Dodger Stadium Tour and More

After Opening Day, we had another day of fun in Los Angeles.  We started by driving to Palos Verdes, where my dad lived in 1962 and 1963.  We found the house where he lived and the school that my uncles went to.  My dad was in high school and his school no longer exists.  Palos Verdes was right on the ocean and looked like another awesome place to live.  We met the current owner of the house where my dad lived.

This was pretty close to where my dad lived.  Who wouldn't want to live in southern California?

After that, we were off to Dodger Stadium again.  My dad hadn't been in California in 38 years.  He hadn't been to Dodger Stadium since 1963.  The last time my dad was in Dodger Stadium this year, the Dodgers won the World Series that year.  The last time I was in Dodger Stadium, Clayton Kershaw won the Cy Young and Matt Kemp should have won the MVP that year, but some guy on steroids won instead.  So if history is any guide, this is going to be a great year for the Dodgers.

We took the 11:30 stadium tour.  It was the same tour guide that I had two years ago, but there were a lot more people this time.  So the last tour was better.  We got to see a little more and we got to go in the Dodgers' dugout.  The tour starts on the top deck.  I had noticed the outside of the top deck was a lot different.  One change was displaying all the retired numbers for the Dodgers outside the top deck.  Inside it seemed pretty much the same.  The tour guide pointed out tables that were added for people to eat on the concourse and that some seats were removed to make more room for wheelchairs.

After the top deck, we took the elevator down to the press box level.  We got to sit in the Vin Scully Press Box.  It was a big booth for writers next to the booth where Vin Scully calls the game.  We had to take two elevators down there because there were so many people.  While we were waiting, I think I saw Sandy Koufax walk by.  I didn't get a chance to ask him if he thinks Flanders is a big jerk.

From there, we went down to the Dugout Club.  These are the most expensive seats in the stadium that aren't luxury boxes.  They weren't part of the original stadium.  They were added in starting in the late 1990s.  There's a cool inside area and that's where they keep all the Gold Gloves and Cy Young Awards and World Series stuff.  All of that was really cool.  I got pictures of the Cy Youngs for Sandy Koufax (just one of them), Orel Hershiser, and Clayton Kershaw.  Then we got to sit in the Dugout Club seats.  You'll see Hollywood types and Magic Johnson and Tommy Lasorda sitting down there.  You're as close as you can be to the field, but I don't think those seats are that good.  You're down so low that you don't have a great view of the action.  I think the first row on that level is a particularly terrible view.  We'll come back to this thought.  But after this part of the tour two years ago, we got to go on the field (warning track only) and in the Dodgers' dugout.  That was my favorite part of the tour, but unfortunately we didn't get to do it this time.

The World Series trophies and bats.

This was from the second or third row of the Dugout Club.  I don't think it's that good of a view of the game.

Then we went back to the press box level and went to a luxury box.  On the way, the tour guide pointed out some pictures that were hanging up.  He talked about the papal mass in 1987 and said that the Dodgers won the World Series the next year.  He suggested inviting a member of the clergy back because the Dodgers haven't won the World Series since then.  I'm in favor of that idea.

John Paul II was the best.  We need to get Pope Francis to say a mass at Dodger Stadium.

And that was the end of the tour.  Before we left, we went to the team store.  Two years ago, all of Dodger Stadium was sold out of Clayton Kershaw stuff and the only Matt Kemp stuff they had wasn't in my size (it really was a third class operation with Frank McCourt owning the team).  That wasn't a problem this year, so I bought some stuff and got a 5% discount for having gone on the tour.

From there, we had to figure out what to do with some time to kill.  We thought about going to Universal Studios, but I looked up the tickets and they were $80 for 1 day and we didn't have that much time anyway.  So we ended up driving around a little bit and then going to Pinkberry.  My dad likes Curb Your Enthusiasm and frozen yogurt, so I had to make sure we got to Pinkberry.  There are two on Long Island, but they're not anywhere close to us.  Maybe soon they'll expand.  I tried a sample of the key lime and chocolate hazelnut.  The chocolate hazelnut was particularly good, but I went with salted caramel.  Good stuff.

We need more Pinkberries on Long Island

After going back to the hotel to relax for a little while, we went to the game.  I had a Brooklyn Dodger Dog, which was more expensive and not as good as the regular Dodger Dog.  We were in the second row of the reserve level and right behind home plate.  I think Vin Scully was right below us.  I mentioned that I thought the Dugout Club seats weren't particularly good.  What is the best seat in the house?  I think the play-by-play guys have the best seat.  They're right behind home plate and elevated a little bit, but not way up high (unless you're at Nationals Park, their press box is too high).  I think that's a perfect view of the game.  Nothing is obscured and you have great depth perception at that height.  Also, at Dodger Stadium you get a great view of the mountains in the background when you're higher up.  You don't get that down low.  Think about other sports.  The play-by-play guy in football is going to be at an elevation near the 50 yard line.  During my first year at Notre Dame, I was about five rows off the field around the 5 yard line.  It was cool because the visiting recruits sat right in front of us and it's great when the action is near you, but it's a terrible view when the action is far away.  The play-by-play guy is going to be up high in hockey.  Basketball is the only sport where the play-by-play guy is right near the action.  And basketball is a little different because it has by far the smallest playing surface of the four major sports.  But even then, the players can be so big that you might have a hard time seeing what's going on (I think I remember Bill Simmons mentioning that after he did some color commentary on a game for ESPN a few years ago).  So yeah, I think I had a great seat for the game on Tuesday night and it only cost $22.  Being a little lower might have been even better, but I thought I was pretty close to having the best seat in the house.

I'd say this is a much better view than being in the first row at Dodger Stadium.

After a great game on Opening Day, the Dodgers didn't have it on Tuesday.  Hyun-Jin Ryu made his Major League debut for the Dodgers.  He gave up a 10 hits, but only allowed one earned run in six and a third.  Unfortunately, two errors by Justin Sellars led to two unearned runs.  The Dodgers couldn't hit Madison Bumgarner, who only gave up doubles to Andre Ethier and A.J. Ellis in eight innings.  My dad and I did a very Los Angeles thing and left with two outs in the bottom of the eighth to make sure I would get to the airport on time to get to Milwaukee (my dad flew home the next day).  We didn't miss anything and the Dodgers lost 3-0.  Terrible game, but it was a great trip to Los Angeles.

They had these for all the Cy Young winners.  I did not get a picture of Eric Gagne's (he was a cheater).

Magic Johnson is the tall guy in the blue and white jacket and Tommy Lasorda is in this picture also.