From the Archives: The 1925 Los Angeles Angels home opener

The Portland Beavers won 7-3, ruining the Los Angeles Angels home opener on April 7, 1925. A crowd of 12,482 fans attended the game at Washington Park.

Writer Robert E. Ray reported on the Pacific Coast League game in the next morning's Los Angeles Times:

A concerted batting attack by the Portland Beavers on the offerings of Charley Root in the eighth inning gave the visitors four runs, a 7-to-3 victory, and spoiled the opener for the Seraphs (Angels nickname) and most of the 12,482 fans who paid to see the Angels get off to a flying start.

Duffy Lewis's Ducks simply were to good for the Krugmen in yesterday's pastime. Not even a couple of bad decisions by Umpire Teck could swing the contest to the home guards. The Angels were outhit 10 to 7, outfielded and didn't look any too good…

Root, after wobbling in the first inning, pitched fine ball up to the eighth, when he seemed to lose his stuff. The first four Portland batters to face Charley hit safely in this inning, whereupon Marty Krug lifted him in favor of Buck Ramsey, who quieted the din of Beaver bats biffing horsehide. However, the damage had been done, so that was that....

The Oct. 19, 1925, Los Angeles Times reported that the Angels ended the season in fourth place. The Portland Beavers finished fifth.

These four images were scanned from four 4- by 5-inch glass negatives. Three, by staff photographer David Mann, appeared in the April 8, 1925, Los Angeles Times. The fourth, of Angels owner William Wrigley Jr., was not published but most likely was also taken by Mann.

By the end of the 1925 season, the Angels were playing in the new 22,000-seat Wrigley Field.

The PCL Angels played from 1903 through 1957. The team was then sold to the Dodgers. In 1958, the franchise moved to Spokane, Wash.

The current major-league Los Angeles Angels began as an expansion team in 1961. Then-owner Gene Autry purchased the rights to “Los Angeles Angels” from Dodgers owner Walter O’Malley.

This post was originally published on April 2, 2013.