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Historical Notes

1892 - The original Los Angeles Angels baseball team, playing with the four-team California League, plays through the 1893 for one season.

1893 - The California League Los Angeles Angels and the team from Stockton play a nighttime exhibition game - the first ever night professional baseball game on the Pacific Coast. The game is played at Athletic Park in Los Angeles.

1903 - Los Angeles joins the formation of the Pacific Coast League with the debut of the Los Angeles Angels baseball team. The team had no relationship to the team that played 1892-1893. The rival Pacific National League also debuts a team in Los Angeles, but it plays for barely a season.

Historical Notes

In 1909 Peter Maier, a meatpacker, built the first stadium, Maier Park, at 38th and Irving in the city of Vernon. The Vernon Tigers would play there until 1913 when they moved to Venice (Not coincidentally, both Venice and Vernon were the only two cities in the area where the sale of alcoholic beverages was legal). Weak attendance in Venice forced Maier to dismantle the entire stadium and move it back to Vernon in 1915.

During their history the Tigers also played at Washington Park when the Angels were on the road.

Doyle's Tavern was butted up to left field at Maier Park and it was rumored that there was a door in the left field wall where some players would run in to Doyle's for a quick beer between innings. It was also used for letting the crowd in and out of the park.

The team was eventually purchased by Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle in 1919 who was a Hollywood movie star. Shortly thereafter the team had a scandal which was a lesser "Black Sox" type event that resulted in several player suspensions.

In 1925 the franchise was sold to San Francisco investors who renamed the team the Mission Reds. The Reds moved back to LA in 1938 and morphed into the Hollywood Stars.

Historical Notes

The Boston Red Sox were in town on March 9th, 1911 to play the Vernon Tigers at Washington Park – if the weather permitted.  Note that several of the players are looking up to the sky at, possibly, rain clouds.

A Los Angeles Times article dated Mar 9, 1911 with the title ‘Ball Game If Weather Permits’, read as follows:

"The Boston Red Sox and the Vernon team are scheduled to play a game this afternoon at the new Washington Park if—

Hap Hogan said last night that “if” meant two things: That the game would be at the Washington Park if “It” did not rain all night and if the ground was not too soft; and if not at the Washington street ground it would be at the Vernon Park, if there was not too much rain.

With this beautifully lucid and clear statement everyone should know as much as any one about “weather” there will be a ball game this afternoon.

Dillon called off the San Bernardino game last night."

Historical Notes

In 1900, a baseball diamond was completed on the northern end of the Chutes Park, with a team to play in the new California League. It would be the first team to be called the Los Angeles Angels. It was also home of the Vernon Tigers. Following games, a gate in the center field fence was opened and fans were allowed to enter the theme park.

Historical Notes

Chutes Park was replaced by Washington Park in 1912, which had been built nearby just two blocks away at Washington and Hill Streets. The Chutes / Washington area was abandoned entirely when the Angels moved to Wrigley Field at 42nd Street and Avalon Boulevard.

The Chutes Park baseball field has also been referred to as Washington Park.*^

Historical Notes

The Venice PCL entry of 1913-14 also played its home games at Washington Park, except for Sunday morning and special holiday games. In 1915, they would move back to Vernon and once again become the Vernon Tigers.

A football game between USC and California was played at Washington Park on November 25, 1915.  It drew 8,000 spectators, the largest crowd to have seen a football game in southern California at that time.

Historical Notes

From 1903 through 1957, the Los Angeles Angels were one of the mainstays of the Pacific Coast League, winning the PCL pennant 12 times. The Angels, along with the Portland Beavers, Oakland Oaks, Sacramento Solons, San Francisco Seals, and Seattle Indians were charter members of the Pacific Coast League which was founded in 1903.

Historical Notes

In 1921, the team was purchased by chewing-gum magnate William Wrigley Jr., the owner of the Chicago Cubs of the National League. When Wrigley could not get the city of Los Angeles to make the improvements to Washington Park he requested, he began construction of his own 21,000-seat stadium, appropriately named Wrigley Field, at 42nd Place and Avalon Boulevard in what is now known as South Central Los Angeles. The Angels began play at Wrigley in 1926, and responded by winning their eighth PCL pennant, finishing 10½ games ahead of the second-place Oakland Oaks.*^

Washington Park was eventually demolished in the Mid-1950s.

