GM May Recall 60,000 Cars; Angels Miss Their Scoreboard

July 18, 1979: The meltdown of the U.S. auto industry foretold -- GM may recall 60,000 X-Cars (that was the Chevy Citation, Buick Skylark, Oldsmobile Omega and Pontiac Phoenix). And what's in the news? Illegal immigrants on Page 1 and the Metro cover (below).

The Angels had a rotten sense of timing, finally having a good season just as their ballpark was being redeveloped to make the new kids from Los Angeles happy. Anaheim Stadium was a mess in 1979 as the stadium was transformed during the season into one of those classically bad combination stadiums. While the Angels played, the ballpark became something almost unrecognizable so the Rams could begin playing there the next football season. How big was the change? They sent the stadium's landmark scoreboard packing. Back in the stadium's quaint early days, the scoreboard looming over the center field fence was the perfect centerpiece. But when the renovations started, they unplugged the Big A and eventually moved it out to the parking lot. Progress. That was no easy feat in 1979. The first moving day ended early when once of the dollies under its base started to tilt. The scoreboard wasn't much by today's standards, of course. But it seemed like a lot then. "That big board was nice because when you're not pitching and just sitting there for nine innings you get the trivia question of the day and a few stats to keep your mind occupied," pitcher Dave Frost told The Times in 1979. Without the big board, the stadium's announcers had to talk more, bringing back memories of the Dodgers' early days in the Coliseum. Which wasn't exactly a good thing. "They had a small board in the peristyle and it got to the point where there were so many announcements that they were distracting people from the game," Dennis Packer said. --Keith Thursby