The Los Angeles Dodgers and I were born in the same year and close to the same place. I came out crying in Pasadena while the Dodgers birthed several miles to the South. As my 50th birthday passes into the night, the one constant in my life has been my Dodger fandom. Much to much of my life has been spent worrying about this team. Is it a pathetic thing to say that not a day has probably passed in 40 years where I didn't think at least once about them?
Best offensive players born in 1958
I have no idea why I became a fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers, as we moved not long after I was born, and my family began a journey of a new city every year for the next 11 years. I didn't see my first live Dodger game until I was 11. Maybe it was my Grandparents who lived in Glendale and were weaned like many of you on Dodger baseball by Vin Scully. Maybe it was my brother Chris who liked them and that rubbed off on me. For whatever reason from the time I could determine symbols the Dodgers were my team. I'd go through my brother's baseball cards before I could read and pick out any player with the Dodger symbol on their hat and put it aside. It is one of my earliest memories but as time has moved on I've collected more then my mind can hold.
Listening to armed forces radio as Willie Davis dropped 3 flyballs in the 66 World Series and the unbeatable Sandy Koufax was beaten. At the time I listened to the game with my family but I understood little of what was actually happening other then the fact it was bad, very bad.
Bill Sudakis hitting a solo home run on the game of week when I saw the Dodgers play baseball on TV for the first time ever.
Bill Grabarkewitz hitting a solo home run and Don Sutton pitching a 1 - 0 shutout for my first game at Dodger Stadium
Watching a double header against the Big Red Machine in the bleachers with my Dad turning purple under the sun after six hours of baseball sometime in the early 70's.
Jimmy Wynn, Mike Marshal and the young Dodger infield giving me my first taste of postseason Dodger baseball
World Series despair in 74, 77, and 78 after playoff heroics
Final three games against Houston in the 80 season
Fernando mania and a real world championship for the Dodger infield, complete with a kickass defeat of the Yankee's by winning the final four games.
Pedro Guerrero smash n smile during the mid 80's
Improbable 1988 Championship hoisted on the shoulders of Orel and Gibby
Piazza time
Shawn Green time
Lima time & Beltre Bombs
Dodger thoughts and a newly found Dodger community
Writing for True Blue over the last year and a half has been a godsend for me. While I've been making my living over the last 30 years in the application business software side I yearned to do something related to baseball. When Jon suggested to Andrew that I write here when he needed to concentrate on work I figured he was trying to get rid of my paragraph size comments at Dodger Thoughts. Having something to say has always come easy to me, writing it down in a coherent manner with little knowledge of writing skills seemed daunting. I didn't think I could pull it off without embarrassing myself and felt it would be a short gig. One year and a half later you are all still stuck with me. I've muddled through but I'm fully aware of my writing limitations made even more so when I wrote a few stories for SportsHubLa and discovered what an editor does.
This little blog only gets about 300 daily visitors but it feels big to me. After 50 years I can say for the first time I'm doing something I really enjoy. Writing about the Dodgers is about as good as it gets in my book, the fact that you actually take the time to read what I write keeps my trying. I know this blog is missing an important component when Andrew takes his fall vacations but in the meantime we will muddle through. My Andruw Jones endorsement is a red flag about any advice I might give, My Jeff Kent call is the counter to my Andruw Jones endorsement. I'm going to be wrong alot, after 50 years I'm good at being wrong, but hey this is baseball where Jose Lima pitched the greatest game I've ever seen at Dodger Stadium. What were the odds of that? I know I've made you think about the Dodgers, laugh at Ned, shed a tear when I remember my friends, give you updates on the prospects, while all the while wincing at my grammar. I sometimes go where Dodgers baseball cannot follow, but many of you understand when I go there.
Thanks for reading, thanks for taking the time to comment.