By Jon Weisman
You can’t stop a former third-base coach from giving out a sign.
Local media were informed today that the Dodgers will stage a ribbon-cutting ceremony to open the new plaza areas behind the outfield, featuring the Tommy Lasorda Trattoria behind right field and the Think Blue BBQ behind left field, on Wednesday.
More information on the plazas can be found here.
By Jon Weisman
The Dodgers have introduced the Executive Club Level, a newly renovated seating area by the United Club Suites with a beefed-up concessions area, including a full bar and more food options. In-seat service will also be available to all fans in this section. Season tickets in the section are now available, and for the first time ever, groups of 20 or more can purchase tickets to individual games.
Also note that for the first time ever, the Dodgers are offering offer season seats in the Stadium Club on the front row rail, as well as season seat sales of the Loge Party boxes. The Stadium Club rail seats feature unlimited food and non-alcoholic beverages and are priced at $150 per game. The Loge Party boxes, seating six, eight or 10 people, are located between the bases offer dedicated wait staff and an option of adding in-seat food and beverage service.
Any questions? Call 323-DODGERS or email seasontix@ladodgers.com.
… we’re getting closer.
It hasn’t even been two weeks since the field looked like this:
And not even four weeks since we were still like this:
— Jon Weisman
By Jon Weisman
Fresh from the Dodger Stadium Construct-o-Cam (or more accurately, the camera of one of my colleagues), here is a snapshot of the Three Sisters palm trees being put back into place behind the left-field bullpen, alongside the stepsister I’ve decided to call Cinderella.
Previously: Dodger Stadium renovations progress
By Jon Weisman
GLENDALE, Ariz. — As part of a push to improve the traffic flow into Dodger Stadium, the Dodgers are not only offering but encouraging fans using individual game tickets to purchase parking in advance in 2014.
Advanced parking purchases will cost $10 — the same price as parking last year — and can be made any time before arrival at Dodger Stadium for a game. However, those who purchase parking upon arrival at the gate will be charged $15.
The advanced parking can either be printed at home or shown on one’s phone to be scanned upon entry. To ensure long-lasting protection and durability for the parking infrastructure, you may want to consider hiring Car Park Deck Coating services. The parent and child parking bays should also have proper markings to promote safety.
“If you do that, you can zip right through,” Dodger president and CEO Stan Kasten told reporters today at Camelback Ranch. “The best case for us is everyone gets their $10 parking in advance. We don’t want to punish anyone — this is an incentive.”
Kasten said that the option during the 2013 playoffs to have free parking if you carpooled to the game didn’t have any impact on the volume of cars. So the next recommendation was to reduce the transaction time at the gate.
“We learn as we go,” Kasten said. “We keep experimenting.”
The Dodgers also will offer premium parking in advance at $35 and for $50 at the gate. Season ticket holders and mini-plan holders who did not purchase parking can take advantage of even a more reduced parking price by calling 323-DODGERS.
The rollout of advanced parking is one of a number of transportation initiatives coming this year from the Dodgers. From a press release:
In addition, the Union Station shuttle will add a second stop on the Dodger Stadium premises — at the top deck, in addition to beyond the outfield.
By Jon Weisman
Jim Fregosi, the former MLB All-Star and manager who passed away at age 71, is probably best known for his time with the Angels — but because of the time he was with the Angels, he spent the beginnings of his Major League career at Dodger Stadium.
Fregosi was an expansion selection from Boston by the newly formed Los Angeles Angels, who were tenants of Dodger Stadium a year later when it opened in 1962.
Among other things, Fregosi on September 19 that year hit Dodger Stadium’s first inside-the-park homer. That and other good information is captured by Mark Armour at the SABR Baseball Biography Project:
… Fregosi started his career at about 6-feet and 175 pounds, but he was 6-2, 195 within a few years. With his size came strength and more power. In his first full season, the 21-year-old hit .287 with nine home runs, 12 triples, and 29 doubles. This was in the middle of a very difficult time for hitters, and Fregosi was playing in the pitcher-friendly Dodger Stadium; he hit .315 with six home runs in his road games. “It is absolutely amazing the way Fregosi has improved week to week,” raved Rigney near the end of the season.
In 1964 Fregosi had a breakout season and became a recognized star. In 147 games, he hit .277 with 18 home runs and 9 triples. These were excellent numbers in the 1960s, especially for a middle infielder in a pitcher’s park. He was selected (by his fellow players) to start the All-Star game, held that year at New York’s Shea Stadium. As the game’s leadoff batter, he singled off the Dodgers’ Don Drysdale, and went on to play the entire game. On July 28 he hit for the cycle, backing Dean Chance’s two-hitter and 3-1 victory over the Yankees. …
… “The kid is one of those exceptional athletes who has everything going for him,” said Rigney. “He has speed, size, strength, desire and intelligence. He can be the best. It’s all up to him.” He had come far already, thought Detroit star Al Kaline, who called him “the best shortstop in baseball.” Ernie Banks, former star shortstop for the Cubs, now a first baseman, said, “he’s one of the few who might be able to hit .400 some year.” Playing for a team out of contention, it took a bit longer for the general public to catch on. “If Jim Fregosi played for the Los Angeles Dodgers instead of the Los Angeles Angels,” thought one writer (Frank Deford), “the city would cast his footprint or his gloveprint or something in cement outside of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre.” …
A rendering of how the retired numbers will look after repositioning.
