News
Angels taking notes for 2010 Classic
Front-office cadre impressed by St. Louis' All-Star hospitality
By Steve Gilbert / MLB.com
07/15/09 1:00 PM ET
ST. LOUIS -- Once again, St. Louis is living up to its nickname: "Gateway to the West."After staging the 2009 All-Star Game in this Midwestern town, baseball will head west to Southern California next year, as the Angels play host to the Midsummer Classic at Angel Stadium.
"We're bringing this thing west now to Southern California, and we're looking forward to putting our signature on the 81st All-Star Game," said Angels vice president of communications Tim Mead.
The Angels had a large front-office contingent, including owner Arte Moreno, in St. Louis for this year's festivities, with every department represented at some level. The City of Anaheim also had plenty of people on hand, including the city manager and representatives from the police department.
"We left here tremendously impressed with not only Major League Baseball and the outstanding job they always do, but the City of St. Louis and everybody here," Mead said. "They did a tremendous job."
After three days of non-stop events in St. Louis, the Angels left town chock full of ideas and points to remember.
One of the most important aspects was that while the host team gets plenty of attention during the Midsummer Classic, it can be the community that makes or breaks the event.
"The importance of the volunteers can't be overlooked," Mead said. "We always tend to look at the high-profile, very visible things, but the volunteers that were at every location were absolutely phenomenal, and the hospitality and the friendliness -- that goes a long way. Certainly, we noticed it."
The Angels will unveil the logo for the 2010 All-Star Game at some point in the next couple of weeks.
Anaheim does have some experience hosting the All-Star Game, with the 1967 and '89 contests having been played there. Since then, the game has changed to include more events, but so too has the City of Anaheim -- and most notably the team's ballpark.
While the focus now turns to Anaheim, the Angels and the city have already done much work in preparing to host one of the game's signature events.
"It's an exciting undertaking," Mead said. "It's a privilege to receive the All-Star Game. The work comes with the territory and is self-explanatory, but you can never lose sight of the privilege."
The 1967 All-Star Game was held at what was then called Anaheim Stadium and configured for baseball only, with an open view in the outfield.
The National League won that game, 2-1, thanks to a Tony Perez homer off Catfish Hunter in the top of the 15th inning. That was the longest game in the history of the Midsummer Classic, matched by the 2008 All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium.
Perez was the Most Valuable Player of the game, with Tom Seaver pitching the bottom of the 15th to close things out for the NL.
Anaheim Stadium was later enclosed, expanded and reconfigured to accommodate the National Football League's Los Angeles Rams.
That version of the stadium hosted the 1989 game, which is remembered for the back-to-back homers hit in the first inning by the American League's Bo Jackson and Wade Boggs. Jackson, who at that time also served as a running back for the Los Angeles Raiders, was named that game's MVP.
Less than a decade later, the stadium was once again redone -- this time configured strictly for baseball -- and it has since played host to the 2002 World Series, which the Angels won in seven games over the Giants.
Steve Gilbert is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
