All-Star Game The Final Score : Anaheim Hit a Grand Slam, Fans Say : Cubs and Chicago Take Notes for ’90

While the Orange County hosts of this year’s All-Star showdown were busy organizing pregame festivities and a network of volunteers late last week, next year’s hosts were taking notes.

Representatives of the Chicago Cubs, who will stage the 1990 All-Star game in Wrigley Field, and Chicago city and tourism officials arrived to learn a thing or two from the California Angels and other organizers in Anaheim and Orange County.

“What I’ve seen is very impressive,” said Ellen Jensen, All-Star coordinator for the Cubs. “I’ve learned so much, particularly about the transportation and shuttle-bus setup and the volunteer network. Those are some of the things we’d like to put in place for next year.”

But Jensen found no solutions in Anaheim’s smooth handling of two problems Chicago is sure to face: scarce tickets and parking. Ivy-walled Wrigley Field, the National League’s oldest ballpark, is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year and seats just 39,000 fans--15,000 fewer than Anaheim Stadium. And parking, already so tight around the North Side ballpark that neighborhood residents went to the Illinois Legislature in an unsuccessful effort to outlaw night games, figures to be even worse at All-Star time.

Chicago Transportation Problems

“Our transportation network is going to have to be even more complex,” Jensen said. “That’s what I have to figure out when I get home.”

Even those who spent years putting together plans for Anaheim’s All-Star show were surprised when the game festivities--and even traffic--flowed virtually without a hitch. Fans arrived at the ballpark early and, within an hour after the triumphant American League team had filed off the field, the 13,000-car stadium parking lot was empty.

Cash registers across the county were still ringing up sales related to the game on Wednesday, but the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce projected that fans, including 15,000 out-of-town visitors, will give the local economy a boost of $25 million to $30 million. In Cincinnati, site of last year’s game, officials estimated visitors spent $21 million at hotels, restaurants and shops.

The Angels, Anaheim and Orange County all made the most of the national spotlight, organizers and game-goers agreed.

“It went great,” said stadium operations manager Greg Smith, now supervising the several-day cleanup. “There were no major incidents of any sort. We just put on a good show of Anaheim for the rest of the world.”

Jim Small, the baseball spokesman whose job is smoothing wrinkles, gave the Angels and Anaheim high marks after the show.

“It was outstanding,” he said. “We chose the Angels’ proposal because it was the best organized. They followed it to a T. This was far and away the best (All-Star game). It’s a real tribute to the club.”

Baseball lover Kay Williams, who flew up from Melbourne, Fla., for the game with her 13-year-old son, Justin, said the four days they spent in Orange County and environs were idyllic--except for a one-hour stretch just before the game.

“Everybody told me, ‘Whatever you do, don’t drive,’ ” said Williams, who learned late Tuesday afternoon that she and her son could not take a shuttle bus from her hotel because they did not have bus passes.

So, at 4 p.m., Williams set out east along Katella Avenue, hoping for the best.

“I didn’t have directions, so I didn’t even know where I was going,” Williams said Wednesday morning as she waited in the lobby of the Inn at the Park in Anaheim for an airport bus. “I just followed the line of traffic, and it led me to the right place.”

Made It for Introductions

She and Justin got to their seats just as the All-Stars were being introduced, “and Bo Jackson took care of everything from there,” she said about the game’s most valuable player.

Even Baseball Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti had compliments for Orange County. On his way back to New York early Wednesday morning, he stopped to tell All-Star volunteers at Los Angeles International Airport what a great job the volunteer force had done, according to Darrell Metzger, president of the Orange County Centennial Committee.

“When somebody like the commissioner takes a moment out to say ‘thank you,’ that really means a lot,” said Metzger, who organized the volunteer greeters.

“The game and all the events around it were our big chance to position Orange County in the national eye, and the image that was projected was just terrific.”