1970-79

1970

February 10, 1970

Columnist Bill Miller of the Santa Monica Evening Outlook writes a feature about "Cowboy" Rogers, the Western Union teletype operator in Dodgertown in Vero Beach, Florida upon Rogers' passing. Rogers' job was to receive the stories from sportswriters in Vero Beach and have them sent by Western Union to be distributed to the respective newspapers. Miller wrote of the spring when Walter O'Malley presented Rogers with a Dodger World Championship ring and of Rogers' appreciation for the Dodger organization.  1

February 19, 1970

Safari Pines Country Club, the new 18-hole public golf course nearby Dodgertown continues under construction and will be opened later this year. In a unique design to allow golfers the greatest convenience, the golf course has four greens, four tees, a driving range and a putting green that revolve around the clubhouse. Nearly 40 sand traps have been designed for placement on the course. Other special features of the golf course include a heart-shaped green on the fourth hole and a four-leaf clover design for the green on the ninth hole. 2

February 22, 1970

High praise is given from the California Angels' general manager Dick Walsh on the Dodgers' Spring Training base in Vero Beach, Florida. Walsh, a former Vice President of the Dodgers said, "This will be a business-like camp, a camp that is run on order-like the Dodgers do at Vero Beach."  3

February 24, 1970

Popular morning Los Angeles radio team (Al) Lohman and (Roger) Barkley were in Dodgertown to broadcast their show back to Los Angeles. Dodger Manager Walter Alston asked Lohman if he could keep up with the pace in Spring Training. Lohman replied, "I figured out your schedule. Today we get up at the crack of the bat. Tomorrow it's the pop of the glove. On Thursday it's the roar of the crowd and on Friday it's the smell of the locker room." Lohman also complained to Walter O'Malley that the showers were cold. O'Malley replied, "The showers are cold because that's orange juice coming out. What else would a Florida shower consist of?"  4

February 24, 1970

Walter O'Malley was involved greatly with the new 18-hole golf course on land he owned just across the road from Dodgertown. O'Malley's 18-hole course would be a challenge to even experienced golfers. "Can't we get a little more roll to these fairways," asked O'Malley. I don't want these fairways to be as smooth as a billiard table." The Dodger Chairman of the Board was making a golf course built on his own game. "Something else," said O'Malley. One of these holes I want it tailored just for me. You know, rough down the middle and fairways on both edges. You guys know I can't hit straight." O'Malley was heard talking to a landscaping person working on the green. "Get a little slope in there," said O'Malley. "Can't make it too easy, you know." The landscaper responded to O'Malley's request, "It'll be just like the green on your other course. No one can put on those green 'cept y'all." 5

February 26, 1970

The Vero Beach Press Journal newspaper has an editorial to welcome the Dodgers to their 1970 Spring Training camp in Dodgertown. The editorial stated, "There is probably no accurate way to judge the economic benefits the Dodgers bring to Vero Beach and Indian River County. But the fact that they do add to the economy is undeniable…..Our town will receive the Dodgers this year for training for the 22nd time, and we hope for many more years to follow. Once more we tip our hats to the Los Angeles Dodgers and say, 'Welcome home.'"  6

March 5, 1970

Spring Training for the Dodgers is a time for conditioning and "coconut snatching", the term used by the organization for switching a player to another position. This spring, outfielder Bill Russell was given the opportunity to play third base to see if he could make the transition. Third base was not for Russell, but by 1972, he would become the Dodgers' regular shortstop for many seasons.  7

March 8, 1970

Mitch Chortkoff of the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner writes of the value of Dodgertown. "It's a mighty pleasant little community. For another, it provides the ideal conditions to prepare a baseball team." Walter O'Malley is quoted as saying, "This is not the Century Plaza Hotel (a luxury hotel in Century City, Los Angeles). But it grows on you. I know I'll come here when I don't have to anymore……The key word is togetherness. I know of no other spring complex where everyone from top to bottom lives alike. This is one time of the year when communication is not a problem……" The column continues with O'Malley remembering, "One time a player was refused use of a Laundromat downtown. The next day we installed two (washing) machines in Dodgertown. On another occasion a player was denied use of a golf course. That's when we built ours (first, a pitch and putt golf course and a later nine hole golf course)."  8

March 8, 1970

Upon hearing the rumors that the Dodgertown barracks, built during World War II, were to be torn down for modern rooms and suites, a number of protest signs sprung up on the base. One protest sign read, "Rally-Save the Barracks-4:30 Monday at (swimming pool) To Hell With Modernization. We Love The Barracks." The protest sign was endorsed at the bottom by Committee (Don) Sutton and (Claude) Osteen (two Dodger pitchers). Another sign read "Men-Be Calm-No Big Shot Can Order Us To Vacate Our Homelike Barracks. Come Prepared-No Violence."  9

March 8, 1970

The Dodgers were playing an intra-squad game at Dodgertown before the exhibition season started and a light rain was falling. The Dodgers' Triple-A Manager for the Spokane Indians, Tom Lasorda, decided to have some fun and brought out an umbrella for home plate umpire Jess Collyer. Collyer took the umbrella and continued to umpire the game, but Chairman of the Board Walter O'Malley made his own decision to end the game. O'Malley drove his golf cart on the field, ordered Collyer to get into the cart, and the home plate umpire left the game.  10

March 9, 1970

As a member of the Penn Board of Trustees, Walter O'Malley sent a letter to a high school running back in Connecticut, encouraging him to play football at Penn. The letter from O'Malley was sent to Bobby Valentine, the Dodgers' first round choice in the June, 1968 Free Agent Draft. O'Malley said, "At the time, I wasn't aware that we were thinking of making Valentine our No. 2 (He was the first round choice of the Dodgers) draft. Imagine, what I was doing was advising (him) to play football at Penn rather than baseball with the Dodgers."  11

March 11, 1970

The Dodgers defeated the Houston Astros, 15-14 in a wild exhibition game at Dodgertown, but the top story was the use of an experimental baseball called the "5-X." It was reported the "5-X" had five percent more compression than a regular baseball in a bid to potentially create more offense. However, a 20 mile per hour wind that day was more prominent to lead to the run scoring binge by the two teams.  12

March 17, 1970

Peter O'Malley is named as the president of the Los Angeles Dodgers after a meeting by the Dodger Board of Directors at Dodgertown in Vero Beach, Florida. 13 Chairman of the Board Walter O'Malley, formerly the Dodger president, said, "There's no question in my mind that Peter will make a good president. I and my wife, Kay, are extremely proud." 14

March 17, 1970

New Dodger President Peter O'Malley writes to the Reverend Ralph Abernathy of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference that the Los Angeles Dodgers were proud to host the East-West Major League Baseball Classic at Dodger Stadium on March 28th of the same year. Proceeds from the game are to benefit the Southern Christian Leadership Conference Foundation and the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Center in Atlanta, Georgia.  15

March 26, 1970

Steve Garvey, one of the top young Dodger players, recalls his memories riding the Dodger bus when he was eight years old. Steve's father, Joe Garvey, drove a Greyhound bus based in Tampa, and often the Dodgers would have the elder Garvey as their driver on bus trips through the state. Steve said, "My special favorite was Gil Hodges. When Gil would invite me to play catch, you couldn't talk to me for a week." 16

March 28, 1970

The 1970 Spring Training season is marked by the appearance of the "Green Phantom", a person known for practical jokes played at Dodgertown but the identification was unknown. Walter Alston said, "This guy hits and run with the best." As sportswriter Ross Newhan puts it, "The Phantom has yet to be seen. He is yet to leave a clue." Triple-A Manager Tom Lasorda was a regular target. When asked why, Lasorda said, "You'd have to ask the Phantom." Walter O'Malley came under suspicion as being the Green Phantom. His wife, Kay, said, "Unless my husband can start accounting for his time, I've definitely got to believe he's (Walter O'Malley) involved." Among the practical jokes played on Lasorda that spring were a sign on the whirlpool reading "U.S.S. Lasorda," a can of ant killer labeled "Lasorda's Deodorant", and finally, his entire bed and the dresser cabinet were removed from his room. When Lasorda came in that day after a workout, all he found in the middle of the room was a baseball, painted green, the calling card of the "Green Phantom." The "Green Phantom" was not yet done with Lasorda for Spring Training. After a few days of no practical jokes, Lasorda walked in one morning to find his uniform, shoes, glove, and under clothes all painted green. Lasorda said, "You've got to pay the price and I'm paying it."  17

April 1, 1970

One of the greatest hitters in baseball history, Ted Williams, made a prediction of Bill Buckner. Williams, the Manager of the Washington Senators, said of Buckner in Spring Training that "Buckner will win the National League batting title within three seasons." Actually, Buckner would later win a National League batting title, but it would be in 1980, ten years after the prediction made by Williams.  18

April, 1970

Golf, a national publication of the golf industry, features the nine-hole Dodgertown golf course. The magazine said of Dodgertown Golf Course, "(It) is a handsome, surprisingly sporty nine-hole layout. The surprise is that a golf course on such flat basically uninteresting terrain could turn out to be a challenge. That it does is a tribute to Walter O'Malley, owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers and unofficial designer of the golf course." The golf periodical noted fees at Dodgertown were nearly half of the other two courses in Vero Beach. Walter O'Malley tells the magazine why the course was built. "We actually started the course as a convenience to our players, both African-American and white…..When it became tough to get all our players starting times at the other Vero Beach courses, we said what the hell, let's build our own golf course," said O'Malley. The golf course was not a basic nine-hole course. "Nearly every feature of the course is stamped with O'Malley's personal touch," said the magazine. "To build character into the flat terrain, he ordered elevated greens at every hole, and he endowed the greens themselves with the most imposing array of curves this side of a beauty contest." Dodgertown Golf Course pro Dick Bird said, "We have a saying about our rolling greens. Anytime you find yourself with a 10-foot putt that's straight, we give you your money back." 

