Angels Come Home to the Cactus League : Sports: Nomads no more, the team has settled in at a new preseason headquarters in Arizona.

Seated along the first-base side at Tempe Diablo Stadium, Carl Lolley of Buena Park watched intently as the California Angels stretched in the outfield some three hours before they were to play the Seattle Mariners.

Kids leaned over a railing, asking players and coaches for autographs. Adults were content to observe batting practice unfold at its leisurely pace. Around the batting cages and in the outfield, players laughed and talked, seemingly without a care.

These are the timeless images of another season of Cactus League spring training in the Arizona desert.

What sets this scene apart is that it’s happening at the new spring home of the Angels, who, after 32 seasons of nomadic wandering, have finally settled at newly remodeled Tempe Diablo Stadium. They have said goodby to Palm Springs, Mesa and Casa Grande, Ariz., and Holtville, Calif., which have at one time or another served as their spring headquarters. And a bonus to unprecedented comfort and stability has been a record-breaking exhibition season at the turnstiles.

Nestled between Interstate 10 and the picturesque buttes that rise just beyond the left-field wall, Diablo Stadium has undergone a $5.8-million face lift that includes a new grandstand and a grass picnic area, concession stands, administrative offices, and clubhouse and training facilities. The complex includes the 9,785-seat stadium, two practice fields and an extra infield, something the Angels didn’t have in Palm Springs.

What’s more, they don’t have to spend half of the spring training schedule on the road before heading to Palm Springs for the final two weeks. Now, they will play all their home games in Tempe. And the Angels, their fans and Tempe--a Phoenix suburb of 141,865 and home to Arizona State University, the Phoenix Cardinals and the Fiesta Bowl--couldn’t be happier.

“This is where we’ve always wanted to be,” Angel President Richard Brown said several months ago. “We looked at a lot of different spring training stadiums in Florida and Arizona, and we incorporated what we saw and liked from those into this place. A strong foundation is critical for a club, and we have that here.”

Lolley and his wife, Doris, have had Angels season tickets since 1977. They liked what they saw on their first trip to Diablo Stadium.

“We used to go to all the games in Palm Springs,” he said. “We thought we’d give this a try. This will probably work out better for them. The Giants and the Cubs all have big followings over here, so I don’t see why the Angels won’t, too.”

A few days later, fans proved his point by setting a stadium and Angels spring training single-game attendance record of 8,483. To be sure, they were lured in part by a baseball bat giveaway and a chance to see the expansion Colorado Rockies, who have developed a passionate following in their first spring. It was also the Angels’ first night game in Tempe.

Still, they almost outdrew the Arizona State-Georgetown National Invitation Tournament basketball game, which had a crowd of 8,777 at the Sun Devils’ campus arena a few miles away.

So far, the Angels are averaging 5,879 fans, just off the Palm Springs single-game record of 6,002 set in 1986. The club, in 12 dates, has drawn a spring training home attendance record 70,552 fans. Along the streets near the stadium, there are blue and red banners hanging from street lamps welcoming the Angels. There have been a number of dinners for Tempe and Angels officials and players after games.

Fans hoping to catch a glimpse of “the Cowboy,” Angels owner Gene Autry, had better look sharp. Now 85, he has made only a few public appearances. But he and his wife, Jackie, have attended all the Angels’ games and several social functions with Tempe officials.

For the players, the new digs are a pleasant change, particularly the 15,000-square-foot clubhouse.

“It’s awesome,” veteran pitcher Chuck Finley said. “We’re so used to walking into that other place (in Palm Springs) that was kind of like a warehouse.

“I liked Palm Springs because it kind of broke up spring training, but this is nice, too.”

That sentiment is universal among Angels players, who describe their new surroundings as “great.”

“I live in Michigan now, so the weather’s great,” said outfielder Chad Curtis, who played at Benson (Ariz.) High School and later at Grand Canyon College in Phoenix. “It’s a great facility, and the clubhouse is spacious.”

Upstairs in the stadium’s souvenir store, salesman Tom Stumper said he has heard only glowing reviews.

