BASEBALL DAILY REPORT : ANGELS : Saying Goodby to Memorial Stadium

Thursday’s game was the Angels’ finale at Memorial Stadium, where the team played its first game ever on April 11, 1961. The stadium is being replaced by a new, brick-fronted complex scheduled to open next April. The Orioles’ new home hasn’t yet been named, but it will probably be Camden Yards, in keeping with the railroad station near the stadium site.

In the Angels’ inaugural game in Baltimore, Ted Kluszewski hit two homers to help Eli Grba defeat Milt Pappas and the Orioles, 7-2. The Angel record at Memorial Stadium was 80-126.

Dave Parker, who homered off the second-deck facade Thursday, will be sorry to leave Memorial Stadium behind. “The fondest memory I have is winning the World Series in 1979,” said Parker, who played for the Pirates during Pittsburgh’s seven-game World Series victory over the Orioles that year. “My locker was over there,” he said, nodding across the clubhouse, “and Willie (Stargell) was right next to me. There’s a lot of tradition in this stadium, but there’s something to be said for progress.”

Parker went three for four Thursday to raise his batting average to .232. That’s his highest point since he was hitting .237 on April 18. . . . Dave Gallagher’s ninth-inning home run was his first homer since April 15, 1989, when he was with the Chicago White Sox. It was the Angels’ ninth consecutive bases-empty homer. “It was a good way to leave this place,” said Gallagher, a former Oriole, “but I’d definitely have preferred to leave with a win.”

Donnie Hill’s pinch-hit single in the ninth inning Thursday ended his 0-for-27 drought. . . . Former Yankee Dave Winfield said his return to New York today for the Angels’ three-game series is “nothing special.” He added: “The only thing is we’ve got to beat up on them.” Winfield is five for 12 in the first three games of the Angels’ 10-game trip.