A massive sand trap that overlaps the fourth and the seventh holes is something golfers don't see every day as the fourth and the seventh golf holes are holes that play in opposite directions but are adjoining. The magazine says the third hole is formidable, a par 5 that is 474 yards long and needs a 100-yard carry over the lake. The location of the first hole is near enough to Holman Stadium that a bad slice can put a golf ball onto the field. 

O'Malley had several types of trees planted on the course that include Hawaiian papaya, banyan, eucalyptus, and Indian rosewood. The 18-hole record for the nine-hole golf course (playing the course twice) was a 68 by a left-handed golfer and Dodger player Ron Fairly. The magazine added that Walter O'Malley had appointed himself the permanent chairman of the rules committee for the course. 19

April 23, 1970

The Dodgers continued to make inroads for baseball internationally when they invited a pitcher from the Netherlands, John Van Westrenen to their Spring Training camp in Dodgertown. The invitation was arranged by the Dodgers through the request of Dr. William Arce, the baseball coach at Claremont-Harvey Mudd College.  20

April 24, 1970

Rookie pitcher Sandy Vance remembers his first spring at Dodgertown. Future Hall of Fame pitcher Don Drysdale saw the condition of Vance's playing spikes and offered Sandy a new pair of shoes that fit Vance perfectly.  21

July 19, 1970

Dodger shortstop Maury Wills is the feature of a lengthy article by Bill Libby in the Los Angeles Times. Wills described his first spring at Dodgertown in 1951 where he had been signed as a pitcher. Seeing the large number of pitchers on the first day of workouts, Wills noticed few players in competition for jobs as a second baseman, and decided he was now an infielder.  22

September 18, 1970

Walter O'Malley writes the Los Angeles Dodgers' Board of Directors to tell them he has played the new 18-hole golf course at Dodgertown with team engineer Ira Hoyt and former team comptroller E. John Burns. O'Malley told the Board "The grass on the fairways and greens was superior to any of the Los Angeles courses we have played." 23   O'Malley also told the Board, "With Jim (Mulvey, Dodger Board Member) and Peter (O'Malley, Dodger President), dissenting, we have gone ahead with the name Safari Pines Country Club. 24

September 18, 1970

Walter O'Malley tells the Los Angeles Dodgers' Board of Directors of the location of the new residence for players and personnel at Dodgertown. "The location of the proposed residence hall has again been changed and it will now be in the area presently occupied by the hospital wing of the barracks from which point we will eventually work toward the main entrance if and when we build substitute eating facilities. This means we will be demolishing our least desirable and poorest maintained rooms." 25

December 19, 1970

Peter O'Malley announced the Yomiuri Giants baseball team from Japan has accepted an invitation to train at Dodgertown in Vero Beach, Florida for the 1971 Spring Training season. The Yomiuri Giants had won their sixth consecutive Japan Series in 1970, the championship series of Japanese professional baseball teams.  26

1 ^ Bill Miller, Santa Monica Evening Outlook, February 10, 1970

2 ^ Vero Beach Press Journal, February 19, 1970

3 ^ John Wiebusch, Los Angeles Times, February 22, 1970

4 ^ Ross Newhan, Los Angeles Times, February 24, 1970

5 ^ Gordon Verrell, Long Beach Press Telegram, February 24, 1970

6 ^ Vero Beach Press Journal, February 26, 1970

7 ^ Ross Newhan, Los Angeles Times, March 5, 1970

8 ^ Mitch Chortkoff, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, March 8, 1970

9 ^ Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, March 8, 1970

10 ^ Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, March 8, 1970

11 ^ Ross Newhan, Los Angeles Times, March 9, 1970

12 ^ Los Angeles Times, March 12, 1970

13 ^ Los Angeles Times, March 17, 1970

14 ^ Bob Hunter, The Sporting News, March 28, 1970

15 ^ Correspondence, Peter O'Malley to Rev. Ralph Abernathy, March 17, 1970

16 ^ Ross Newhan, Los Angeles Times, March 26, 1970

17 ^ Ross Newhan, Los Angeles Times, March 28, 1970

18 ^ Ross Newhan, April 1, 1970

19 ^ Golf, April, 1970

20 ^ Dwight Chapin, Los Angeles Times, April 23, 1970

21 ^ Ross Newhan, Los Angeles Times, April 24, 1970

22 ^ Bill Libby, Los Angeles Times, July 19, 1970

23 ^ Walter O'Malley, Memo to Los Angeles Dodgers' Board of Directors, September 18, 1970

24 ^ Walter O'Malley, Memo to Los Angeles Dodgers' Board of Directors, September 18, 1970  

25 ^ Walter O'Malley, Memo to Los Angeles Dodgers' Board of Directors, September 18, 1970.   

26 ^ United Press International, December 19, 1970

1971

February 14, 1971

Peter O'Malley tells a story of the name of the new golf course in Dodgertown in a feature in Home Magazine in the Los Angeles Times. "We're putting in a new 18-hole golf course at Vero Beach that will be open to the public. Now, I wanted to call the new course Dodgertown-because, you know, that's what I think Vero Beach is all about. But Dad (Walter O'Malley) wanted to name it 'Safari Pines.' We really went round and round about that one." When asked what the name of the golf course would be, Peter said, "We're going to call the course Safari Pines."  1

February 18, 1971

Holman Stadium at Dodgertown saw its share of exhibition games, but other fields at Dodgertown received plenty of game use. The 1971 Spring Training section of the Vero Beach Press Journal showed a schedule of 10   games to be played on Field No. 1 and 14 games to be played on Field No. 2. Field No. 1 is the southern full field and Field No. 2 is the northern full field at Dodgertown. The games were between teams of Dodger minor league players or Dodger minor leaguers against minor league players of other major league clubs. 2

February 20, 1971

The Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers for many seasons have flown on team airplanes to Dodgertown, Vero Beach, Florida for Spring Training. This year, the team again flew to Vero Beach, but this time it was the maiden flight of the "Kay 'O II", the second Dodger plane named for Kay O'Malley, the wife of Dodger Chairman, Walter O'Malley. This was no propeller plane, but a 720-B fanjet aircraft. The flight from Los Angeles that would take more than six hours was reduced to approximately 4 ¼ hours. The plane was christened at Los Angeles International Airport by Mrs. O'Malley with a bottle of champagne. The 720-B aircraft could seat 105 persons, with all the seats being first class and more leg room than a commercial flight. The Dodgers were the first team to own their own airplane, and now they are the first sports team to own a jet aircraft. 3 Claude Osteen said of the team jet, "This plane has got to be a great lift. It will make it easier for us. It will also make us try that much harder (on the field)." 4 Richie Allen, recently traded to the Dodgers said, "I finally feel like I'm in the major leagues." 5 The 720-B jet is considered to be the largest corporate-owned jet in the world. 6 Walter O'Malley was served lunch on his first flight with filet mignon and said, "Steak? How in the world can we afford steak?" 7

February 21, 1971

Walter O'Malley indirectly suggested this Spring Training will be the last for the Dodgertown barracks to house staff and team personnel. Two years ago as an example of team spirit, a campaign was begun to save the barracks. One player said, "The spirit is still there but the barracks have to go. This year the theme is 'Burn the Barracks.'"  8

