Converse In History - Anaheim Stadium

In 1960 Gene Autry founded the Los Angeles Angels. The team played their first year at Los Angeles’ Wrigley Field in 1961. The old park lacked major league capacity so the Angels shared Chavez Ravine (Dodger Stadium) on it’s completion in 1962 and played there until 1965.

The new American League expansion team quickly chafed at being in the shadow of the well loved Dodgers, and it was announced on April 9, 1964, that a new ballpark would be built in for the start of the 1966 season. It was to be called Anaheim Stadium.



Anaheim Stadium under construction

Three different sites were considered for the new stadium and the present location was chosen for cost and quick availability of the land and because the junction of State Routes 22 and 57 and Interstate 5 were anticipated to be adjacent to the stadium. Four farms were on the site, and a road had to be cleared through a corn field for the groundbreaking ceremony on August 31, 1964.



The project was on a very fast track with less than two years to design and build a Major League stadium. Four construction bids were submitted to the city, but only one could guarantee that Anaheim Stadium would be completed on time. The $ 24 million contract was awarded to Del Webb's construction company, a firm which had worked on the Convention Center. Del Webb carried part of the Convention Center team, including Converse Consultant, to this new venture.

The stadium site is located in the Santa Ana River floodplain, presenting several challenges for the design and construction. The active river channel had to be diverted to prevent flooding of the new ballpark. The sandy soils of the floodplain wouldn’t support the structure so the Converse staff designed a pile foundation system and was involved in designing the stadium as five separate structures built side by side for structural and seismic stability.

Since the project was on such a fast track it was necessary to use some creative scheduling during construction. After the first deck was framed and poured the contractor was still waiting for steel to arrive from Japan. In order to keep to the schedule the playing field itself was finished and the infield turf was laid. After the steel arrived and the second and third decks were under construction the crews were able to look down on a pristine Major League diamond, which was quite unusual in stadium construction.



Anaheim Stadium from the Press Box

In order to ensure an adequate supply of infield and outfield grass to replace sections worn and damaged by play the city used an additional ten acres of land across the street from the stadium complex as it’s own turf farm.

Opening Day came on April 19, 1966. The three tier stadium had 43,204 seats that stretched from the right field foul pole to homeplate and around to the left field foul pole. The original dimensions at Anaheim Stadium were 333 ft. (left), 404 ft. (center), and 333 ft. (right). It was known as a power hitter’s park because the ball carried so well.

Anaheim Stadium instantly became known as the "Big A", because of the A-frame scoreboard that was behind the outfield wall. It was 230 feet tall and a $1 million giant halo topped the scoreboard. This has since been moved to the parking lot, and is still visible from the freeways.

Converse Consultants is proud to have been a part of this project and we extend a very special thank you to Mr. Tom Liegler, the original manager of the stadium. Mr. Liegler was involved in the original siting, design and construction of the stadium and was kind enough to provide a great deal of information for this article.

Converse Consultants is an industry leader in geotechnical engineering, and environmental, groundwater and materials sciences. We are celebrating our 70th year of service.

For more information about Converse please contact Beth George at bgeorge@converseconsultants.com