Dodger Stadium
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| Location | Los Angeles, California |
| Opened | April 10, 1962 |
| Capacity | 56,000 |
| Owned By |
Los Angeles Dodgers |
| Architect: |
Captain Emil Praeger |
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Dimensions:
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Despite being technically in a ravine, it is also on a hillside that overlooks downtown Los Angeles, and is prominently visible, most dramatically during night games.
It holds 56,000 fans and was designed to be capable of expansion to 85,000 seats. It has a unique terraced-earthworks parking lot behind the main stands, which allows ticketholders to park at roughly the level that their seats are, minimizing their climbing and descending of ramps once they get inside the stadium. The design is also alleged to be earthquake-resistent, certainly an important consideration in that part of the country.
It was the only park of its era designed specifically for baseball, and with the construction of many new major league ballparks in recent years, is now one of the oldest still in use. However, being privately owned, and maintained with a level of pride that is typically missing from public facilities, it has stood the test of time very well, and no plans are in the offing to replace it.
Because of overall poor visibility for hitters, fairly large dimensions and a large amount of foul territory, Dodger Stadium has enjoyed a well-deserved reputation as a pitchers' park. Several power pitchers such as Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale and Fernando Valenzuela became superstars after arriving in Los Angeles. This significant advantage was eroded somewhat in 1969, in general when the rules were changed to lower the maximum height of the pitchers mound, and specifically when the Dodgers moved the diamond about 10 feet towards center field. This also gave the fielders more room to catch foul balls, so there was some tradeoff.
Dodger Stadium was the first Major League Baseball stadium since the initial construction of Yankee Stadium to be built using private financing only, and the last until Pacific Bell Park was built.
2005 will be Dodger Stadium's 44th season, just 1 year shy of the Dodgers' duration at their storied ancestral home, Ebbets Field (1913-1957). In the mid-1950s, team president Walter O'Malley had tried to convince the Borough of Brooklyn to construct a new stadium, complete with dome, to replace the woefully cramped Ebbets Field. Walter eventually got his stadium, except it was in Los Angeles, thankfully in the open air. And barring unforeseen circumstances, Dodger Stadium should outlive Ebbets Field by a good margin.
History of the site
The land for Dodger Stadium was exproprated from the local residents in the early 1950's by the city of Los Angeles. The residents were told that it was to be used for low income housing and that the residents would have their choice on the new homes. The city however used the land to induce the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers to relocate the franchise in Los Angeles.
The top of a local hill was removed and the soil was used to fill in the actual Chavez Ravine, to provide a level surface for a parking lot and the stadium.
A few years after the stadium opened, a minor land dispute arose. A nearby landowner claimed that a corner of his property had been paved over as part of the parking lot. He announced he was going to build a small hamburger stand on that small slice of property, selling "O'Malleyburgers", the buns to carry an imprint of Dodgers' owner Walter O'Malley, so that disgruntled patronns could "bite off his ear". Apparently a settlement was reached, as nothing much came of this incident.
Source for dimensions:
- Baseball annuals
External links
- History of the stadium (http://losangeles.dodgers.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/la/ballpark/la_ballpark_history.jsp) on the Dodgers website
Aerial photo
- Aerial photo of Dodger Stadium from Microsoft Terraserver (http://terraserver.microsoft.com/addressimage.aspx?t=4&s=10&lon=-118.240797583987&lat=34.0742195904995&alon=-118.24446700&alat=34.072515&w=1&opt=0&qs=1000+Elysian+Park+Avenue%7cLos+Angeles%7cCA%7c&addr=1000+Elysian+Park+Ave%2c+Los+Angeles%2c+CA+90012)
- on Google maps (http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=34.073346,-118.240077&spn=0.005096,0.007918&t=k&hl=en)