February 22, 1971

Richie Allen talked of his pleasure of being traded to the Dodgers. "Let me tell you just how far the Dodgers have gone to make me feel a part of this team. When we landed they gave me a package of Florida products. It even included suntan lotion." Allen also discussed the value of Dodgertown, "It looks like the perfect place to train. In fact, this whole thing (Dodgertown) is what I've always thought the big leagues would be like. I mean it's just the way the Dodgers treat you. Everyone is the same-the rookies and the veterans-and everyone feels like they're playing a part."  9

February 28, 1971

Los Angeles Times sportswriter Shav Glick covered golf in Southern California, but listed a note in a column of the No. 3 Hole at Safari Pines Golf Course, built by Walter O'Malley. The third hole at Safari Pines is a rare par 6, 667 yards long.  10

February 28, 1971

Rookie Bobby Darwin is being converted from pitcher to outfielder and showed why by hitting what some people thought was the longest home run in the history of Dodgertown. After Darwin hit his massive home run in a Dodger intrasquad game, Walter O'Malley and Vice President Al Campanis rode a golf cart past the left field embankment to make a personal measurement. Their calculation was the ball was slugged 514 feet away from home plate and rolled an additional 200 feet.  11

March 5, 1971

A six-foot rattlesnake was discovered and removed from the 18th hole at the new Safari Pines golf course owned by the Dodgers near their Spring Training base at Dodgertown. Player Bill Grabarkewitz said of the snake announcement, "They keep making this hole tougher and tougher."  12

March 9, 1971

Former Dodger outfielder and current team hitting instructor Fred "Dixie" Walker was honored by Dodger Chairman Walter O'Malley with a silver bat to commemorate his 1944 National League batting title with a .357 batting average. However, the Silver Bat award was first awarded to batting average champions in 1949 when Jackie Robinson won the National League batting crown. Since Walker did not have a silver bat, Walter O'Malley decided Walker's achievement deserved recognition. The Dodger owner ordered a silver plated bat and presented it to Walker in Spring Training in Dodgertown. The barrel of the bat contains the legend "Genuine Dixie Walker Louisville Slugger-Batting Champion 1944-National League B.A. (batting average) .357. On the handle of the bat, it reads, "Presented by Walter O'Malley-Spring of 1971."  13

March 11, 1971

Dodger broadcaster Vin Scully was asked if he had yet played the new 18-hole Safari Pines golf course built by Walter O'Malley near the Dodgertown base. Scully said he had not yet played the course but heard "On that layout (golf course), a five-footer (putt) means a snake."  14

March 12, 1971

The Dodgers defeated the Yomiuri Giants from Tokyo, 2-1 when Jim Lefebvre hits a two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning. Before the game, the Dodger and Giant players exchanged playing caps with each other. Then the Dodger players presented Yomiuri Giant players with Dodger jackets. 15 Giant right-hand pitcher Tsumeo Horiuchi struck out 11 in seven innings and was complimented by first baseman Wes Parker who said, "He (Horiuchi) could start for any team in the majors. His stuff is outstanding." 16

March 14, 1971

Columnist Jack Murphy of the San Diego Union writes in a column that Walter O'Malley "just missed an eagle the other day on the unusual six-par, 660-yard hole that distinguishes his new 18-hole course."  17

March 16, 1971

Japanese home run king Sadaharu Oh visited Richie Allen in the Dodger clubhouse to exchange bats with the great Dodger slugger. Oh offered Allen a model of his 31-ounce bats and was surprised to find the weight of Allen's bat to be a massive 39 ½ ounces, one of the heaviest bats swung in the major leagues.  18

March 16, 1971

Dodger owner Walter O'Malley commented on a recent national magazine article criticizing the future of baseball. "I answer by saying," said O'Malley, 'Look at the Dodgers. Look at our stadium, the new jet, the models for the new living quarters in Dodgertown. We're constantly putting our resources back into the game. That's a pretty good indication of how bright we think baseball's future is….Baseball is still the popular-priced sport. We haven't raised our price since we came to Los Angeles. Sure, football and basketball have gained in popularity and their seasons keep getting longer, but in many ways each sport complements the other. We want as much interest in athletics as we can get.'"  19

March 17, 1971

The Dodgers' Triple-A Manager at Spokane, Tom Lasorda, was encouraging minor league pitchers as they ran wind sprints in preparation for the season. Lasorda told his running pitchers, "You're all making good money out here. It's not a lot of money, but it's all good."  20

March 19, 1971

Ladies' Professional Golfer Jackie Pung was a visitor to Dodgertown to prepare her game for the women's tour. Pung was a five-time winner on the LPGA tour and partnered with Maury Wills to face Jim Gilliam and Willie Davis in a golf match. Pung and Wills combined to defeat Gilliam and Davis by one stroke. 21 Pung told Bill Miller of the Santa Monica Evening Outlook of her love of Dodgertown. "If I could afford it," said Pung, "I'd bring all of Dodgertown to it (Hawaii). This is the next best place to Hawaii. Everyone's so friendly." 22

March 25, 1971

Dodger outfielder Richie Allen ran into a Royal Palm Tree at Holman Stadium and the outfielder was briefly knocked unconscious. The trees were planted in a semi-circle around the outfield. At that time, there was no protective fence at Holman Stadium from the trees. Allen was in pre-game practice shagging fly balls when he went back for one ball hit to him and he crashed into the tree. 23 Allen was able to joke of the situation. "I hope at least I left a dent on the tree." 24

March 25, 1971

Satirical columnist Jim Murray of the Los Angeles Times writes of Dodgertown and anticipated changes to happen to the Spring Training base. "Well, now they're going to bulldoze Dodgertown!.....Don't they realize Pee Wee Reese slept here?.....Walter O'Malley's cigar ashes are all over the place. Maury Wills first learned to hit a banjo here…..It's not all history that makes Dodgertown worth preserving. There is the intrinsic charm of the place….In Dodgertown, when you check in, you first find out which bulbs in the light sockets are working, which windows won't open, and which won't close…..The showers turn on by themselves, usually at 4 o'clock in the morning…..Baseball has suffered enough…..Let's get together and keep the chrome and glass and hot running water and French phones and draperies and air conditioning out of Dodgertown…Let's save this historical monument no amount of money can restore. And hurry! The bulldozers are at work in the orange groves right now and Iowans are already writing for reservations for the whole family."  25

March 27, 1971

The experiment of this year's Spring Training is the switch-hitting attempt made by Bill Russell. Russell, a natural right-hand hitter, tried hitting from the left side to see if it gave him an advantage at the plate. In this game, Russell had two hits from the left side and drove in two runs as the Dodgers defeated the Astros, 5-1. However, once the season started, Russell returned to his regular right side as a hitter.  26

March 27, 1971

Dodger Chairman Walter O'Malley looks ahead to the future of baseball and recommends the 12 teams in the National and American League be reconfigured to three divisions of four teams. O'Malley said, "We should try to keep each team in the race as long as possible." The suggestion was not acted upon at that time, but in 1994 the Major Leagues changed to a three-division format.  27

March 27, 1971

Dodgertown was admired throughout baseball as a model Spring Training base. Montreal Expos General Manager Jim Fanning said of Spring Training camp, "The ultimate would be to have a set-up like the Dodgers have at Vero Beach." Sportswriter Ian MacDonald wrote in the same story, "Whenever training camp sites are discussed with baseball people, the Vero Beach home of the Dodgers is mentioned." Montreal Expos broadcaster and former Dodger pitcher Don Drysdale said, "I hate to keep bringing it up, but the camp at Vero was just super. Everyone was under one roof. All those minor (league) players were working and living with the major leaguers. Whenever they finished their drills or workouts for the day, they would have to go and watch the big leaguers finish. When the big team played intersquad games, we had to sit in the stands and watch. You had to learn that way. You see how much a couple of young fellows with this camp are learning. Well, at Vero (Beach), every kid in the organization had that chance."  28

April 1, 1971

The April Fool's joke of this spring was the offer of $1 million by the Montreal Expos for Dodgertown. Dodger President Peter O'Malley explained how it was a misunderstanding. "What happened," said O'Malley, "was that one day I was talking to Don Drysdale (Montreal Expos announcer and former Dodger pitcher) and he was telling me about all the good young pitching talent the Expos have. So I said to him, 'Ok, since your club is looking for a place to train, we'll trade you our barracks for all your young pitchers." In fact, the Dodgers were in the process of planning for new sleeping rooms for players and staff to be ready for Spring Training in 1972. 29

April 3, 1971

The Sporting News has a feature of former Dodger employee Herman Levy, now working for the San Diego Padres in their clubhouse. Levy previously worked in the Dodgertown post office, but was known through Dodgertown for his morning flag raising ceremonies. Levy would stride to the flagpole with an American flag under his arm and raise the colors with pride and dignity. When the American flag was properly raised to its height, Levy would recite the Pledge of Allegiance to anyone who would listen.  30

