Since they moved to Los Angeles 60 years ago, the Dodgers have proven to be more than just a baseball team. They’re a cultural force.
Now, the Dodgers Organization has taken all of those memories and put them into a new pop-up museum, located inside of Dodger Stadium.
It’s called “60 Years in LA.” The exhibit houses everything from game-used jerseys to rare Dodgers souvenirs to the team’s numerous player-recognition awards throughout the years.
“We used to be the new kids on the block in '58 and now we’re the oldest sports franchise,” said Mark Langill, team historian for the Dodgers. He helped organize the exhibit, to showcase everything the team has gone through over the years, including their first move from Brooklyn to L.A.
For instance, a Dodger Stadium model is encased in glass on one the side of the exhibit. It’s the same one that former Dodgers owner Walter O’Malley had in his office decades ago
“You can see his vision as far as wanting to build this ballpark,” Langill said. “He basically looked at a Thomas Guide and looked at this area and looked at this area in Chavez Ravine and knew this was the perfect spot to build a ballpark.”
Langill said it was important to also include more recent mementos, like game-worn jerseys from the 2017 team. When viewed alongside all of the other historic items, it creates a full tapestry of the Dodgers’ six decades in Los Angeles.
"The young kids will say, ‘Hey, there's a Puig jersey! Number 66! Look at that dirt! Isn't that exciting?’” Langill said. “But then somebody else is going to look at a Sandy Koufax jersey and say, ‘That's the best I ever saw.’ So different ages since 1958 are going to pick up on different things.”
Dodgers fans old and new are coming off a season that ended in heartbreak. L.A. lost Game 7 of the World Series to the Houston Astros.
"It was so disappointing and so many people were still aching over that,” Langill said.
But Langill thinks that this exhibit could help those who still long for another World Series championship in Los Angeles
“This is a great way to go swan dive into 60 years of memorabilia and the greatest Dodger memorabilia collection,” Langill said. “That really shows you the magnitude of this ball club.”
The "60 Years in LA" pop-up museum is now open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays in Dodger Stadium until March.