The Coliseum Years

Layout for Baseball

Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
The landmark stadium primarily used for football and track meets was converted into a baseball field using unique dimensions.

• The distance to the left-held fence was just 250 feet, which necessitated a 40-foot high screen.
• The power alley to right-center held was 440 feet.

Left Field Fence

Stan Williams

Commemorative Home Plate

Los Angeles Opening Day April 18, 1958

• Commemorative Home Plate presented to Los Angeles Mayor Norris Poulson by Dodger team president Walter O'Malley during Opening Day ceremonies at City Hall on April 18, 1958.

Los Angeles
We're Happy with the move to our new Home Base!
The Dodgers

May 7, 1959

Roy Campanella Night at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Pee Wee Reese wheels Roy Campanella onto the field before 93,106 fans holding up their lighters.

May 7, 1959

Coliseum Tribute to Roy Campanella
Hall of Fame catcher Roy Campanella never got the chance to play a game as a Dodger in the City of Los Angeles. But on May 7, 1959, Los Angeles fans paid tribute to Campy in one of sports' most moving moments.

During his 10-year career, Campanella had not only been recognized as the finest catcher in the National League, he had also proven himself to be one of the finest players in the game. He was one of only two N.L. players ever to be named Most Valuable Player on three occasions.

Four times he hit more than 30 home runs, and in 1953 he belted 41 homers and had 142 RBI, both major league records for a catcher.

He served as the Dodgers' catcher from 1949 through 1957, and the Dodgers won five N.L. pennants and a World Championship during that stretch. They also finished second, losing on the final day of the season, two other times.

Campanella's road to the major leagues was not an easy one. He signed at the age of 16 with the Baltimore Elite Giants in the Negro League and played with men twice his age. Once he caught four games in one day - a doubleheader in the afternoon and another twinbill that night.

The Dodgers signed Campanella in 1945 and sent him to Nashua along with a future Cy Young Award winner and an N.L. MVP - Don Newcombe. Campy and Newcombe found themselves under the tutelage of a manager who would also one day make the Hall of Fame - Walter Alston.

After injuries limited him to just 103 games in 1957, Campanella looked forward to the Dodgers' move to Los Angeles. But it wasn't to be.

January 1958
He suffered crippling injuries from an auto accident that left him fighting for his life. Those injuries were to end his playing career.

The Dodgers and defending World Champion New York Yankees then agreed to play an exhibition game during the 1959 season to honor Campanella.

On the afternoon of May 7, the Dodgers defeated the Giants, 2-1, in San Francisco before returning to Los Angeles that night for the exhibition game. That night, the Yankees knocked out Sandy Koufax in the sixth inning, scoring four runs off him enroute to a 6-2 victory.

But the highlight of the game came between the fifth and sixth innings when Campy - who was wheeled onto the field by former Dodger captain Pee Wee Reese - came out to be greeted by those paying tribute to him.

It was a breathtaking sight. The Coliseum lights dimmed, and in the darkness some 93,000 fans each lit a match for Campy.

It was Campanella himself who once said, "Baseball is played by men, but you have to have a lot of little boy in you to play the game." The night of May 7, 1959, certainly brought out the "little boy" in Campanella - and in many others who witnessed the event.

Union 76 Tribute
Artist: Richard Farrell

1959 World Series

The Dodgers host the White Sox at the Coliseum
The Dodgers also established World Series records for attendance in 1959 with three crowds of more than 92,000 fans for Games 3, 4 and 5 of the Fall Classic against the Chicago White Sox.

RELATED: [https://www.eatlife.net/dodger-stadium/1959-world-champions.php]

LA Coliseum Seats