April 3, 1971

Don Drysdale, now a broadcaster for the Montreal Expos, was getting ready to enter the Dodger clubhouse in Dodgertown before an Expo-Dodger in Dodgertown. For years, the Dodger policy was that no unsigned players to a contract were permitted on the base. Drysdale had retired from playing in 1969. As Walter O'Malley saw Drysdale, he said, "You (Drysdale) can't go in there. You haven't signed your contract yet." "I'm ready," was Drysdale's response.  31

April 3, 1971

Columnist Melvin Durslag of the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner wrote of an invitation by Walter O'Malley to Sandy Koufax to travel to Dodgertown in the new 720-B jet owned by the club. O'Malley wrote to Koufax that "If the roof leaks above your room, we'll even give you a new pail (to catch the water)."  32

April 17, 1971

Ray Bolger, the "Scarecrow" from the Wizard of Oz and one of America's greatest song and dance personalities, is a Spring Training visitor to Dodgertown. Bolger finds time to play a round of golf with Walter O'Malley at the new Safari Pines golf course owned by the Dodgers near the Spring Training base.  33

July 24, 1971

Roy Campanella tells sportswriter Bob Broeg of The Sporting News of the time he informed Dodger Manager Walter Alston of a young, right-hand pitcher on the staff at Dodgertown in Spring Training. Campanella recalled telling Alston, "I just saw a big tall kid who impressed me, Skipper (Alston). Let me catch him for three innings against the Yankees next week and I'll give you a good line on him." The right-hand pitcher was Don Drysdale, a future Hall of Famer.  34

1 ^ Patrick McNulty, Home Magazine, Los Angeles Times, February 14, 1971

2 ^ Vero Beach Press Journal, February 18, 1971

3 ^ Ross Newhan, Los Angeles Times, February 21, 1971

4 ^ Ross Newhan, Los Angeles Times, February 21, 1971    

5 ^ Ross Newhan, Los Angeles Times, February 21, 1971 

6 ^ Ross Newhan, Los Angeles Times, February 21, 1971         

7 ^ Ross Newhan, Los Angeles Times, February 21, 1971       

8 ^ Ross Newhan, Los Angeles Times, February 21, 1971     

9 ^ Ross Newhan, Los Angeles Times, February 22, 1971

10 ^ Shav Glick, Los Angeles Times, February 28, 1971

11 ^ United Press International, March 1, 1971

12 ^ Bob Hunter, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, March 5, 1971

13 ^ Bob Hunter, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, March 10, 1971

14 ^ Bob Hunter, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, March 11, 1971

15 ^ Bob Hunter, The Sporting News, April 3, 1971

16 ^ Ross Newhan, Los Angeles Times, March 13, 1971

17 ^ Jack Murphy, San Diego Union, March 14, 1971

18 ^ Bob Hunter, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, March 16, 1971

19 ^ Ross Newhan, Los Angeles Times, March 16, 1971

20 ^ Bob Hunter, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, March 17, 1971

21 ^ Bob Hunter, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, March 19, 1971

22 ^ Bill Miller, Santa Monica Evening Outlook, March 13, 1971

23 ^ Bob Hunter, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, March 25, 1971

24 ^ Ross Newhan, Los Angeles Times, March 26, 1971

25 ^ Jim Murray, Los Angeles Times, March 25, 1971

26 ^ The Sporting News, April 10, 1971

27 ^ The Sporting News, March 27, 1971

28 ^ Ian MacDonald, The Sporting News, March 27, 1971

29 ^ Ross Newhan, Los Angeles Times, April 2, 1971

30 ^ Jack Murphy, The Sporting News, April 3, 1971

31 ^ Ross Newhan, The Sporting News, April 3, 1971

32 ^ Melvin Durslag, The Sporting News, April 3, 1971

33 ^ Bob Hunter, The Sporting News, April 17, 1971

34 ^ Bob Broeg, The Sporting News, July 24, 1971

1972

February 27, 1972

Ron Rapoport of the Los Angeles Times writes of the changes in Dodgertown this Spring. New hotel room villas were opened as living quarters for players and staff to replace the World War II barracks previously there. "The Dodgers begin a new era in Spring Training today. It includes air conditioning, carpeted floors, color television, showers that turn on (and off) when you want them to and dozens of other comforts of home….What Spring Training used to be was mosquitos, sweltering sleepless nights (and freezing sleepless nights), splinter producing floors."  1

February 28, 1972

Tom Lasorda, the Dodgers' Triple-A manager for the Albuquerque Dukes, receives a present from Walter O'Malley at the start of Spring Training. Lasorda had always said he wanted his tombstone to carry the Dodgers' schedule so if people visited his gravesite, they might want to see a game at Dodger Stadium that night. Lasorda is presented with a marble tombstone that states, "Dodger Stadium is his address, but every ballpark was his home."  2

March 4, 1972

Walter O'Malley explains how he came to build golf courses in Vero Beach on Dodgertown property. "I built the course (9-hole golf course) because the African-American players were not allowed on local courses…..Well, I got such a kick out of the (9-hole) course, that I built the 18-hole course." O'Malley said people questioned the Dodgers remaining in Florida for Spring Training after moving to Los Angeles. "The logistics indicated it was ridiculous to train in Florida when there are ideal places like Palm Springs in California…..There's more competition here….We don't lose many days of practice. We have an understanding with the weatherman that it 'only rains at night.' O'Malley also said there were valid reasons to keep Spring Training in Vero Beach. "We're in so deep it would not be economic to think of making a move. The things we've built here nobody would want unless he was in the baseball business."  3

March 4, 1972

The Dodgertown base is the subject of a feature written by Ron Rapoport of the Los Angeles Times. Coach Danny Ozark had been coming to Dodgertown since 1948. "We had 28 minor league clubs and 550 players here the first year. We slept six to a room in the old barracks. They came around and blew a whistle to wake us up…..We ate off stainless steel trays. It was a lot like the Army," said Ozark. Walter O'Malley explained how Dodgertown came to be in Vero Beach. "We had tried Daytona Beach and Sanford and Pensacola," said O'Malley. "But Florida had segregation laws then-African-Americans couldn't play and we had Jackie Robinson and had determined to keep pioneering in that area. Well, Bud Holman (Vero Beach resident and business leader for whom Holman Stadium is named) said, 'Come to Vero Beach. You'll have no trouble.'" Merrill Barber, President of the Indian River Citrus Bank in Vero Beach was quoted as saying, "The coming of the Dodgers is the greatest single event that could have happened in our community. We got the type of publicity nationwide we could not have obtained any other way. Many people are living here now because of the Dodgers. They came to see the team, decided they liked the town and moved here."  4

March 4, 1972

The identity of the "Green Phantom", the practical joke artist in Dodgertown is revealed in an article in the Los Angeles Times. Night watchman Glen Joyce told a story of how Triple-A Manager Tom Lasorda was a victim in previous years when someone moved out all the furniture from Lasorda's room. Then, the following evening, Lasorda's room was filled with shredded paper. Player Jim Lefebvre stepped forward to proclaim himself as the "Green Phantom." Lefebvre said, "I can't deny it any longer. I was the Green Phantom and Wes Parker was the "Shadow." The great thing was, Tommy (Lasorda) kept telling me I had to help him find who was doing it, so one night we fixed it up so a couple of other guys would be in his room while everybody was watching the movie. Then we told him to sneak back to his room and he caught them." The "Green Phantom" played no favorites on the base. Dodger President Peter O'Malley said, "One night, the "Green Phantom" stole all four wheels off my dad's (Dodger Chairman Walter O'Malley) golf cart. Now that was going too far."  5

March 4, 1972

Ron Rapoport of the Los Angeles Times reports that Bert Lahr, the prominent American actor who played the "Cowardly Lion" in the "Wizard of Oz," visited Dodgertown in the 1960s and visited the press room after an exhibition game. 6 In 1971, Ray Bolger, the "Scarecrow" from the "Wizard of Oz" was a Dodgertown guest and played golf at the new Safari Pines golf course. 7

March 5, 1972

Pulitzer Prize columnist Arthur Daley of the New York Times writes of the changes of the new rooming quarters at Dodgertown this Spring Training. "There is a new look to Dodgertown this year," wrote Daley….."When the Dodger plane spilled out the players at Vero (Beach) this year, the athletes just blinked in astonishment. Where there had once been an orange grove across the road from the barracks, a cluster of extremely attractive motel type dwellings glistened in the sunshine…Thanks to the snazzy new living quarters, Dodgertown has a championship look."  8

