5 DAYS – 5 STADIUMS – 5 BASEBALL GAMES – 3

DAY 3

Day three and I’m in Anaheim for the Angels/Rangers game. Neither of these teams lived up to their preseason hype and both ended up firing their respective managers. The Rangers are rebuilding but still expected a better showing after spending half a billion dollars signing Corey Seager and Marcus Semien. The Angels have two of the best players on the planet in Mike Trout and Shohei Otani and yet had another disappointing season where, not only did they miss the playoffs, but they couldn’t even win half of their games. Their pitching has been a problem for the past decade. This season the starters looked better, but relief pitching is a major issue. And their offense, considered a strength, was inconsistent. You can attribute some of that inconsistency to injuries. But a lot of teams had injuries and still performed well. What the Angels lack is the depth to compensate for those injuries. Now that the team seems to be up for sale, it will be interesting to see what direction it takes.

It’s a 145-mile drive to Angel Stadium of Anaheim, as it is now called, and I arrived about 30 minutes before game time, which put me there about 5:30 on a Saturday. One thing I wanted to do on this tour was get to the games early to spend some time at each stadium before the game. Unfortunately, I couldn’t do that in San Diego, but I was lucky at the other four games. When you get right down to it, it’s a huge undertaking to drive to Petco Park, Angel Stadium, and Dodger Stadium, navigating through LA traffic each time, and being able to get to each stadium early. Over the years the Angel Stadium has gone by several different names but, whatever name it went under, I’ve always enjoyed going there, whether it be for a baseball game or an ELO concert, which I did in 1980 I believe. The stadium opened in April 1966 making it the fourth oldest stadium in the MLB. It is about four years younger than Dodger Stadium and six months older than the Coliseum in Oakland, which is the fifth oldest stadium. I haven’t attended too many Angel games over the years, although I was fortunate enough to attend the game in 1979 when they clinched their first division title and went to the playoffs for the very first time. No wild cards back then.

The Angels have a very interesting history. At one time there was a minor league team in the Pacific Coast League known as the Los Angeles Angels. The club was a Los Angeles Dodgers farm team and was eventually moved to Spokane, Washington. But Walter O’Malley still owned the Angel’s name rights in Los Angeles. Country music legend and TV cowboy, Gene Autry, owned KMPC radio in Los Angeles and attended the 1960 winter meetings hoping to gain the radio rights for the new American League Los Angeles team which, at that point, didn’t have a name or an owner. He ended up making the winning bid for the team at $2.5M. Heck, in today’s market, top draft choices get that much in signing bonuses. O’Malley’s major concern was that the group headed by Bill Veeck didn’t get the winning bid and he happily agreed to give the name to Autry…for $350,000. O’Malley was really happy that winter. The minor league team had been very popular, and Autry wanted to capitalize on that popularity, figuring that would help make the team a draw. Especially since, limited by the rules of the day, expansion teams were notoriously horrible. The Angels played their inaugural 1961 season at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles as the Los Angeles Angels. They moved to Dodger Stadium the following season and played all their home games there until 1965 but renamed the ballpark Chavez Ravine for those games. In 1965 they changed their name to the California Angels then moved into Anaheim Stadium in 1966. In 1997 they changed their name again, becoming the Anaheim Angels. When Artie Moreno bought the team, in 2005, he once again changed the name. This time they became known as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, hoping to capitalize on the Los Angeles name but including Anaheim in the title to appease upset season ticket holders. But, in 2005, the team quietly dropped Anaheim and became simply the Los Angeles Angels…again. I guess what goes around comes around. The stadium has also had a number of name changes. It was originally known as Anaheim Stadium. But, in 1998 it became Edison International Field of Anaheim under a 5-year agreement. After 2003 it became known as Angel Stadium of Anaheim, the current moniker.

As I noted in my previous blog, I attended this game solo. I had listed my extra ticket on StubHub and sold it quickly. The guy sitting in that seat, though, wasn’t very talkative. I don’t know if he was the one that purchased my ticket or if he had bought it from a scalper that had purchased my ticket. By the way, someone asked me how one can sell tickets on sites like StubHub at over market value. Isn’t scalping illegal? Technically, scalping is not illegal. Trying to sell a ticket at above market value on stadium property is but selling them above value on social media or simply standing on a street corner isn’t. And besides, since it was a single ticket and I listed it the day before the game, I only asked $70 for $120 ticket. Obviously, I’m not very good at this scalping thing. I listed the two other tickets at similar prices and was surprised that I sold all three of them. Probably should have asked for more.

It would have been great to see Ohtani pitch but, unfortunately, he was not scheduled that day. He did DH though. Interestingly, I saw the Angels play in Oakland two days later and he didn’t pitch that day either. He did go a combined 2 for 8 with a walk, a run, and an RBI. Fairly pedestrian by Ohtani standards. This game, also, was fairly pedestrian. The Angels jumped out to an early 1-0 lead and made it stand up through six innings. The 7^th was a lot of fun though. Texas took a 2-1 lead with a two-run homer by Nathaniel Lowe in the top half. Then, in the bottom of the 7^th, the Angels tied the game with the potential lead run cut down at the plate on a very close play. The next batter up, Matt Thaiss, reached on a fielder’s choice when his hard-hit ball to second baseman Marcus Semien scored Livan Soto in yet another close play at the plate. Both of those calls were close enough that they were challenged, the Angels losing the first challenge, and a potential go ahead run, while the Rangers lost the second challenge giving up the eventual winning run as the Angels won 3-2.

