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
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