March 7, 1972

Walter O'Malley's golf cart was equipped with a flashing red light and a siren. One writer speculated the Dodger Chairman was the latest member of the Vero Beach volunteer police force.  9

March 15, 1972

The players and team personnel rave about the Dodgertown villas that are built for their sleeping comfort in this their first Spring Training of use. The rooms are also decorated. Walter O'Malley has a bit of fun with Walter Alston's room on the base. Laminated plaques containing Dodger yearbook, program, and World Series covers have been placed in the villas. In Alston's room, a plaque showing the Dodgers' 1962 anticipated World Series cover was installed. The Dodgers lost the 1962 National League pennant to the San Francisco Giants in a three-game playoff and Alston was the Dodger Manager that season.  10

March 16, 1972

Dodgertown has always been a place for experimentation for training baseball techniques. This year, there is a new twist on the "strings" area where several pitchers could warm up at one time under the guidance of pitching instructors and managers. Two mounds this Spring were placed under an enclosure to allow a pitcher to get his work in despite rain or wind. An enclosure is also built at the other end to protect the catchers. In the early 1950s, the Dodgers acquired from England "cricket cradles", a device made of wood shaped in a half-pipe with curved sides approximately 10 feet long and five feet wide. Two players, each standing on opposite sides, would throw the ball through the cradle to make it hit somewhere on the curved sides. The receiver of the throw would then have to react to the unpredictable movement of the thrown ball to improve reflexes. The Dodgers made good use of the cradles for five years, but the exercise was eventually eliminated. It was discovered when the equipment was not in use during the workout, players found it to be a comfortable place to take a nap or get a tan.  11

March 17, 1972

Marvin Miller, the director of the Major League Players' Association, attends the team's annual St. Patrick's Day Party at Dodgertown as an invited guest of Walter and Peter O'Malley. Miller was making his usual stops at all the Spring Training sites and this day he was at Dodgertown in Vero Beach, Florida to speak to the Dodger players. While Miller was on the base, an invitation to Miller, his wife, and Players' Association attorney, Dick Moss, was offered and they attended the festivities that night.  12

March 17, 1972

Walter O'Malley recalls past St. Patrick's Day parties at Dodgertown with Bud Furillo, columnist for the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner. O'Malley said his father-in-law, Peter Hanson, would sing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" in Swedish at the party. "It's a great song in Swedish, "said O'Malley. The Dodger Chairman of the Board recalled one Spring at McKee Jungle Gardens in Vero Beach, an elephant with its body painted pink and its trunk painted green, made an appearance. "This (elephant) was never explained to guests and they began to wonder privately about their condition," said O'Malley.  13

March 18, 1972

Columnist Melvin Durslag writes of the new housing quarters for Dodger players and team personnel at Dodgertown this spring. Durslag wrote of past Spring Trainings at Dodgertown but now, "You entered the new world of Walter (O'Malley), rooms of freshly painted concrete block and carpets that stretched wall-to-wall."  14

March 22, 1972

Dodgertown Camp Director Dick Bird writes a memo on the number of community benefits provided by Dodgertown to the City of Vero Beach and Indian River County. Bird wrote of the use of Dodgertown and Holman Stadium without receiving consideration for 4th of July fireworks shows, high school and college clinics, high school band competitions, minor league exhibition games on the base, public use of the base swimming pool, film and speaker's bureaus to the local community, free golf clinics at Safari Pines Country Club and Dodgertown Country Club, hosting meetings of local volunteer organizations, and sponsorship of drug abuse programs. Bird also pointed out the Dodgers surrendered the lease on two practice fields to cooperate with Piper Aircraft to expand the manufacturer's plant operation. Also, the Dodgers had purchased undesirable land from the Vero Beach airport to build the nine-hole and the 18-hole golf courses, both open to the public. Bird stated confidently the Dodgers were the only major league team owning 100% of their Spring Training base and paying 100% of their total costs.  15

March 27, 1972

Columnist Jim Murray once again turns his satirical humor on the new Dodgertown villas used for the first Spring this year. Murray wrote, "We are a country with little regard for our great traditions, impatient with pomp, scornful of sacred heirlooms." In pretending to be outraged, Murray goes on to write of the loss of baseball history by the closing of Shibe Park (in Philadelphia), the Polo Grounds (in New York City), and Sportsman's Park (in St. Louis). Murray then writes, "Still, I never thought it would jilt the barracks of Vero Beach. I mean, Pee Wee Reese slept here…The flower of American journalism drank here….Duke Snider got gray (hair) here." Murray remembered the barracks at Dodgertown. "It had a charm all its own. It's still the only place I ever lived where they welcomed the wake-up call. Which, by the way, was a piercing police whistle…..Walter O'Malley has now come full circle….He has taken them (the Dodgers) out of the 19th Century altogether." Murray wrote of the new rooms at Dodgertown. "The windows not only have curtains, they have glass….I counted 24 streams of water issuing from the showerhead in the new one. The old one had one. It was good for cleaning your eye. It was either very, very hot, or very, very cold."  16

March 30, 1972

Dodger minor league Manager Stan Wasiak heard a local rental car company gave use of a car to a Dodger player for being named "Player of the Week" in Spring Training. Wasiak wondered aloud as to what he would expect to receive if a minor league manager's team won all their camp games in a week. Wasiak's team went undefeated one week and he was given his prize that he drove proudly on the Dodgertown base: A bicycle with a sign on the back that read, "Minor League Manager of the Week."  17

April 2, 1972

Dodger pitcher Claude Osteen speaks of the value of Dodgertown as a Spring Training site. "Togetherness is as much a part of preparing the team as the physical part….You want to get the players' mind on baseball and keep it there. I think Vero Beach is fantastic. If I were an owner I couldn't think of a better place." 18

1 ^ Ron Rapoport, Los Angeles Times, February 27, 1972

2 ^ Milton Richman, United Press International, March 1, 1972

3 ^ Ron Rapoport, Los Angeles Times, March 4, 1972

4 ^ Ron Rapoport, Los Angeles Times, March 4, 1972 

5 ^ Ron Rapoport, Los Angeles Times, March 4, 1972  

6 ^ Ron Rapoport, Los Angeles Times, March 4, 1972   

7 ^ Bob Hunter, The Sporting News, April 17, 1971

8 ^ Arthur Daley, New York Times, March 5, 1972

9 ^ Ron Rapoport, Los Angeles Times, March 7, 1972

10 ^ Bob Hunter, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, March 15, 1972

11 ^ Ron Rapoport, Los Angeles Times, March 16, 1972

12 ^ Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, March 30, 1972

13 ^ Bud Furillo, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, March 17, 1972

14 ^ Melvin Durslag, The Sporting News, March 18, 1972

15 ^ Dick Bird Correspondence to Walter O'Malley, March 22, 1972

16 ^ Jim Murray, Los Angeles Times, March 27, 1972

17 ^ Bob Hunter, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, March 30, 1972

18 ^ Ron Rapoport, Los Angeles Times, April 2, 1972

1973

March 3, 1973

The Sporting News reports two players and a coach from the Milano club of the Italian Baseball Federation have been invited to Dodgertown to observe Spring Training workouts. 1

March 6, 1973

Dodger centerfielder Willie Davis is named the new captain of the Dodgers. Previous Dodger captains had been Pee Wee Reese, Duke Snider in 1962, Maury Wills in 1965, and now Davis. 2

March 7, 1973

The (Tom) Lasordas (team) defeated the (Jim) Gilliams (team), 2-0 in the third game of a best 2-of-3 intrasquad series before the exhibition season began. The teams were named for the two Dodger coaches who managed their side. The big story of the game is that Tom Lasorda, in his first season as a major league coach, pitches a scoreless seventh inning (the game was shortened to seven innings) for the save. 3

March 9, 1973

Former Dodger Captains Pee Wee Reese and Maury Wills are seen together with Willie Davis in the Dodgertown clubhouse. Both now retired from the game, Reese and Wills were in baseball broadcasting and talking with the newest Dodger captain, Willie Davis. 4

March 11, 1973

Two persons who have been involved with Dodgertown since it opened in 1948, are the first ball ceremony for the first 1973 exhibition game at Holman Stadium. Dodger Manager Walter Alston threw the first pitch and it was caught by Dodgertown umpire Jess Collyer. Alston was the manager for the Dodgers' Triple-A St. Paul team in the American Association in 1948 and Collyer had served as an umpire on the Dodgertown base. 5

March 15, 1973

One of baseball's greatest players, Willie Mays, leads off and plays center field for the New York Mets' appearance in Holman Stadium in Dodgertown. For the majority of his career, Mays played for the New York and San Francisco Giants whose Spring Training games were played in Arizona. Mays was traded to the New York Mets in May, 1972 and this game would be the first and only time he played in Holman Stadium. Mays singles in three at bats and scores one run. 6

