Goodbye, Dodgertown

The Dodgers played two spring training games in China last week, splitting the squad and creating a need for a second manager while Joe Torre was gone. And it was so fitting that Tommy Lasorda came out of retirement to oversee the team’s final games at Vero Beach. Monday’s 12-10 loss to the Houston Astros was the final game at Dodgertown, their home since 1948.

The Dodgers will play for the next week in Arizona, where they will move next season, closer to its West Coast fan base. The move is understandable, but still a bit sad. Baseball is a game of tradition, but that tradition always seems to be under some kind of attack, whether it’s an owner thinking of selling naming rights to Wrigley Field, or Yankee Stadium getting knocked down (after this season). The Brooklyn Dodgers moved to Los Angeles, but still came back to Florida every year.

Lasorda came to Dodgertown for the first time as a 19-year-old pitching prospect. He’s now 80, and has come back every year. “It’s sad,” he told the New York Times. “But you know, times change.”

“It was kind of a blue feeling,” Lasorda added, “to know I’m going to leave this place behind, leave the people here, leave the church I went to.” He added: “It’s sad. I may never come back here again. I’m thinking about that.”

The Orioles are moving to Dodgertown next year, but that’s no consolation to many fans. “The fans here don’t care,” Dodgers fan Angelo De Santo told the Times. Nodding his head, fan Dave Heath added, “It won’t be the Dodgers.”

Other storylines in Dodgers camp:

• The Dodgers’ outfield is pretty crowded, with prospects Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier next to high-priced veteran Juan Pierre and ever higher-priced veteran Andruw Jones. There are only three spots in the outfield, of course. Could Pierre be benched?
• There are two big-name Japanese imports in the National League this season. The Cubs’ Kosuke Fukudome and Dodgers pitcher Hiroki Kuroda. Kuroda was strong at the beginning of camp, but had a tough outing last week.
• There’s no doubt that the best fourth-place team in baseball was the Dodgers, who faded down the stretch last season. Joe Torre is used to going to the playoffs – he has for the past 13 seasons. Will he make a difference?

Photo: Carl Erskine plays the National Anthem on his harmonica before the final game for the Dodgers in Dodgertown on March 17, 2008 in Vero Beach, Fla. Erskine, 81, pitched the first game for the Brooklyn Dodgers at Holman Stadium when it opened March 11, 1953. (Photo by Doug Benc/Getty Images)

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