Coming Up Shorts : When Angel Fans Stream to the Ballpark, Fashion Calls for the Bare Necessities

Here’s the deal. It’s hot. Really hot. And the Angels are playing a day game. And you’ve got tickets and the day off. The last question you ask yourself on this blessed day is “What will I wear?”

Monday at Anaheim Stadium, when the Angels beat the Texas Rangers, 9-2, the answer was casual, man, and more casual. Shorts, the summer stand-by in California, dominated the stands as both men and women showed off their legs and August tans. The look was baggy and baggier, with a few old-timers sporting polyester numbers straight out of Miami Beach.

What goes best with shorts? We’re talking loose T-shirts, big, bigger and biggest. It was mix-and-match, with just about every team featured on them, from the Dodgers to, of course, the Angels. To top it off, there were thousands of baseball caps, especially out in the sun-blasted cheap seats.

But the weather isn’t the only reason the stadium is heating up. The Angels are leading the American League West by a bunch of games, and fans are feeling the good vibes that come from supporting a winner. It’s a party at the Big A, and one of the best things is that you can show up wearing just about anything.