by Paul R. Spitzzeri
With the 2024 Major League Baseball season getting an early start on 20-21 March in Seoul, South Korea as the Los Angeles Dodgers split a two-game series with the rival San Diego Padres while most teams began play eight days later, the Dodgers are off to a 10-5 start and are three games up on the Padres in the National League Western Division. Meanwhile the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are at 6-6, a half-game behind the Texas Rangers in the American League West.
This post takes us back nearly a century and opening day for the Angels when the team was part of the Pacific Coast League, established in 1903 and still around as one of two Triple-A leagues just below the majors level. The Los Angeles squad was one of the six original squads in the PCL and was the first league champion, one of twelve the team earned over more than a half-century.
Until 1925, the home of the Angels was at Washington (also known as Chutes) Park just south of downtown, but owner (since 1921) William Wrigley, Jr. of Chicago chewing gum game and also of the Chicago Cubs, moved the team to a 21,000-seat venue in the South Park section at South Park Boulevard and 41st Street, that had multi-level decks along the first and third base sides and a small bleacher section in right center field. The field faced northeast, so that right field was along South Park Boulevard and the main entrance on 41st Street.
Named, Wrigley Field, the stadium was dubbed the owner’s “Million Dollar Palace” and had the same designer, Zachary Taylor Davis—dubbed the Frank Lloyd Wright of baseball stadiums and an innovator of the use of steel beams and concrete, of the Cubs’ home, which was renamed for the owner from Cubs Park (it began life in 1914 as Weeghman Park) in 1926, as well as Comiskey Park, the field of the Chicago White Sox. The Los Angeles venue was patterned after its Chicago forebear, but with local Spanish Colonial/Mission Revival details.
When the park opened, Wrigley prevailed on Los Angeles city officials to rename South Park Boulevard, previously Wilmington Avenue, to Avalon, the name of the town on his Santa Catalina Island, which also was the spring training home of the Cubs, while the portion in Wilmington, a neighborhood of Los Angeles, was formerly Canal Street.
With the move of the Dodgers from Brooklyn to Los Angeles, the Angels were acquired by that franchise and, after the 1957 season, moved to Spokane, Washington. A new American League franchise, given the Angels name, played its inaugural 1961 season in the outdated park before moving to the new Dodger Stadium. Wrigley Field stood until the end of the decade when it was razed as part of the development of the Gilbert Lindsay Recreation Center. The opening day of the park was 29 September 1925 with a prior post here covering that event with photos from the Homestead’s collection.
This post features several more images from the Museum’s holdings dealing with the opening day of the 1926 season, which began on 10 April with the Angels facing the Oakland Oaks, following delays because of heavy rain. In fact, as report in the Los Angeles Record of that day noted that ten opening games throughout the PCL because of rain led to a loss of $100,000 in receipts at the several parks.
League President Harry Williams told the paper, “a postponed game of baseball is a total loss financially. The rains were a great benefit to the crops, however, and we are not complaining.” The Record also ran a cute opening day cartoon that referred to the rainouts with a fan exclaiming that was the only day off from work he had for a month.
Robert Ray of the Los Angeles Times of the 10th observed the delay was four days and added that 20,000 fans were expected for the contest as “Angel[s] officials announce that reservation[s] are still piling up and prospects are extremely bright for a record-breaking crowd—the previous high was 14,600 in 1916 at the old home.
Club President Joe Patrick emphasized that “all ladies will be admitted free to all games at Wrigley Field this year.” Sporting goods store B.H. Dyas and Company offered, through its ads in the Record, a “Baseball Puzzle Contest” for a free season ticket to all games at the venue for the season, with forty single admission tickets also part of the promotion.
R.A. Cronin of the Los Angeles Illustrated Daily News commented that the crowd for the first game of the year was expected to drawn between 15,000 and 20,000 spectators and added that, while the Angels worked out on the field, the Oaks had to do so in the parking lot—this “gave the home club the advantage of some infield practice, of which they were in great need,” as if the Oaks were not!
Cronin also reported that Mayor George Cryer, who was well-known for his ubiquitous presence at public events in the city and was deemed “the wildest left-handed opening day pitcher in captivity” was to throw out the first ball to County Sheriff William I. Traeger, of whom it was said he “was quite a catcher in his salad days,” though whether it was a baseball or accused criminals was not stated.
Another feature was the march of players from the two squads with the American flag to center field for its raising to the national anthem, while the fifty-piece Catalina Island band was to provide entertainment. Not to be outdone, Bill Lane, the owner of the rival Hollywood Stars, which was beginning its first year at Wrigley in a few days against the Angels and won its first game, 4-3, in San Francisco against the Seals, promised more fans and a bigger band for that contest.
Jack James of the Los Angeles Express editorialized in his “Expressions” column about the debut of the 1926 campaign and opened with:
They’re off today in a cloud of dust! Yes—dust! Actually saw some this morning. Nearly fell out of my Ford in surprise. Thought at first it was fog! A little dust in and around Wrigley field earlier this week would have brought in a lot more pay dirt, but, then, what’s past is gone, as some wise man once remarked.
He continued that it was expected that this would be the best season in PCL history as “the bickerings and squabblings within the league councils,” which appeared to be about money, “are now put aside permanently, giving way to open and above-board battling on the diamond proper.” Moreover, it was expected to be a close race with no one club deemed to be far superior to others in the standings.
The league, James continued with an interesting metaphor given that Prohibition was the law of the land (observed in the breach or not) by stating that “new wine has been poured into old bottles in the matter of athletic talent” and added that “even the umpires are bigger and better than ever.” He intoned “Amen” to this, though he demurred that “I might cross my fingers on that umpire business!”