March 16, 1973

New Dodger pitcher Andy Messersmith speaks of his appreciation of Dodgertown, this first Spring Training for him as a Dodger. "I love it," said Messersmith. "I feel like a kid at camp. All the facilities are in one place. You really get to know your teammates." 7

March 24, 1973

Dodgertown umpire Jess Collyer shows respect for Dodger coach Jim Gilliam and urges Gilliam's appointment as the first African-American to manage a major league club. Collyer writes "A Letter To the Editor" to The Sporting News, "After 29 years with the Dodger organization, Gilliam, under Walter Alston's superb leadership, has developed into a prime candidate for a manager's job. He has knowledge, coaching experience and commands player respect." 8

April 8, 1973

Former Dodger pitcher Don Drysdale is ready to start his first season broadcasting baseball for the California Angels, but easily remembers his greatest thrill. "As I've often said, nothing ever topped the thrill I got putting on the uniform the first time in the Dodger clubhouse at Vero Beach. I got into my No. 53 next to No. 1, Pee Wee Reese, the captain of the club. If you think of baseball as your life, and I do, you can only tie the record every time you put on a Dodger uniform-you can never beat it," said Drysdale. 9

1 ^ The Sporting News, March 3, 1973

2 ^ Bob Hunter, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, March 7, 1973

3 ^ Bob Hunter, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, March 8, 1973

4 ^ Bob Hunter, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, March 10, 1973

5 ^ Bob Hunter, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, March 12, 1973

6 ^ The Sporting News, March 31, 1973

7 ^ Ross Newhan, Los Angeles Times, March 16, 1973

8 ^ Jess Collyer, The Sporting News, March 24, 1973

9 ^ Bob Oates, Los Angeles Times, April 8, 1973

1974

January 24, 1974

The New Orleans Saints of the National Football League announced they would conduct their summer training camp at Dodgertown in Vero Beach, Florida. 1

February 26, 1974

Dodger President Peter O'Malley speaks of the 1974 Los Angeles Dodger team. "This is the best young team in baseball. There is no team with a brighter future." O'Malley's prediction was correct. The Dodgers would win the 1974 National League Western Division championship, defeat the Pittsburgh Pirates in the National League Championship Series, 3 games to 1 to advance to the 1974 World Series where the Oakland A's would win in five games. 2

February 28, 1974

Florida can be cold in February. Early in Spring Training, the heater failed in the suite of Walter O'Malley at Dodgertown. What did he do? "I froze," said O'Malley. 3

March 2, 1974

Sportswriter Jack Lang writes in The Sporting News of his memories spent covering the Dodgers in Dodgertown in Vero Beach, Florida. "I hardly ever can remember Vero Beach and Dodgertown without hundreds of players with different colored numbers on their backs to identify them and the team or group they belonged to." Lang continued, "My fondest memories of Spring Training are of Dodgertown from 1948 to 1957 (Lang was a writer covering the Brooklyn Dodgers.)" The writer discussed operation of the camp under Walter O'Malley. "Dodgertown livened up considerably when Walter O'Malley took over the club. The dining room was the equivalent of anything you will find in a first-class hotel." Lang summed up his experience in Dodgertown. "Perhaps it was because most of us were of the same age group and lived together so closely in Dodgertown that Spring Training never again was as good as it was in those days of Vero." 4

March 2, 1974

Early in Spring Training with pitchers not quite ready to pitch in intrasquad games, the Dodgers used a pitching machine to throw to hitters. This game with Dodgers on both sides was halted when the "Iron Mike" (mechanical pitcher) broke down. The game continued because Coach Tommy Lasorda volunteered to pitch for both sides and as the newspaper reported, "The Dodger coach wound up with a three-hit shutout as well as a 10-hit defeat" as Lasorda's team defeated Coach Jim Gilliam's team, 8-0. 5

March 8, 1974

Walter O'Malley expressed his philosophy in the operation of the Dodgers' minor league camp in Dodgertown in Vero Beach, Florida. "First, we want to be first class in every respect…..And second, we want to do it ourselves….We've rebuilt and done our own maintenance here (Dodgertown) when a number of Florida and Arizona cities have underwritten buildings and maintenance programs for their clubs." 6

March 23, 1974

In a ceremony in the Dodgertown administration building, a plaque is dedicated to Mrs. Anastasia Plucker, a Dodgertown nurse for 20 years. Mrs. Plucker had passed away in January, 1974 and the Dodgers dedicated the 1974 season to her memory. 7

April 4, 1974

Washington Post columnist Colman McCarthy wrote a column on the vibrancy of baseball in smaller towns in America. McCarthy says of the Dodger organization, that "The Dodgers are among the most fascinating teams in the majors. Oddly, it's less because of the actual playmaking of the athletes than because of the corporate structure supporting them." McCarthy tells of the value of Dodgertown for the organization. "The Dodgertown training camp in Vero Beach is a well-managed and sparkling operation." 8

September 14, 1974

Charlie Blaney was named the director of Dodgertown by team President Peter O'Malley. Blaney had been the general manager of the Dodgers' Triple-A team in Albuquerque.   He would serve as Dodgertown Camp Director through the 1987 season and later become Vice President, Minor League Operations for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Under his management, the Dodgers would win the Topps Organization Award in 1990 and 1997, an honor that recognizes the major league club for achievements in player development. 9

1 ^ The Sporting News, February 16, 1974

2 ^ Ross Newhan, Los Angeles Times, February 26, 1974

3 ^ Ross Newhan, Los Angeles Times, February 28, 1974

4 ^ Jack Lang, The Sporting News, March 2, 1974

5 ^ Los Angeles Times, March 3, 1974

6 ^ Ross Newhan, Los Angeles Times, March 8, 1974

7 ^ Vero Beach Press Journal, April 4, 1974

8 ^ Colman McCarthy, Washington Post, April 4, 1974

9 ^ The Sporting News, September 14, 1974

1975

March 6, 1975

Sportswriter Bill Shirley of the Los Angeles Times writes a feature about Dodgertown and its special character. "The Dodgers' camp is the best in the majors. In fact, there's no other like it." Shirley goes on to describe the benefits available for Dodger players, major and minor, on the base. Players can watch movies in the camp theatre, play tennis on two courts, swim in a 100-by-50 foot pool, play golf on two public courses, one a nine-hole and the other 18 holes. Dodger Coach Tom Lasorda said, "You can sense the togetherness." Shirley admits, "And to a first-time observer, the place IS impressive, the spirit genuine." 1

March 7, 1975

The Yomiuri Giants defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-3 in front of 4,268 fans, the third largest crowd, at that time, in Dodgertown history ever to see a game at Holman Stadium. Japan Baseball Hall of Fame member Tsumeo Horiuchi pitched five innings for the win for Yomiuri. Horiuchi won the Sawamura Award in 1966 and 1972, the Japan baseball equivalent of the Cy Young Award. Japan Baseball Hall of Fame member and worldwide career home run champion Sadaharu Oh was 0-for-4, but hit the longest fly out of the day caught in front of the right field scoreboard. 2

March 9, 1975

Jeff Prugh, sportswriter for the Los Angeles Times, writes of the Yomiuri Giants' fourth visit to Dodgertown for Spring Training. The Giants' first visit in 1957 consisted of the team manager and three players. The full Yomiuri team worked out in Dodgertown in 1961 and 1967, and now this season. Prugh tells of Japan sportswriter Sotaro Suzuki, credited for inviting Walter O'Malley and the Dodgers to Japan in 1956, was such a great baseball fan that Suzuki had in his home garage every copy of The Sporting News published. Don Sutton, a 19-game winner for the Dodgers in 1974, went to visit right hand pitcher Tsumeo Horiuchi of the Yomiuri Giants in their clubhouse. Sutton said, "I heard he (Horiuchi) won 19 games too (1974). He is Japanese Sutton. I am American Horiuchi." A Dodger clubhouse person said of the Giants, "These guys are sure neat," in speaking of the players' cleanliness in the Giant clubhouse. 3

March 9, 1975

The media is in full force in Dodgertown this spring. Not the American media, the Japanese media as they cover the Yomiuri Giants in their Spring Training. Approximately 50 personnel from Japan, two-thirds of them writers and one-third of the group are photographers, are following the Giants to report their activities back to their home country. Four Japan TV stations and approximately 15 Japan publications were in attendance. The Dodgers could only count a dozen American writers covering them in Spring Training. The Japan media write their coverage in long hand without the use of typewriters because the Japanese language contains numerous characters.  Yomiuri Shimbun, the media company in Japan, has five reporters from their TV station and seven newspaper reporters. Phone calls are made at 11 o'clock Florida time (Noon the next day in Tokyo) to dictate the Spring Training story to rewrite persons at the respective publication. Phone rates from Florida to Japan were estimated at $10 for every three minutes and many phone calls cost more than $200 to $300. 4

March 14, 1975

Juan Marichal reports to Dodgertown and signs a 1975 contract. 5   Marichal won 20 games or more six times in his major league career and was a pitching nemesis to the Dodgers. In his career, Marichal defeated the team 37 times in 55 decisions, including winning 21 of 25 games against them in San Francisco. Marichal made two starts in 1975 before announcing his retirement from baseball as a Dodger.

