Angel Stadium
Angel Stadium is a ballpark in Anaheim, California, United States. Since its opening in 1966, it has been the home venue of the Los Angeles Angels of Major League Baseball, who relocated from Los Angeles to Anaheim following the 1965 season. Founded in 1961, the Angels were the first MLB team to originate in California, unlike the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants, who relocated from New York. The Angels played their inaugural season at Wrigley Field, a now-demolished ballpark in South Los Angeles, and then at Chavez Ravine Stadium from 1962 to 1965 before moving to Anaheim Stadium, where construction began in 1964.
The stadium also served as the home of the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League from 1980 to 1994.
The stadium is often referred to by its unofficial nickname The Big A, coined by Herald Examiner Sports Editor Bud Furillo. It is the fourth-oldest active ballpark in the majors, behind Fenway Park, Wrigley Field, and Dodger Stadium. The stadium hosted the MLB All-Star Game three times in 1967, 1989, and 2010, as well as the World Series in 2002.
Aside from professional baseball and football, Angel Stadium has hosted a variety of major events. These include concerts by world-renowned artists such as The Who, Pink Floyd, the Rolling Stones, and Aerosmith. The stadium has also been a longtime venue for the AMA Supercross Championship, which has been held at the venue since 1976. The stadium remains one of the most iconic stops on the Supercross circuit, frequently serving as the season opener and hosting multiple rounds annually.
Religious events have also played a significant role at the stadium, including Billy Graham’s evangelistic crusades and the annual Harvest Crusades led by Greg Laurie. In addition, Eid al-Fitr celebrations have drawn thousands of worshippers for morning prayers. Other events have included college and high school football games.
The stadium also houses the studios and offices of the Angels' owned and operated flagship radio station, KLAA.
Location and "Big A"
Angel Stadium and its surrounding parking lot are roughly bounded by Katella Avenue to the north, the Orange Freeway to the east, Orangewood Avenue to the south, and State College Boulevard to the west.The landmark "Big A" sign, which originally served as a scoreboard support in left field, is located near the eastern boundary of the parking lot. The halo located near the top of the tall, 210-ton sign once blinked on and off after dark on game days when the Angels won a practice broadcaster Victor Rojas was known for referring to by saying "Light that baby up!" after a victory. The halo would remain on without blinking when they lost. Since at least the 2023 season, the halo remains lit at all times, although it shines brighter when the Angels win.
ARTIC (Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center)
servicing the Metrolink Orange County Line and Amtrak Pacific Surfliner, is located nearby on the other side of the State Route 57 and accessed through the Douglass Road gate at the northeast corner of the parking lot. The station provides convenient access to the stadium, the nearby Honda Center, and Disneyland from various communities along the route.History
Beginnings
Angel Stadium has been the home of the Angels since their move from Los Angeles. On August 31, 1964, ground was broken for Anaheim Stadium and in 1966, the then-California Angels moved into their new home after having spent four seasons renting Dodger Stadium from the Dodgers Originally called Anaheim Stadium when the Angels began play there in 1966, the name was changed to Edison International Field in 1997 and to Angel Stadium following the 2003 season.The stadium was built on a parcel of about of flat land originally used for agricultural purposes by the Allec, Russell, and Knutzen families in the southeast portion of Anaheim. Consistent with many major-league sports stadiums built in the 1960s, it is located in a suburban area, though one that is host to major tourist attractions.
The field dimensions were derived from a scientific study conducted by the Angels. Based on the air density at normal game times, the Angels tried to formulate dimensions that were fairly balanced between pitcher, hitter, and average weather conditions. The Angels tinkered with those dimensions several times, expanding or contracting parts of the outfield by a few feet, to refine that balance. is the second shortest center-field in the American League, and tied for 4th-shortest in the major leagues with Petco Park behind only Fenway Park at, Oracle Park at and Dodger Stadium at. Despite this, Angels Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan still threw two of his seven no-hitters in the ballpark, alongside 2,416 of his 5,714 career strikeouts.
The Rams
In the late 1970s, Los Angeles Rams owner Carroll Rosenbloom was looking for a more modern venue than the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, and also wanted a stadium small enough to prevent Rams games from being blacked out on local television. The Coliseum seated almost 100,000 people, and the Rams had trouble filling it even in their best years. Rosenbloom eventually brokered a deal by which the Rams would move from Los Angeles to an expanded Anaheim Stadium. To add more seats for football games, the mezzanine and upper decks were extended completely around the playing field, resulting in a roughly trapezoidal, completely enclosed stadium. An elevated bank of bleachers was built in right and left fields, and temporary seats were placed underneath to be pulled out for football games.Additionally, the Big A scoreboard support that stood in left field, and was the inspiration for the stadium's nickname, was moved to its present site in the parking lot, adjoining the Orange Freeway beyond the right-field stands; its usage changed from scoreboard to electronic marquee advertising upcoming events at the stadium. A black and amber scoreboard/instant replay video board was installed above the newly constructed upper deck seats in left field. Swift technical innovations in scoreboards in the 1980s quickly made the 1979 display obsolete, and the visual quality was washed out during day games as it was in direct sunshine, leading a Sony Jumbotron color board to replace it in 1988, alongside amber matrix displays installed above the right field upper deck and along the infield balcony. A triangular metal spire was added to the top of the Jumbotron to evoke the original emplacement of the "Big A".
