After an incredible road trip across the Midwest that at one point had us seeing seven games in seven consecutive days, we were ready to get right back on the road. In July of 2014, we took off for the West Coast to continue our journey to 30 Major League Baseball stadiums. After a couple of days driving into California, it was time for the first game of our trip in Anaheim, California.
July 27, 2014
At the start of the trip, it was my mom, Adrian, Alan and myself. My dad decided to fly and meet us before the game in Anaheim, and so we woke up in downtown Los Angeles on this Sunday, picked up my dad at LAX and took off south on I-5 to Orange County. With some time to spare before the game, we were able to park inside the Angels’ lot and get some food before the game at a sandwich shop called “Togo’s.” It was super comfortable to be able to already be inside the team lot and eat with no worry of rushing to the stadium. As soon as we finished eating, all we had to do was walk across the parking lot to get to Angel Stadium, home of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
The welcome to Angel Stadium is one of the most unique and impressive entrances in the league. There’s two massive Angels helmets on each side of the home plate entrance, multiple bats hanging up the “Angel Stadium” sign and then huge posters of the best players on the team along the wall that welcomes you to Anaheim. As soon as we entered the stadium, we went up to our shaded seats on the first base side in the upper deck. Anytime you can get shaded seats during a day game is a major victory. We settled into our seats that had really no one around, and at the beginning of the game we called Danny, who was in Germany, on FaceTime to show him the field.
After a few innings, we began our walk around the stadium. Remember, while we of course enjoy watching the game, our mission is to explore all 30 stadiums and really get to know every ballpark. First thing before walking was getting my passport stamp, and guest services even threw in a first time certificate! Now we could walk around the concourse, which was clearly older, as Angel Stadium is the 4th oldest stadium in baseball that opened in 1966, but there were still some great things to see. The coolest sight is the pile of rocks with cascades in left center field. It’s something you’d never think to see inside a baseball stadium, but that’s what’s makes these ballparks so great. Every ballpark has it’s own fun feature that you can’t find anywhere else.
Right behind the rocks, Alan and I got to take a picture with Mike Trout’s MVP bat. We then continued walking around the outfield and found some seats to watch the end of the game. Adrian and I went all the way down to the first row right next to the right field foul pole. From here we could yell at Kole Calhoun and have him actually hear us. With the game tied at one, the iconic Angels Rally Monkey came on the scoreboard to rile up the crowd. Soon after, David Freese belted a go-ahead home run in the 8th inning. Looks like the Rally Monkey was successful! Huston Street came in to save the game and the Angels secured a 2-1 victory!
Before leaving, we headed to the team store to buy my mini-bat, and I also decided to buy a Mike Trout shirt. I’m not an Angels fan, but it’s impossible to not love the best player in baseball. We now exited Angel Stadium and quickly made it to our car, and with that, the first game of our West Coast trip had come to an end.
