Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism.
Dodgers to Play 50th Anniversary Game vs. Red Sox at Coliseum
The Los Angeles Dodgers are about to reach a big milestone. Next year marks the 50th anniversary of the team's cross-country move to Los Angeles from Brooklyn. Today, team officials announced the Dodgers' plan to observe the occasion by playing an exhibition game in their first Southland stadium: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. KPCC's Brian Watt says that homecoming is scheduled for March 29th.
Brian Watt: The Dodgers played their first four L.A. seasons at the Coliseum while Dodger Stadium was under construction. The legendary voice of the boys in blue, Vin Scully, told assembled VIPs how the Dodgers fared in their temporary digs.
Vin Scully: When the Dodgers came out here in 1958, they had a 7th place team, and it was the first time in history – in 1959 – that a 7th place team from the year before won the World Series.
Watt: When the Dodgers moved west, then-owner Walter O'Malley chose the Coliseum over the old Wrigley Field at 42nd and Avalon. The Coliseum's 90,000 seats trounced Wrigley's 20,000. But the bigger venue wasn't configured for baseball. So O'Malley wedged in a baseball diamond with an interesting result: The left field wall rose a mere 250 feet from home plate – a chip shot for sluggers.
Support for LAist comes from
Don Newcombe: Coming to the Coliseum and seeing this layout, the field layout, for pitchers, we knew we were gonna have a lot of fun. It wasn't gonna be nice fun sometimes, but we were gonna have a lot of fun.
Watt: That's legendary Dodger Pitcher Don Newcombe. The 81-year-old remembers standing on the wrong side of some at-bats, and realizing how... "intimate" the place could appear.
Newcombe: You wind up or bend over to get resin, and you look out into left field and could almost touch the left fielder, it seemed. You knew you could touch the shortstop, but it felt like you could touch the left fielder.
Watt: To keep home run balls in the park, the Dodgers erected a 40-foot-high screen that stretched from the foul pole to left center field. Still, it rained home runs during the four seasons the Dodgers played at the Coliseum. Most were hit by the other guys. The Dodgers plan to resurrect the screen for the exhibition game next March against the Boston Red Sox. This time, the screen will carry a logo for ThinkCure. That's the Dodgers' charity for cancer research, and proceeds from the game will go there.
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.
We rely on donations from readers like you to stay independent, which keeps our nonprofit newsroom strong and accountable to you.
No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, press freedom is at the core of keeping our nation free and fair. And as the landscape of free press changes, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust, but the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news from our community.
Please take action today to support your trusted source for local news with a donation that makes sense for your budget.
Thank you for your generous support and believing in independent news.
Chip in now to fund your local journalism
(
LAist
)
Trending on LAist
-
Censorship has long been controversial. But lately, the issue of who does and doesn’t have the right to restrict kids’ access to books has been heating up across the country in the so-called culture wars. -
With less to prove than LA, the city is becoming a center of impressive culinary creativity.
-
Nearly 470 sections of guardrailing were stolen in the last fiscal year in L.A. and Ventura counties.
-
Monarch butterflies are on a path to extinction, but there is a way to support them — and maybe see them in your own yard — by planting milkweed.
-
With California voters facing a decision on redistricting this November, Surf City is poised to join the brewing battle over Congressional voting districts.
-
The drug dealer, the last of five defendants to plead guilty to federal charges linked to the 'Friends' actor’s death, will face a maximum sentence of 65 years in prison.
Best of LAist