All-Star Game, Peanuts, Popcorn : Concessionaires Ready to Serve Hungry Hordes

It’s just another day at the old ballpark. Just another million dollars worth of peanuts and hot dogs consumed. Just another 64,000-plus fans hooting and hollering.

So what else would you expect for just another gathering of the world’s best baseball players?

Today will be the second sellout of Anaheim Stadium since the baseball playoffs of 1986 (the first was on the Fourth of July), and it will take all 42 food stands to serve “a lot of crowd with a lot of buying power,” assistant concession manager Darrel Knudson said. He estimates that today’s sales will reach $500,000 to $1 million.

This afternoon, the Anaheim Stadium food stands will open for what Knudson predicts will be one the biggest business days of his life. ARA Services, which handles concessions at the Big A, has doubled the size of its usual staff to 600 in anticipation of unloading 40,000 beers, 40,000 hot dogs and 40,000 bags of peanuts on rapt baseball fans, Knudson said.

While the preparations for the game were time-consuming--including ordering staggering amounts of food and hiring and training extra staff--Knudson said the behind-the-scenes work will seem the same.

“The normal problems are just larger because you’re dealing with such a large crowd,” he said.

Souvenir stands outside the stadium open today at 8 a.m., selling 45 All-Star products ranging from official T-shirts to official teddy bears. Something new for baseball fans is a commemorative All-Star postmark from the U.S. Post Office available only at the game, said souvenir sales manager Sam Maida.

Envelopes printed with the All-Star logo will be on sale for $1 each, and postal service workers will sell stamps bearing the likeness of baseball great Lou Gehrig for 25 cents and postmark the envelope on the premises, Maida said.

Other items for sale include shot glasses, sweat shirts, key chains, pennants and lightweight jackets. Maida declined to estimate what sales might be today but said, “Right now, it’s probably going to be second to the Super Bowl (in San Diego) in volume.”

The All-Star boom struck at concession stands inside the stadium during last week’s games, stripping booths of some of the most popular souvenir items before the first All-Star pitch. By 11 a.m. Monday--just a half hour after gates opened for the All-Star Workout and Skills Competition, every last one of the commemorative All-Star baseballs was sold out at Mindy Weiss’ stand just inside a field-level gate.

“We ran out of baseballs,” said Weiss, who insisted that she is no relation to the Oakland Athletics shortstop, Walt, who didn’t make the All-Star roster. Asked if there would be any more balls coming in for Tuesday’s big event, she said, “probably not.”

Helen Farrell, who said she works “all over the stadium,” could be found at her favorite post Monday, the Angels’ Hall of Fame Shop. Noting that sales on Sunday for the Angels-Twins game were brisk, Farrell said she won’t have time to rest until the All-Star break is over.

“I’m going to work” during the All-Star contest, she said. “There’s money to be made.”

Major League Baseball’s mid-season show also was a big event for the Anaheim Hilton and Towers, where all the ballplayers and league executives are headquartered. While it’s not unusual for a single group to book 1,000 rooms at the Hilton, as Major League Baseball did, the hotel lobby isn’t made over to welcome most organizations.

Bob Johnson, director of convention services for the hotel, planned decorations “to make a real statement.” It was hard to miss.

Banners bearing the logos of all 26 major league teams replaced the international flags that usually greet Hilton guests outside the main lobby entrance, and flags representing the National and American leagues were hoisted alongside the U.S flag on the lawn.

The centerpiece--a triangle of six-foot tall banners silk-screened with the colorful batter silhouette that decorates All-Star game tickets--was mounted on a rotating platform in the lobby. Above the spinning ballplayer, Johnson’s staff suspended a huge helium-filled baseball and two arched columns of balloons.

The All-Star theme was adopted by the front desk staff, who sported baseball caps and All-Star buttons through the week. The restaurant staff also got into the spirit, offering an All-Star menu, including drinks and dinners with names like “Pitcher’s Pleasure” and the “Outfield ‘Catch’ of the Day.” Topping the menu at $28 is the “Angel Stadium Press Box Platter,” a filet mignon-and-lobster dinner designed to appeal to the 700-strong corps of news media covering the game.

Times staff writer Mark Landsbaum contributed to this story.

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