Wrigley Field (Los Angeles)
Encyclopedia
Wrigley Field was a ballpark in Los Angeles, California
which served as host to minor league baseball
teams in the region for over 30 years, and was the home park for the Los Angeles Angels
of the Pacific Coast League
as well as a current major league team, the later Los Angeles Angels
, in their inaugural season, 1961. The ballpark was also used as the backdrop for several Hollywood films about baseball, as well as TV series such as Home Run Derby
.
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.
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).
For 33 seasons, 1925 to 1957, the park was home to the Angels, and for 11 of those seasons, 1926 through 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
, just west of the Pan Pacific Auditorium.
With its location near Hollywood, Wrigley Field was a popular place to film baseball movies
. Some well known movies filmed there were The Pride of the Yankees
and the movie version
of the stage play Damn Yankees
. Even the film noir
classic Armored Car Robbery
had its title heist set at Wrigley. It later found its way into television
, serving as the backdrop for the Home Run Derby
series in 1960, a popular show which featured one-on-one contests between baseball's top home run hitters, which had a brief revival in the 1990s when it aired on ESPN Classic
. Episodes of shows as diverse as The Twilight Zone
("The Mighty Casey
", 1960), Mannix
("To Catch a Rabbit", 1969) and The Munsters
were also filmed there. Some closeups were filmed there for insertion into the 1951 film Angels in the Outfield
, a film otherwise set at Forbes Field
in Pittsburgh.
Wrigley was used for other sports as well. Six world title boxing
bouts were held there, including the 1939 Joe Louis
-Jack Roper fight. On May 28, 1959, the park hosted the USA
-England
soccer friendly where England won 8-1 in front of 13,000 http://www.rsssf.com/tablese/eng-intres50.html.
L.A. Wrigley's minor league baseball days ended when the Brooklyn Dodgers
of the National League
transferred to Los Angeles in 1958. The use of Wrigley was studied by the Dodgers, but they opted for seating capacity
over suitability as a baseball field, and instead set up shop in the Los Angeles Coliseum
(which had a 251-foot foul line
) while awaiting construction of Dodger Stadium
.
In 1961, a new L.A. Angels
club, named after the minor league team Los Angeles Angels (PCL)
, joined the American League
as an expansion team and took residence at Wrigley for just the one season. The team set a still-standing first-season expansion-team record with 71 wins
. Thanks to its cozy power alleys, the park became the setting for a real-life version of Home Run Derby, setting another record by yielding 248 home run
s. That 248 mark would stand for over 30 years. After the 1961 season, the team moved to Dodger Stadium (or Chavez Ravine, as it was known for Angels games), which was the Angels' temporary home while Angel Stadium was being built. The new Dodger Stadium also "took over" for Wrigley Field, as the site of choice for Hollywood filming that required a ballpark setting.
There were no more regular tenants after 1961, and the park was torn down in the mid-1960s. The site is now occupied by the recreation facility called Gilbert Lindsay Park which was originally the parking lot. The park has a ballfield in the northwest corner of the property. The original site of the Wrigley diamond and grandstand is occupied by the Kedren Community Mental Health Center and parking lot.
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
which served as host to minor league baseball
Minor league baseball
Minor league baseball is a hierarchy of professional baseball leagues in the Americas that compete at levels below Major League Baseball and provide opportunities for player development. All of the minor leagues are operated as independent businesses...
teams in the region for over 30 years, and was the home park for the Los Angeles Angels
Los Angeles Angels (PCL)
The Los Angeles Angels were a team based in Los Angeles, California that played in the Pacific Coast League from 1903 through 1957, after which they transferred to Spokane, Washington to become the Spokane Indians. Los Angeles would later become the host city to a Major League Baseball team, the...
of the Pacific Coast League
Pacific Coast League
The Pacific Coast League is a minor-league baseball league operating in the Western, Midwestern and Southeastern United States. Along with the International League and the Mexican League, it is one of three leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one step below Major League Baseball.The...
as well as a current major league team, the later Los Angeles Angels
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are a professional baseball team based in Anaheim, California, United States. The Angels are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. The "Angels" name originates from the city in which the team started, Los Angeles...
