The Dodgers were out of town while we were in LA, but they do offer stadium tours on off days. I had never been on a Stadium tour before and Lady Phungo was busy with a conference so I decided to venture out from our fine hotel in near Manhattan Beach, drive across LA and check out Chavez Ravine.
2014 05 20 Dodger Stadium
The tour opens at the top of Dodger Stadium. Due to the unique terrain of Chavez Ravine you literally drive right to the level you plan on entering. It makes for a really cool first look at the field.
The tour cost $20 which I thought was well worth it, even without getting to see a game. One reason is the great views that one is presented from Dodger Stadium.
In close proximity to LA there are mountains everywhere. If you can't see the Hills then you are atop of some landmark which affords a view of the canyons or beaches. The Hollywood sign above is easily viewed from the Left Field Concourse
Just outside the upper level the Dodgers have a Retired Number that I believe is relatively new. Each Number is about a foot deep and contains a brief player bio on the side. The right side is in English while the left is in Spanish. Jackie Robinson's 42 is the number nearest the entrance. I am not sure why the numbers are Red on the front rather than Dodger Blue. The reverse side is Blue, but one needs to reverse the image to view those correctly
The tour takes you to many unique places including a trip through the Vin Scully Press Box.
Dodgers Retired Numbers
This is the Retired Numbers as viewed from the Press Box
I learned something on the tour, prior to 1967 there was no World Series Trophy. It was left up to each team to decide how to honor their club. The Dodgers created Baseball Bats with the signature of each player - well sort of, the signatures are only engraved for the players actually signed for the ensuing season. Unsigned players had their names stamped in font form.
The Trophy to the left is from the Dodgers last World Series triumph in 1988. The stand on the left is for the 1981 trophy which was out for polishing. That was just fine with Team Phungo as 1981 is the split season that hurt what was a pretty good Philies team.
In the window reflection you can see the many Dodger Gold Gloves that are beautifully presented on the opposite side of the room.
Rookie of the Year Awards
I am a little confused on this one. The five plaques at the bottom are for the five recent Dodgers RoY winners which are all referred to as the Jackie Robinson Award. I am good with that.
The 11 awards on top are also Rookie of the Year awards but this is where it gets odd. They are referred to as the Ford C Frick Rookie of the Year award. I couldn't find any on-line documentation of the awards name prior to 1987 when it became the Jackie Robinson Award. According to Wikipedia the Award was once named for J Louis Comiskey but there is no mention of Frick. The Dodgers awards all specify National League, possibly the NL award was named for Frick, while the AL was named for Comisky. If anyone has further info, I am certainly curios.
The tour concludes by taking you to field level and into the Dodger dugout.
1 comment:
RE: the red numbers
My guess is that the numbers on the front of the uniforms are red, while they are blue on the players' backs.
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