Dodger Stadium-Los Angeles, CA: 2 trips- 6.25.06, 7.25.10

While the great cathedrals of baseball are Fenway Park and the friendly confines of Wrigley Field, now that the old “House That Ruth Built” is no more, the ballpark in Chavez Ravine, Los Angeles brings a history of a different sort. It is a symbol of baseball’s manifest destiny and taking a trip inside feels like going back in time 50 years.

It’s a ballpark that was built solely for baseball-just before the idea to build multi-purpose football/baseball stadiums became the fad (and yes, Shea, while I loved you very much, I’m talking about you). The wavy metal roof over the outfield seats reminds me of the carport in my grandparents’ retirement community. While the video boards over the outfield have been replaced numerous times since the stadium’s inception, they still maintain an older style-the orange pixels on the right field scoreboard feel like an 80’s video game, which can feel somewhat ancient especially when contrasted with screens such as that at the new Yankee Stadium. The pale yellow and sky blue of the seats, walls and façade are colors that wouldn’t be chosen by HOK Sport/Populus in the design of a new retro-style park. The “THINK BLUE” sign on the hill over left field reminds you instantly that you’re right near the Hollywood hills. The pictures of Dodger greats, past and present, displayed around the ballpark are like a Hall of Fame exhibit. The Dodgers are the only team who’ve retired Jackie Robinson’s number for his exploits on the field, and not just for his amazing impact on the game. But to see Koufax, Campanella and others up there in the outfield is equally impressive. There is a wonderful, almost simple, feel about the whole place. And in this era where many cities build a new ballpark every few decades, it’s a comfort to know that some of the great old parks are preserved, but won’t be replaced.


As I mentioned earlier, my first Dodger home game came the afternoon after my trip to Petco in San Diego. The Dodgers faced off against the abysmal Pittsburgh Pirates. L.A. had a pretty good team at that point, 5 games over .500, and they would eventually go on to take the National League Wild Card. The Pirates, on the other hand, were already 25 games under .500, having started that season 0-6. They would actually have a winning record after the All-Star Break that season, in part thanks to the trade with the Mets that sent Xavier Nady over to the Steel City. They also had an All-Star starter on the roster in Jason Bay and an All-Star reserve with Freddy Sanchez, both of whom had decent games on this day. However, they also had players such as two-time Mets bust Jeromy Burnitz, and at this point in the season, this game didn’t even seem fair on paper.

The Dodgers went up 4-1 in the 4th inning, and ended up taking the final by that same 3-run margin. My sister, who before the Padres game the night before had only been to 1 MLB game, was kind enough to indulge me and stay through the whole thing. She was rewarded by seeing Nomar Garciaparra (one of her all-time favorite names to say aloud) score a run in the 5th and hit a Home Run in the 7th inning.

I’m someone who likes to be at the park for player introductions, and often even batting practice when I go to a new stadium. If nothing else, it gives me a chance to walk the perimeter of the park, take some pictures of the details that make each park unique, and check out the smorgasbord of regional beer and food options I might not find at other parks. In L.A., there’s only one food option I’ve ever bothered with: From the moment you step inside, the smell of Dodger Dogs fills the air. I’m still a bit mad at myself that I didn’t try out the “All You Can Eat” section either time I made the trip to Chavez Ravine-although I’m sure my gall bladder is grateful.
But getting to Dodger Stadium early –and doing so twice-also confirmed a rumor I’d heard about for years: No one gets to a Dodger game before the 3rd inning. Coming from a city where a majority of the fans take public transportation, it’s not uncommon to see a park nearly full by the time the first pitch is thrown, especially if it’s a rivalry game or important in the standings. In both my trips to Dodger Stadium, the stands look like batting practice well after first pitch. I imagine the legendary Southern California traffic may play a part in that and navigating the Dodgers’ parking lots can feel like a trip through purgatory, but I also wonder whether people traveling to the game may just be spending as much time as they can in their cars or in the parking lot, just so they can listen to a few more moments of Vin Scully.


