In 1950, Anaheim’s population was at 14,500 a decade later, it had mushroomed to over 100,000-and it was hardly going to stop there, with much farmland still to be bought, bulldozed and developed.Įnter Rex Coons. Louis Browns both briefly held spring training in Anaheim during the 1940s, and a decade later it was a hot preseason spot for many minor league squads, most notably the Hollywood Stars of the Pacific Coast League.īut Anaheim would become a potent nexus of two postwar booms: America’s Baby Boom in general, and the mass migration of Easterners to points west and California in particular. Well before Walt Disney saw value beyond the ridicule and planted Disneyland among the agricultural fields, baseball found purpose in Anaheim as a springtime setting for numerous teams. In the immediate years after World War II, most Americans knew only of Anaheim as one-third of a Jack Benny joke-you know, the one where the train is leaving on Track Five for Anaheim, Azusa and Rancho Cucamonga. One look at Angel Stadium and its present-day surroundings clearly show that Anaheim has come a long way from its rural roots. This is a suburban ballpark for suburban fans-and these days they show up in droves, knowing that a wonderful time will be had, win or lose. Angel Stadium may lack the intense vibe of a Fenway Park or Wrigley Field, but that’s okay. When it opened in 1966, it carried the motto of “Convenience, Comfort and Courtesy,” and both host and guest continue to take that to heart. But that will happen when the building has been overhauled not once, but twice. What the Spectacular does do is run recycled water down its petite rapids, shoot off water geysers and, whenever an Angels player goes deep, blast flames upward from two spouts, high enough that you might expect the alien head of the Great and Powerful Oz to angrily superimpose its way in between.Īngel Stadium looks quite sharp for its 50-plus years walking around, it’s hard to believe that there’s only three active major league ballparks that are older.
Looking out of character for Orange County, the Spectacular seems more an ode to Utah-or to Frontierland, to the point that you expect the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad to come spinning through or one of those animatronic singing bears to pop up and start wailing away with a banjo. The Disney touch is most noticeable behind left-center field with a giant faux rock pile lovingly referred to as the California Spectacular. For those sitting in the original three levels behind home plate and down the lines, the views looking out toward the San Gabriel Mountains are no longer blocked, even with minor, more recent foreground obstructions provided by the Honda Center (home to hockey’s Anaheim Ducks) and the 12-story Stadium Towers across the railroad from the parking lot. The right-field bleachers are all that remain of the ballpark’s expansion to a multi-purpose stadium back in 1980. Inside Angel Stadium, more echoes of yesterdays stir. And at the front of the main gate, an elated Mickey Mouse himself hangs out, heavily branded in devilish Angels Red and ready to pose with arriving fans who might remember a time when Disney briefly ruled over the franchise and restored the ballpark to its original, baseball-only purpose with a heavy coat of Magic Kingdom varnish splashed on. At the south edge of the parking lot, the towering “Big A”-the ballpark’s distinctive feature that long ago served as the main scoreboard-now advertises coming events to passer-bys on the ten-lane Orange Freeway. A row of trees splits Gene Autry Way as you enter the parking lot, evoking the long, orchard driveways bathed in cool shade that once drew you to the master’s house back in Orange County’s early agricultural days.
Amid the freeways, boulevards, dry riverbeds and laid-back office complexes, Angel Stadium of Anaheim offers up layers of the past.
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