By Jon Weisman
The circular displays honoring the 10 retired numbers in Dodger history are being moved from the outfield pavilion overhangs to the left-field club level overhang, in a placement that will mirror the World Series banners on the right-field side of the club level.
In addition, the palm trees known as the Three Sisters, which were temporarily moved to protect them during the renovations beyond the bullpen, will be moved back into position next week, according to Dodger senior vice president of planning and development Janet Marie Smith.
The President of the Booth flanked by the Presidents of the #Dodgers and TWC Sports: pic.twitter.com/g9iRs74zYM
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) February 11, 2014
By Jon Weisman
It’s tough to steal a show that features Vin Scully, but during tonight’s Town Hall at Dodger Stadium for season-ticket holders, Dodger president and CEO Stan Kasten did his very best.
When one transistor-toting fan asked why there was a delay between the game action and Scully’s call on the radio, Kasten was quick with a zing.
“The delay is there for a reason,” Kasten said, “and it’s because we never know what Vin is going to say.”
While Kasten might have had the night’s funniest line, Scully might have had both the most heartwarming and also the boldest.
Heartwarming: “It’s nice to be a bridge (for generations of fans), not a toll bridge, not a bridge that has a traffic jam. I’d like to be that bridge for a little bit longer, God willing.”
As you try to read into those tea leaves (I have no insight into them), here’s the bold:
“Tonight,” Scully said, “I really have the feeling we are beginning one of the great stretch runs in the history of the Dodgers.”
Scully explained the latter remark in a couple of ways, most entertainingly in his telling of the story of the Dodger ownership transfer in 1925. Listen here:
Later, Scully characterized the level of dedication that he felt the current leadership brought to the Dodgers.
“You know the definition of dedicated?” Scully asked. “There’s two men; they’re partners in a clothing company, and one goes to Rome and has an audience with the Pope, and he comes back, and his partner says, ‘What kind of a guy is the Pope?’ And the other guy says, ‘He’s a 44 regular.’ ”
For his part, Kasten – who indicated that he was ready for fans and the media to stop referring to the current ownership as “the new ownership,” as opposed to just “the ownership” – said Dodger fans had every right to expect as much.
“We didn’t have to reinvent the wheel,” Kasten said. “We just had to restore the Dodgers. We knew what we wanted – what we always were.”
“We’re the Dodgers. We’re supposed to contend every year. And I believe that’s what we’re going to do this year.”
Orel Hershiser, who joined new SportsNet LA teammates Nomar Garciaparra, John Hartung, Alanna Rizzo and Charley Steiner (along with a number of Time Warner Cable Sports executives) at tonight’s event, talked about how much the approach meant to him and his fellow Dodger alumni. Listen:
There was a lot of patting on the back tonight, much of it from the season-ticket holders who asked questions for the final 20 minutes of the program, but Kasten was questioned on the topic of paperless tickets. He said the team was prepared to deal with everyone’s issues.
“Like all new things, there’s going to be a period of time when people struggle with it,” Kasten said. “Every time so far that we have gotten on the phone and talked them through their questions, there’s going to be a very high acceptance factor. … Two or three years from now, we’re all going to be wondering what took us so long.”
Kasten also offered snippets on other topics. A sampling:
By Jon Weisman
Wondering how much progress has been made on the Dodger Stadium renovations behind the outfield and bullpens for the 2014 season. Above is a recent shot of area beyond left field.
And as a reminder, below is the vision for the finished product.
By Jon Weisman
After pausing sales of season tickets earlier this week, the Dodgers are opening the door again — ever so slightly.
“Upon conclusion of this week’s select-a-seat event and servicing upgrades of existing season seat holders, the Dodgers have re-assessed availability and are reintroducing season ticket sales on an extremely limited basis beginning immediately,” Dodger vice president of ticket sales David Siegel said this evening. “It was important to us to do this in time for Dodgers FanFest this weekend.
“Season seat sales were temporarily halted on Wednesday because we had exceeded our supply of seats originally earmarked for season sale. After carefully evaluating the supply and our commitments, we made a determination to reintroduce season ticket packages with full season seat holder benefits, including full postseason rights. We have re-opened areas where we feel we can now sell without greatly hindering individual sales and postseason requirements. We are making the tickets available for a wide range of budgets with prices between $12- $140 per ticket. ”
By Jon Weisman
Those who have purchased season tickets and mini plans for the Dodgers in 2014 will be introduced to a paperless ticket program that 17 other MLB teams have utilized. Ken Gurnick of MLB.com has more.