“The first thing people say is, ‘Wow, this is a beautiful ballpark,’ ” said Stumper, a Tempe native who often attended Seattle Mariners games when that team called Diablo Stadium home from 1977 to 1992.

Out on the grassy embankment beyond left field, Mike Caplan and Luciano Stella, teachers on spring break from Vancouver, Canada, hunkered down to watch batting practice.

“Maybe we’ll catch a couple of homers,” said Caplan, glove in hand. “This one and the one in Scottsdale (home of the Giants) are the best of all the ballparks we’ve visited, and we’ve been to all five in the Phoenix area.”

Miles away at the Arizona Capitol, Paul Pugmire can only smile. Happy, sunburned fans mean big tourist bucks for the state’s economy, and with the Angels under contract to play in Tempe until 2017, the Cactus League is stronger than it has ever been.

“It’s great to see the Angels in home uniforms in Arizona,” said Pugmire, the director of the Arizona Office of Sports Development, an arm of the state’s Department of Commerce.

Arizona’s tourist trade grosses $147 million during the six weeks of spring training, more than in any comparable period, he said.

How much of that figure is a direct result of fans coming to see the eight Cactus League teams is difficult to pinpoint because so many visitors also come to the Valley of the Sun to play golf and tennis and bask in the warm weather. But Pugmire is certain that it’s a considerable sum.

“We sell between 625,000 and 650,000 tickets annually, and anywhere from half to 70% are sold out of state,” he said. “The average stay is about three days, and that translates to a significant economic percentage.”

As recently as three years ago, the Cactus League economic outlook wasn’t quite so rosy. Cities in Florida, intent on cashing in on the added tourism dollars generated by spring training, began making such attractive offers that Arizona’s spring training future seemed bleak.

“The Cactus League was in trouble three years ago,” Pugmire said.

Fed up with their split season and by the cramped quarters at Palm Springs and Mesa, where they had split spring trainings since 1984, the Angels were as attentive to new offers as any of the Arizona-based teams.

Instead of giving up, Pugmire’s office and the cities in the Phoenix area began to compete aggressively to fend off the challenges. Maricopa County and Tempe joined forces to ensure that the Angels had everything they needed. The county paid two-thirds and the city one-third of the Diablo Stadium renovation costs, and they hired Kansas City-based HOK Sports Facilities Group, which designed the Chicago White Sox’s new Comiskey Park and the Baltimore Orioles’ Camden Yards.

“The great thing is there’s now a commitment between the city and the club,” Angel Manager Buck Rodgers said. “It’s going to be home for us for the next 25 years. It’s a great facility, and I think we’re going to enjoy it.”

Jimmie Reese, the club’s 91-year-old conditioning coach, said it’s the best facility he has ever seen.

“It’s almost perfect,” said Reese, who once roomed with Babe Ruth and is celebrating his 70th spring training. “Everything is right here.”

With the Angels firmly in the fold, the next step was securing a team to play in Hi Corbett Field in Tucson. With the Cleveland Indians’ move to Florida this year, a new tenant was crucial, Pugmire said.

As it turned out, the Cactus League actually traded up a model when the Rockies set up shop in Tucson.

“We’re real excited,” Pugmire said. “They’ve made a big splash, not only in Tucson--even in the face of (Arizona) Wildcat basketball--but all around the state. They have more than made up for the Indians’ move. By their own admission, the Indians were real reserved in their approach to spring training. They had no marketing whatsoever.”

Moreover, Cleveland ownership was determined to make the move to Florida when its contract expired last year. It had business interests and family in Florida, so that’s where the Indians were going.

“You can’t negotiate with that,” Pugmire said.

With Rockies fever sweeping Arizona this spring, the next bit of good news concerns the new 13-field complex in the northwest suburban city of Peoria, to be shared by the Mariners and the San Diego Padres, who will move from Yuma next year.

“The potential is there for the number of visitors to keep growing and growing,” Pugmire said. “The pendulum has swung back. Florida had the potential to kick our heads in there for a while. With some hard work and some hard dollars, (the Cactus League) will grow into the next century.”