, in their inaugural season, 1961. The ballpark was also used as the backdrop for several Hollywood films about baseball, as well as TV series such as Home Run Derby
Home Run Derby (TV series)
Home Run Derby is a 1960 television show that was held at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles putting the top sluggers of Major League Baseball against each other in nine-inning home run contests...
.
History
Wrigley Field was built in South Los AngelesSouth Los Angeles
South Los Angeles, often abbreviated as South L.A. and formerly South Central Los Angeles, is the official name for a large geographic and cultural portion lying to the southwest and southeast of downtown Los Angeles, California. The area was formerly called South Central, and is still widely known...
in 1925 and was named after William Wrigley Jr.
William Wrigley Jr.
William Wrigley Jr. was a U.S. chewing gum industrialist. He was founder and eponym of the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company in 1891. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
, the chewing gum
Chewing gum
Chewing gum is a type of gum traditionally made of chicle, a natural latex product, or synthetic rubber known as polyisobutylene. For economical and quality reasons, many modern chewing gums use rubber instead of chicle...
magnate
Magnate
Magnate, from the Late Latin magnas, a great man, itself from Latin magnus 'great', designates a noble or other man in a high social position, by birth, wealth or other qualities...
who owned the first tenants, the original Los Angeles Angels Pacific Coast League
Pacific Coast League
The Pacific Coast League is a minor-league baseball league operating in the Western, Midwestern and Southeastern United States. Along with the International League and the Mexican League, it is one of three leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one step below Major League Baseball.The...
team. In 1925, the Angels moved from their former home at Washington Park (Los Angeles)
Washington Park (Los Angeles)
Washington Park was a baseball park in Los Angeles, California, United States. It was primarily used for baseball and was the home of the Los Angeles Angels from 1912 until they moved to Wrigley Field late in the 1925 season....
, which was also known as Chutes Park
Chutes Park
Chutes Park in Los Angeles, California began as a trolley park in 1887. It was a amusement park bounded by Grand Avenue on the west, Main Street on the east, Washington Boulevard on the north and 21st Street on the south. At various times it included rides, animal exhibits, a theater and a...
. Wrigley also owned the Chicago Cubs
Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs are a professional baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League. They are one of two Major League clubs based in Chicago . The Cubs are also one of the two remaining charter members of the National...
, whose home (Wrigley Field
Wrigley Field
Wrigley Field is a baseball stadium in Chicago, Illinois, United States that has served as the home ballpark of the Chicago Cubs since 1916. It was built in 1914 as Weeghman Park for the Chicago Federal League baseball team, the Chicago Whales...
) is also named after him.
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
Santa Catalina Island, California
Santa Catalina Island, often called Catalina Island, or just Catalina, is a rocky island off the coast of the U.S. state of California. The island is long and across at its greatest width. The island is located about south-southwest of Los Angeles, California. The highest point on the island is...
, and the Cubs were holding their spring training
Spring training
In Major League Baseball, spring training is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for roster and position spots, and gives existing team players practice time prior to competitive play...
in that island's city of Avalon
Avalon, California
Avalon, or Avalon Bay, is the only incorporated city on Santa Catalina Island of the California Channel Islands, and the southernmost city in Los Angeles County. Besides Avalon, the only other center of population on the island is the small unincorporated town of Two Harbors...
(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).
For 33 seasons, 1925 to 1957, the park was home to the Angels, and for 11 of those seasons, 1926 through 1935 and 1938, it had a second home team in the rival Hollywood Stars
Hollywood Stars
The Hollywood Stars were a minor league baseball team that played in the Pacific Coast League during the early and mid 20th century. They were the arch-rivals of the other Los Angeles based PCL team, the Los Angeles Angels.-Hollywood Stars :...