Historical Notes

Charlie, a Chicago Cubs pitcher made famous by the apocryphal story of Babe Ruth calling his shot by pointing to the center field bleachers with Root on the mound, is seen here in his last year in the minor leagues with the Los Angeles Angels (the triple-A Cubs affiliate). The car may have been his but the photograph was commissioned by Walter M. Murphy Motors Company for an advertising shot.  This is the last year the Angels will play at Washington Park moving into their own Wrigley Field, at 42nd Pl and Avalon, next season.

Historical Notes

Italian American brothers, John and Joe Pirrone, used their earnings from their wholesale fruit business to purchase the land to build White Sox Park in 1924. Joe Pirrone organized the California Winter League to lure Negro League teams to southern California to play against local semi-pro teams and minor league teams, including Japanese American and Mexican American teams. During the 1920s African Americans were barred from playing in Pacific Coast League parks including Wrigley Field and Gilmore Field in Los Angeles. According to William McNeil, “The California Winter League was apparently intended as a showcase for Negro league baseball. White Sox Park, which was strategically located in or near black sections of the city, hosted the majority of league games.” Some of these teams included the Kansas City Royals and Monarchs, Philadelphia Giants, Detroit Giants and Nashville Royal Giants. There were also all-black teams from the sandlots of Los Angeles, such as the Royal Giants, Colored Giants, Monarchs, Stars and many others.*

Historical Notes

IWhite Sox Park was also the home of Mexican American baseball teams. Mexican American baseball teams and leagues dotted the southern California landscape “working to play, playing to work.” El Paso Shoe Store from San Gabriel fielded one of the strongest teams called, “Los Zapateros,” that played a majority of its games in White Sox Park.  Hollywood celebrities, city political figures and the Mexican Consul attended games at White Sox Park.*

Historical Notes

The Los Zapateros team was owned and managed by Don Rodrigo Castillo, who founded El Paso Shoe Store when he moved to Los Angeles from El Paso.

Throughout the 1930s baseball teams from Mexico were invited to play against local Mexican American teams. Los Zapateros also played matches against the Los Angeles Nippons, a nisei baseball team.

By the early 1940s the ballpark fell into disrepair and was demolished at the end of World War II to make way for veteran housing project and the Ross Snyder Recreation Center.*

Historical Notes

From 1933 to 1942 and from 1946 to 1950, the Chicago White Sox held their spring training in Brookside Park.^^

(1935)^^ - Joseph Barry, J. Louis Comiskey, William Wrigley Jr., and Harry Grabiner sit on an arroyo stone wall at Brookside Park while the Chicago White Sox play a baseball game during spring training.

Historical Notes

William Wrigley Jr. owned the Chicago Cubs and the team had its annual spring training on Catalina Island, which he owned.

Joseph Barry was the White Sox traveling secretary, J. Louis Comiskey was owner and president of the White Sox organization and Harry Grabiner was vice president..^^

(1938)^^ - Chicago White Sox players line up in front of a movie camera for a newsreel that would be shown in theaters. (Brookside Park, Pasadena)

Historical Notes

William Wrigley Jr., the owner of the Chicago Cubs and the Wrigley Company, purchased a controlling interest in the Cubs in 1916 and subsequently bought Catalina Island in 1919. His vision was to transform the island into a premier tourist destination and a unique spring training location for his baseball team.

Historical Notes

The Cubs began their spring training on Catalina Island in 1921, continuing this tradition until 1951, with a hiatus during World War II (1942-1945). The training camp was set up in Avalon, the island's main town, where a field and clubhouse were constructed.

When the Chicago Cubs began spring training on Catalina Island in 1921, they practiced at Avalon Ball Park. This field served as their training site until Wrigley Field on Catalina Island was established in the late 1920s. The field on Catalina Island was colloquially called Wrigley Field by the Chicago Cubs players and fans before it was officially named Wrigley Field. The Catalina Island Wrigley Field was named after the Los Angeles Wrigley Field, which had been named in 1925. This naming occurred before the Chicago Wrigley Field received its current name in 1927. The field's association with the Wrigley family, who owned both the Cubs and significant property on Catalina Island, led to the informal use of the name prior to its official designation in the late 1920s.

Historical Notes

The Cubs were treated like royalty on the island, greeted with a parade each spring, fed at the ornate Hotel St. Catherine, and able to cavort with actresses like Betty Grable, Grace Bradley and Rochelle Hudson. They stayed at the Hotel St. Catherine in Descanso Bay and played on a ballfield built in Avalon Canyon that was named Wrigley Field.

