First the Skies Opened Up, Then the Season

The rain came and went and came again and again, but it failed to rain out the huge party in Anaheim on Wednesday night: the Angels’ season opener.

It was the official debut of the Disney-refurbished Big A, now Edison Field, and it was the first time an Angels home opener was sold out.

And while rain that began 2 1/2 hours before game time drove fans under the eaves, the opening ceremonies finally started an hour late before a crowd only slightly depleted by fair-weather fans.

It’s a Disney-managed team now, and Wednesday was a Disney show, with fireworks, waterfalls, geysers, a drum-and-bugle corps and a flock of Little Leaguers stringing banners into the outfield.

The crowd gave a touching tribute to team founder Gene Autry, who was driven onto the field in a golf cart while his signature recording, “Back in the Saddle Again,” played.

The 44,840 fans rose, applauded and cheered, and Autry responded with a one-sentence speech. “I’m back in the saddle again,” he said.

Former Angels stars Rod Carew, Reggie Jackson, Jim Fregosi and Bobby Grich, honored in earlier ceremonies, shook Autry’s hand. Yankees manager Joe Torre, a longtime Angels TV announcer during Autry’s reign, came from the Yankees’ dugout to greet Autry. The ceremonies climaxed with a fireworks show that filled the stadium with so much smoke it obscured all the seats along the left-field line.

But all of that almost didn’t happen. Although two helicopters had hovered over the infield earlier to try to dry it out, as game time approached, so did the rain. In three minutes flat, the ground crew covered the infield with tarpaulin. As rain stopped and started, the tarp came off and on.

And there were more trials for the Angels and their fans.

The team had planned to unveil a bronze statue of Autry and at the same time have Carew, Jackson, Fregosi and Grich enshrine their handprints in concrete flats to become the first of the “Angels Legends.” But rain intruded there too.

After masons restored the concrete surface, the players made their imprints, and the red drape was pulled from the bronze statue, showing a mature Autry, his left cowboy boot resting atop a rock, his right hand extended as if for a handshake. It will remain outside Gate 2 near the third-base line. The hand imprints will be installed under the huge baseball-cap awnings at the front of the stadium (which are made of metal mesh to protect against sun, not rain).

The game finally started 64 minutes late, with an outfield so wet that players diving for balls were preceded by waves of water.

But the novelty of the new stadium kept fans’ spirits up.

“The team looks good, the stadium looks good,” said Bill Palmer of Mission Viejo, a Yankees fan. “But you know something? It was 89 degrees in Central Park yesterday.” It was 53 with a chill wind in Anaheim.

The coldest seats in the stadium were the stainless-steel chairs in the open-air area of the members-only Diamond Club. But other members were warm and dry inside the club’s Art Deco bar and restaurant that suggests a vintage ocean liner.

An unscientific survey of fans found no critics of the new ballpark, and the players seemed to agree.

“It’s incredible,” said Angels reliever Troy Percival. “It’s better than any of the new ballparks. I love the new bullpen,” which is elevated above the field but just below the left-field stands. “You can see the game now. You don’t have to climb that rickety scaffold. We had a few casualties last year.”

Chili Davis, an Angels alumnus but now a Yankees designated hitter, couldn’t resist a gentle jibe.

“This place looks nice,” he said, gesturing to the new artificial rocks and waterfalls behind center field.

“What’s that, the Matterhorn?”