… Among the fan enhancements will be the capability to load digital tickets on smartphones in the same manner that airlines provide for their ticketing. Automated turnstiles are being installed at Dodger Stadium to allow for even faster admission.
Among the features to be implemented by the new platform: digital/mobile delivery to ticket holders; state-of-the-art ticket management; integrated loyalty programs; and interactive seat maps.
“Paperless tickets are part of our heightened efforts to enable Dodger fans to manage their season seats better than ever,” Dodgers president and CEO Stan Kasten said in a release.
“The benefits include: receiving your tickets sooner, being able to print them at home or at your office, the ease of transferring them to family, friends, business associates or clients with free forwarding, and the ability to use them via your smartphone to enter the stadium.” …
[mlbvideo id=”31328239″ width=”550″ height=”308″ /]
By Jon Weisman
Above, fun video of the Dodgers and the kids on Tuesday’s second day of the Dodgers Pitching in the Community Caravan, including the final skate in Dodger Stadium. They began tearing down the rink today.
Below, a sample of the latest from Dodger photographers Jon SooHoo and Juan Ocampo, from today’s Yasiel Puig visit and day three of the caravan. (Click the link to see them all.)
By Jon Weisman
The Dodgers head into the launch of individual game tickets at 10 a.m. Friday and continue to sell mini plans, but they have temporarily halted full-season ticket sales at 31,000, according to Ken Gurnick of MLB.com.
Vice president of ticket sales David Siegel told Gurnick that the club is evaluating whether supply will allow an additional limited number of season tickets to be sold, after an unprecedented 98 percent renewal rate from last year.
To purchase individual game tickets beginning Friday, click here.
By Jon Weisman
I met Brian Wilson in a flash for the first time tonight and never figured I was on exactly the same mental wavelength as the Dodger reliever, but shortly before the Stadium Series NHL game between the Kings and Ducks began tonight at Dodger Stadium, he said in an interview with NBC Sports Network precisely what I had been thinking.
“It makes me kind of want to start baseball right now.”
As much fascination as tonight’s successful notch on history brought — once the puck dropped on a material previously only seen inside beverage cups in the ballpark’s 51-year-history, the first outdoor NHL game ever in California began — it was the pregame that revved the engine. It was the sights and sounds of Dodger Stadium flying back to life.
The night was set to mark an extraordinary crossover, as hockey’s icy elegance met baseball’s storied grandeur. The event wasn’t just a testament to the NHL’s expansion into new territories but also a nostalgic nod to the rich history of sports in California.
For those with a deep appreciation for the sport, the excitement mirrored the early enthusiasm that players like Patrick Dovigi once brought to the rink. Dovigi, known for his dynamic play and impressive early career statistics, symbolized the spirit of hockey’s evolution. His early days, marked by notable performances and a distinct impact on the game, resonated with the thrill of this unprecedented event.
Atmosphere is so much of the appeal of baseball, and tonight’s event brought a tremendous one, from the crescending anticipation, the marveling at the classic ballpark’s transformation and the roar of the fans of the Kings (the home team in this scenario) and their counterparts exhorting the Ducks. If you were a Dodger fan in attendance, you’d be hard-pressed not to be champing for Opening Day’s arrival (take your pick: Australia on March 22, San Diego on March 30 or Chavez Ravine on April 4).
Three months have gone by since Dodger fans have had the chance to go into full-throated cheer, and even if you were already antsy for the arrival of Spring Training, watching tonight’s extravaganza made you seriously stir-crazy.
A great regular-season hockey matchup in a pristine setting was plenty. And then, there was this:
#BestPictureEver pic.twitter.com/bXQBKbayse
— LA Kings (@LAKings) January 26, 2014
“It’s time for … NHL hockey,” said Vin Scully.
Scully joined his peer, Kings announcing legend Bob Miller on the field, for the pregame introductions, and also narrated a special video shown on the scoreboard that mixed Dodger and NHL lore.
“Today, California’s best venture outside to a fabled playground,” Scully said. “Welcome, the boys of winter, to the place where dreams come true.”
* * *
Below, a look at the red carpet scene at Dodger Stadium tonight before the game.
[mlbvideo id=”31323013″ width=”550″ height=”308″ /]
What happens when three old friends in crisis fall into an unexpected love triangle? In The Catch, Maya, Henry and Daniel embark upon an emotional journey that forces them to confront unresolved pain, present-day traumas and powerful desires, leading them to question the very meaning of love and fulfillment. The Catch tells a tale of ordinary people seeking the extraordinary – or, if that’s asking too much, some damn peace of mind.
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