The Pacific Coast League & Ballparks

[banko]

Seattle
Portland
Oakland
San Francisco
LA
Hollywood
San Diego
(?)

[banko]

Walter simply destroyed the game.

http://www.amazon.com/When-Was-Game-Triple-Collection/dp/B00005B32G

I weep for the young...who will have no recollection of 'real' professional baseball.

Yogi Berra.

When the players had 'off-season' jobs.


-Grandpaw Simpson'

[banko]

Back OT.

Dugdale Park.

https://"http://content.lib.washingt...OROOT=all&t=a"

[banko]

https://"http://content.lib.washingt...OROOT=all&t=a"

Notice the double-deck.

Again...outside of Wrigley LA...the only double-decked minor-league ballpark in America.

[Pinstripes]

Again...outside of Wrigley LA...the only double-decked minor-league ballpark in America.

Wait... what?

1) What's "Wrigley LA"

2) There are (currently) several double deck ballparks in the minor leagues... so maybe I'm just misunderstanding what you're saying here.

[EdTarbusz]

(?)

Sacremento.

[Chevy114]

Wait... what?

1) What's "Wrigley LA"

2) There are (currently) several double deck ballparks in the minor leagues... so maybe I'm just misunderstanding what you're saying here.

Wirgley la is the duplicate, smaller version of the wrigley field you see in chicago. They owner of the cubs built one in la because he liked it so much.

Does anyone know if he own the la stars that played there?
Also did they build it to lure a pro team there? I know the stars were getting great attendence for a minor league team, but that doesn't mean they didn't want a pro team.

At the time the pcl was doing so well, it is hard to imagine now. It was the laste 50s to be exact and air conditioning was making more states finally liveable. They had no teams in California (the 3rd largest state and fastest growing state at the time!), no teams in texas (the 2nd largest state and another fast growing state!), Seattle had no pro baseball, and the list goes on. So having high attendence doesn't seem that far fetched since the closest teams would probably the midwest teams like chicago, milawaukee, and minnesota.

Some cities recovered from not having the pcl go pro like san diego, san fran, la, oakland, and seattle. But some cities never got the pro team that some say they deserve; such as portland, salt lake city, and sacramento; which all host pro basketball and seem to do well with it!

[stlfan]

I remember during one of the "When it Was A Game" episodes they mentioned that players from the PCL got a paycut when going to the majors. They actually made more money playing in the PCL and left to go to the majors because it was "The Majors."

[six4three]

Interesting to note that the Wrigley Field in Los Angeles was named first - at the time, the other ballpark was still "Cubs Park."

I don't know if they wanted a pro team, per se - for years, the PCL had designs on becoming a third major league. They had great attendance, a long history, and paid as well as many major league clubs, meaning they could keep many homegrown stars playing on the West Coast.

"la stars"? I think you're confused - it was the home of the Los Angeles Angels, who were bought by William Wrigley in 1921 (he sold them to Water O'Malley in 1957 so O'Malley could clear LA for his move west). The Stars were another team, not "LA" but Hollywood, who were owned by different people and rented out Wrigley Field for a time.

When the Giants moved to San Francisco, there was some local talk about renaming them after the Seals of the PCL, but nothing ever came of it, and I doubt that the team ever considered it.

[Chevy114]

Interesting to note that the Wrigley Field in Los Angeles was named first - at the time, the other ballpark was still "Cubs Park."

I don't know if they wanted a pro team, per se - for years, the PCL had designs on becoming a third major league. They had great attendance, a long history, and paid as well as many major league clubs, meaning they could keep many homegrown stars playing on the West Coast.

"la stars"? I think you're confused - it was the home of the Los Angeles Angels, who were bought by William Wrigley in 1921 (he sold them to Water O'Malley in 1957 so O'Malley could clear LA for his move west). The Stars were another team, not "LA" but Hollywood, who were owned by different people and rented out Wrigley Field for a time.

When the Giants moved to San Francisco, there was some local talk about renaming them after the Seals of the PCL, but nothing ever came of it, and I doubt that the team ever considered it.

Sorry i did confus the stars and angels. I heard both teams had really good attendence. Didn't the giants have to play in seals stadium until candlestick was open? Also didn't the giants build a stadium for a year, but because of fog issues, they never used after the first year? Or was that the seals?

[MarcianoNY]

http://128.95.104.14/cgi-bin/viewer....=&CISOMODE=bib

Notice the double-deck.

Again...outside of Wrigley LA...the only double-decked minor-league ballpark in America.

Alliance Bank Stadium, Syracuse, NY

[six4three]

Sorry i did confus the stars and angels. I heard both teams had really good attendence. Didn't the giants have to play in seals stadium until candlestick was open? Also didn't the giants build a stadium for a year, but because of fog issues, they never used after the first year? Or was that the seals?

Yes, the Giants played at Seals Stadium for the first two seasons while Candlestick was being built.

The single-year stadium was also the Seals - Ewing Field, 1914.

[Chevy114]

Yes, the Giants played at Seals Stadium for the first two seasons while Candlestick was being built.

The single-year stadium was also the Seals - Ewing Field, 1914.

I remember on digital ballparks they made a joke saying that san fran took more pics of ewing field in a year then they took of seals field the entire it was open. It looked nice outside of the fog issue!

[Brian McKenna]

I remember during one of the "When it Was A Game" episodes they mentioned that players from the PCL got a paycut when going to the majors. They actually made more money playing in the PCL and left to go to the majors because it was "The Majors."

I seriously doubt that was universal - probably the exception rather than the rule.

It should also be noted that the PCL players had a much longer season they had to commit to earn that salary.

The PCL was great for guys who:
1) didn't like the east coast
2) preferred California weather
2) preferred week-long series and resulting less travel

The PCL was a part of organized baseball and was subject to the draft for many years. Teams also had working agreements with ML clubs. So, it's deceiving to believe that the PCL hoarded some great slew of talent that wasn't available to MLB.

[Chevy114]

Wikipedia makes it sound like the pcl was like the aba of the baseball. They spent a lot of money to compete with mlb and played more games, giving players more time to hown their skills.