March 30, 1975

Christine Wren, the second woman in Organized Baseball to umpire a professional game, is in Dodgertown as an umpire for minor league Spring Training games. Wren was a graduate of an umpire school in Southern California and was invited by Peter O'Malley to umpire their annual February pre-season workout game at Dodger Stadium against the USC Trojans. The game drew more than 50,000 fans. She was then invited to Dodgertown for Spring Training to be part of the umpire crews for minor league games. 6   Wren then signed a professional umpire contract with the Northwest League for 1975 and was promoted to the Midwest League in 1976. Barney Deary, the administrator of the umpire development program for baseball, encouraged Wren to work on her skills in Dodgertown minor league games during Spring Training. Wren tells the story how she was accepted as an umpire in Dodgertown. "I walked into the umpires' dressing room (at Dodgertown) to get my shoes I had forgotten and four guys were dressing for the game. I was embarrassed and they were embarrassed, but they just said, 'You've seen everything you're going to,' and they (the umpires) invited me in. Afterwards, I was welcome to rub down baseballs in the room with the rest of them." 7

April 3, 1975

Thomas Mills, a 25-year employee at Dodgertown, is honored for his services with a Bulova Acutron watch presented to him by Dodger President Peter O'Malley. Mills' first season in working at Dodgertown was in 1949, the second Spring Training the Dodgers trained in Vero Beach, Florida. 8

1 ^ Bill Shirley, Los Angeles Times, March 6, 1975

2 ^ Los Angeles Times, March 8, 1975

3 ^ Jeff Prugh, Los Angeles Times, March 9, 1975

4 ^ Jeff Prugh, Los Angeles Times, March 9, 1975

5 ^ Bob Hunter, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, March 14, 1975

6 ^ Bob Hunter, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, March 30, 1975

7 ^ Ron Rapoport, Los Angeles Times, May 21, 1975

8 ^ Vero Beach Press Journal, April 3, 1975

1976

March 25, 1976

In the celebration of Major League Baseball's Bicentennial season, the Dodgers wore uniforms that resembled that era in their exhibition game against the Philadelphia Phillies. 1

March 31, 1976

Tommy John makes his second start in Spring Training, his first this spring at Dodgertown, and pitches six innings against the Baltimore Orioles. John had missed most of the 1974 season and all of the 1975 season after the Dodgers team orthopedist, Dr. Frank Jobe, successfully completed a radical surgery for pitchers by transplanting a ligament of (Tommy) John into the pitcher's elbow. The surgery, today known throughout baseball as a "Tommy John", has revolutionized medical procedures for treating elbow ligament injuries. John would win 180 more major league wins after the surgery and he retires following the 1989 season. 2

March 31, 1976

The Dodgers defeat the Cincinnati Reds, 6-1, in their final exhibition game in Florida in 1976. Due to labor negotiations between the Players' Association and the teams, Spring Training did not open until the middle of March and the Dodgers played just eight exhibition games in Florida with a 6-2 record. 3

April 3, 1976

The 18-hole golf course as part of the Dodgertown Spring Training base property has been re-named as "Dodger Pines" from the former name "Safari Pines". 4

June, 1976

Walter and Peter O'Malley are photographed with Dodger Manager Walter Alston on the cover of "Indian River"magazine. 5

1 ^ Gordon Verrell, The Sporting News, April 10, 1976

2 ^ Bob Hunter, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, March 31, 1976

3 ^ Los Angeles Times, April 1, 1976

4 ^ The Sporting News, April 3, 1976

5 ^ Indian River Magazine, June, 1976

1977

February 27, 1977

Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda will allow his coaches to play golf, but expected thorough and time consuming workouts to get ready for the season. Lasorda said, "What I did tell my coaches was that we're going to put in a lot of hours on baseball and if they want to play golf they better bring along flood lights." 1

March 1, 1977

Walter Alston has arrived in Dodgertown, driving from home in Darrtown, Ohio as he had done for 23 consecutive springs as the Dodger Manager. This season, he is a special consultant to the organization. Alston spent his driving time from Ohio to Florida on his citizens band radio with the handle or name as "Double Dozen", signifying his uniform number 24. Alston was there to meet the Dodger plane on arrival in Vero Beach and new Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda came down the steps and greeted Alston by saying, "Hi Skipper." 2

March 2, 1977

New Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda proclaimed himself the greatest success since Conrad Hilton (hotel chain founder). "For years," said Lasorda, "I changed (clothes) with six other guys in the minor league clubhouse, then the (major league) coaches room, and now I have my own suite." 3

March 3, 1977

Walter O'Malley talks of the ideal place selected for a new Dodger Stadium in Brooklyn until the club moved to Los Angeles. "That was one hell of a good location we had staked out in Brooklyn," said O'Malley. "Three subways came together. We also had the Long Island railroad depot." 4 Currently on the site selected by O'Malley for the Dodgers at the intersection of Atlantic and Flatbush Avenues is the Barclays Center, opened in 2013 for the Brooklyn Nets basketball team and numerous other public events.

March 4, 1977

The driving range at the Dodger Pines Golf Club measures golf swings by those 50 yards or less as "bunts" and "home runs" if the golf drive goes more than 200 yards. 5

March 8, 1977

Walter O'Malley played golf to a 31-handicap, but was a formidable player in wagers made on the golf course he designed. One writer stated, "He (O'Malley) plays to his handicap, or better, awes his opponents with remarkable recovery shots and destroys their concentration-and games-with rhetoric, charm and one-liners. An opponent usually has a chance only if the chairman runs out of cigars; that seems to affect his putting." However, one day O'Malley was defeated on the golf course. Bill Shirley of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "A reporter, twice shellacked scandalously, got revenge (won the match). That night in Dodgertown he was a hero. Folks shook his hand and patted him on the back. And Walter O'Malley wore a black arm band (for the loss of the golf match)." 6

March 10, 1977

The Dodgers planned to play an exhibition game in Winter Haven, Florida against the Boston Red Sox but were rained out. The team drove more than two hours back to Dodgertown to play an intrasquad game and the inclement weather there ended any chance of a game being played. Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda said, "First time in my career I have been rained out in two cities in the same day." 7

March 10, 1977

Tom Lasorda told the Los Angeles Times of his first day as the Manager of the Dodgers in Dodgertown that he walked into the coaches' room to get dressed. Lasorda was a Dodger third base coach from 1973-1976. "Hey, wait a minute," said Lasorda. "I'm the manager." 8   Lasorda was asked if he played golf in Dodgertown in Spring Training. "Golf course?" said Lasorda. "What golf course? I didn't know there was a golf course here." 9

March 17, 1977

At the annual St. Patrick's Day Party in Dodgertown Dodger Chairman Walter O'Malley said, "Erin Go Bragh" means "Dodgers Beat Cincinnati." The Dodgers had finished in second place in the National League Western Division to the 1975 and 1976 World Champion Reds. 10

March 19, 1977

The Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the New York Mets, 5-3 in Santiago, Dominican Republic, the first time two major league clubs had played a game in the country. After the Dodger 720-B jet landed at the airport, Dodger players and staff exited the plane all wearing Manny Mota masks, to honor the Dodger outfielder and pinch-hitter, a native Dominican.