As with the addition of football seats to Candlestick Park a decade before to accommodate the rival San Francisco 49ers, the changes ultimately disadvantaged the Angels and their fans. Originally no seat had been further than from the field when first designed for baseball, but afterwards this was no longer the case. Also, while the expanded capacity allowed the Angels to set attendance records that still stand today, on most occasions even crowds of 40,000 left swaths of unusable and empty seats. It also did not completely solve the television blackout issue which inspired the Rams to move from the Coliseum, as the stadium would not sell out if the Rams weren't competitive or if the opposing team did not draw their own fans to Anaheim to sell out the game.
The expansion was completed in time for the 1980 NFL season, and the Rams played in Anaheim Stadium from then until their move to St. Louis after the 1994 season. The Rams would later return to Los Angeles in 2016, playing their games at the Memorial Coliseum again for four seasons; the team moved into the new SoFi Stadium in Inglewood in 2020.
The January 17, 1994 Northridge earthquake on Martin Luther King Jr. Day caused the left-field Jumbotron to collapse onto the upper deck seats beneath it. As the Rams and Angels were both out of season and it occurred in the pre-dawn hours, nobody was injured. The damaged section was deconstructed and rebuilt with a new scoreboard structure and Jumbotron, eliminating the A-frame spire that evoked the Big A.
The Disney era
In 1996, two years after the Rams' final game in Anaheim, The Walt Disney Company, a minority owner of the team since its inception, gained enough support on the board to effectively take control of the team. Soon afterward, the Angels and the city of Anaheim agreed to a new deal that would keep the Angels in Anaheim until 2031, with an option to leave the facility after the 2016 season. As part of the deal, the stadium underwent an extensive renovation, returning the stadium to its original role as a baseball-only facility. Before the 1997 baseball season, the section behind the outfield wall was demolished. Disney briefly considered moving the Big A scoreboard to its original location, but decided against such a move, citing costs as well as the fact that the Big A had become a Southern California landmark in its parking lot location.Despite the fact that much of the stadium was still a hard-hat zone, the demolition and construction being only half-completed, the Angels played their 1997 season in Anaheim. Fans were greeted by a restored view of the San Gabriel and Santa Ana Mountains, the Brea Hills, and the 57 freeway beyond the outfield.
Work that did not interfere with game play continued throughout the 1997 season, with major renovations resuming in the winter of 1997. These included the installation of outfield bleacher pavilions, a video display board and an out-of-town scoreboard below the right field seats. All of the multicolored seats were replaced by green seats. The exterior of the stadium was also renovated. The concrete structure and ramps were painted a combination of green and sandstone. Much of the façade of the stadium was torn down to create a more open feeling for visitors.
Image:Angelstadiumrockpile.jpg|thumb|The centerfield rockpile, also known as the "California Spectacular"|leftThe most notable feature of the entire renovation, however, was a "California Spectacular" in which geysers erupt and a stream cascades down a mountainside covered with real trees, artificial rocks behind the left-center field fence, and new bullpens. Fireworks shoot out of the display at the start of games, after every Angel home run and after every Angel win.
The field dimensions of the renovated stadium became somewhat asymmetrical, with the high fence in right center field replaced by a high wall which contains a scoreboard displaying out-of-town scores of other games. A plaza was built around the perimeter of the stadium, and inside are statues depicting longtime Angel owner and chairman Gene Autry and Michelle Carew, daughter of former Angel Rod Carew, who died of leukemia at the age of 18.
The main entrance includes two giant Angels hats complete with New Era tags on the sweatband. The hats were originally blue and featured the Angels' "winged" logo designed by Disney for the 1997 season, and were repainted red and decorated with the present-day halo insignia for the 2002 season. Also outside home plate gate is a full-sized brick infield complete with regulation pitcher's mound and lighted bases, with bricks at each player position engraved with the names of Angels players who played at that position on Opening Day of each season since the Angels began play in 1961. For a fee, the green infield bricks can be engraved with fans' names or personalized messages. The Angels opened their "new" stadium on April 1, 1998, with a 4–1 victory over the New York Yankees. The renovated stadium has 5,075 club seats and 78 luxury suites.
In 1998, the stadium was renamed Edison International Field of Anaheim after local utility Edison International reached a deal giving it naming rights over the stadium for 20 years, and during this time, the stadium was referred to as the "Big Ed". However, after the 2003 season, Edison International exercised its option to exit the sponsorship deal. On December 29, 2003, the Angels announced that from then on the stadium would be known as Angel Stadium ; Disney sold the Angels around this time as well.