My Life as a Dodger Fan

Well it's April and that could only mean one thing... my birthday! Nope, ever since I was a kid when April came it meant one thing; "It's time for Dodger baseball". Yep I am a life long Los Angeles Dodger fan. In fact when I was a kid, my dream was to play for the Dodgers and wear number 14, just like my favorite Dodger player Mike Scioscia  . Then there was also one of my all-time heroes, Jackie Robinson, even though I never got to see Jackie Robinson, in fact he passed away 5 years before I was even born I always admired him as a kid growing up. In fact in elementary school I did a report on Jackie Robinson, and to this day have read books on his life and of course I watched and loved the movie "42". To this day if there was one person I could meet, sit and have a conversation with it would be his wife; Rachel Robinson who I believe is an true inspiration. Also when I was a kid I one 1st place in a baseball skills competition for my age group, I think I was 9 years old, and received two tickets to a Dodger game and a couple weeks later received a letter and autographed picture from Tommy Lasorda.

My all-time favorite Dodger Mike Scoscia

Jackie Robinson

As for being an Dodger fan my entire life for as far back as I can remember, I always enjoyed going to Dodger Stadium to watch a Dodger Game. From the time I was a kid to now I love to show up early watch batting practice, enjoy a Farmer John Dodger Dog, while Nancy Bea plays on the Dodger Stadium organ, you really cannot beat that. . I have plenty of great memories as a kid, teenager, and as an adult watching the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. One thing I use to do as a kid growing up was, being that my birthday is on April 9, it's always at the beginning of baseball season, and my dad would often take me to a Dodger game on my birthday or around my birthday, then I would sometimes get two Dodger games, because my Uncle who is the most die hard Dodger fan you'll ever meet would also take me to a game for my birthday. In fact the first time I ever went to a Dodger Opening Day, which by the way is a holiday for us Dodger fans, and it's something every Dodger fan must experience, myself I've been to four Opening Days. Alright getting back to my first Opening Day, which landed on my birthday on April 9, 1990. It was a great day the night before my parents dropped me off at my grandparents house so I spent the night, and the next day (a school day) was my birthday. I woke up my grandma gave me $20 to buy a souvenir at the game (I'll get back to that $20 later). Then my Uncle John and I left early from South Gate to Dodger Stadium. It was awesome, I remember walking into beautiful Dodger Stadium, the smell of grilled Dodger Dogs (grilled is the only way to eat them), with so many sounds; the sound of Nancy Bea playing on the organ, the sound of the crack of the bat as batting practice was going on, Roger of the Peanut guy, yelling; "Peanuts get your peanuts" (whenever I sat in the lodge I had to get peanuts from Roger. Before the game I remember them announcing the Dodger team player by player on the third base line, this was back when my uncle had season seats in lodge 145 (second level, aka the orange seats), so we had a great view. From what I recall about the game Orel "Bulldog" Hershiser started the game, I was happy to see Mike Scioscia playing and I think Hubie Brooks hit a 2 run HR in the 8th and the Dodgers won 4-2, it was a great game, and something I'll never forget. Now a little side story about the $20, when we got back to my grandparents house my grandma asked me; "So what did you buy with the $20". I told her; "My food", and my grandma responded like this, and if you knew my grandma, you knew what her favorite word was; "Well shit John, why did you make him pay for his food?". My uncle responded; "The ticket was his birthday gift." She said give him $20, for Jason to use at the next Dodger game he goes to. And he gave me $20 and the next time I went to a Dodger game I bought a new Dodger hat

                                                Nancy Bea on the Dodger Stadium organ

Circa 1986 a Dodger birthday game (From left to right- Me, my friend Frankie, my brother Tim, my friend Chad)

Ariel view of Dodger Stadium

The beauty of Dodger Stadium

Orel "Bulldog" Hershiser

Fernando Valenzuela

Dodger Dog (I like my with ketchup, mustard, and onions)

