The "Original" Wrigley Field

The above is a photo of Wrigley Field in 1925.  Fans filled the stands to see baseball being played in this ballpark. The park was named for chewing gum heir William Wrigley, Jr. 

Built in a mostly residential neighborhood, the park had that certain charm that many older ballparks had during that era.  The park was everything you expected from what I call "Old-Fashioned New"(the features were better than their predecessors of the 1800s but old-fashioned compared to today's million dollar parks). It had the look of every park built since Comiskey Park set the pace for palaces for the game back in 1910.

By the 1950's, Wrigley Field had the trademark ivy growing on the walls and televised shots of the park's action showed home run balls exiting toward residential buildings.  However, there is one thing I should mention.  This park was located in South Los Angeles, California.  Say what?

Yep, the park first named Wrigley Field was located in Los Angeles, not Chicago (note the palm tree beyond the left field wall).  It was home to the Los Angeles Angels, a team playing in the PCL.  The Angels won a total of 12 PCL pennants.  Another minor league club, the Hollywood Stars, would also share this park for one year.  Finally in 1961, MLB awarded Los Angeles a brand new American League franchise, the Los Angeles Angels, who played their home games at Wrigley Field.

This ballpark was given the name Wrigley Field in 1925, a full year before its Chicago counterpart changed its name from Cubs Park to Wrigley Field.  It was built with Spanish-style construction.  Overall, I really like the look of this park.  It is one of those cool old parks that you think of when you think of the 30's and 40's.

This park had lights by at least 1960, which I know because of the old Gillette Home Run Derby show.  I cannot find exactly what year they got lights, but lights were definitely installed when this show taped.  This show pitted the top two home run hitters each week against each other for a cash prize of $2000 for the winner.  Many of the games biggest stars participated in the derbies, including Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Harmon Killebrew, and Frank Robinson.

Willie Mays on Home Run Derby @ Wrigley Field(LA)

Just like the other Wrigley Field, WFLA was the site of Hollywood films.  Some of these movies had to do with baseball, such as The Pride Of The Yankees, Damn Yankees, and the original Angels In The Outfield.  Some other movies and television shows were filmed at WFLA as well, including Armored Car Robbery, Twilight Zone(Mighty Casey) and The Munsters.

The park's dimensions were 340(LF), 412(CF) and 339(RF).  In left field, the wall was 14 1/2 feet tall.  In right field, the wall was 9 feet high.  There was a small section of bleacher seats beyond the right field fence, near the foul pole.  There were no seats in left or center field.  

The park had a symmetrical feel to it that made it perfect for the Gillette Home Run Derby show, since it would be pretty equal for left and right handed batters compared to other parks of the day (I'm sure being located near Hollywood also made this an ideal choice for the show).  In 1925, it had a seating capacity of 22,000.  By 1961, it had lost 2,000 seats due to general renovation over the years.

From 1932 to 1956, the Angels were the minor league affiliate of the Chicago Cubs.  This meant that players could play at one Wrigley Field, and advance to the Majors to play at the other Wrigley field.  I am not sure if this has ever been the case before or since; both the AAA and ML clubs having a park of the same name.

In 1938, the Mission Reds moved to Los Angeles and became the Hollywood Stars.  They were a direct rival of the Los Angeles Angels, sharing their ballpark in alternating home series for one season.  The games were very contentious between the two clubs.

 Stars-Angels Brawl 8/2/1953

Many fights broke out, including a famous brawl on August 2, 1953 at the Hollywood Stars' park, Gilmore Field.  The fight between the two teams lasted for 30 minutes and had to be broken up by 50 riot-geared police officers, sent in as the police chief had been at home watching the game on television.

In 1961, the only year that the ballpark had hosted Major League Baseball games, there were 248 home runs hit at the park.  This was a record for thirty years, and a number that would still place it right at the top of nearly every subsequent year's home run leader board.  The 1961 Angels won 71 games, which is still a record among true-expansion teams.

WFLA was demolished in 1966.  The Angels had only used the park for one season while their ballpark in Anaheim had been under construction.  The Dodgers had briefly considered using the park when they moved from Brooklyn for the 1958 season, but instead opted for a park with more seating, the Coliseum.

