(UN)Official Road Trip Stop #5: Angel Stadium, Anaheim, CA

8/26/2009
Tigers 2 @ Angels 4

So what's the best way to see one of the best teams in the American League without having to listen to one of the worst baseball broadcasters the game has ever known?

Well, that would unfortunately mean taking a trip to Angel Stadium of Anaheim to see the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim play.

This is the first venture into the American League on the trip. On a lazy Wednesday afternoon in late August, two of the American League's best teams did battle in front of, well, almost nobody, it seems.

Anaheim Edison International Angel Stadium was opened in 1966. It has undergone two extensive renovations - one to make it compatible for football, and one to make it not compatible for football. On the surface, it certainly looks nice and new enough, but the fact remains that it was built in 1966, and its age still shows in some spots.

The best way to get to Angel Stadium is with the car. There is an Amtrak/Metrolink station in the parking lot of Angel Stadium, but this option is absolutely useless if you happen to come to a night game. I've often thought about spending a day at Disneyland and catching a night game at Angel Stadium, or vice-versa, but have never acted on it, but it's still a pretty good suggestion, I think.

Angel Stadium isn't necessarily a bad place to watch a baseball game, but it isn't as good as some people might tell you. The Angels organization does a lot of things right. They don't overcharge for parking or beer or food (then again, how much is a Weinerschnitzel dog worth, anyway?), and they have been putting a winning team on the field for the better part of a decade, without pricing out their fans.

My problem with the Angels isn't so much with them, but with their fans. Yes, the Angels have done considerably better than the Dodgers in the past decade or so, but the fact remains that nobody would admit to being an Angel fan before 2002. Many of today's Angel "fans" either converted or have been rooting for both teams, which, really, is such a timorous way to be a fan.

The Angels do a pretty good job of showcasing their lack of history. The team is introduced by a couple of cool video montages showcasing some of the players who have come through Anaheim through the years. The line-ups are introduced to "Spirit in the Sky" by Norman Greenbaum and the video is set to "Calling all Angels" by Train. Nice touch. By watching the video, you realize that a lot of really great players have worn Angel uniforms throughout the years, just not at the right time of their careers. The video also has a nice tribute to pitcher Nick Adenhart, who died tragically in a car accident in April.

There are fireworks and a fountain and a big obnoxious fake rock thing in center field. The rocks were put in after the renovation in 1997 by Disney, who owned the team at the time. They were intended to "pay homage to the Orange County coast," but really, they just serve to mock the Disney-fication that the Angels were under at the time.

Fireworks shoot off during the national anthem, after home runs, and when the Angels win. On this day it seemed kind of insensitive because you could see the smoke from the Morris Fire in the distance. Whoops.

The Angels strive to be a family entertainment event, which is fine, but the real purpose to come to a game is to watch baseball. Not fireworks, videogames, fountains, blablabla. It's an OK and rather harmless experience, but just sometimes feels tacky and forced. I didn't have to sit through numerous appearances of the "Rally Monkey" today because the Angels had the lead for pretty much the whole game.

An Angel game is relatively cheap and there's usually a good team playing (even if they're under the influence of performance-enhancing dieties*). Be careful when selecting your seat though, as you could end up with some awful obstructed views. Avoid the "terrace level," because the overhang from the level above it comes down so low that some seats can not track the flight of a fly ball.

Angel games aren't great, but they're good, and a good value for your money. Just don't claim to have been an Angel fan since birth if you can't tell me who Donnie Moore is.

*Easily the best performance of Tony Danza's career. Maybe Matthew McConaughey's too.

You can view all my photos from Angel Stadium here.