. The Stars eventually moved to their own new ballpark, Gilmore Field
Gilmore Field
Gilmore Field is a former minor league baseball park that served as home to the Hollywood Stars of the Pacific Coast League from 1939-1957 when they, along with their intra-city rivals, the Los Angeles Angels, were displaced by the transplanted Brooklyn Dodgers of the National...
, just west of the Pan Pacific Auditorium.
With its location near Hollywood, Wrigley Field was a popular place to film baseball movies
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
. Some well known movies filmed there were The Pride of the Yankees
The Pride of the Yankees
The Pride of the Yankees is a 1942 American film directed by Sam Wood and starring Gary Cooper, Teresa Wright, and Walter Brennan. The film is a tribute to the legendary New York Yankees first baseman Lou Gehrig, who died only one year before the film's release, at age 37, from amyotrophic lateral...
and the movie version
Damn Yankees (film)
Damn Yankees is a 1958 musical film made by Warner Bros., a modern version of the Faust story involving the New York Yankees and Washington Senators baseball teams. The film is based on the 1955 Broadway musical of the same name....
of the stage play Damn Yankees
Damn Yankees
Damn Yankees is a musical comedy with a book by George Abbott and Douglass Wallop and music and lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. The story is a modern retelling of the Faust legend set during the 1950s in Washington, D.C., during a time when the New York Yankees dominated Major League...
. Even the film noir
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
classic Armored Car Robbery
Armored Car Robbery
Armored Car Robbery is a 1950 American film noir shot in a semi-documentary style, directed by Richard Fleischer, and starring Charles McGraw. The movie was filmed on location in Los Angeles, California....
had its title heist set at Wrigley. It later found its way into television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
, serving as the backdrop for the Home Run Derby
Home Run Derby (TV series)
Home Run Derby is a 1960 television show that was held at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles putting the top sluggers of Major League Baseball against each other in nine-inning home run contests...
series in 1960, a popular show which featured one-on-one contests between baseball's top home run hitters, which had a brief revival in the 1990s when it aired on ESPN Classic
ESPN Classic
ESPN Classic is a sports channel that features reruns of famous sporting events, sports documentaries, and sports themed movies. Such programs includes biographies of famous sports figures or a rerun of a famous World Series or Super Bowl, often with added commentary on the event...
. Episodes of shows as diverse as The Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)
The Twilight Zone is an American anthology television series created by Rod Serling, which ran for five seasons on CBS from 1959 to 1964. The series consisted of unrelated episodes depicting paranormal, futuristic, dystopian, or simply disturbing events; each show typically featured a surprising...
("The Mighty Casey
The Mighty Casey
"The Mighty Casey" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone.The episode title is a reference to the baseball poem "Casey at the Bat".-Synopsis:...
", 1960), Mannix
Mannix
Mannix is an American television detective series that ran from 1967 through 1975 on CBS. Created by Richard Levinson and William Link and developed by executive producer Bruce Geller, the title character, Joe Mannix, is a private investigator. He is played by Mike Connors...
("To Catch a Rabbit", 1969) and The Munsters
The Munsters
The Munsters is a 1960s American family television sitcom depicting the home life of a family of monsters. It starred Fred Gwynne as Herman Munster and Yvonne De Carlo as his wife, Lily Munster. The series was a satire of both traditional monster movies and popular family entertainment of the era,...
were also filmed there. Some closeups were filmed there for insertion into the 1951 film Angels in the Outfield
Angels in the Outfield (1951 film)
Angels in the Outfield is a 1951 American black-and-white film starring Paul Douglas and Janet Leigh, directed by Clarence Brown, and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer...
, a film otherwise set at Forbes Field
Forbes Field
Forbes Field was a baseball park in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1909 to 1971. It was the third home of the Pittsburgh Pirates Major League Baseball team, and the first home of the Pittsburgh Steelers, the city's National Football League franchise...
in Pittsburgh.
Wrigley was used for other sports as well. Six world title boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
bouts were held there, including the 1939 Joe Louis
Joe Louis
Joseph Louis Barrow , better known as Joe Louis, was the world heavyweight boxing champion from 1937 to 1949. He is considered to be one of the greatest heavyweights of all time...
