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When it opened for the 1998 season, Anaheim Stadium completed an unusual cycle of transformation. It began life as a 43,000-seat baseball-only park with effectively no outfield seats and was expanded in 1979-80 (to 70,000 seats) to accommodate the NFL's Los Angeles Rams. But as a result of the Rams' departure, major earthquake damage, and the Disney organization's desire for a more intimate venue, it was reconfigured along baseball-only lines. Radically downsized to 45,000 seats and remodeled to allow easier internal circulation, the latest incarnation of the stadium (since 1997, known officially as Edison International Field) features more and better suites and club seats and improved press facilities. Each phase of the park was designed by a different architect.

With Disney involved (it paid for most of the $100 million remodeling), there are naturally some theme-park touches. Six immense baseball bats help hold up a curved beam over the main entrance. Beyond the left-center field fence, the Imagineers have created a "California spectacular" in which geysers erupt and a stream cascades down a mountainside covered with real trees and artificial rocks.

Beyond these bits of whimsy, the third incarnation of Anaheim Stadium is the one most like a classic ballpark. The park is now a nice compromise between '60s efficiency and '90s neotraditionalism. Its single tier of outfield seats (deeper in right than in left) is an improvement on both the original's empty spaces and the football stadium's overwhelming three decks. Wherever they sit, visitors to the "Big A" are still in good proximity to the action. The fences are now asymmetrical, with right field being shorter and having a higher wall. Much of the formerly bare concrete structure and ramps (originally used, in part, because it would never need painting) has been painted a handsome deep green, making it look somewhat like steel and echoing one of the main colors of the Anaheim Pond, the other Disney sports venue located about a half-mile down the street. (JP)