Dodger Stadium

Dodger Stadium, in Los Angeles, California, has been the home of the Los Angeles Dodgers Major League Baseball team since 1962. It was also the home of the Los Angeles Angels between 1962 and 1965. The park is still also sometimes referred to as Chavez Ravine (more formally as Chavez Ravine Stadium), after the name of the site where it was constructed, and the name used by the Angels organization during their tenancy.

Overview

The stadium 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-resistant, certainly an important consideration in California.

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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. Being privately owned, however, 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, although some renovations were made in 2004 that added luxury suites, a feature that had not been previously present.

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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. Renovations in 2004 added some seats to the field level, reducing somewhat the amount of foul territory.

Related Topics:
Sandy Koufax - Don Drysdale - Fernando Valenzuela - 1969

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Dodger Stadium was the first Major League Baseball stadium since the initial construction of Yankee Stadium to be built using entirely private financing, and the last until Pacific Bell Park was built.

Related Topics:
Yankee Stadium - Pacific Bell Park

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2005 is the Dodger franchise's 44th season at Dodger Stadium, only one season less than it spent at its storied ancestral home, Ebbets Field (1913-1957). Thanks to the 162-game season that coincidentally went into effect the year the stadium opened, as of 2005 the Dodgers have actually played more games at Dodger Stadium than they did at Ebbets Field. 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. O'Malley eventually got his stadium, except it was in Los Angeles and without a dome. Barring unforeseen circumstances, Dodger Stadium should outlive Ebbets Field by a good margin. In 2009, with the projected completion of the new Yankee Stadium, and if Wrigley Field and Fenway Park are still around, Dodger Stadium would become the third oldest Major League ball park still in use... albeit some five decades years younger than those other two venerable facilities.

Related Topics:
2005 - Ebbets Field - 1913 - 1957 - Walter O'Malley - Brooklyn - 2009 - Wrigley Field - Fenway Park

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Famous players who have called Dodger Stadium home include Don Drysdale, Sandy Koufax, Maury Wills, Tommy Davis, Steve Garvey, Kirk Gibson, Fernando Valenzuela, Orel Hershiser, Mike Piazza, and Shawn Green.

Related Topics:
Don Drysdale - Sandy Koufax - Maury Wills - Tommy Davis - Steve Garvey - Kirk Gibson - Fernando Valenzuela - Orel Hershiser - Mike Piazza - Shawn Green

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