“A Return to the Ravine” 

April 23, 2021

Dodger Stadium is Full of Memories, and Tonight , We Return

1000 Vin Scully Drive - The best part of writing this blog entry is using the address of Dodger Stadium as the identifying location.  It is a true measure of the greatness of the long time Dodger broadcaster Vin Scully that his name will forever be linked with the iconic stadium.  Tonight, for the first time since September of 2019, I will be attending a game at the third oldest in Major League Baseball.  I must say, I am pretty pumped about that.

Thank God that Moses, as in Robert Moses, was in charge of things in 1950’s New York or who knows if Los Angeles would be the beneficiary of one of the top franchises in all of sports. The controversial and autocratic Moses, a powerful “public official”, denied Brooklyn Dodger owner Walter O’Malley an opportunity to build a much needed new stadium on the corner of Atlantic Avenue and Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn, so the Dodgers headed west in 1958 for Los Angeles.  

Brooklynites were required to have “the patience of Job” to rid themselves of Moses, so another franchise could move in.  After six decades and some good old fashioned gentrification, a team in a different sport took up in the same spot that O’Malley identified in 1956.  The Brooklyn Nets now call the Barclay Center home and are serious contenders for the NBA title.

Not that everything about the Dodgers move to Los Angeles was without controversy.  As L.A.Dodger fans, we need to recognize that families living in, and then evacuated from, Chavez Ravine suffered real hardships when Dodger Stadium was constructed.  While many of us angelenos have been fortunate to create lifelong memories since the stadium opened in 1962, others had their memories crushed to the ground.  I suppose acknowledging that is a small step towards coming to terms with it.  

Since the move to the Golden State, the Dodgers have woven themselves into the fabric of Los Angeles.  They have won six world series championships since arriving, five after taking up residence at Dodger Stadium.  They have also become part of our family.  

I was 10 years old when I attended my first game at Dodger Stadium.  It happened to be game 1 of the 1974 World Series against the Oakland A’s, I was a lucky last minute replacement for one of my brothers. Sitting in the right field bleachers and admiring the crowd of 55,000 people and the special decorations that come out for the World Series, I turned my focus to the A’s slugger now at the plate, Reggie Jackson.  He had already hit a home run and I was concerned he might hit another.  Jackson hit a fly ball to right-center, the Dodger right fielder Joe Ferguson stepped in front of centerfielder Jimmy Wynn to take make the catch and threw a 300-foot laser to catcher Steve Yeager to get the A’s Sal Bando at the plate for the 9-1 double play.  That play, which still stands as one of the greatest defensive plays in World Series history, prompted my move in Little League to the outfield.  Two years later I was named to the Venice-Marina Little League All-Star as an outfielder.  Not bragging, just stating fact.  Don’t ask how the All-Star game finished.

Speaking of facts, it is a fact that the Houston Astro’s are cheaters.  Yep, that is true.  How does a quaint franchise that started out as the “Colt .45’s” in 1962, changed their name three years later when they moved into the Astrodome, become the scourge of baseball?  They were so nice when they hosted the Bad News Bears in 1977’s “Breaking Training”, what with Bob Watson leading the crowd in the “LET THEM PLAY” chant.  What happened?  It’s that 2017 team of cheaters that should not have been allowed to play anymore.  

But we didn’t know that they were cheating when they broke our Dodger blue hearts in the 2017 World Series.  My wife Christine and I were sure that once the rock solid Dodger closer, relief pitcher Kenley Jansen, came out of the bullpen to Tupac’s “California Love” with a one run lead that would be that for the Astro’s in game 2.  As we headed to the top deck to grab our son Vaun and watch the final out, the Astro’s tied it.  Then in the tenth they scored two more.  

When the Dodgers returned the favor with two runs in the bottom of the tenth, the explosion of sound and excitement was something for the ages, never had I heard Dodger Stadium that loud.  I thought the top deck was coming down!  Who knew we needed to hide the trash cans so they couldn’t do more of their “bang the lids” cheating to win that game in the 11th inning?  That was they first ever game won by the Astro’s in a World Series.  They would topple our then newly acquired pitching ace Yu Darvish in game 7 to, allegedly, win the Series.    

But Dodger Stadium has provided so much more than World Series excitement.  It has provided lifetime memories with friends and family.  Opening, Memorial and Labor Day games, 4th of July, Fireworks and Birthday celebrations.  I learned to appreciate the art of pitching in 1984 watching Dodger phenom Fernando Valenzuela strike out 15 Phillies and beat Hall of Fame pitcher Steve Carlton in 1-0 in a duel for the ages.  I learned to appreciate family my family even more singing “Take me out to the Ballgame” together, heck, I even learned to appreciate a New Yorker like Billy Joel when he played here in a few years ago.

Tonight, I will proclaim, is a soon to be appreciated milestone.  There is some sense of “normalcy” in attending a ballgame in the wake of a world pandemic.  Since the last time we’ve been to the stadium, Christine and I now have a daughter-in-law, Devin, and we will celebrate her birthday along with our anniversary.  

Yu Darvish returns to pitch for our new rival, the San Diego Padres.  And Clayton Kershaw, the greatest left hander to throw for the Dodgers since Sandy Koufax did it when the team first arrived in town, goes for the Boys in Blue.  At the beginning of the game, we will hear Vin Scully’s recorded voice tell us “It’s Time for Dodger Baseball” and then we will wait together for the last out, when, upon another Dodger victory, Randy Newman’s “I Love LA” rings throughout the stadium.  

It doesn’t get much better than that.   

• Denny Lennon is the host of YouTube Live Shows and the Video Podcast, “Sports Stories with Denny Lennon”

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