Dodger Blue

I have been a Dodger baseball fan since eight years old when I first became interested in playing baseball (while living in Southern California).  I attended my first Dodger game in 1960, which wasn’t long after the team moved to Los Angeles from Brooklyn (1958).

Those first few years the team played at the Los Angeles Coliseum, and that’s where we went for that first game.  The field was optimized for football, so the left field fence was rather short–they erected a tall screen there to curtail cheap, short home runs to left.  My favorite player at the time, Wally Moon, used to hit high flies over the screen, and he hit one during the game we saw (as did Frank Howard).  Johnny Podres was the winning pitcher.  Other players were Gil Hodges, Jim Gilliam, Johnny Roseboro, Maury Wills, Duke Snider.  I have old baseball cards of all these players, of course.

Here is a photo of the 1959 World Series in the Coliseum.

Dodger Stadium was completed in 1962, built in Chavez Ravine not far from downtown L.A.  I attended a number of games there through my growing up years (1962-1965, and 1966-1970–times when I lived in Southern California).

Here is a photo of the stadium.  I recall sitting high up behind home plate once, and was somewhat unnerved by the steep angle of the stairs and high seats.

Usually we (my dad and brother) sat in the cheap outfield pavilion seats, and I always brought my glove, with hopes of catching a home run ball. Never came close to happening.

Hard to believe that this stadium that I frequented when new is now the third oldest active baseball stadium in the major leagues, behind only Fenway Park in Boston, and Wrigley Field in Chicago (both built in the 1910’s).

One persisting memory I have from attending games there is the horrible traffic jams trying to exit the parking lot and get on a freeway.  It was late at night and we still had an hour’s drive home.

My son Daniel is also a Dodger fan, so we have enjoyed going to a couple of Dodger games these past few years.  Here are photos from those visits (2009 and 2013).

 

 

Edit:

My dad phoned me this morning to remind me that we witnessed Bill Singer pitch a no-hitter for the Dodgers on July 20, 1970.  I got free tickets for getting good grades, and attended the game with my dad and brother, Glade.  It seems I should have better memories of such a rare game, but can only conjure up a very foggy recollection.