As a New Yorker for over a decade, and a history nut, I’ve tried to immerse myself in the culture, history and heritage of the city I call home in myriad ways: books, documentaries, museums, etc. The irony is that a legendary piece of New York sports history has been living in Los Angeles for over 60 years. When I’m in L.A., if there’s a Dodger game on the radio, I’ll tune in just to hear that man speak. And I’ve been known to use my MLB.com At Bat subscription to catch an afternoon Dodger game during a monotonous workday for that beautiful experience. I think back to watching the early-90’s TV show “Brooklyn Bridge,” one of my mother’s all-time favorite shows, and it’s not hard to picture myself as a kid of a different era listening to a ballgame on the radio and letting mere words and sounds make you feel like you’re a part of the action. That simplicity and connection to the past is one of the reasons I love baseball so.

For the same reason, the Dodgers themselves have always fascinated me. I’ve read countless books on Jackie Robinson, on the great Dodger teams of the 40’s and 50’s and the team’s eventual move to the greener pastures of California after Robert Moses denied the team a chance to set up shop over the Atlantic Yards. I thought Spike Lee’s Jackie Robinson jersey was the epitome of cool the first time I saw “Do The Right Thing,” even though I wasn’t yet old or wise enough to comprehend the deeper meanings of New York City race relations. And I’ve always loved that my favorite hat has an orange NY Giants logo placed smack in the middle of a Dodger Blue cap-and that the Dodgers and Giants run right through the bloodlines of my beloved Mets. I have friends who root for L.A. because their dads rooted for Brooklyn. Mets fans aren’t quick to forget ’88 (and I also have vivid memories of Game 1 of the 2009 NLDS, where Paul Lo Duca made a double play at home to keep the Dodgers from scoring). But the Dodgers are in many ways our cousins-right up to the Jackie Robinson rotunda at Citi Field. So traveling across the country for 2 Dodgers games has also helped bring me closer to my baseball home.

Which seems like a perfect segue to discuss my second Dodgers game. My return trip to Chavez Ravine was on the first full day of my Great West Coast Adventure during the summer of 2010. I’ll get much more into the journey as a whole when I get to the stadiums I visited for the first time later in this blog. But I spent 2 weeks driving from San Diego to Seattle that summer, and as my luck would have it, my Mets were in L.A. my first weekend out West. So my second trip to Dodger Stadium also provided me the second opportunity to see the Mets on the road (the first was in D.C., which I’ll tackle a few posts from now). To look up and see Vin Scully in the press box next to Mets broadcasters Ron Darling and Gary Cohen was worth the price of admission alone.

The R.A. Dickey/Clayton Kershaw pitching matchup was also a doozy. Kershaw was coming off the game where he hit Aaron Rowand of San Francisco, which would ultimately result in a 5-game suspension. But since he was still in the midst of an appeal with MLB, he was able to make this start. Dickey was a huge surprise for the Mets, having found his groove as a knuckleball starter in New York. Dickey was 6-3, Kershaw 9-5, and both pitchers brought their A-game.
Dickey had a two-hitter going in the 6th Inning, when he landed awkwardly after delivering a pitch to Russell Martin and was removed from the game (but not before he gave his coaches and the umpire quite the earful about being taken out). Kershaw went 8 innings, and while he gave up 7 hits, he kept the Mets from ever being able to round third. Russell Martin doubled in the 8th inning, scoring Casey Blake for the game’s sole run. While my team came up short, a 1-0 pitcher’s duel is my favorite kind of ballgame, as I love the nuances of baseball that don’t show up on a box score.

I couldn’t have asked for a better travelling companion than my little sister for both of my Dodger games. At the Mets/Dodgers, she borrowed my Brooklyn Dodgers hat, and we did our best to represent our East Coast roots. And while people of my parents and grandparents’ generation may not like it, I’m happy that the Bums moved out West, as the experience of a Dodger game in the Los Angeles hills is an unforgettable one.