Historical Notes

Players stayed at the Hotel St. Catherine in Descanso Bay and played on a ballfield built in Avalon Canyon. The Cubs continued to use the island for spring training until 1951, except during the war years of 1942–45.

Historical Notes

Today, only a plaque noting the location of "Wrigley Field" remains on the grounds of what is currently the Catalina Island Country Club, though its clubhouse is the same structure that Wrigley built for the Cubs.

Click HERE to see more Early Views of Catalina.

Historical Notes

Wrigley Field was built in South Los Angeles in 1925 and was named after William Wrigley Jr., the chewing gum magnate who owned the first tenants, the original Los Angeles Angels Pacific Coast League team. In 1925, the Angels moved from their former home at Washington Park (Los Angeles), which was also known as Chutes Park. Wrigley also owned the Chicago Cubs, whose home (Wrigley Field) is also named after him.

Chewing-gum magnate William Wrigley Jr. bought the Angels in 1921 as a farm team for his Chicago Cubs for the (then) astronomical sum of $150,000 and then built a stadium for the team a few years later. Construction for Wrigley Field began in 1924 and the stadium opened in 1925.

Historical Notes

For 33 seasons (1925-1957) Wrigley Field was home to the Angels, and for 11 of those seasons (1926-1935 and 1938) it had a second home team in the rival Hollywood Stars. The Stars eventually moved to their own new ballpark, Gilmore Field.

Prior to 1925, the Angels played at their former home at Washington Park, and before that, at Chutes Park.

Historical Notes

The Los Angeles Wrigley Field was built to resemble Spanish-style architecture and a somewhat scaled-down version of the Chicago ballpark (known then as Cubs Park) as it looked at the time. It was also the first of the two ballparks to bear Wrigley's name, as the Chicago park was named for Wrigley over a year after the L.A. park's opening. At the time, he owned Santa Catalina Island, and the Cubs were holding their spring training in that island's city of Avalon (whose ballfield was located on Avalon Canyon Road and also informally known as "Wrigley Field").

Coincidentally, one of Wrigley Field's boundary streets was Avalon Boulevard (east, behind right field and a small parking lot). The other boundaries of the block were 41st Street (north, behind left field), 42nd Place (south, behind first base), and San Pedro Street (west, behind third base and a larger parking lot). Not only did L.A. Wrigley get its name first, it had more on-site parking than the Chicago version did (or does now).

Historical Notes

The inaugural game was won by the Los Angeles Angels defeating San Francisco Seals, 10-8, before 18,000 fans.

Historical Notes

Erected in 1925 at 42nd Place and Avalon Blvd., Wrigley Field was a 21,000-seat, home-run hitters paradise. It also doubled as the set for such films as "Pride of the Yankees", "Dam Yankees" and "Alibi Ike" and the "Home Run Derby" television show.

Historical Notes

Los Angeles was the first city to have a ballpark named Wrigley Field. The Los Angeles ballpark opened in 1925 with the name Wrigley Field, while the Chicago ballpark, originally named Weeghman Park, was renamed Wrigley Field in 1927.

Historical Notes

The first night baseball game in Los Angeles took place at Wrigley Field on July 22, 1930, when the Los Angeles Angels defeated the Sacramento Senators 5–4 in 11 innings before a crowd of 17,000. This historic Pacific Coast League game marked one of the earliest uses of stadium lighting in professional baseball. A little-known fact: Chicago’s Wrigley Field, the more famous namesake, didn’t host its first official night game until August 9, 1988—making it one of the last Major League ballparks to add lights.

Historical Notes

The Los Angeles Times caption reported the next day that “The overflow crowd was stationed in the outfield but no ground rules were necessary as none of the contestants was able to wallop the ball that far…”

Historical Notes

Wrigley Field in Los Angeles was conceived in 1921 when William Wrigley Jr., owner of the Chicago Cubs, purchased the Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League and decided to build a new ballpark to replace Washington Park. Designed by Zachary Taylor Davis, the stadium featured a double-decked grandstand, a Spanish-style exterior, and a distinctive clock tower, opening on September 29, 1925, with a seating capacity of around 21,000. It served as home to the Los Angeles Angels and Hollywood Stars until the Angels moved to Dodger Stadium in 1962. The ballpark was eventually demolished in 1969, and the site is now home to Gilbert Lindsay Park and the Kedren Community Health Center.

