Operation Outfield: Infiltrate Dodger Stadium – Original Stadium Concept Art & Today
April 11, 2010
Dodger Stadium is one of my favorite parks in baseball. Completed in 1962, it’s architecture features everything great about the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. Below are images of the stadium along with design concepts and historical images that I found on Walter O’Malley’s Official site.
Los Angeles Dodger's Vice President of stadium operations Dick Walsh show's off an early concept model for the new Dodger Stadium
The concept for a new stadium began with industrial designer Buckminster Fuller (pictured above with Dodger president Walter O'Malley) Fuller proposed a geodesic dome to cover the stadium which would allow for 365 days of great weather for baseball.
The decision was made to move the Dodgers to Los Angeles and the new stadium would be built in Chavez Ravine. Below are early artist concept sketches for the stadium. Some ideas made it into the final stadium, some did not.
Early concept for a viewing board
An early sketch of a proposed scoreboard on the fence. This idea was not integrated into the final design.
The scoreboard today
The viewing board as realized today. You can sit in "MANNYWOOD"
Concepts for checkerboard seat colors
Early installation of chairs.
The original seating configuration. Note the aqua, red and yellow seats.
The renovation and tossing of the original seats
The original gold seats.
The new seating configuration.
The new seats
A precursor to today’s stadium suites, an artist’s rendering of enclosing the dugout boxes was considered for Dodger Stadium. The dugout level would have been enclosed by glass and air conditioned for the ultimate in fan comfort and proximity to the players.
An artist’s rendering of potential stadium boxes for the use of Dodger Stadium. Hanging boxes would have provided another method of fan comfort and improving the enjoyment of viewing a game.
Visitors dugout and field level seating as realized today. Note the color-blocked barricade separating the field level and infield level seating areas.
Colored walls were proposed for the parking lot
Multi-colored bumpers were also considered
A special food section for Dodger fans that would incorporate casual dining and an ice cream parlor.
Great Dodger Dog sign in the stadium
A more modern Dodger Dog ad.
Signature Dodger garlic fries.
An early stadium model
A proposed sculpture for behind the stadium
Think Blue sculpture that stands behind the stadium today.
A fountain with multi-colored lights was proposed for center field, it would have been a stadium first.
The current center field.
More great details at Dodger Stadium:
Great fonts.
Atomic rafters in the bleachers
Stacked cinderblocks to create a textured effect.
More great ideas that never made it into the final stadium:
A monorail to take fans to and from the parking lot
Glass overpasses for fans in the parking lot
Moving sidewalks
Being from New York City, I couldn’t bring myself to wear an LA hat, so I brought out the classic Brooklyn Dodgers hat:
Related Post:
Infiltrate Oriole Park at Camden Yards
The Invisible Agent 
Go Dodgers! You should have been world series champs in 2009, and not the chumps who won (sorry NYY fans but that’s the way the ball bounces out west – starting in Jersey and all the way to the shining Pacific).
btw GREAT post (and not just because I got to take my weekly pot shot at the NNY’s).
i love this post! now, write one about the phillies. : )
Great post! very interesting. Got any about the Yankees?
And actually will, I live in Jersey. That’s the way the ball rolls from Pennsylvania to California.
Great post, but a correction is due. The original seats at Dodger Stadium were all wood. They were dismantled prior to the 1977 season with the exception of the club level (which was mostly protected from weathering). The plastic seats with brighter colors lasted from 1977 to several years ago. Those are the seats which you have pictured in a pile in the parking lot and labeled “original.” The new plastic seats were meant to bring back the original color scheme of 1962.