Demolition of Wrigley Field

After demolition, the site became home to a public park.  There's a baseball field located at the northwest corner of this park, and the diamond is located where WFLA's original diamond had once been. 

Mike Trout Joins Ichthyoid-Named Players' List

Mike Trout is the #2 prospect in all of baseball.  He was called up and tonight(7/8/2011) is making his first start in the majors for the Anaheim Angels(I will never call them Los Angeles).  His arrival in the majors is the latest in a line of top prospects coming to the league.

Trout is an excellent prospects capable of being a star.  Playing up to Double-A, his Texas League numbers this year were .324/9/27, with an amazing 28 stolen bases.  He plays excellent Gold Glove caliber center field as well.  He will be trying not to become the latest big name bust in the Angels.  The Angels have had two recent busts who were top prospects with similar numbers to Trout's Double-A line: Brandon Wood and Dallas McPherson.

Obviously, his last name is the same as the name of a fish.  Me, being fascinated by quirks, started thinking about all of the other ichthyoid-named players.  It's odd, but there have been several players with ties to fish.  One of the more recent call ups was Mike Carp of the Seattle Mariners.  You've got a lot of players with varying success on this list.

Starting off, we have names of forgettable MLB players like Art Herring, Jess Pike, Stuart Marlin, Brian Bass and George Haddock.  One of the more interesting names belongs to Art Garibaldi, which has to be a unique last name relating to a species of fish.  Another good one that comes to mind is Bobby Sturgeon.  Then you have the generic answer to the question, Robert Fish.

Art Garibaldi

One of my favorites is Chester Guppy.  When you look him up on baseball-reference.com, you see that they don't know anything about him.  His batting and throwing hand are listed as unknown, and his height is 0'0" with a weight of 0 lbs.  He did hit .312 in the limited stats they found on him though.

You can't have this list without mentioning Sid Bream(Yes, a bream is a fish).  A mediocre average player at best, he is remembered very well by ever Pittsburgh Pirates and Atlanta Braves fan to this day.  Back in 1992, he walked in Game 7 in the bottom of the ninth to load the bases against the Pirates, down 2-0 in the game.

After a sac fly, Francisco Cabrera hit a single to left fielder Barry Bonds of the Pirates, who fired home in time to get the slow-by-all-standards Bream.  However, the throw was offline, and Bream was able to slide around the tag to score the winning run and send the Braves to the World Series.

The Angels themselves have produced one of the best fish-named players ever before. Tim Salmon played 14 seasons in MLB, all for the Angels.  To the best of my knowledge and research, he is the only player to have played for all three incarnations of the Angels: California, Anaheim and Los Angeles Angels Of Anaheim(which I still call shenanigans on that name for being allowed).  He was an extremely talented player of the latter half of the 1990s, post-strike.

In 1995, Salmon had his best season ever of .330/34/105 with a 1.024 OPS.  He finished 7th in MVP voting that year.  He won the 1993 AL ROY with a line of .283/31/95.  Those are good numbers for anyone, let alone a rookie.  He had nicknames of Kingfish and Mr. Angel.  Salmon is often noted as the greatest hitter in Angels history.

Probably the most well-known person on this list is Hall of Famer Jim "Catfish" Hunter.  He won 224 games, posted a career 3.26 ERA and had 2,012 Ks in 15 seasons.  He was an 8-time all star and a 5 time World Series champion between the Athletics and Yankees.  He won 20 games five straight seasons, from 1971-1975.

While being the most well-known person on this kind of list, he is the only person on this list whose fish name was just a nickname.  There are varying stories of how Jim got this nickname.  One story said that a scout knocked on his door, which was answered by his mother.  His mother told the scout that he was out fishing for Catfish.  The more likely true story is that Charles O. Finley, the owner of the Kansas City Athletics, gave him this nickname for no other reason than he felt his flashy new pitcher should have a nickname.

Mike Trout will join this list tonight and will try to make an immediate splash.  He has all the tools, but I don't look for him to be a big power bat.  He's more of a contact guy with speed who can play excellent outfield.  The Angels have themselves another great prospect, and hopefully they won't get burned a third time in recent history.  I feel that he will be a solid player, as evidenced by my picking him up in two leagues where my outfield was weak.  Hopefully he can put up great numbers before spawning season.