(1951)* - Chuck Connors, baseball player for both the Angels and the Hollywood Stars. During his short baseball career, 1949 - 1951, Conners also played on the Brooklyn Dodgers and Chicago Cubs.

Historical Notes

Chuck Connors, made a successful move from one side of the box seat railing to the other, becoming the star in "The Rifleman", a popular 1950's TV show.

Historical Notes

In 1956 Steve Bilko had a notable achievement. That year he won the Triple Crown with stats (Home Runs, RBI's, and Batting Average) exceeding that of Mickey Mantle, who also won the Triple Crown that same year in the American League.

The 1956 Angels Club featured second baseman Gene Mauch. The "Little General" as he would be nicknamed years later, went on to become one of the winningest managers in Major League Baseball history.

Historical Notes

In February 1957, Phil Wrigley (heir son of William Wrigley), sold both the team and Wrigley Field to Walter O'Malley, owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers, for $3,000,000. The last Pacific Coast League game at Wrigley Field was played on September 15, 1957.

Historical Notes

The Angels franchise of today was established in MLB in 1961 after former owner Gene Autry bought the rights to continue the franchise name from Walter O'Malley, the former Los Angeles Dodgers owner who had acquired the franchise from Phil Wrigley, the owner of the Chicago Cubs at the time. As stated in the book Under the Halo: The Official History of Angels Baseball, "Autry agreed to buy the franchise name for $350,000, and continue the history of the previously popular Pacific Coast League team as his own expansion team in the MLB." After the Angels joined Major League Baseball, some players from the Angels' PCL team joined the MLB Angels in 1961.

As an expansion franchise, the club continued in Los Angeles as the Los Angeles Angels, and played their home games at Los Angeles' Wrigley Field, which had formerly been the home of the PCL Los Angeles Angels. The Angels, along with the Washington Senators, were the first expansion teams in Major League Baseball. The team then moved in 1962 to newly-built Dodger Stadium, which the Angels referred to as Chavez Ravine, where they were tenants of the Los Angeles Dodgers through 1965.

Historical Notes

In 1961, the Los Angeles Angels joined the American League as an expansion team and took residence at Wrigley Field for just one season. The Angels then moved into Dodger Stadium with the Los Angeles Dodgers, until 1965. In 1966, the Angels moved into their own home, Anaheim Stadium. Sadly, with no minor league baseball teams left in the area, Wrigley Field was torn down in the mid 1960s; Gilbert Lindsay Park presently occupies the site.

Historical Notes

Gilmore Field opened on May 2, 1939 and was the home of the Hollywood Stars until September 5, 1957.

The team that came to be known as the Hollywood Stars took a circuitous route on its way to Los Angeles.  It began its existence in 1903 as the Sacramento Solons, a charter member of the PCL. The team moved to Tacoma in 1904, where it won the pennant as the Tacoma Tigers. During the 1905 season, the team returned to Sacramento to finish out the season, moved to Fresno in 1906 to finish last as the Fresno Raisin Eaters, then left the PCL altogether. The Sacramento Solons rejoined the PCL in 1909, then moved to San Francisco during the 1914 season, finishing out the season as the San Francisco Missions. The team was sold to Utah businessman Bill "Hardpan" Lane and moved to Salt Lake City for the 1915 season. They played as the Salt Lake Bees for the next eleven seasons until Lane moved the team to Los Angeles for the 1926 season. Originally they were known as the Hollywood Bees, but soon changed their name to the Hollywood Stars.

After but one season, the team was sold to new owners, among them Bob Cobb of Brown Derby Restaurant fame and the inventor of the California Cobb Salad. In their salad days, as it were, the Stars attracted glamorous actors and other celebrities or anyone else who wanted to be "seen", much as Dodger Stadium would later.

Historical Notes

Built by Earl Gilmore, Gilmore Stadium opened in May 1934 and was demolished in 1952. The first professional football team in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Bulldogs played at Gilmore. Before the neighboring Gilmore Field opened on May 2, 1939, the Hollywood Stars used Gilmore Stadium for their home games (apparently for only one month).