Everyone from the owners to the players and managers to the hot-dog vendor “owe to the baseball-loving public a duty that should be carried out most meticulously,” with the athletes expected “to play every game as if it were the world series final.” Only then, the columnist asserted, could they “deserve the pop-eyed admiration and emulation of that fan of fans, the small boy.”
As for team owners, they were implored to put talent first, not to “regard baseball strictly as a matter of dollars and cents, with him on the receiving end of the transaction.” James averred that “there is a soul to baseball, and that soul can be crushed by [an] over-emphasis on the business side.” Umpires were asked to make calls “without fear or favor” and actually be in a position to “see ’em before he calls ’em” so that they “deserve the police protection” that they were due.
PCL head Williams was called upon “to keep his umpires up to the mark” and have their back when they deserved it and to deal with them appropriately if they failed the league and the public. As for the slingers of the hot dog, they were “to obtain today’s buns today, and quit frying his canines to the constituency [consistency!] of rubber” because “it is crime against Nature to fry a hot dog!”
Concluding that there was great interest among baseball aficionados throughout the Pacific Coast, James intoned that this would be retained “by proper guidance,” but noted that,
it will flop flat as a pancake once the man-in-the-stands [or those women who got in at Wrigley for free] gets the notion that he is not getting all that he pays for. So, let those concerned by aware!
The highlighted photos include those showing the pregame ceremony including the unfurling of Old Glory with the players and Catalina band in position; views of the stands with metal chairs and wooden slat seats, as well as opening day bunting in the upper deck, the net behind home plate, and the well-known clock tower with “WRIGLEY FIELD” taking the place of numbers; and one shot of infielders in action.
Elmer Jacobs, starter for the Seraphs (as the Angels were often called), pitched a scoreless seven innings, though he and “Buzz” Arlett of the Oaks got into a jawing session and very nearly fisticuffs when the latter accused the hurler of trying to “bean” him in the third inning. Reliever “Rube” Yarrison kept the shutout intact in the final two innings of the 4-0 blanking.
The visitors actually recorded more hits (8) than the home squad (6), but the Angels drilled three triples and a home run, with “Jigger” Statz clubbing two of the three-base hits and new third-baseman Frank Brazill, who signed for a handsome $10,000 contract, smacked the homer into the bleachers in the fourth inning.
The defensive standout of the contest was Wally Hood, better known for his hitting, as the left-fielder ran down a screaming liner toward the brick wall and speared it with his glove, drawing thunderous applause from the fans. The Oaks lost a golden opportunity there because of consecutive singles that followed, though a double play ended the innning, as well as a major baserunning blunder when Ralph Shinners failed to touch third base as he scrambled for home in the opening frame.
As for the 200-game season (that’s right, 200!), which ended on 17 October, the Angels ended up with the PCL crown with a record of 121-81, 10 1/2 games ahead of the second-place Oaks. The Stars, meanwhile, finished its first campaign with a 94-107 showing, finishing sixth in the eight-team league. The Seraphs secured its seventh pennant and went on to win four more championships, with the last coming in 1956.
Among its pitchers, Jacobs compiled a 20-12 record with a 2.20 earned run average, though three other hurlers had better win-loss showings, including Earl Hamilton at 24-8 (and a 2.48 ERA), Rasty Wright at 19-7 (3.48 ERA) and Doc Crandall at 20-8 (also a 2.20 ERA). Two pitchers in the starting rotation had losing record, these being Pea Ridge Day (6-11, 3.66) and Whitey Glazner (11-15, 3.88), while Rube Yarrison finished with a 13-8 record and a 4.09 ERA. Jacobs, who pitched for six major league teams between 1914 and 1927, was suspended 10 games later in 1926 for having banned substances on the mound.
As for the hitters, Jigger Statz was a workhorse, playing in a team-high 199 games with 823 at-bats (the most in the MLB in 2023 was 670 by Texas Rangers star Marcus Semien, who appeared in all 162 contests) and racking up 291 hits (Ronald Acuña of the Atlanta Braves topped all players last year with 217) and hitting .354 (Miami Marlins player Luis Arraez had the same average in 2023).
Statz belted an astounding 68 doubles (the Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman had an impressive 59 last year, 17 more than his nearest competitor) and 18 triples (Bobby Witt, Jr. of the Kansas City Royals smacked 11 in 2023.) He played 18 PCL seasons with records for games (2,790), hits (3,356), doubles (597), triples (136) and runs (1,996) and amassed a .315 batting average. A league hall of famer, he played 285 games for four teams in the majors between 1919 and 1928 and was a player-manager for the Angels for three seasons in 1940-42
Brazill, among the regulars, came in second when it came to batting average at .336 and was second on the team with homers, pelting 19, just behind Ray Jacobs (no relation to Elmer), who slugged 21. Hood was also a standout with 13 home runs and 41 doubles, while hitting .301. Art Jahn racked up an impressive .337 batting average and Butch Weis hit .317 for the year, while 37-year old manager Marty Krug, in a limited role of 52 games and 137 plate appearances, had a .389 average.
With respect to the 2024 MLB season, the Dodgers, which handed out $1 billion in new contacts including the richest in sports history to megastar and former Angel Shohei Ohtani (who apparently has been determined to be free from any role in the gambling scandal involving his translator) are favorites to capture the World Series crown and perhaps exceed the record 111 wins from 2022. The Angels, on the other hand, are expected to finish about the same as the last two seasons, somewhere in the low 70s in victories by some, but above .500 (81 or more) to those who see more opportunity for the club.