Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum

From SoSH

Contents 1 Stadium History 1.1 1958-1961 1.2 2008 Revival 2 Trivia 3 Field Dimensions 4 Wall Height 5 External Links

Stadium History

The LA Memorial Coliseum opened in 1923 and hosted Pomona College and USC for its inaugural game. USC still plays its home games in the Coliseum. The Coliseum has also hosted professional football and the 1932 and 1984 Summer Olympics.

1958-1961

The Dodgers played their first four seasons in the Coliseum while waiting for the completion of Dodger Stadium. The oblong park was a poor host for baseball; due to the location of home plate, there was a lot of foul territory on the third-base side and almost none on the first-base side. With the left-field fence only 252 feet from home plate, the team was ordered to erect a screen in left field so that pop flies did not become home runs. The fence did not eliminate all left-field home runs, however. Dodger outfielder Wally Moon, in particular, became adept at hitting fly balls to left that cleared the screen and would have been outs in other parks. These fly balls were known as "Moon shots."

Dodger Stadium opened in time for the 1962 season and the Coliseum did not host another baseball game until 2008.

2008 Revival

The Dodgers reopened the Coliseum for a single exhibition game in March of 2008 as part of the team's year-long celebration of their fifty years in Los Angeles. The Coliseum project began in late February of 2008 and concluded shortly before the scheduled game. On March 29, 2008, the Dodgers hosted the Boston Red Sox and played an exhibition game in front of a record 115,300 fans. Between 1961 and 2008, the Coliseum's field had been made narrower, and the left-field line measured about 200 feet for the exhibition game. The fence in left was increased to a height of approximately 60 feet in order to counteract the short left field. Four players still managed to put balls over the fence in an eventual 7-4 Boston victory.

All proceeds from the game were donated to ThinkCure, the official charity of the Dodgers.

For more, see Red Sox at Los Angeles Coliseum.

Trivia

• The March 29, 2008 crowd of 115,300 is a record for a Major League Baseball game. The previous record was 93,103 people for a May 7, 1959 exhibition game between the Dodgers and the New York Yankees, honoring former Dodgers catcher Roy Campanella, also played at the Coliseum. Game 5 of the 1959 World Series against the Chicago White Sox captured an audience of 92,762, a record for a game that counted.
• Because they played four seasons in a ballpark that is twice the capacity of many other parks, the Dodgers hold the record for total cumulative attendance dating back to 1901.

Field Dimensions

Left Field	Left Center	Center Field	Right Center	Right Field
252'	417'	420'	380'	300'

Wall Height

Left Field	Center Field	Right Field	Power Alleys

External Links

• LA Memorial Coliseum - courtesy of Wikipedia
• Page at ballparks.com
• Page at ballparkwatch.com
• Gallery at digitalballparks.com
• Aerial map of baseball configuration