Hsitorical Notes

The Gilmore Field ballpark was located on the south side of Beverly Boulevard between Genesee Avenue and The Grove Drive, just east of where CBS Television City is currently located. A couple hundred yards to the west was Gilmore Stadium, an oval-shaped venue built several years earlier, which was used for football games and midget auto racing. To the east was the famous Pan-Pacific Auditorium. Both facilities were built by Earl Gilmore, son of Arthur F. Gilmore and president of A. F. Gilmore Oil, a California-based petroleum company which was developed after Arthur struck oil on the family property. The area was rich in petroleum, which was the source of the "tar" in the nearby La Brea Tar Pits.

Historical Notes

The field had intimate quarters from the spectator standpoint - first and third bases were 24 feet from the first row of seats. Home plate was 34 feet from the stands. The outfield gave the pitchers more of a break with foul lines 335 feet long, power alleys about 385, and 407 to center field. The power alleys were thus 40 feet deeper than in the cross-town counterpart, Wrigley Field.

Historical Notes

The team's owners realized the team needed to represent Hollywood in order to succeed. They sold stock in the team to movie stars, movie moguls, and Hollywood civic leaders ("the Hollywood Stars owned by the Hollywood stars"). One of these, Gene Autry, subsequently became owner of his own major league franchise, now the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Another major investor was William Frawley from TV's I Love Lucy. Moreover, the team actually played in the Hollywood area, beginning in 1939 when 13,000-seat Gilmore Field was opened in the Fairfax District adjacent to Hollywood. The club played part of the 1939 season in nearby Gilmore Stadium, after having played at Wrigley Field during 1938.

Historical Notes

The Stars had the dubious distinction of being the first team to replace the traditional bloused baseball trousers and stirrup socks with shorts and long socks in 1950. The theory was that players could run faster in this gear than in the baggy wool or cotton flannel uniforms of the day. The new uniforms resembling those worn by female softball players were "too Hollywood" even for Hollywood, as well as being very tough on the legs when sliding. They were soon replaced.

The new Stars (or “Twinks”) caught on and became a very popular team, winning three pennants before 1958. They had successful affiliations with the Brooklyn Dodgers and Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball. In 1955, actress Jayne Mansfield was named Miss Hollywood Star. The Stars became genuine rivals of the Angels, and it was not uncommon for fights between the teams to break out during Angels-Stars games. In fact, on August 2, 1953, a brawl between the two teams lasted 30 minutes, broken up only when 50 riot police were sent to Gilmore Field by Chief of Police William Parker, who was at home watching the game on television when the fight started.*^

Buddy Hicks, Hollywood, is nipped at first in a close play in yesterday's first game as the Twinks beat San Diego in a double header. Jack Graham is the Padre first sacker.

Historical Notes

LA Times Published Caption: "TAIN'T FUNNY--When Seal Hurler, Chet Johnson sizzled his first pitch behind Jim Baxes' back to mimic Jim's wildness, he got a big laugh. But it wasn't so funny when Johnson's next pitch, this steaming curve, caught Baxes in middle of back in eighth inning. Seals won 13-3." *^*

Historical Notes

In 1952 CBS Television City was built facing Beverly Boulevard on the site of Gilmore Stadium.

Historical Notes

In 1950, the Gilmore Company sold both the football stadium and baseball park to the Columbia Broadcasting System who then announced plans to raze the facility to build a new headquarters - CBS Television City, as it became known.

In 1958 Gilmore Field was also demolished and the studio expanded on the grounds where baseball was once played.

Historical Notes

In October 1957, the Brooklyn Dodgers confirmed their long-rumored move to Los Angeles for the 1958 season, which forced the Stars and the Angels to relocate.

The Angels, who had been purchased by Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley prior to the 1957 season, became the Spokane Indians in 1958.

Having no interest in operating the Twinks anywhere but in Los Angeles, the ownership group led by Frank J. Kanne, Jr. was compelled to sell the team, which it did, to a group based in Salt Lake City. The Stars, in a sense, "returned" to Salt Lake City (from whence the original Stars had moved in 1926) in 1958, becoming the Salt Lake Bees once more.

The Dodgers at the Coliseum

Los Angeles Welcomes Major League Baseball

Before Dodger Stadium opened in 1962, the Los Angeles Dodgers spent four seasons playing at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. After considering several temporary homes, including Wrigley Field and the Rose Bowl, the Dodgers settled on the Coliseum while their new stadium was being developed at Chavez Ravine. Built for football and track rather than baseball, the enormous oval had to be adapted to accommodate a Major League diamond.

