Dodgers return to the Coliseum

[dirwuf]

LOS ANGELES (AP) -The Dodgers will honor their 50th anniversary in Los Angeles with an exhibition game against the Boston Red Sox at the Coliseum next spring.

The game will be played March 29 and proceeds will go to the official Dodgers' charity, ThinkCure.

New manager Joe Torre was joined by owner Frank McCourt and Red Sox chairman Tom Werner on Monday outside the stadium's peristyle entrance along with Hall of Famer manager Tommy Lasorda and former Dodgers greats Don Newcombe and Maury Wills.

"There are generations of Angelenos who have grown up as Dodger fans and never had the opportunity to experience a game at the Coliseum," McCourt said. "This will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for fans to connect with the history of their beloved franchise and support an incredible cause."

The Dodgers played in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for four years after moving from Brooklyn in 1958. They shared the stadium with football tenants Southern California, UCLA and the Los Angeles Rams. The baseball team moved to Chavez Ravine when Dodger Stadium opened in 1962.

On May 7, 1959, the Dodgers and Yankees drew 93,103 for an exhibition in honor of Roy Campanella.

The Coliseum, used for football, has a strange baseball configuration. When the Dodgers played there, they installed a 42-foot screen in left field to compensate for the foul pole being only 250 feet from home plate.

Wally Moon, a left-handed hitting outfielder for Los Angeles, developed a knack for hitting the ball high enough to clear the screen, and the drives became known as "Moon Shots."

"We always knew the Dodgers would return to the Coliseum before the NFL," Coliseum Commission vice president David Israel said jokingly.

[leopard88]

That is a great idea. I can't wait to see the Coliseum configured for baseball again. I always love to see the pictures from their original stint there.

[dirwuf]

I've always loved the idea of baseball and football teams playing exhibition games in their former stadiums...imagine the Bears playing at Wrigley Field one more time, or the Dolphins at the Orange Bowl...

What former NFL and MLB stadiums are still standing? Off the top of my head I got:

NFL

Wrigley Field

Orange Bowl*

Astrodome

Pontiac Silverdome

Tiger Stadium*

LA Coliseum

Anaheim Stadium

Cotton Bowl

Shea Stadium*

Yankee Stadium*

RFK Stadium

MLB

Tiger Stadium*

LA Coliseum

Astrodome

Candlestick Park

Jack Murphy Stadium

...and there are others not listed that were used for an odd game (like Dyche Stadium where the Bears played a game in 1970) or as an interim home.

*scheduled for demolition in the near future...or in the case of the New York stadiums, when the teams move to their new parks in 2009.

[pcgd]

For some reason I always find it so cool when teams play in stadiums intended for other sports.

From the outdoor hockey games to the Bears at Wrigley, its something that just warms my heart for some reason.

Are the dimensions of the Coliseum still the same as far as the room on the field? Ex: will they have to set it up like that again? Is there still the cutout for the backstop?

[Brass]

I've always loved the idea of baseball and football teams playing exhibition games in their former stadiums...imagine the Bears playing at Wrigley Field one more time, or the Dolphins at the Orange Bowl...

What former NFL and MLB stadiums are still standing? Off the top of my head I got:

NFL

Wrigley Field

Orange Bowl

The Astrodome

Pontiac Silverdome

Tiger Stadium

LA Coliseum

Anaheim Stadium

Cotton Bowl

Shea Stadium

Yankee Stadium

RFK Stadium

MLB

Tiger Stadium

LA Coliseum

The Astrodome

Candlestick Park

Jack Murphy Stadium

I know several of these are scheduled for demolition in the near future...and there are others not listed that were used for an odd game (like Dyche Stadium...the Bears played a game there in 1970) or a season or two.

Don't forget Fenway Park!

[OMMF]

So the screen is in play? How taut is it? It seems odd to have a non-solid surface serve as a barrier for a baseball game.

[Luigi74]

I've always loved the idea of baseball and football teams playing exhibition games in their former stadiums...imagine the Bears playing at Wrigley Field one more time, or the Dolphins at the Orange Bowl...

What former NFL and MLB stadiums are still standing? Off the top of my head I got:

NFL

Wrigley Field

Orange Bowl

The Astrodome

Pontiac Silverdome

Tiger Stadium

LA Coliseum

Anaheim Stadium

Cotton Bowl

Shea Stadium

Yankee Stadium

RFK Stadium

MLB

Tiger Stadium

LA Coliseum

The Astrodome

Candlestick Park

Jack Murphy Stadium

I know several of these are scheduled for demolition in the near future...and there are others not listed that were used for an odd game (like Dyche Stadium...the Bears played a game there in 1970) or a season or two.

Please don't give the "Save Tiger Stadium" crowd any idea's.

[leopard88]

What former NFL and MLB stadiums are still standing? Off the top of my head I got:

This may include 1-2 season stadiums (because I can't remember exactly how long some of these were used), but you can also add:

NFL --

Harvard Stadium

Nippert Stadium

Rice Stadium (IIRC)

Franklin Field

Sun Devil Stadium

War Memorial Stadium (Buffalo -- at least it was still around for "The Natural")

MLB --

Olympic Stadium

If you include the 1-2 year stadiums, then you can add:

Yale Bowl

Husky Stadium

Memorial Stadium (Clemson)

Memorial Stadium (IIRC)(Univ. of Illinois)

[Mac the Knife]

I think Rice Stadium was demolished several years ago. You can also scratch Kezar Stadium and Frank Youell Field from any list, as they've also been razed or remodeled to a point where they're unsuitable for pro football.

