
Wednesday, 7/16/69, top 7, Ellie Rodriguez up. Angels hold on for a 4-2 victory.
April 30, 2009 at 11:50 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rare Remnant of a Lost Ballpark

Image
When the subject of baseball in Brooklyn comes up, the discussion centers around Ebbets Field, the Flatbush venue most famously home to The Boys of Summer.  Those legendary 1940s and '50s teams that featured such historic and beloved players as Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider, Pee Wee Reese, Roy Campanella and Gil Hodges. Ebbets Field hosted its last major league game in 1957 and was torn down during the winter of 1960. But decades earlier, just before World War One, the Dodgers were based in the Park Slope area and played at Washington Park.  Once they moved out, the land was occupied by another stadium, which housed a different franchise.  The upstart Federal League, which played in the 1914 and '15 seasons, had a Brooklyn team called the TipTops.  Owned by a local baking magnate Robert Ward, whose company produced TipTop bread, the club took over the abandoned lot along 3rd Street and built a new brick and steel venue. The only no-hitter in the Federal League's two-year r
Read more

Another Yankee Trade

Image
Yankee fans: here's a last look at shortstop Trey Sweeney .  The 2021 first round draft choice was part of the three player trade with the Dodgers that brings reliever Victor Gonzalez and infield prospect Jorbit Vivas to New York. Now seeking to rebuild their pitching depth after dealing for Juan Soto and Alex Verdugo, the Yanks deemed Sweeney expendable.  While the Louisville native showed promising power in his three seasons with the organization -- he batted only .248 to go with his 36 career homers -- Brian Cashman has committed to Anthony Volpe and Oswald Peraza as his young middle infielders.  So Sweeney became a trade chip. ( My images of Trey Sweeney are from the Somerset/Binghamton AA games on July 15th and September 19th, 2023. )
Read more

Will He Wear Zero in the Bronx?

Image
The Yankees bolstered their starting rotation with Thursday's signing of Marcus Stroman .  The Long Island native, who spent 2019 and '21 with the Mets before moving onto the Cubs, brings a 77-76 career record to the Bronx, along with a recent loyalty to uniform number (?) zero.  If he requests that, he'd become the third Yank to wear it, following the path of Adam Ottavino and Domingo German.  Of course, neither of their Yankee tenures ended all that well -- Ottavino struggled badly in 2020, before reviving his career with the Red Sox and Mets; German's alcohol and domestic violence issues sabotaged such Yankee highlights as last year's perfect game. Can a number truly be lucky? You can understand kids in little league or high school ball wanting to wear 2 in honor of Derek Jeter or 7 for Mickey Mantle.  But is there an heroic ballplayer associated with 0?  The closest I recall comes from pro football, where the Oakland Raiders Hall of Fame center Jim Otto wore 00
Read more