A Grip on Sports: Memories are made at baseball stadiums and often they have nothing to do with the game itself
A GRIP ON SPORTS • Every baseball fan has one. A cathedral in which they grew up worshipping the sport. For most in the Inland Northwest, it is either the Kingdome, if you are of a certain age, or Safeco, for the younger crowd. Heck, someday there will be a generation that swears by T-Mobile.
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• The church of our youth is different in one regard. It’s never changed its name in the 60 years it’s hosted baseball. Dodger Stadium may look different, may feel different, may actually be different than it was when it opened in 1962, but it has always been Dodger Stadium.
Not 76 Union Park. Nor MGM Field. Nor In-N-Out Stadium, though that latter name probably would have come with better (and less expensive) concessions. It is Dodger Stadium.
The sea of blue seats is where we grew up munching on chocolate malts and Dodger dogs, where we watched Sandy Koufax and Ron Cey, where we held hands and kept score. Where we grew from a small boy into a married man.
Now Dodger Stadium will return to the national consciousness for one night. Tuesday it will host the All-Star Game once more.
We didn’t attend the 1980 game, though it seemed as if ever Dodger did. They were exceptional then, fielding a lineup that had grown up in Spokane, playing for Tommy Lasorda’s Indians and now playing for Lasorda in L.A. They lost World Series against the Yankees in 1977 and 1978 and would go on to defeat New York in 1981.
Forty-two years later, Dodger Stadium is different. Subtly, but different. The sunset will look the same. So will the color. The parking lot as well. But the place has changed. It’s better than it was in 1962, when it was impossible to find a water fountain. Still maddening, sure, but better.
My father learned valuable lessons in patience and self-control in the parking lot some 60 years ago, as he got caught in the maze-like traffic the first time we attended a game and he used language his 5-year-old son still emulates to this day.
After that, dad found a place to park near the correct exit. Of course, that meant arriving at the game hours early. But that just is part of the memories we built at the place. Heck, once we attended a game with our church youth group. The bus left in the eighth inning to beat the traffic. Which meant we missed a ninth-inning Dodger game-winning rally.
There were the times we got rained on, the times we just missed out on a foul ball and the times we missed key hits because we were in line waiting for a drink.
All balanced by the time we attended a mid-week game that went 15 innings. By the end, dad had dragged us down to the box seats behind home plate where the 37 of us left in the park booed when the Dodgers lost.
My most vivid memory from the cathedral that is Dodger Stadium? The first time the facility had a game rained out. My dad had wrangled tickets behind the visitors’ dugout, one row ahead of, it turned out, of Cardinal great Stan Musial, quite possibly baseball’s closest thing to the Pope, according to my pops. We met before the game. And then the rains came.
We never saw him again.
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WSU: A few Washington State baseball players are making their way through the minor leagues, hoping someday to become the next Cey or John Olerud. In a two-part series, Colton Clark looks at their journey. Today he checks in with the younger players. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and college football, the changes in conference alignment will hit schools like Colorado. And may hit hard. … There are a lot of people in California not happy with USC and UCLA right now. … Former USC running back Charles White is in a health battle no one would wish on another. … A UCLA football player has retired from the game.
Gonzaga: The NBA’s Las Vegas summer league is all about player development. Ya, right. It’s also about connections, something Theo Lawson explores this morning. He talked with a dozen or so GU alums after a special dinner last week in the desert city. It’s a story that should not be missed.
EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky, next season’s televised football schedule for Montana is actually easy to understand. … Idaho State’s Ryan Looney has seen a lot of change since taking over the school’s basketball program.
Preps: Ever since 1988, someone named Arte has coached girls basketball at Gonzaga Prep. Even though Mike retired after last season, that streak will continue. His son Geoff will take over. Dave Nichols has the story.
Indians: The Emeralds picked up another win in their series against Spokane, topping the visiting Indians 6-2.
Golf: The leaderboard is packed at the Rosauers Open Invitational. Jim Meehan covered Saturday’s penultimate round that sees a former winner and a former WSU player leading the way. … Across the pond, the British Open will finish off today as well, with Rory McIlroy and Viktor Hovland on top heading into the final round. … Scottish golf courses, like The Old Course, worry about the future.
Track and field: The U.S. swept the men’s 100 meter medals, which harkens back to days long past, as the World Championships continue in Eugene.
Mariners: It took 10 innings but the M’s won again. That makes it 13 consecutive times. This one came courtesy of a J.P. Crawford single. Ya, the same Crawford who missed the last two games with a sore finger. … The Mariners have a chance to break a 20-year playoff drought. Jason Shoot believes Jerry Dipoto has to do everything possible to ensure it happens. … Does that mean trading the house for Juan Soto – then offering him and Julio Rodriguez a billion dollars to stay in Seattle for 10 years? … Rodriguez has been preparing for the Home Run Derby. … Baseball’s draft is back and the game’s scouts have been given a chance to actually see players in person once again.
Sounders: Where did the offense disappear to? For the third consecutive match, Seattle didn’t score. The Sounders lost 1-0 in Chicago.
Storm: It’s the Storm’s defense that has keyed a recent hot streak.
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• It’s funny. We grew up at Dodger Stadium. But we have more memories, better memories, of attending games at the Kingdome and Safeco with the boys. They grew up there, spending at least a weekend or two every summer watching the M’s play. It was some of the best times of their youth. At least as we remember it from our vantage point. Until later …