Seeing the Steelers play in the parking lot where Three Rivers once stood would be interesting though... or watching the Dolphins play the Browns in the underwater, artificial reef that was formerly Cleveland Stadium.

Sorry gang. My headcold meds are kicking in. Getting some weird thoughts.

[KevinMcD]

What former NFL and MLB stadiums are still standing? Off the top of my head I got:

War Memorial Stadium (Buffalo -- at least it was still around for "The Natural")

It was mostly torn down ~1990 when Dunn Tire Park (formerly Pilot Field) came around, and the Bisons left War Memorial Stadium.

I believe it is currently an athletic field, however all seats are torn down and only a corner of the outside wall is left as a memory of WMS.

It had a similar configuration to the Coliseum for Baseball.

[dirwuf]

Here's the way War Memorial Stadium looks now...

http://www.geocities.com/pauls2005parks/St...Buffalo_old.htm

and some pics from the year before it was demolished...

http://www.frontiernet.net/~rochballparks/buffalo/wm.htm

[Luigi74]

I think Rice Stadium was demolished several years ago. You can also scratch Kezar Stadium and Frank Youell Field from any list, as they've also been razed or remodeled to a point where they're unsuitable for pro football.

Seeing the Steelers play in the parking lot where Three Rivers once stood would be interesting though... or watching the Dolphins play the Browns in the underwater, artificial reef that was formerly Cleveland Stadium.

Sorry gang. My headcold meds are kicking in. Getting some weird thoughts.

The Steelers could play an Arena Football game in the Peterson Events Center which was built on the site of Pitt Stadium.

[IronChefShark]

the one thing that comes to mind when this comes up is that the 49ers held a preseason intrasquad scrimmage at Kezar Stadium a few years ago.

Kezar of course, is now a multi-purpose atheltic field with a few bleachers on the sidelines.

Dodgers are still the scum of the earth.

[CDuffy26]

I'd love to see the Dodgers play a game at the coliseum. Two things I wonder about though...How many fans will show up? (I'm hopin for 100,000) and IT BETTER BE ON TV!!!!! OR ELSE!!!

[averyj]

I'd love to see the Dodgers play a game at the coliseum. Two things I wonder about though...How many fans will show up? (I'm hopin for 100,000) and IT BETTER BE ON TV!!!!! OR ELSE!!!

Well, the Coliseum holds 92,000 people, so 100,000 would be a little difficult to achieve.

Actually they reduced the capacity in 1995, from a capacity of 101,574 since 1932.

Anyway...

I'M GOING TO BE THERE!!!

[KDubK414]

This is a very interesting topic :-) I did not know about a lot of the stadiums brought up here being multi purpose/converted. That's really cool. One of my favorite of all time is Exhibition in Toronto. One of the first Brewers games I watched (on TV) entirely was against the Jays from there. It always awed me how they could fit a baseball field inside a football stadium. It's kinda easier to fit a football field inside a baseball only stadium, see Wrigley, Yankee, Shea, Milwaukee County, Atlanta Fulton County, Tiger, et. al. It's just so odd to see baseball in a football stadium IMO. The Marlins STILL do it, and that is weird, they WON two World Series, they should really be getting a new stadium of their own. BUT, the attendance for regular season games is not there. The few years the Rockies played at the ole Mile High was a strange sight as that was considered a football palace. Seeing hockey in football stadiums is even more strange, but cool. I watched the Wisconsin v. Ohio St. game they played at Lambeau and it was surreal. Working in a hockey arena, I was thinking about how they leveled the area, how the ice was made, how in the world could they build a hockey rink on a freakin' football field....lol....

Which brings me to my CONCEPT....

Arena Baseball??? Could it work? Maybe/maybe not??? When I would think about it, I thought about the short porch to certain hitters. According to this, problem solved, just build a high tension net like the hockey ones we have. Put that on left handed hitters' side cause there aren't to many of us/them. Basepaths would be between little league and softball length. The balls wouldn't be hard, but some rubberized version, and wood bats would still be used. The only thing is... There are soooo many logistical problems yet with this haha.

[hrivnak]

So the screen is in play? How taut is it? It seems odd to have a non-solid surface serve as a barrier for a baseball game.

See: Metrodome. Baggies for walls.

[BBTV]

Didn't the XFL play in Pac Bell Park? That was an interesting setup IIRC.

[PackerBadger]

I think the Raiders also played at Memorial Stadium on the Cal campus for occasional early-season games. And Super Bowl XIX was played at (the old) Stanford Stadium, as was a 49ers game after the 1989 earthquake.

Come to think of it, the Raiders even might count for this at the Coliseum, for this reason: Apparently years ago, the football field had different alignments depending on whether baseball was still being played. Once the A's season ended, apparently they would rotate the football field 90 degrees for the rest of the season.

Same sport, different division: Jeppesen Stadium (first home of the Houston Oilers) is now Robertson Stadium -- sorry, John O'Quinn Field at Corbin J. Robertson Stadium -- on the University of Houston campus.

The Twins and Vikings might be able to play in a parking ramp at Mall of America ...

[leopard88]

Didn't the XFL play in Pac Bell Park? That was an interesting setup IIRC.

Correct. There have also been bowl games played there and at Safeco Field and Bank One Ballpark/Chase Field.

Before the arrival of the Ravens, there was talk of having an NFL team play at Camden Yards while a new stadium was built. Thankfully, that never came to pass.