Tenant: Los Angeles Dodgers (NL); Los Angeles Rams and Raiders (NFL); USC Trojans (NCAA-1A football)
Opened: October 6, 1923
First Dodgers game: April 18, 1958
Last Dodgers game: September 20, 1961
Current status: Still standing
Surface: Grass

Architect: John & Donald Parkinson
Builder: Edwards, Wildey and Dixon Co.
Owner: City of Los Angeles
Cost: $954,873 (1923); $950,294 (1958 enlargement for baseball)

Los Angeles Dodgers tickets:

• Viewpoint Tickets - Best prices on Dodgers tickets, Baseball tickets and MLB All Star tickets.

Capacity: 74,000 (1923), 75,000 (1928), 105,000 (1932), 103,000 (1941), 105,000 (1944), 103,500 (1947), 101,671 (1948), 105,000 (1952), 101,528 (1956), 93,000 (1958), 94,600 (1959), 70,000 (1965), 76,000 (1968), 78,000 (1972), 76,000 (1973), 92,000 (1974), 91,038 (1976), 71,432 (1977), 71,039 (1978), 73,999 (1979), 92,488 (1982), 92,498 (1983), 92,516 (1985), 92,488 (1988).

Location: About 3 miles southwest of downtown Los Angeles and adjacent to the Univesity of Southern California campus. Bound by Menlo Avenue (W), West 39th Street and North Coliseum Drive (N), South Park Drive and S. Coliseum Drive (S), South Figueroa Street and I-110 (E).

Dimensions: Left field: 250 (1958), 251.6 (1959); left center: 320 at end of screen rectangle; left center where the fence met the wall: 425 (1958), 417 (1959); center field: 425 (1958), 420 (1959); right center: 440 (1958), 375 (1959), 394 (1960), 380 (1961); right center where the fence met the wall: 390 (1958), 333 (1959), 340 (1960); right field: 301 (1958), 300 (1959); backstop: 60 (1958), 66 (1959); foul territory: very large on third baseline and very small on first baseline.

Fences: Left field: 40 (screen, 1958), 42 (screen, 1959), 60 (2 support towers for screen, 1958); left center: 40 (fence, 1958), from foul pole 140 feet into left center, 42 sloping to ground at a 30-degree angle from 320 mark to 348 mark for a distance of 24 feet (1959 to 1960), 4 steps down from 42 to 8, first step left corner 42 sloping to 41, second step 31, third step 20, fourth step 12 (1961); right of screen in left center: 8 (wire); center field to right field: 6 (wire); right field corner: 4 (concrete).

The Dodgers played at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for four years while they waited for Dodger Stadium to be completed. Built for football, the stadium was ill-suited for baseball. However, the Dodgers made the best of it. A high screen served as the left field fence to compensate for its extremely short distance from home plate. Wally Moon, who played outfield for the Dodgers, became famous for lifting pop flies known as "Moon shots" over the fence.

The Dodgers hosted an All-Star game and three World Series games in 1959 at the Coliseum. Attendence exceeded 92,000 for each World Series game, and the attendance of 92,706 for game five is a MLB record. In only their second year in Los Angeles, the Dodgers won the 1959 World Series.

A crowd of 115,300, the largest ever to watch a baseball game, saw the Boston Red Sox defeat the Dodgers by a score of 7-4 in an exhibition game at the Coliseum on Saturday, March 29, 2008.

Recommended Reading (bibliography):

• The Dodgers Move West by Neil J. Sullivan.
• Take Me Out to the Ballpark: An Illustrated Tour of Baseball Parks Past and Present by Josh Leventhal and Jessica Macmurray.
• The Ballpark Book: A Journey Through the Fields of Baseball Magic (Revised Edition) by Ron Smith and Kevin Belford.
• City Baseball Magic: Plain Talk and Uncommon Sense about Cities and Baseball Parks by Philip Bess.
• Diamonds: The Evolution of the Ballpark by Michael Gershman.
• Green Cathedrals: The Ultimate Celebration of All 273 Major League and Negro League Ballparks by Philip J. Lowry.
• Lost Ballparks: A Celebration of Baseball's Legendary Fields by Lawrence S. Ritter.
• Roadside Baseball: A Guide to Baseball Shrines Across America by Chris Epting.
• The Story of America's Classic Ballparks (VHS).