-Jack Roper fight. On May 28, 1959, the park hosted the USA
United States men's national soccer team
The United States men's national soccer team represents the United States in international association football competitions. It is controlled by the United States Soccer Federation and competes in CONCACAF...
-England
England national football team
The England national football team represents England in association football and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England. England is the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside Scotland, whom they played in the world's first...
soccer friendly where England won 8-1 in front of 13,000 http://www.rsssf.com/tablese/eng-intres50.html.
L.A. Wrigley's minor league baseball days ended when the Brooklyn Dodgers
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are a professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers are members of Major League Baseball's National League West Division. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known by a number of nicknames before becoming...
of the National League
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...
transferred to Los Angeles in 1958. The use of Wrigley was studied by the Dodgers, but they opted for seating capacity
Seating capacity
Seating capacity refers to the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, both in terms of the physical space available, and in terms of limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that seats two to a stadium that seats...
over suitability as a baseball field, and instead set up shop in the Los Angeles Coliseum
Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum is a large outdoor sports stadium in the University Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, at Exposition Park, that is home to the Pacific-12 Conference's University of Southern California Trojans football team...
(which had a 251-foot foul line
Foul line
In sports and games, foul line can refer to*baseball's foul line*basketball's free throw line*table shuffleboard's foul line*ten-pin bowling's foul line**the similar line in candlepin bowling*the foul line for the long jump...
) while awaiting construction of Dodger Stadium
Dodger Stadium
Dodger Stadium, also sometimes called Chavez Ravine, is a stadium in Los Angeles. Located adjacent to Downtown Los Angeles, Dodger Stadium has been the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Los Angeles Dodgers team since 1962...
.
In 1961, a new L.A. Angels
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are a professional baseball team based in Anaheim, California, United States. The Angels are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. The "Angels" name originates from the city in which the team started, Los Angeles...
club, named after the minor league team Los Angeles Angels (PCL)
Los Angeles Angels (PCL)
The Los Angeles Angels were a team based in Los Angeles, California that played in the Pacific Coast League from 1903 through 1957, after which they transferred to Spokane, Washington to become the Spokane Indians. Los Angeles would later become the host city to a Major League Baseball team, the...
, joined the American League
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...
as an expansion team and took residence at Wrigley for just the one season. The team set a still-standing first-season expansion-team record with 71 wins
Win (baseball)
In professional baseball, there are two types of decisions: a win and a loss . In each game, one pitcher on the winning team is awarded a win and one pitcher on the losing team is given a loss in their respective statistics. These pitchers are collectively known as the pitchers of record. Only...
. Thanks to its cozy power alleys, the park became the setting for a real-life version of Home Run Derby, setting another record by yielding 248 home run
Home run
In baseball, a home run is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to reach home safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team in the process...
s. That 248 mark would stand for over 30 years. After the 1961 season, the team moved to Dodger Stadium (or Chavez Ravine, as it was known for Angels games), which was the Angels' temporary home while Angel Stadium was being built. The new Dodger Stadium also "took over" for Wrigley Field, as the site of choice for Hollywood filming that required a ballpark setting.
There were no more regular tenants after 1961, and the park was torn down in the mid-1960s. The site is now occupied by the recreation facility called Gilbert Lindsay Park which was originally the parking lot. The park has a ballfield in the northwest corner of the property. The original site of the Wrigley diamond and grandstand is occupied by the Kedren Community Mental Health Center and parking lot.
Dimensions
The ballpark's dimensions were cozy but symmetrical, giving a nearly equal chance to right and left-handed batters in the Home Run Derby series. The only difference was that the left field wall was 14.5 feet (4.4 m) high, whereas the right field fence was only 9 feet (2.7 m) high.Sources
- Green Cathedrals, by Philip J. Lowry
- Ballparks of North America, by Michael Benson
- Lost Ballparks, by Lawrence Ritter