A Red-Letter Time in Anaheim

There was a time not so long ago when Angel fan Dave Rosenberg felt like a stranger in his own ballpark. Intimidated and outnumbered by loud, obnoxious fans from Boston, New York or even Cleveland, Rosenberg said, he often sold his tickets rather than take the abuse.

“There were so many transplants, I’d get too angry going to the games,” said Rosenberg, 37, of Irvine. “The crowd was louder when the opposing team did something than it was for the Angels.”

But since the Angels’ 2002 World Series title and string of playoff appearances -- including tonight’s game against the Chicago White Sox in the American League championship series -- the Angels have established themselves as the beloved local team.

The team set a franchise attendance record, boosted merchandise revenues to those of baseball’s elite and aggressively pushed marketing efforts into metropolitan Los Angeles, territory once owned by Dodger loyalists.

Longtime Angel fans say they no longer feel lonely rooting for the home team. In fact, at last week’s playoff series against New York, Yankee fans were fewer and generally kept a low profile.

“It’s a lot of fun as a longtime fan to see this happen and to see this transition in the franchise,” Rosenberg said. “I talk to my older daughter all the time about how lucky she is rooting for the Angels now, how she doesn’t have to feel like a second- or third-class citizen anymore.”

Finally, it’s hip to be an Angel fan -- owner Arte Moreno’s game plan all along.

Moreno bought the team in 2003 and immediately announced lower beer prices at Angel Stadium. He then flooded Los Angeles with billboards and television commercials featuring the red “A” logo, changed the team’s name to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and proved his commitment to winning by signing two star players in the prime of their careers, outfielder Vladimir Guerrero and pitcher Bartolo Colon, to multiyear, multimillion-dollar contracts.

It seems to be paying off: The team doubled its season ticket base over the last three years to more than 28,000, set franchise attendance records three consecutive seasons and this year had announced attendance at 96% of capacity. And the red Halos are flying off the shelves. Angels’ merchandise has more than tripled its market share in the last year, making it one of baseball’s hottest selling brands.

Locally, the Angels’ brand is 10 times hotter than last year, said Howard Smith, senior vice president of licensing for Major League Baseball. During the height of the season, they peddled more T-shirts, jerseys and caps at their stadium than any other team.

“It’s blown me away what they’ve done the last few years,” Smith said. “We’re talking about one of the best franchises in sports right now.”

Even more impressive is that the Angels have emerged as a top-tier franchise at a time when baseball has struggled to regain the quarter of its fan base lost after the 1994 strike, said Paul Swangard, managing director of the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at the University of Oregon.

“The Angels saw potential in having a successful franchise during a renaissance period in baseball,” Swangard said.

The Angels have competed in the tough Southern California entertainment market by fielding a winning team, he said.

“By expanding the market for his franchise, [Moreno is] setting the stage for being the Yankees of the West in the new era,” Swangard said.

It’s difficult to determine how many baseball fans have traded in their Dodger blue for Angel red, but the Angel fan base continues to expand. In 2002, 68% of the Angels’ season ticket holders lived or worked in Orange County compared to 60% today. In the last two years, Angel season ticket holders have grown by 140% in Riverside County, 60% in San Bernardino County and more than 50% in Los Angeles County.

“We’re just more relevant as an entertainment choice,” said Robert Alvarado, the Angels’ director of marketing and ticket sales. “People don’t think of the Angels as just an Orange County thing anymore. We fit more inclusively within Southern Californians’ lifestyles now.”

Beyond the numbers, there is a sense that fans have finally forged a lasting -- maybe even permanent -- relationship with the team. If past Angel teams were met with coolness or seasonal curiosity, the team in recent years was finally one fans could be proud of, even fall in love with.

“It’s great to see how avid our fans have become,” Rosenberg said. “It’s almost like they’ve been held down for so long, they’re finally expressing themselves.”

Lifelong fan Gilbert Gonzalez agreed: “Before, you were almost afraid to cheer for your team. Now you’re getting a real comradeship. It’s like a big family.”

Even transplanted fans have noticed. Peter Buffa, the former mayor of Costa Mesa who grew up selling peanuts at Yankee Stadium, said he suddenly feels like a “fish out of water” when he attends Yankee-Angel games in Anaheim.

“It’s a whole new world for the Yankee fan at Angel Stadium,” Buffa said. “We used to almost outnumber Angel fans. Now it’s like one Yankee fan for every 500 Angel fans. It’s the geopolitics of baseball.”

As the once-downtrodden franchise has evolved into a proven winner, Buffa said, Angel fans have grown up too.

“The games used to be a total social event, people were chatting, buying their kids hot dogs, doing the wave, batting a beach ball,” said Buffa, a columnist for the Daily Pilot, which is owned by the Los Angeles Times’ parent company.

“Now they’re on the edge of their seat, actually watching the game. At the playoff game last week, I saw one middle-aged guy get shouted down instantly for even bringing out a beach ball.”

Tim Mead, an Angel spokesman for the last 25 years, said his team’s fans have developed a swagger.

“Our fans don’t allow opposing teams’ fans to start a chant anymore,” he said. “They nip it in the bud. There’s a certain feeling that ‘This our house, our team, and if you’re not supportive of them, take it elsewhere.’ ”