The Big A, Anaheim CA
September 13, 1987
Original 1960s Big A look.
1970s and 80s look – enclosed for Rams football.
Center Field shot, 1987. No more Big A in center field.
The big hats in front of the entrance have the Disney-era logo. 
Edison Field as it looked during the 2002 World Series.
The team was one of the two American League expansion teams added in 1961 (the second Washington Senators were the other). They were called the Los Angeles Angels from 1961-1965, playing at LA’s Wrigley Field (a replica of Chicago’s Wrigley, but not as big) and then they played at Dodger Stadium. The new stadium opened in 1966 and has been named The Big A, Edison International Field, Anaheim Stadium and Angels Stadium. The team was renamed the California Angels when they moved to Anaheim in 1966, then became the Anaheim Angels in 1997, and then the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in 2005 in an attempt to turn their back on Anaheim and be thought of as an LA team, which they were originally. Thus the name Angels.
The ballpark was originally shaped like a huge pair of calipers with an open area in the outfield and a huge Big A in center field. Then in 1980 the NFL Rams moved from the LA Coliseum to the Big A and the outfield area was reconfigured in an odd way to include more grandstands. It looked odd on TV. In 1995 the Rams moved to St. Louis and in 1996 the stadium in Anaheim was reconfigured for baseball only as Edison International Field. In 1997 the Walt Disney Company bought the team and built Disneyland-style fake rocks in the outfield where the football bleachers had been. Disney sold the team in 2003 and the new owner added Los Angeles to the name.
I was in Anaheim for the NAB Radio Show and stayed at the Disneyland Hotel. I told our kids I went to Disneyland, of course, and rode Space Mountain. I hate rides like that, and as you wait in line there are warnings for people with pacemakers. But 6-year-old kids were coming off it and laughing with delight. I was by myself and decided this was the time to try it. If I wussed out at the last moment no one would know. I kept my eyes closed the whole time and it was actually not that bad.
Game: September 13, 1987. On Sunday I went to the Angels-Rangers game at the Big A with our Mix 106.5/Baltimore consultant, Jim Herron. This was my 4th ballpark and the first of many where I did not pay for the trip. The Rangers won, 8-2. We sat in a Terrace box, first base side. They served tofu and whiskey sours at the refreshment stands. 1B Wally Joyner homered twice for the Angels. Ruben Sierra (whom I’ve seen play for the Rangers, A’s, Yankees, Tigers, Reds, Blue Jays, White Sox, Mariners and Twins) homered for Texas. Pinch-hitting for the Angels was Bill Buckner, who had been released by the Red Sox in June as fallout from the 1986 World Series error and was immediately picked up by California. He went 1 for 1 (Note that Buckner error did not cost the Red Sox the World Series.) The catcher was Bob Boone, son of old-time Red Sox catcher Ray Boone and father of current Yankees manager Aaron Boone. Craig Kilgus started for Texas but only lasted 3 innings. Jeff Russell got the win. Mitch Williams got the save for Texas. Later he was a closer for the Phillies. In hue 1993 0World Series when Williams went into Game 6 in the 9th to protect a 6-5 lead and nail it down, Curt Schlling, who was a Phiilie at the time and the Game 5 winner, put a towel over his head so he didn’t have to watch what he thought would happen. What happened was Williams walked Rickey Henderson on four pitches and then gave up that 2-run walkoff to Joe Carter that won the series for Toronto.
Back to Anaheim. In 2001 I was back in LA for the R&R Convention. Yet another trip I did not have to pay for. On Friday night I drove by during a Dodgers-Angels Interleague game. I should have gone earlier and stopped in to the game, but I had to head back to LAX for a redeye to Boston. When I got to LAX there was a three-hour delay in the flight and we didn’t take off until 3AM Boston time, so I could have taken in at least part of the game anyway. But who knew? The Wellesley Girls Softball Orioles were playing in the Championship Game on Saturday afternoon. I was the league president and the Orioles head coach. I got home at 10AM and napped. We won it big time, 17-6 over the Reds. That was my last Wellesley Girls Softball game as a coach as both of my daughters were now playing high school fastpitch softball.