So how do the Angels stack up?

Average cost (family of 4) – #2 $182.62 They’re a solid #2 in California and number 12 in the major leagues. Something of a surprise considering the size of their market. That makes them a good value. But, if you’re an Angels fan, I imagine you’d be willing to pay a bit more at concessions and for tickets if the team won more consistently. Then again maybe not. I was looking at my notes comparing the cost of a family of four and it’s interesting to note that, of the 11 least expensive stadiums, four of those teams made the playoffs and a couple others were in the mix until late in the season.

Cost of one hotdog, one soda, and an order of nachos – #1 $20.34 They also ranked high in my choice of comfort food.

Parking – At $20, preferred parking at Angel Stadium is a real bargain. Also, because of its central location, getting in and out is very easy. There are a number of nice restaurants within a short drive. In fact, many of them are walking distance. Although I don’t know what the Angels policy is if you were to leave your car for an hour or two after the game while you walked to get some food or entertainment.

Cost of tickets vs. location – #2 At $220 for two tickets, the Angels rank very high here as well. My seats at this game were in section 109, row B, seat 7 and 8. That put me at field level, down the base line just beyond third base, and two rows back. Unlike Dodger Stadium, these were true field level seats and I’m not looking out over the high-priced baseline club seats. Most people are going to be taking their significant other or a friend to the game. Not a lot of people are baseball crazy like me and just go to a game by themselves. Although I did sell all three of those single seat tickets to the Angels, the Giants, and the A’s. So maybe there are more hard-core fans out there than I realize.

Food Quality – #3 (tie) The dogs were by Hoffy. Not bad but right there with the Petco Park dogs. While I did have a hot dog and soda I skipped the nachos. I also mixed in a chicken salad. An attempt to eat healthier and lower my blood sugar levels.

Accessibility – #2 Easy accessibility in and out of the stadium is a big plus for the Angels. In San Diego you have to search for parking. Parking at Dodger Stadium is a nightmare. Parking in Oakland is a story unto itself. I would say the only stadium more accessible is Oracle Park in San Francisco. Just driving in and out of Angel Stadium is a pleasure. Anybody who has made that drive knows that, as you cross into Orange County, the 5 freeway widens out to five or six lanes from two or three on the LA side. Disneyland had a lot to do with that as they wanted to make the amusement park driver friendly. It is my understanding they footed a large portion the bill for that widening project about 20 years ago. Angel Stadium benefited from that as well.

Stadium Ambiance – #5 I said in an earlier blog that this is a very subjective category. My experience at Angel Stadium is a perfect example. After attending five games in five days, they all kind of run together. I sort of remember highlights from each day, but I don’t recall all the details. Unfortunately, my time at Angel Stadium was the least memorable of the five. It comes down to fan interaction. I managed to have some great conversations with perfect strangers at every other stadium I went to. I even had a very interesting conversation with a guy I met on the Dodger Stadium tour, even though I was there with my friend Eric. It’s stuff like that which you tend to remember and makes the whole experience worthwhile. It may not entirely be the fault of the other fans either and I must take some of the blame here. I am normally a very social person. Anybody will tell you I can talk to anybody, at any time, on just about any subject. It probably helps that I pride myself on being a very good listener as well. Now, you must remember, I drove 371 miles down to San Diego and back up to Burbank on Thursday. That was followed by a 105-mile drive back home to Bakersfield on Friday. Not including the 15-or-20-mile drive to Dodger Stadium and back, even though my friend Eric did the driving on that. And finally, there was the 145-mile drive to Angel Stadium on Saturday. All totaled, I drove a little over 600 miles over those three days, so Saturday night I was probably tired. I had also been eating a lot of baseball food. Dogs, sodas, and nachos are not an ideal diet. One thing about this new food regimen is, I seem to be more in tune with my body and what I put into it. For the most part, I eat healthy. A lot of vegetables and protein. Not a lot of red meat and sodium. No junk food and no sweets. When I fall off the wagon, so to speak, I can definitely see changes in the way I feel and in my personality. As further proof that I was somewhat out-of-sorts, I took virtually no photographs that night, which are a great visual trigger to help me remember things. After the Angel game I drove back to Burbank where I spent the night again. After I had settled into the hotel room, I checked my blood sugar and it was around 260, which is more than double what it has normally been the last few months. I felt so crappy that night, in fact, I was considering skipping the flight up to the Bay Area. But I decided to wait and see how I felt in the morning.

Fans – #5 I must also give the fans a last place ranking here. I think many of the fans attending Angel games are going to be a little better off financially than the fans found at other games. That’s just the nature of Orange County. I could be wrong here. I mean they really stack up as one of the better bargain entertainment values as far as professional sports in the area. From my vantage point, the fans that night just didn’t seem to be as loud or as into the game as at the other four venues. Having said that, just bear in mind that I was not 100% me that night.

Girls – #3 I’d have to give the girls here a rating somewhere in the middle of the pack.