(image taken from Ballparks.com)
….albeit one 250 feet from home plate. The LA Times’ Bill Shaikin explains.
As they celebrate their 50th season in Los Angeles, the Dodgers are exploring the possibility of staging one game at the Coliseum next year. The Dodgers shared the stadium with USC, UCLA and the Rams for four years, after they moved from Brooklyn in 1958 and before Dodger Stadium opened in 1962.
“We’re in the process of seeing if we can pull this off,” Dodgers spokeswoman Camille Johnston said Thursday.
Coliseum General Manager Pat Lynch said the Dodgers inquired about the availability of various dates during the regular season as well as spring training.
“They can do whatever they want, as long as we’re able to play football in the fall,” Lynch said.
The quirky field dimensions that result from squeezing a baseball field onto a football field make it more likely that major league officials would sanction an exhibition game there. The Dodgers and Angels cut the annual Freeway Series exhibition slate from three games to one next spring, leaving the Dodgers with open dates March 28-30. The Boston Red Sox could be available then, stopping in Los Angeles on their way back from their scheduled March 22-23 series in Japan.
The Coliseum field is 304 feet in width, according to the stadium website. When the Dodgers played there, the left-field foul pole stood 250 feet from home plate, and to compensate the Dodgers erected a 42-foot screen in left field. Dodgers outfielder Wally Moon developed a proficiency for hitting home runs over the screen, dubbed “Moon Shots.”