The result was one of the most unusual ballparks in Major League history. The left-field foul pole stood only 251 feet from home plate, requiring a screen roughly 40 feet high, while center and right-center stretched more than 400 feet away. Some spectators sat far from the action, but the Coliseum offered something no conventional ballpark could match: the ability to accommodate enormous crowds.

On April 18, 1958, the Dodgers played their first home game in Los Angeles, defeating the San Francisco Giants 6–5 before 78,672 fans. Although the team finished seventh that year, it drew 1,845,556 spectators—more than 800,000 more than the Dodgers had drawn during their final season in Brooklyn. A year later, Los Angeles won the National League pennant and defeated the Chicago White Sox in the 1959 World Series. By the time the Dodgers left the Coliseum for Dodger Stadium after the 1961 season, they had firmly established themselves as part of Los Angeles.

Historical Notes

The Coliseum's single tier of grandstands circled the entire football field, so even a fan seated only 53 rows up sat far from home plate. Newspapers sometimes marked their photographs with dotted lines to show readers where the foul lines and infield would run once crews laid out the makeshift baseball diamond.

The Coliseum opened in 1923 and was expanded for the 1932 Olympic Games, built for track and field and football rather than baseball. Converting it into a ballpark during the winter of 1957 and 1958 required new dugouts, extra lighting towers, and the tall screen in left field that soon became the stadium's best known baseball feature.

Historical Notes

On the morning of April 18, 1958, the city held a welcoming ceremony for the Dodgers at Los Angeles City Hall, then sent the team through downtown in a motorcade on its way to the Coliseum. Thousands of fans lined Broadway to see players who, only months earlier, had worn Brooklyn Dodgers uniforms on the other side of the country.

The parade reflected years of civic effort to bring a major league team to Los Angeles. City leaders, including Councilwoman Rosalind Wyman, had worked to attract the Dodgers, and the morning's celebration set the stage for the record crowd that filled the Coliseum that afternoon.

Historical Notes

Fans packed the sidewalks along Broadway to watch manager Walter Alston and coach Charlie Dressen pass by before the Dodgers' first Los Angeles game. Alston had managed the team since 1954, while Dressen, who had managed the Dodgers to National League pennants in 1952 and 1953, rejoined the club as a coach for the 1958 season.

Alston went on to manage the Dodgers for 23 seasons, from 1954 through 1976, and won four World Series championships, in 1955, 1959, 1963, and 1965. His steady leadership through the move to Los Angeles and the Coliseum years helped build the foundation for the team's long run of success in its new city.

Historical Notes

The move from Brooklyn to Los Angeles ended 68 years of National League baseball in Brooklyn and brought major league baseball to the West Coast for the first time. Players stepped off the team bus into a crowd of fans and photographers eager to see the Dodgers in their new home.

Owner Walter O'Malley announced the move in the fall of 1957 after failing to secure a new stadium site in Brooklyn. The San Francisco Giants moved west from New York that same season, and together the two teams carried Major League Baseball across the country for the first time in its history.

Historical Notes

The Dodgers defeated the Giants 6 to 5 before 78,672 fans, a crowd that set a major league record for a single game at the time. It was the first Major League Baseball game ever played in Los Angeles, marking the start of the sport's westward expansion.

The Dodgers carried a 6 to 3 lead into the eighth inning when Giants outfielder Hank Sauer, then 41 years old, became the first player to hit a home run over the Coliseum's new left field screen. Los Angeles held on to win, giving the city a triumphant debut for its new team.

Historical Notes

The pageantry of Opening Day reflected the pride Los Angeles felt at finally hosting a major league team. A morning ceremony at City Hall, an afternoon parade, and the national anthem before a record crowd all marked April 18, 1958 as a milestone for the city.

Both the Dodgers and the Giants were playing their first home games on the West Coast that April, with the Giants having opened Seals Stadium in San Francisco three days earlier. The two rivals, transplanted from New York and Brooklyn, carried their old rivalry into a new part of the country.

Historical Notes

From the air, the Coliseum's unusual baseball layout stands out clearly. The left field fence stood only 251 feet from home plate, so the Dodgers installed a screen about 40 feet high above the fence to keep routine fly balls from becoming home runs.

