Anaheim Stadium

I lived in San Diego for 15 years. The Big A was about a 1.5 hour drive away. Not bad by SoCal standards. It was a fairly straight shot from work but traffic could get pretty bad so we’d try to go up early, have dinner in a nearby sports bar before heading into the game. I averaged about a game a year, most of which I attended with my friend John.


The original park was dual purpose splitting time with the LA Rams. It was ugly and mostly empty. Disney bought the team and remodeled the stadium. They did a phenomenal job! There is the little stone A in center but focusing on that really downplays how much the stadium was improved. They destroyed the upper deck seats in the outfield which created a much more open feel. Entry to the ‘original’ park used to put you into the bowels of the stadium. Disney put up a fence around the physical stadium creating open area to walk around and enjoy the Southern California weather. Currently at the home plate entrance there is a brick layout of the infield (actual size) with bricks at each position noting the opening day started for all previous Angel teams. There are also giant hats on pedestals with the Angels logos. On a hot day they're nice for the shade in case you're meeting someone at the ticket window. In addition to the stadium change, the Angels changed from the California Angels to the Anaheim Angels to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim along with even more logo changes.


There were some themes to the games I attended. I would usually go with my friend John who had two strong connections to AL teams. First, he grew up in Minnesota and was a huge Twins fan. He also went to High School with Terry Steinbach. Thus half of the games we would see would involve the Twins or A’s. Having been to a number of games I won’t describe each one but I will mention some highlights.

 
From 1992 to 2001 (the bulk of my attendance) the Angels had some pretty good players: Gary Gaetti, Bert Blyleven, Chuck Finley, Tim Salmon, JT Snow, Jim Edmonds, Bo Jackson, Garret Anderson, Eddie Murray, Rickey Henderson (as an Angel), Troy Percival, Cecil Fielder, Mo Vaughn, and Troy Glaus.
Players from opposing teams that I got to see play in Anaheim include Terry Steinbach (I would be remiss if I didn’t mention him first), Kirby Puckett, Kent Hrbek, Rickey Henderson (as an A and a Padre), Robin Yount, Rafael Palmeiro (as a Ranger and an Oriole), Nolan Ryan, Kevin Brown (as a Ranger), Ken Griffey Jr., Randy Johnson, Don Mattingly, Paul O’Neill, Wade Boggs, Darryl Strawberry, Cecil Fielder, Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera, Derek Jeter, Tony Gwynn, Carlos Delgado, Joe Carter, Cal Ripken Jr., Paul Molitor, Todd Helton, and David Ortiz.

 

Here are some of the game (and non-game) memories I have of the stadium.

• In 1993 Nolan Ryan announced he was going to retire and this would be his last season. John and I looked at the schedule, did some math and estimated when he would pitch in Anaheim. We were not alone in this. We bought tickets two months in advance and got mid-level tickets along the first base side by the foul pole. As the day got closer, an alteration in the rotation moved Nolan’s start date up one game. We scrambled at the last minute and got tickets in the upper deck in straight-away left field. Way up there under a giant scoreboard. We were a long way from the pitcher’s mound, but during this game Nolan had five strikeouts. The last five of his career. Nolan had one more start but he was injured during that game and had zero K’s. An odd thing about Nolan’s exit from the game I saw was that he went 7.0 innings, came out in the 8th, threw his warm-up pitches, then walked off the field. [Craig Lefferts ran in from the bullpen.] Less than a month later, there was a big earthquake and that scoreboard fell down on to the seats we were in for the game.
  
• As I mentioned before, my friend John went to high school with Terry Steinbach. While Steinbach was with the A’s John and I would go up early and walk down to the field during batting practice. During one time, there was a rain delay. We walked down to the field, Terry was stretching out, John yelled, “Steiner!” Terry looked up, nodded, and ran in the other direction. An action I have never let John forget.
• One year John and I went to opening day. As we walked into the stadium I handed our tickets to the attendant. She tore off the stubs, handed the tickets back to us, and reached behind her back and gave the stubs to someone standing behind her. No explanation. We headed up to our seats in the upper deck on the third base side. We grabbed some hot dogs, showed the tickets to the usher and this guy in a jacket looks at the tickets and says, “You won!” For some unknown reason [other than good Karma] we had won the U.S. Air ticket upgrade. Between the top and bottom of the first inning, they announced as winners, put us on the JumboTron, and moved us to seats behind home plate.
• One year a group of us went early to a game to tailgate. The rule of the stadium is no charcoal grills. Propane only. We had the illicit charcoal variety. In the parking lot they had employees on scooters riding around checking. We were harassed by The Man. As he was pulling away John asked, “Are you a Nazi?” The guy said, “Yes I am,” and left.

UPDATE AUGUST 2010: I was visiting San Diego for a conference and went to a game with John and his 2 kids [Tyler and Nicole]. We had seats on the first base side between the bag and the foul pole. We saw the Blue Jays in a game that probably won’t mean anything to either team. An interesting thing during the game, I was talking to John about cities that had a AAA franchise and a major league club. I was listing the minor league teams around the DC area and the guy next to me starts naming some as well. Turns out he lives about 10 miles from me in the DC area. He was attending another convention in Anaheim. What are the odds that two people from suburban DC would end up next to each other at a game on the west coast.