Los Angeles Angels' $118,000,000 Angel stadium, a baseball paradise featuring the American League's shortest center field

Nicknamed "The Big A", Angel Stadium in Anaheim has served as one of Southern California's most noticeable baseball meccas for over fifty years. While not known as the most famous MLB park by a long shot, the park certainly has some nifty features.

The venue has been the home of the AL West's Los Angeles Angels since the 1966 season. Having sustained the team since that year, the field is actually the fourt-oldest in MLB, after Wrigley Field, Fenway Park, and Dodger Stadium.

"[1965] Construction of Angel Stadium (Herald Examiner Collection)" - LAPL Photo

Beginning in their innaugural season of 1961, the Angels shared began to share Dodger Stadium with the Los Angeles Dodgers. In 1964, ground was broken on a hitherto agricultural plot of land located about 30 miles southeast.

Completion of Angel Stadium occured in 1966, at a cost of some $166 million. The team commissioned a scientific study for the field's dimensions. After the results were released, it was determined that expected air quality in the area warranted a distance of 396 feet between home plate and the center field wall. To this date, that distance ranks as the shortest distance to straightaway center in the AL, and third in the majors after Dodger Stadium and PETCO Park, home of the San Diego Padres.

Throughout the 1970s, tens of thousands of new seats were added to the park as the outfield area was enclosed. Moreover, the iconic "Big A" scoreboard was moved to the parking lot, where it remains today.

"The original “Big A” scoreboard at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium) before the ballpark was enclosed and the scoreboard was moved to the parking lot. #Angels" - MLB Cathedrals

In 1996, Disney, who had a minority share, took on a majority interest in the team. Under the leadership of the Walt Disney Company, the seats in center field were knocked down, restoring the once-iconic view of the San Gabriel and Santa Ana Mountains. Replacing the removed seats was a "California Spectacular" diorama, which features geysers, a cascade of rock, and a covering of pine trees. To this day, Los Angeles Angels victories are marked with a fireworks display from the center field area.

Angel Stadium remains one of the coolest ballparks in baseball

Though it may not have the same fame as Yankee Stadium or Fenway Park, Angel Stadium has kept itself with the times. However, with the Angels not having made the postseason in a decade now, fans are growing increasingly wary, and want to see postseason ball played there as soon as possible.