Fansided

Ranking the best in-game experiences for each MLB team

By Joshua Sadlock

LONDON, ENGLAND - JUNE 29 : Freeze races during game one of the 2019 Major League Baseball London Series between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees on June 29, 2019 at West Ham London Stadium in London, England. (Photo by Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - JUNE 29 : Freeze races during game one of the 2019 Major League Baseball London Series between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees on June 29, 2019 at West Ham London Stadium in London, England. (Photo by Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images) /
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ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA – AUGUST 31: Mike Trout #27 of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim runs to first base after hitting an RBI single during the second inning of a game against the Boston Red Sox at Angel Stadium of Anaheim on August 31, 2019 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA – AUGUST 31: Mike Trout #27 of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim runs to first base after hitting an RBI single during the second inning of a game against the Boston Red Sox at Angel Stadium of Anaheim on August 31, 2019 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) /

Los Angeles Angels: Watching Mike Trout

Angel Stadium is the fourth-oldest stadium in the league and it has none of the history of Fenway Park or Wrigley Field and has not been painstakingly maintained like Dodger Stadium. The park, built in 1966 as a multi-purpose bowl, is so Orange County it hurts. Surrounded by acres and acres of parking lots and hemmed in by a dozen lanes of I-5 and eight lanes of the Orange Freeway. It’s a perfect suburban sprawling nightmare with no sort of pre- or postgame entertainment — unless you count dozens of chain restaurants or an outlet mall.

The Angels, with the help of Disney, spent millions to renovate the stadium in the late 1990s, but the end result just feels like a cheap amalgamation of several different design features of better retro ballparks. The Angels put tiered bullpens in left field, tried to build a massive set of bleachers in right field instead of just leveling the remaining portion of football seating, added dugout suites and tacked on a massive waterfall of rock outcrop in center field that shoots water and fireworks.

In the end, Angel Stadium is just a cobbled-together set of new and old features. Even the name is comical, Angel Stadium of Anaheim, home of the Los Angeles Angels (who were previously the California Angels, Anaheim Angels and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim). A previous corporate sponsor’s logo, Edison Energy, can still be seen on some seats even though the team tried to cover them up.

Ultimately, the team should have just replaced the stadium (it’s not as if there’s no space to be found somewhere in the massive expanse of parking lot). While there is little in the way of redeeming qualities for Angel Stadium, it is the home of Mike Trout, and that alone is worth a visit.

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