The rest of the field ran in the opposite direction, with center field stretching to 425 feet and right center field to 440 feet, among the deepest dimensions in baseball. The mismatch between a short porch in left field and a cavernous outfield elsewhere made the Coliseum one of the most unusual ballparks in major league history.

Historical Notes

Although the Coliseum was never designed for baseball, its huge seating capacity let Los Angeles fans turn out in record numbers from the very first game. The enthusiasm for the Dodgers helped the team settle quickly into its new home despite the stadium's odd dimensions.

The Dodgers finished the 1958 season in seventh place with a losing record, yet still drew more than 1.8 million fans. That was nearly 800,000 more than the Dodgers had drawn during their final season in Brooklyn and demonstrated almost immediately that Major League Baseball could prosper in Los Angeles.

Historical Notes

Fans joked that watching a game at the Coliseum required binoculars, since many seats sat far from home plate in a stadium built for track and field rather than baseball. Despite the distance, the atmosphere at these afternoon games captured a city discovering major league baseball for the first time.

LIFE Magazine and other national publications sent photographers to document the novelty of big league baseball played inside a football stadium, helping spread the story of the Dodgers' move to a national audience. Photographs from these early seasons remain some of the most recognizable images of the Coliseum era.

Historical Notes

Several pitchers in this photograph would go on to define the Dodgers' success in Los Angeles. Don Drysdale won the Cy Young Award in 1962 and became one of the most dominant pitchers of his era, while Larry Sherry, who had made his major league debut just one day earlier, was named Most Valuable Player of the 1959 World Series.

Pitchers such as Ed Roebuck and Ron Negray, along with catcher Joe Pignatano, filled whatever roles their teams needed, since bullpens in the 1950s were far less specialized than they are today. This mix of veterans and rising talent helped carry the Dodgers to a World Series championship within two years of arriving in Los Angeles.

Historical Notes

With seating for more than 90,000 fans, the Coliseum was the largest stadium ever to host regular season Major League Baseball. The Dodgers drew 1,845,556 fans in their first Los Angeles season and then led the National League in attendance in each of their final three Coliseum seasons, from 1959 through 1961.

In four seasons at the Coliseum, the Dodgers drew nearly 8 million fans. The enormous turnout demonstrated that their success at the gate was not simply an Opening Day novelty but reflected sustained enthusiasm for Major League Baseball in Los Angeles.

Historical Notes

The Dodgers hosted Games 3, 4, and 5 of the 1959 World Series against the Chicago White Sox, and each game set an attendance record. Game 5, played on October 6, 1959, drew 92,706 fans, still the largest crowd ever to attend a World Series game.

The three games at the Coliseum remain the three largest attendance figures in World Series history. Pregame ceremonies like this one, with players lined up along the baselines, were part of the pageantry that made the 1959 Series, the first played on the West Coast, a landmark event for baseball.

Historical Notes

Game 3, played on October 4, 1959, was the first World Series game ever held on the West Coast. A crowd of 92,394 fans filled the Coliseum, and the Dodgers won 3 to 1 behind a strong effort from their pitching staff.

The three games played at the Coliseum during this Series averaged more than 92,000 fans each, figures that still rank among the largest crowds in baseball history. The Dodgers went on to defeat the White Sox four games to two, winning their first World Series championship since moving to Los Angeles.

Historical Notes

The Dodgers and the Milwaukee Braves finished the 1959 regular season tied for first place, forcing a best-of-three playoff to decide the National League pennant. Los Angeles won the first game in Milwaukee, then closed out the series with a comeback victory at the Coliseum on September 29, 1959.

The pennant marked an extraordinary turnaround for a team that had finished in seventh place the year before. The Dodgers went on to defeat the Chicago White Sox in the World Series, giving Los Angeles its first World Series championship in only its second season in the city.

Historical Notes

The Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, seen next to the Coliseum, opened on July 4, 1959, and hosted the Democratic National Convention the following year. Together the two venues formed the heart of Exposition Park during the years the Dodgers called the Coliseum home.

The Coliseum played a central role in baseball's move to the West Coast, hosting events such as Roy Campanella Night on May 7, 1959, when a record crowd of 93,103 fans turned out for an exhibition game benefiting the injured Dodgers catcher. When the team moved to Dodger Stadium in 1962, the memories of baseball in the Coliseum remained a unique chapter in Los Angeles sports history.