Bad Year for Big A’s Head Usher : Sport: Rams’ move and baseball’s strike mean sorry sights for Chuck Plumberg, who has worked at the stadium since it opened in 1966.

In three decades as an usher at Anaheim Stadium, Chuck Plumberg has seen thousands of Angels games, scores of Rams games, dozens of monster trucks and one Madonna concert.

But the 70-year-old Orange resident, who has worked at the Big A since opening day 1966, may remember this year for what he won’t see. With the Rams gone and the Angels perhaps fielding a replacement team, Plumberg faces the prospect of his first season ever without a bona fide professional sports team to watch and watch over.

“The (baseball) strike breaks my heart,” said Plumberg, who was recently honored as the stadium’s Employee of the Year. “I have my fingers crossed they will resolve this thing and play ball again.”

An abandoned or shortened baseball season would be a poignant loss for the stadium’s head usher, whose love for the national pastime is rooted in his Kansas boyhood. At 18, as a naval serviceman during World War II, Plumberg clung to baseball broadcasts as a vital connection to his country.

“It brought home back to you,” said Plumberg, whose cruiser patrolling in Pacific waters survived a torpedo hit by the Japanese. “It made a dramatic difference in my morale.”

Years later, while working an ordinary job at the state’s Employment Development Commission, Plumberg again turned to baseball for a lift. When he heard the brand-new Big A was looking for employees, Plumberg immediately applied.

“I’ve been a baseball nut my whole life,” Plumberg said. “To hear the crack of the bat, and to smell the infield grass, it’s a great joy for me. . . . I decided the stadium would be a great place to get a job and see baseball.”

He was right. Originally a New York Yankees fan, Plumberg quickly converted and cheered a parade of baseball talent over the years that included Jim Fregosi, Nolan Ryan, Rod Carew, Reggie Jackson and Chuck Finley.

“When I stop and think of all the great stars that I’ve seen play, it’s a dream come true,” he said.

*

In his opinion, Plumberg saw the greatest baseball player of his lifetime on his first day on the job. An Angels exhibition game on April 9, 1966, brought an All-Star center fielder for the San Francisco Giants to Gate 5 of the new stadium.

“I saw somebody standing near a yellow cab asking how to get into the stadium. It was Willie Mays,” Plumberg recalled. “I walked over to him and led him through the concourse. . . . It was a great thrill for me.”

Until he underwent successful surgery for prostate cancer, Plumberg amassed a consecutive game streak that surpassed even that of Yankees iron man Lou Gehrig. Plumberg didn’t miss a game or other stadium event for 28 years.

In that time, Plumberg learned the difference between the crowds that both sports teams drew to the Big A. Angels games attracted more families and were more low-key, while Rams events lured a more spirited crowd, he said.

“The two are like night and day,” said Plumberg, who supervises about 235 workers. “Rams fans stand up a lot more and that means people behind them can’t see.”

Plumberg lamented the Rams’ recent departure, but had sensed it was coming as he watched more and more empty seats pop up in the last several years.

“Orange County fans are sophisticated. People aren’t excited about coming out to watch a team consistently lose,” he said. “But I still think Orange County would support a pro football team. This facility is too good not to.”

*

If there is a bright side to the Rams leaving Orange County, Plumberg reasoned, it means no more Raiders fans, who are notorious for their rowdy behavior and fisticuffs.

“We always had trouble when the Raiders played here,” he said.

But even a Rams-Raiders matchup can’t compare to a sellout Madonna concert. In July, 1987, Plumberg’s nightmare came true when Madonna invited 60,000 fans onstage.

“That’s the scariest moment I’ve ever had,” said Plumberg, whose responsibilities include crowd control. “There was a crush of humanity rushing toward the stage. I didn’t expect her to say that. There were some injuries and some people were pushed down. It was chaos.”

Recent talk of building a baseball-only stadium for the Angels has made Plumberg uneasy.

“I’ve seen this place from the beginning to end,” he said. “I’m attached to this building. It’s just a tremendous facility.”