Pro baseball in L.A. was more homey, personal

Professional baseball got off to a slow start in Southern California.

So slow that in 1898, the San Jose Prune Pickers and the Santa Cruz Beachcombers were chosen over the Los Angeles Angels to join the California League.

Imagine, depriving rival fans the joy of chanting "Beat L.A.!"

But the Angels, their status no doubt elevated when they were purchased by a pool-hall operator, were granted a franchise in the newly organized Pacific Coast League in 1903.

Of course, it was by no means certain that a small, insignificant town like L.A. could support a minor-league club. Some newspapers called the team the Tourists, implying that its stay wouldn't be long.

But the team developed a faithful following at Chutes Park (capacity: about 8,500), south of Washington Boulevard between Grand Avenue and Main Street.

Two of the most passionate fans of the Angels/Tourists were defense attorney Earl Rogers and his daughter, who grew up to be the author Adela Rogers St. Johns.

One day at Chutes Park, St. Johns recalled years later, "somebody started the yell that became a tradition in the Pacific Coast League. . . . 'Kill the umpire! We'll get Earl Rogers to defend you!' "

The Angels even had a greeter, the late columnist Matt Weinstock wrote:

"A jovial fellow in a baseball uniform rode a horse slowly through the downtown streets, Main, Spring, Broadway, waving at friends and occasionally blowing a bugle call by way of announcing the baseball game at 2 p.m."

It was a time, baseball historian Paul Zingg wrote, when ballparks were "shaped by the city blocks on which they were built, home to players who often lived in the same neighborhood as the fans."

Chutes Park was moved slightly east after the 1910 season when Hill Street, which then dead-ended at Washington, was extended south. The stadium was renamed Washington Park and several Angels were on the construction crew, including pitcher Frank Murphy, "who dug holes [and] surveyed," The Times reported.

Meanwhile, the Pacific Coast League installed another team in the industrial town of Vernon.

After a squabble with the city, however, the Vernon Tigers moved to Venice in 1913. It wasn't just the team that moved. Co-owner Eddie Maier dismantled the stands, fences and clubhouses and took everything along, writer Jay Berman later noted in The Times.

But attendance was disappointing in Venice, and the prodigal club returned to Vernon in 1915, trucking the stadium back again.