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Thursday, February 28, 2008
Braves’ last visit to “Dodgertown”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
DODGERTOWN, Fla. _ We’re here in a corner of baseball heaven. And if this is our last trip to Dodgertown, then we’re glad at least that we just walked through the chow line ahead of Tommy Lasorda in his full Dodgers uniform.
I was one of the first into the dining room, since I had to scarf some food and get back over here to write a blog. You’ve gotta get to the mess hall pri-tee early (as Larry David would say) to beat Lasorda.
Anyway, there was an older couple behind me at the salad station, and up walks LaSorda in uniform. They start talking (Tommy knows everyone in the vicinity of Vero Beach, and I mean everyone) and Lasorda tells the guy he just got back from New York.
The man asks why he was in NY, and Lasorda starts telling him, and that’s when I thought of the line from History of the World, Pt. I, when Mel Brooks said, “It’s good to the be the king.”
Not that anyone was baring cleavage to Lasorda or anthing, but just to hear him tell the story of why he was in NY, this 80-year-old dude being summoned by a friend who owns an Italian-restaurant chain, to help his son with something or other, and then while he’s there, his buddy “Mr. Modell” asks Tommy to come speak to his employees (I’m assuming he meant Modell’s Sporting Goods, but since I was eavesdropping I didn’t think it would be tactful to ask for clarification).
OK, so where were we? Oh, yeah, Dodgertown’s Last Stand. If the Orioles don’t move here after the Dodgers leave for Arizona, then the Orioles better have a helluva sweetheart deal from Fort Lauderdale officials.
Because let me tell you, having lived 13 years in Fort Liquordale and spent plenty of time at that dump of a ballpark where the Orioles have spring training, it’s incomprehensible that they wouldn’t pack up the trucks and head a couple hours north to this old-school gem of spring training if they have the chance. I’ll cry if I drive by Dodgertown someday and there are condos where once stood Holman Stadium and all the backfields and dormitories (yes, they still have the low-slung dormitories here, just like in the Jackie Robinson Story.)
OK, I wouldn’t actually cry. Then again, I wouldn’t actually have reason to ever drive anywhere near Vero Beach again if there’s no spring training. But that’s beside the point.
What was the point?
Oh, yeah, Andruw Jones. He’s not skinny. But he looks happy and actually looks kinda good in Dodger blue.
No, that wasn’t the point. It was Dodgertown.
First, the idea of the Orioles moving into Dodgertown. They’d have to swap out all these blue and red seats at Holman Stadium, to begin with. Then there are the street signs and such. Oh, what a mess.
(Oh, just got to throw this in here: They’re making Juan Pierre do something to earn his eight-figure salary — he’s out at home plate right now, catching the ceremonial first pitch from Maury Wills…. Oh, that was a cheap shot. Sorry.)
(Speaking of Wills, do you realize he once stole 104 bases in 117 attempts? That’s only slightly better than Willie Harris last season… oh, wow, I’m really not being nice today.)
Anyway, how ‘bout the Orioles at Dodgertown? Would it be O-Town? Birdland? (A not to Charlie “Yardbird” Parker, who has absolutely nothing to do with the Orioles, but so what.) No, I’ve got it: Cal-town.
OK, we’ll stop.
“I just can’t imagine another team coming in here,” Braves broadcaster Pete Van Wieren told me while ago at the batting cage. “What do they do, change Don Sutton Street to Jim Palmer Street? It just wouldn’t’ be the same.”
Especially not without Tommy Lasorda going through the food line every day at noon, in full uniform, and eating at his reserved table in the corner, the one with “Reserved for Tommy Lasorda” card a little sign in the middle of it.
Remind me to tell you sometime about how Bowman and me got to the dining room early one time, and a new waitress seated us at LaSorda’s table (the little sign wasn’t out yet), and before an older waitress could come over and kindly ask us to move our butts to a different table, I spilled some pasta sauce on the white tablecloth. I’m not making this up, I swear. You should have seen them scrambling to get a new tablecloth down in about 2 minutes, before The Man walked in….
OK, gotta watch this game. Tim Hudson’s pitching today. We’re getting underway. Braves only brought McCann, Francoeur and Diaz among lineup regulars. Diaz is leading off, Jordan Schafer in center and batting second (and Schafer just singled in his first at-bat).
Full lineup: 1. Diaz, LF; 2. J. Schaefer, CF; 3. Francoeur, RF; 4. McCann, C; 5. Scott Thorman, 1B; 6. Martin Prado, 3B; 7. Brent Lillibridge, SS; 8. Diory Hernandez, SS; 9. Hudson.
”WITH THESE HANDS” by Alejandro Escovedo
Feel the fire burning from the other side
Flames scream hear the children cry
You see the wicked prowl across the border
They say death’s the only peace the poor understand
Run for cover, run for cover the storm is breaking
Father, son, Mother, daughter
Their earth is shaking
Run to the river, The water is cool
Run to the river the water will heal your wounds
Say what you will
With these hands
Say what you will
I’ll say it with these hands
There’s danger on the highway, It’s in the shadows
Darker, Darker, Darker, I see the light
It’s moving faster, howling like the wind blows
Time comes when you longer fear the night
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