A celebration of quirkiness

It was a stunt – nobody could possibly say otherwise – but some history was made at the Los Angeles Coliseum on Saturday night.

The Dodgers announced a crowd of 115,300 for their exhibition against the Boston Red Sox, a record for attendance at any baseball game, ever.

And another reason it's a stunt is the comical dimensions of playing baseball in a football/track stadium built in 1923. It was the quirky temporary home of the Dodgers from 1958-61, when Dodger Stadium was being carved out of Chavez Ravine.

The Red Sox are used to the "Green Monster." In Los Angeles, they played a game with the “Screen Monster.”

"Are they serious about this?" Red Sox Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon asked when he got his first look at the makeshift left-field fence 201 feet from home plate, to the Boston Globe.

"Oh, my God. Guess we better keep the ball away."

"We gonna play here?" asked David Ortiz, standing alongside Papelbon. "No way."

The Red Sox had no left fielder, going with an outfielder in left-center, one in the wide expanse of right center and another in even larger right field. The Dodgers used a different tactic, going with five infielders, like an old-time slow-pitch softball game.

Boston won the game 7-4 as reserve catcher Kevin Cash hit a three-run homer. James Loney of the Dodgers cleared the 201-foot screen with a homer. To put that in perspective: That's 1 foot farther than down the line at the Little League World Series field in Williamsport, Pa.

The event wasn't without its hitches. There isn't enough parking for more than 100,000 fans, so people were advised to use public transportation and use free shuttles. And the Coliseum is not exactly in the best neighborhood of Los Angeles. An hour after the game, more than 5,000 fans were still waiting for those shuttles, in a bad neighborhood. A Boston writer described their fright-filled adventure in South Central in a blog entry today.

For some of the best images from the evening, check out this gallery from the record-setting event that commemorated 50 years of baseball in Los Angeles.

Photo: Team introductions take place on the field at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum before the Boston Red Sox take on the Los Angeles Dodgers on March 29, 2008 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Lisa Blumenfeld/Getty Images)