The COVID-19 outbreak has delayed the 2020 baseball season that was scheduled to start on March 26. While baseball should be the least of our worries, it reminded me that the baseball season used to start in April, and March was reserved for Spring Training.
Fifty years ago this week, I was in Florida for a family vacation, our first real vacation. Our destination was Vero Beach, the spring training home of the Dodgers. I attended two games, the first on Easter Sunday March 29 and the second the next night, a 7pm start. Holman Stadium in Vero Beach had been the Dodgers’ home since the Brooklyn days, and the complex was nicknamed Dodgertown. It was beautiful; all open and accessible to fans. That night the Dodgers would lose to the Yankees 11-4. I think that was the final score since my mother gave up scoring after the 8th inning. I still have the scorecard and program, safely stored with my baseball memories and there is a lot to unpack from this night.
As I noted, the stadium was an open design. There was no roof over any seats. There was no outfield fence, only a grass berm lined with tall palm trees. There were no dugouts, either; the players sat on a bench separated from the fans by a short fence. Before the game, my father walked with me to behind the Dodgers bench and asked their longtime manager Walter Alston for an autograph. Walt was the manager for the Dodgers only World Series title in Brooklyn, and he repeated in Los Angeles in 1959 and 1963. He said sure and I got it. I can guarantee you that today it would be impossible to do that. I was pretty excited.
But then I had my eyes on a bigger price. Our seats for the evening were to the left of the press box behind home plate, and again given the simple nature of Holman Stadium, consisted of little more than two long tables with a very high roof covering the sportswriters, broadcasters and electronics. We all noticed another longtime Dodgers icon Vin Scully sitting in the press box, sitting on the right side of the press table. With my mother's encouragement, I very nicely walked over and asked Mr. Scully for an autograph. He could not have been nicer. Of course, he said yes to the request. He asked me my name; I said Gregory (no nickname if my mother was nearby). Vin asked me where I was from, and I said Poughkeepsie. “I know where Poughkeepsie is”, he replied. That made me feel special. I told him that I liked the NBC gameshow he was hosting at the time - It Takes Two. He thanked me. What I didn’t know was that it had been cancelled, but the remaining episodes were still airing. I don’t think he held that against me. I thanked him for the autograph and off I went back to my seat. It was a great moment for 12 year old Greg, and I’ve loved sharing this story for the past 50 years.
There are a few more things about that spring training game I’ll share, mostly trivia. Catching for Dodgers that night was a future Mets manager Jeff Torborg. On the bench for the Dodgers, but he didn't play in the game, was future Mets manager Bobby Valentine, who guided them to the National League pennant in 2000. And batting 3rd for the Dodgers and playing 1st base was a young man who would play an infamous key role in the 1986 World Series, Bill Buckner. In Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, Vin would call the play by play on TV linking Mets history to Buckner forever: "A roller, behind the bag! Here comes Knight, and the Mets win!"
After Game 7 of the 1986 World Series which I attended, I walked by Vin in the Shea Stadium parking lot. It was about 12:30am and he was returning to the NBC compound set up outside. I wanted to stop him and say thank you for that autograph 16 years prior, but I didn’t think it was the right time. This article is about as close as I'll get to saying thanks.
