From the Archives: First game played in Dodger Stadium

Dodger Stadium opened on April 10, 1962, but the home team lost. Writer Frank Finch reported in the next morning’s Los Angeles Times:

All the ingredients necessary to make the grand opening of Walter O’Malley’s brand-new $18 million play-pen a smashing success Tuesday were there, but an outsider from Cincinnati crashed the party and ruined it for most of the 52,564 paying guests.

A three-run homer by Wally Post of the Cincinnati Reds broke a 2-2 tie in the seventh inning and secured a 6-3 victory for the defending National League champions over O’Malley’s Dodgers.

Even so, it was a suspenseful affair that wasn’t decided until fireman Jim Brosnan induced pinch-hitter Frank Howard to ground out innocuously with two Dodgers on base in the last of the ninth inning.

The crowd fell short by some 3,500 of filling dazzling Dodger Stadium, but apparently those absentee ticket holders either got lost in Chavez Ravine or didn’t even dare risk the traffic maze, because management long since announced that the opening game was a sellout….

Los Angeles Times staff photographers Art Rogers, John Malmin, Ben Olender, Ken Dare, Al Monteverde and Dick Oliver covered the game. Rogers used a special camera shooting 120-millimeter film. Monteverde used a 70mm high-speed motorized Hulcher camera.

And yes, on April 11, 1962, behind Sandy Koufax, the Dodgers beat the Reds 6-2 for their first win at the new stadium.

This post was originally published on April 3, 2014.

1/9

April 10, 1962: Racing for seats on opening day at Dodger Stadium are brothers Mike, 9, and Ricky, 11, followed by their mother, Dori Martin.   (John Malmin / Los Angeles Times)

2/9

April 10, 1962: Cincinnati’s Eddie Kasko smacks Johnny Podres’ second pitch for a double, the first hit at Dodger Stadium. Kasko later scored.  (Ken Dare / Los Angeles Times)

3/9

April 10, 1962: The Dodgers’ Maury Wills is out on close play at first base. Reds’ Gordie Coleman takes the throw from pitcher Bob Purkey after Wills’ first-inning bunt.  (Los Angeles Times / Los Angeles Times)

4/9

April 10, 1962: Dodger first baseman Ron Fairly catches a foul popup by Frank Robinson during the sixth inning.  (Al Monteverde / Los Angeles Times)

5/9

April 10, 1962: A tighter crop of the previous image of Dodger first baseman Ron Fairly catching Frank Robinson’s foul popup near Cincinnati Reds dugout. On the right, Dodgers catcher John Roseboro ducks out of the way. Next to the Reds dugout is a photographers “pit.” I believe the photographer just to the right of Roseboro is The Times’ Art Rogers.  (Al Monteverde / Los Angeles Times)

6/9

April 10, 1962: Wally Post slams three-run home run in seventh, the decisive blow in Cincinnati’s 6-3 victory over the Dodgers.  (Art Rogers / Los Angeles Times)

7/9

April 10, 1962: The Reds’ Wally Post is congratulated by teammate Gordy Coleman (18) as he crosses home plate after swatting a three-run home run.  (Art Rogers / Los Angeles Times)

8/9

April 10, 1962: Dodger second baseman Jim Gilliam makes a stop on Daryl Spencer’s wide throw as Tommy Harper slides safely into second during the sixth inning.  (Los Angeles Times / Los Angeles Times)

9/9

April 10, 1962: Wally Moon takes a big cut only to foul the ball off for the Dodgers in the eighth inning. Staff photographer Art Rogers not only took this photo, he caught the foul ball.  (Art Rogers / Los Angeles Times)

See more from the Los Angeles Times archives here