Growing up a baseball fan in Orange County, Anaheim Stadium became my second home from 1977 through the mid 1980's. My mother and I shared season tickets when I was in high school and together we experienced some amazing moments — the Angels' first Division Championship in 1979, Nolan Ryan's 1-0 duel with Ron Guidry and the then defending Champion New York Yankees, the Angels' second playoff appearance in 1982, Reggie Jackson's 500th home . . . just to name a few.
Over the years I've collected bits of ephemera that document the various lives of the stadium — from it's original configuration as an open baseball only facility, to the enclosed cold cavern when it was also home to the LA Rams, and then to it's rebirth as a true ballpark. One of my favorite pieces, an Angels program from 1966 entitled "The Inaugural Year", was brought up in a Twitter conversion recently. That prompted me to scan a selection of 15 pages and create a PDF so it could be shared with other insufferable ballpark aficionados.
Thanks to @MLBCathedrals for prompting the discussion and for being a tremendous supporter of the THIRTY81 Project.
Click the link below to view or download (3.8 mb).
Enjoy!
Anaheim Stadium 1966 — The Inaugural Year via LouSpirito.com