Chicago Baseball Discussion: Cubs & White Sox

[Alex Houston]

15 hours ago, TheGrimReaper said:

 

I don't know man, Angel Stadium isn't built into the side of a hill, for one thing. Angel Stadium also don't have the same symmetrical outfield wall dimensions as Dodger Stadium.

 

There's actually quite a few Ducks/Dodgers and Angels/Kings fans, especially in places like Long Beach. 

 

I would counter and say the hill offers a more natural touch. Not saying it's Walden's Pond or anything but beyond the outfield I think Dodgers Stadium has an advantage. I think others would agree with me. 

 

 

 

With Angels Stadium, they have the issue of too much man made things going on. Generic office building to the left, Honda Center off in the distance and the Orange Freeway spanning the distance. It's not terrible but when doing a stadium's vanity shot from behind home plate, Dodgers Stadium has the advantage.

 

Also, people in SoCal must like 'orange' an awful lot to name a county, freeway and city after it :P.

[Alex Houston]

7 hours ago, Still MIGHTY said:

 

First regarding the stadiums themselves, as far as actual on-field measurements, they're a little similar sure. But the Big A has the big wall in right field, which helps it play slightly as a pitcher's park. And in terms of what's actually at the stadium and the concourses and what not, very very different. Like Grim Reaper said, Dodger Stadium is built into the side of a hill, so the layout is going to be different. And you also have to remember, Angel Stadium is in its third different configuration. Started as a pure baseball stadium and was much more Chavez Ravine-like, then became closed-in multipurpose for the Rams, then got opened up and refitted as a mostly baseball facility.

 

Because what you also have to remember with SoCal, we are very much a driving culture. We spend at least half the day in a car or on a freeway. You usually don't have too many people milling about looking for a place to go. We're pretty trained to get in the car and go somewhere. We're okay with driving over to Downtown Disney or to the Orange Circle or even up to Downtown Fullerton, or just all the way back to our local watering holes. And when talking about SoCal baseball stadiums and driving, I'm obligated to mention that driving in and out of Dodger Stadium is a bitch and a half.

 

 

There are plenty of outliers sure. More Kings/Angels than Ducks/Dodgers though. Because again, the Kings had a 26-year head start on the Ducks. If you were a multisport fan between 1967-1993, you had one of the two baseball teams but just one hockey team to choose from. The Ducks/Angels group is a much younger crowd, like my generation (Born in 1990) and almost exclusively those that grew up in Orange or Riverside counties. The Ducks/Dodgers group tends to skew younger as well but with the Dodgers fandom inherited. Lakers and Clippers though is much different and can be spread throughout. Pretty much everyone that likes basketball is a Lakers fan, and I still don't know why people choose the Clippers, but they're there. Now had the Clippers ever made the full move to Anaheim, maybe that adds a Ducks/Angels/Clippers strain, but the Lakers have strong hold.

 

1. Is there a distinct advantage for AS when it comes to amenities since it's been renovated more recently? We often have this argument in the Cubs/Sox affair with GRF's myriad of food and entertainment options a selling point.

 

2. I'm sure public transit in LA could spawn it's own thread but to keep things simple, do more SoCal and Angels/Dodger fans want to see light rails and transit expanded so they don't have to rely on the stereotype of Californians driving everywhere? Both here are easily accessible via the Red Line and if either one was way off an interstate, surely the attendance would suffer. 

 

3. Thank you for this. +1.

[MadmanLA]

On ‎11‎/‎11‎/‎2016 at 10:01 AM, Alex Houston said:

2. I'm sure public transit in LA could spawn it's own thread but to keep things simple, do more SoCal and Angels/Dodger fans want to see light rails and transit expanded so they don't have to rely on the stereotype of Californians driving everywhere? Both here are easily accessible via the Red Line and if either one was way off an interstate, surely the attendance would suffer.

 

Metrolink, which is our regional communter rail system that links all five Los Angeles DMA counties (plus a line to northern San Diego County), has a station at the Angel Stadium parking lot which they share with Amtrak.  Meanwhile, Dodger Stadium's closest rail connections are at the Union Station and the Chinatown Gold Line station, at least a mile or so away each; they offer shuttle service to the stadium from Union Station on game days.  The Gold Line itself will transform in a few years once this downtown subway project is done, with the East L.A. leg becoming part of the new Expo Line and the Pasadena/Arcadia end becoming part of the Blue Line.  The under-construction City of Champions Stadium in Inglewood will be also be somewhat accessible by Metro Rail, but you'll need bus transfers from the nearest rail stations.

 

We passed Measure M in the other day's election, just enough to the get 2/3s vote needed to get the funding in place to finish up these the current projects, as well as starting on the new ones.  Metro still needs federal funding to speed-up construction, because without it, the scale of which of these projects are undertaking, it would take another 25-30 years to be fully complete.  Staples Center and the Coliseum are very accessible by Metro Rail, with a station no more than two blocks away...hell, I often run into USC football fans on the Expo Line when I'm going home from work on those certain Thursday nights they host a game.

 

 

[TheGrimReaper]

14 hours ago, Alex Houston said:

 

1. Is there a distinct advantage for AS when it comes to amenities since it's been renovated more recently? We often have this argument in the Cubs/Sox affair with GRF's myriad of food and entertainment options a selling point.

 

2. I'm sure public transit in LA could spawn it's own thread but to keep things simple, do more SoCal and Angels/Dodger fans want to see light rails and transit expanded so they don't have to rely on the stereotype of Californians driving everywhere? Both here are easily accessible via the Red Line and if either one was way off an interstate, surely the attendance would suffer. 

 

3. Thank you for this. +1.

Dodger Stadium was just recently renovated.