Commentary: Whats in a team name? In Anaheim, maybe the future of the Angels
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Set us as preferred As the home of the Dodgers, Dodger Stadium is great.As the home of the Angels, not so much.The Los Angeles Angels moved into Dodger Stadium in 1962, their second season, after playing their inaugural season in a since-demolished minor league ballpark near the Coliseum.The Dodgers billed the Angels for cleaning windows of offices that had no windows.
The Dodgers charged the Angels half the cost of toilet paper even though the Dodgers attracted far more than half the fans.The Dodgers called it enforcing the stadium lease.The Angels called it petty, and they searched for a home they could call their own.They first looked to Long Beach, and the city said it would welcome the team under one condition: The team would be called the Long Beach Angels.Gene Autry, the owner, said no.
He turned to Anaheim, where city officials invited him to come on down and call his team whatever he wanted.In 1966, the California Angels made their debut at the brand-new Anaheim Stadium.In 2026, the Los Angeles Angels play at Angel Stadium: same team, same ballpark, different names for both.Amid the euphoria over this week’s announcement that Rams owner Stan Kroenke would buy the last-place Angels — “Christmas in September,” Anaheim Mayor Ashleigh Aitken told me — elected officials reiterated their fervent desire that the team revert to the Anaheim Angels name.“For 60 years, our community has filled Angel Stadium, raised a World Series banner as the Anaheim Angels, and shown up through every season,” Assemblyman Avelino Valencia (D-Anaheim) said.Angels Mike Trout could not stop smiling, mirroring the optimism and goodwill at Angel Stadium on the day Stan Kroenke announced a deal to buy the Angels.For 60 years, the city of Anaheim has failed its taxpayers.Angel Stadium is surrounded by 130 acres of parking lots.
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