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Stymied in his attempt to get a new stadium in Los Angeles, Autry looked elsewhere. His first choice for a stadium was the site offered by the city of Long Beach. However, the city insisted the team be renamed the Long Beach Angels, a condition Autry refused to accept. He was able to strike a deal with the suburban city of Anaheim in Orange County, and construction began on Anaheim Stadium (nicknamed The Big A by Southern Californians), where the Angels moved in 1966.

when it was changed from California to Anaheim.

I accept what has happened, and have mostly moved on, but when possible, still refer to them as the team in Orange County, not Los Angeles County. I still like the line where some writer said the Angels play more games in Oakland than they do in Los Angeles.

There is a stretch of land on Alondra Boulevard adjacent the 5 freeway, 6 miles north of Angel Stadium that could be eminent domained in a day and built into a stadium over 2 years. L.A. County would LOVE that all that revenue and the finger would be pointed straight at the City of Anaheim’s whiny leadership. Win-Win for Arte and sweet revenge as well.

I always forget to click reply.

It’s embarrassing, really.

I had it back in 2001. And yes, I was immunized (early ’60s). It was like I was coughing up a lung for six months, until they figured out what it was.

Which is a poor stance to take for a businessman. If you try to screw everybody who screwed you, you wind up handcuffing yourself. Unless Arte’s an idiot, the only way he’s going to move is to improve the bottom line. There are very very few other viable places for a baseball team and with cities getting increasingly reluctant to shell out money to subsidize stadiums, it’s not going to be easy to find a new place.

I still think it’s ridiculous for people to bash Pringle. He HAS done good things for Anaheim, and for the city’s sake, he needed to try to get the name back. How many impressions of the name Anaheim has he lost because of the change? Media usually just leave off the Anaheim when they talk about the Angels. How much is that worth to the city? I don’t know, but it’s significant, I’m sure. I think Pringle’s only fault was taking the case farther than it should have gone. He should have cut his losses after the first appeal and left it at that. But you can’t blame the guy for sticking up for his city.