Play Ball!
In 1961, the Los Angeles Angels joined Major League Baseball and played their first home game at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles on April 27 of that year.
In addition to the support of the Angels’ new fans, they also received “major league support” from the Long Beach Naval Shipyard’s (LBNS) Welfare and Recreation Committee. The committee made arrangements for the purchase of 20 box seats for each of the Angels’ 81 home games. Ten lucky employees from the Shipyard would receive one pair of tickets to a home game.
In today’s post we are sharing two clippings from the April 14, 1961, edition of the Digest, a newspaper published at the LBNS. The first clipping discusses the tickets for home games. The second clipping lists the lucky individuals, and the departments they worked for, who received tickets to the Los Angeles Angels’ first home game!
In addition to the Angels’ tickets given out by the Committee, a pair of tickets to each Los Angeles Dodgers’ home game were also given away.
Series: The Digest, 1943-1993. Record Group 181, Records of Naval Districts and Shore Establishments, 1784-2000. (National Archives Identifier 7348296).
