Postcards from Los Angeles: My visit to Dodger Stadium ahead of NLDS

LOS ANGELES – Greetings from an absolutely beautiful ballpark.

I’ve long been a sucker for Dodger Stadium. I grew up a baseball fan in the 80s, so I watched a lot of games from there on television — Fernando Valenzuela, Tommy Lasorda, the Kirk Gibson game.

It was immediately recognizable, and not just because of Mike Brito, the man you could always see in the background of the center-field camera shot, holding up his radar gun and wearing his white Panama hat.

The hexagonal outfield scoreboards, the pastel seats, the wave-shaped roofing over the outfield seats.

I got my first look Friday when I went for the Dodgers open clubhouse and workout ahead of the NLDS with the Braves.

It was nostalgic and it was a gorgeous Los Angeles afternoon, so I was already in prime mode to be swept away. But it really is a beautiful stadium — simple in layout, symmetrical, even elegant.

A few of my favorite photos from the visit.

As I said, the weather was perfect, which only made the impression more striking. You can see the hexagonal scoreboards I mentioned above.

This is a hallway on the level with the clubhouses. It’s like what colleges do to impress recruits. Tons of Cy Young, Rookie of the Year, Silver Slugger and Gold Glove Award trophies, jerseys and photos.

That includes the jersey of the late Don Sutton, the beloved Braves broadcaster. The framed document on the lower left is his 1969 contract. That’s worth about $256,000 in today’s money. It was his fourth season in the majors.

That year, he threw 293 1/3 innings with a 3.47 ERA. I’d say he earned it.

Growing up in the Midwest and now spending my adult life in Atlanta, it’s always a little jarring to see palm trees.

As I said, the weather was practically perfect. Saturday’s game might be a little different. It’s supposed to be 100 degrees by 2 p.m. local time. (First pitch is 1 p.m.)

Braves reliever Brent Suter: “I feel like this is a cooler 98 than Atlanta, so I think our guys will be prepared for it.”

Manager Walt Weiss said it even better: “You’ve got to remember, we’re from Atlanta.”

One of my favorite things about my walk around the stadium is noticing small details like the corrugated metal accents throughout.

They were part of a 2014 renovation and were meant to reference the building materials used in the stadium’s original construction when it opened in 1962.

One of the things that struck me most while walking around the stadium is how clean it is. Not just no hot dog wrappers on the ground (which, obviously, you would hope for on a day without any fans), but the appearance that it was cleaned regularly.

I told this to a stadium worker and she confirmed, saying that the stadium is pressure washed after every game.

There’s also a 1960s aesthetic that has probably been part of updates (which is sort of ironic). A thought I had more than once in my self-guided tour, particularly about the cleanliness and aesthetic, is that it felt like Disneyland.

This is probably overthinking it a little bit, but that obviously is a strategy (although nothing is wrong with cleanliness) probably intended to help you part with more of your money. But, it works!

This is maybe the coolest thing I saw. It was pointed out to me by a security staff member who has worked at the stadium since the 1980s. The blue seat is where Kirk Gibson’s iconic home run landed in the 1988 World Series.