Pedro Guerrero was one of my favorites as a kid

Now perhaps my favorite Dodger memory and one of the greatest and to some people would say the greatest moment in Dodger history and even Los Angeles history, is of course game 1 of the 1988 World Series. Oh yea I was at the game. I'll never forget the day... I was an 11 year old kid who of course dreamed of being a Dodger one day. So my brother and I were playing baseball in the front yard, when my mom came out and said; "Jason, Uncle John is on the phone for you." I thought he was calling to ask me if was going to watch the Dodger game that evening as they were going to be playing game 1 of the World Series against the mighty Oakland A's. So I got on the phone and he asked; "What are you doing tonight?" I said; "Watching the Dodger game"! He then asked me; "Do you want to go to the game, and of course I yelled; "Yes". So he came out and picked me up. We got there so early that the parking lot gates were not even open yet. So we parked down the hill and walked up to the stadium, of course I bought a program (which I still have). Walking into the stadium it felt so different compared to a regular season game, it was the World Series. I remember so much of the game. Such as Micky Hatcher hitting a HR for the Dodgers and then sprinting around the bases, then there was the monstrous grand slam HR by Jose Canseco, my hero Mike Scioscia got an RBI single. Then came the bottom of the 9th, with the Oakland A's leading 4-3, Oakland brought in the best closer in MLB in 1988; Dennis Ecersley who had a league leading 45 saves that season, and he had 4 saves in the ALCS with a postseason 0.00 era. There were a few (not a lot) of fans who gave up and left, but Uncle John and I had faith in our Dodger blue and stayed in our seats in good old lodge 145. Dodger pitch-hitter got to first base by being walked. Then the last person who we thought would be playing that night emerged out of the Dodger dugout, as we were behind the Dodger dugout, we see number 23, Kirk Gibson come out of the dugout. Gibson had been injured and was not able to start in the game, in fact this was his only appearance in the entire World Series. Gibson worked Ecersley to a full count, 3 balls and 2 strikes, by this time Davis had stolen 2nd base. Gibson was fouling off balls, in fact one the foul balls was just a few rows behind us and if you watch a replay of the game you can catch a glimpse of  my Uncle and I, I'm standing on my seat because the entire stadium was standing up. So it's a full count everyone is on their feet including an Oakland A's fan behind us who claimed the night before she was partying with Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire. Then it happened, it was like slow motion, the pitch, Gibson swings and we knew right away the ball was going out of the yard, yet it seemed like slow motion as the ball just drifted over the right field fence and Dodger Stadium went crazy. The stadium was shaking it felt like an earthquake, we all went nuts, hugging and giving high fives to complete strangers. I remember no one wanted to leave, we turned around and that Oakland fan was crying. After the game we were walking back to the car, in the parking lot and I started to chant; "Sweep, sweep." As cars were honking and everyone was still cheering, my uncle stopped me right away and he told he said that in 1978 and the Dodgers lost to the New York Yankees in 6 games. As it turned out the Dodgers did not sweep the A's but they did go on to beat the Oakland A's in 5 games, to become World Champions, I remember after game 5 my dad and I going out to the front yard shaking up some cans of 7-up and pouring it on each other. 1988 was the last time the Dodgers won or even went to the World Series, as us Dodger fans have been waiting almost almost 30 years for a world championship, hopefully 2015 will be the year. Almost 20 years later I got my crumpled up 1988 game 1 World Series ticket stub autographed, by no other than Kirk Gibson. 

The famous Kirk Gibson home run (Video)

The long time voice of the Dodgers Vin Scully

Unbelievable 

Tommy Lasorda, loved in LA hated in San Fransisco

I have many other memories of watching Dodger games and of course listening to Vin Scully calling the Dodger games. I've been lucky to see some great games at Dodger Stadium as already mentioned, the Kirk Gibson HR. But there was another game with Kirk Gibson I remember as well. One game we use to go to as a family every year was the Hollywood Stars game. This was during the magical 1988 season, but in this game the Dodgers were playing the Montreal Expos. The Dodgers were down by one run going into the bottom of the 9th and that's when Kirk Gibson came up to bat. With a runner on second Gibson hit a single and brought in the game-tying run, he then stole 2nd base. Now to the exciting part, I don't remember who was up to bat for the Dodgers, but Kirk Gibson was on 2nd base (side note, this was way before the remodeling of the Dodger Stadium, so from home plate to the backstop was a good distance). So Gibson is on 2nd and the Expos pitcher, throws a wild pitch and we were sitting up on the top deck (to this day I love sitting in the top deck), from the top we see Gibson running like a bull out of a gate in Spain, we see him charging towards 3rd base, but we can tell he's not stopping, Gibson rounds third base and heads to home and scores the game winning run. It was then that a lot of us Dodger fans felt this could be a championship year, and it was. Kirk Gibson brought so much life into the Dodgers that year, Gibson was the NL MVP in 1988 as well.

Another great and historic game I had the privilege of attending was on October 2, 2004. That year the Dodgers and the hated San Fransisco Giants were in a head to head battle for the NL West title. In fact in came down to the final series of the season, at Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers were losing 3-0 going into the 9th inning. And right away the Dodgers scored 3 runs to tie the game, and before you knew it the bases were loaded. Then Steve Finley (who only played for the Dodgers for a few months) came up to bat, and hit a grand slam home run, to not only win the game, but also win the division for the Dodgers that season, unfortunately the Dodgers lost to the St. Louis Cardinals that year in the NLDS, but that was an amazing game, to be at. I've even seen a no-hitter pitched at Dodger Stadium it may have been against the Dodgers but watching a no-hitter live is very impressive; pitched by Kent Mercker of the Atlanta Braves, it was a birthday game April 8, 1994. Another thing I've been doing since I was a kid is keeping score at games, to this day I bring my own scorecard and keep score, it makes the game more enjoyable. 

In closing I could write so much more of my Dodger memories, but I'm hoping to make a lot more, hopefully with a World Series win this October. As for now I'll enjoy going to Dodger games, it's just too bad I can only afford to go to one or two games a year (so if you want to take me to game, hook me up). I played baseball up to a 16 year old playing Colt ball at Memorial Park in Upland. I had some decent years including a MVP year in 1988, which I had a .697 batting average. Sometimes when I go to games I look down at the field and wonder if I would of kept on playing, how far could I have gotten. I even had a dream of being a sports journalist (which is one reason why I started this blog). But for now I'll still cheer on my Dodgers, eat Dodger dogs, peanuts, cracker, and just enjoy being a fan. Even though I still dream of shagging fly balls in the outfield, taking batting practice, or even writing for the Dodgers. Please feel free to comment on your Dodger memories. LETS GO DODGERS!