March 19, 1977

The Los Angeles Times reported Walter O'Malley will invest $500,000 into Dodgertown for the next three years to create uses as a conference center. O'Malley said, "Every 30 years you should renovate yourself." 11

March 20, 1977

The Dodgers were greeted at the Santo Domingo airport by hundreds of players from the Manny Mota League, a youth baseball league in the Dominican Republic. Then, in the second game of the Dodgers-Mets two-game series in the Dominican Republic, Mota honored their presence as he hit a two-run home run off the New York Mets' Tom Seaver and the Dodgers defeated the Mets, 4-0. 12

March 31, 1977

Columnist Jim Murray of the Los Angeles Times writes of the history of Dodgertown. "At Dodgertown, the legends are all on the walls. Or on poles. Koufax is a street name. So is Jackie Robinson. Roy Campanella is a lane….Tradition hangs heavy at Dodgertown. Nostalgia, USA. A wall-full of yesterdays……In a way, the history of Vero is the history of baseball…..Will any of today's players become streets in Dodgertown? Or even pictures on a wall?.....Everything else is newer, better, shinier, and more efficient at Dodgertown. Gone are the barracks, the leaky roofs, the porous screens, the dripping showers, the 660-man chow lines….Outside it may be 1977. On the walls, it will always be 1955." 13

April 3, 1977

Former Dodger broadcaster Walter "Red" Barber writes a column for the Tallahassee Democrat newspaper and tells of his memories of Dodgertown and reports on a recent visit there. According to Barber, the South was "dead set against (Jackie) Robinson coming to any training camp in 1947….Robinson by now, was the biggest gate attraction since Babe Ruth….Certain local laws were quietly changed and the Dodgers moved into Vero Beach in full force in 1949." Barber completes his column by writing, "I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw Dodgertown. Walter's son, Peter, now President of the Dodgers, took me around. I needed a guide. The old barracks are gone. The O'Malleys have built new residence units that will house some 100 people. There is a splendid new administration building with dining room, kitchen, medical office, press room, dark room, club houses, and meeting rooms…..Rickey had the dream, (Jackie) Robinson provided the need. O'Malley has made the dream stay alive and become a beautiful fulfillment." 14

April 3, 1977

The Dodgers took their signature color blue all the way to painting the bases blue at Holman Stadium for a Spring Training game. 15

April 30, 1977

Tommy John talks of his 1975 rehabilitation from his groundbreaking elbow ligament repair by Dr. Frank Jobe. The operation, famously known around the world as "Tommy John Surgery" transplanted a ligament from John's body to replace the ligament in his left throwing arm. On the Dodgertown base there is a wide brick wall with a regulation pitching mound nearby so a pitcher can work out. It was there that John first began to throw again with his bionic arm. He would take six baseballs and spend time throwing against the wall, a short walk away from Holman Stadium. 16   The left hand pitcher becomes the first player to recover from such elaborate medical treatment. John would return to pitch for the 1976 season with the Dodgers and then pitch in the major leagues for 14 additional seasons. In 2013, Dr. Frank Jobe was honored at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY for his many significant contributions in sports medicine, including the "Tommy John" surgery.

May 7, 1977

The Los Angeles Dodgers and Harrison Conference Services have agreed to use Dodgertown as a conference center. Dodgertown would be open during the year when the Dodgers are not in Spring Training or when the New Orleans Saints are not doing summer training there for the NFL season. 17

August 27, 1977

Former Dodger outfielder Ron Fairly tells this story about himself. "A rookie loafed on a fly ball during an exhibition game at Vero Beach. After the game, a veteran Dodger came over to the kid and said, 'If you don't want to play, take your big bonus and go home and let somebody else have that uniform.' The next day, the rookie made a diving catch of a line drive and drove in the winning run with a hit. After the game, the vet came over, tugged on the kid's uniform and said 'It (the uniform) fit him (the kid) pretty well.' Said Fairly, "The two guys in that story were Pee Wee Reese and me." 18

1 ^ Ross Newhan, Los Angeles Times, February 27, 1977

2 ^ Bob Hunter, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, March 1, 1977

3 ^ Bob Hunter, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, March 2, 1977

4 ^ Melvin Durslag, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, March 3, 1977

5 ^ Bob Hunter, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, March 4, 1977

6 ^ Bill Shirley, Los Angeles Times, March 8, 1977

7 ^ Bob Hunter, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, March 11, 1977

8 ^ Bill Shirley, Los Angeles Times, March 10, 1977

9 ^ Bill Shirley, Los Angeles Times, March 10, 1977 

10 ^ Bob Hunter, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, March 22, 1977

11 ^ Don Merry, Los Angeles Times, March 19, 1977

12 ^ Bob Hunter, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, March 21, 1977

13 ^ Jim Murray, Los Angeles Times, March 31, 1977

14 ^ Red Barber, Tallahassee Democrat, April 3, 1977

15 ^ Don Merry, Los Angeles Times, April 3, 1977

16 ^ Furman Bisher, The Sporting News, April 30, 1977

17 ^ The Sporting News, May 7, 1977

18 ^ Dick Young, The Sporting News, August 27, 1977

1978

March 1, 1978

Tom Lasorda introduces second baseman Davey Lopes to the Dodger team as their new team captain. 1   Previous Dodger captains have been Pee Wee Reese, Duke Snider, Maury Wills, and Willie Davis.

March 6, 1978

Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda saw minor league Wayne Simpson walk on the field in Dodgertown wearing red baseball spikes. Lasorda said, "Off, Simpson, get 'em off (the red shoes). I hate red. Don't you have that Cincinnati blood out of your system yet?" 2   Simpson had pitched for the Cincinnati Reds in 1970 through 1972 and the Philadelphia Phillies in 1975.

March 9, 1978

TV personality David Hartman of "Good Morning America" is in Dodgertown and participates in calisthenics and pitchers' fielding practice that were shown on the national morning show. 3

March 15, 1978

Dodger minor league player John Shoemaker, a longtime manager, coach, and instructor for the organization, has been given permission to report late to Dodgertown for Spring Training. Shoemaker was a guard on the Miami (Ohio) basketball team that upset the defending national champion Marquette in the first round of the 1978 NCAA playoffs. Shoemaker scored 20 points in the upset but was knocked unconscious by an elbow from a Marquette player. The flagrant foul led to Miami (Ohio) scoring five decisive points that led to the upset. 4   Shoemaker has worked for the Dodger organization since 1980 and has won more 1,200 games as a minor league manager.

March 20, 1978

Silvano Ambriosiona, the national baseball coach of Italy, completes a two-week visit to Dodgertown to observe Spring Training activities following an invitation from the Dodgers. 5

March 24, 1978

The Dodgers defeat the New York Yankees, 5-0 in front of 7,405 fans at Holman Stadium, the largest crowd at that time in Holman Stadium history. 6

April 9, 1978

Former Dodger players are on the Dodgertown base as instructors for minor league players. Ron Perranoski remembers his first spring to Dodgertown in 1961 as being acquired from the Chicago Cubs as he works with minor league pitchers in the "strings" area, an area at Dodgertown established to warm up as many as six pitchers at one time. "I think about that every time I come back to Dodgertown," said Perranoski. "I think about pitching B (minor league) games on Diamond No. 2 that spring…….I have a lot of memories here. I've seen other (major league) camps. I can appreciate what we have." 7

April 13, 1978

Dodger minor league manager Jim Lefebvre relives his moments as the "Green Phantom," a practical joke artist that would keep the Spring Training camp at Dodgertown lively in the early 1970s. Their particular victim of jokes was Tom Lasorda. Lefebvre explained his secret, "Everyone became a part of the Green Phantom," and listed players as Don Sutton, Joe Moeller, Wes Parker, Bobby Valentine and Bill Buckner as part of his crew to upset Lasorda. Lefebvre told stories of painting everything in Lasorda's dressing stall green and of giving bad tips to Lasorda to the identification of the "Green Phantom." The players would empty Lasorda's room of his bed, cabinets, and wall paintings and leave a green baseball in the middle of the room.   Lefebvre went on to say that there was a "Green Phantom, Jr." in camp this spring and was ready to play another joke on Lasorda. 8

October 5, 1978

The Wall Street Journal  has a feature of the Los Angeles Dodgers on their front page and contains a legendary story of Walter O'Malley and his golf course at Dodgertown in Vero Beach, Florida. O'Malley told someone his golf handicap had increased from 18 to 33 and said, "That's OK, I can win money at 33 (handicap)." The newspaper reported the story of one spring O'Malley taking careful note of the tee shots made by Dodger Board of Director member James Mulvey and the next spring the sand traps were installed at the location of the golf drive." 9

1 ^ Ross Newhan, Los Angeles Times, March 2, 1978

2 ^ Ross Newhan, Los Angeles Times, March 6, 1978

3 ^ Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, March 10, 1978

4 ^ Los Angeles Times, March 15, 1978

5 ^ Lyle Spencer, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, March 20, 1978

6 ^ Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, March 25, 1978

7 ^ Ross Newhan, Los Angeles Times, April 9, 1978

8 ^ Los Angeles Times, April 13, 1978

9 ^ Hal Lancaster, Wall Street Journal, October 5, 1978

1979

February 28, 1979

Walter O'Malley sits down with columnist Melvin Durslag and they discuss Spring Training and the business of baseball. Durslag writes of O'Malley's development of Dodgertown that he (O'Malley) has put up the most sophisticated training complex in baseball." 1

March 4, 1979

"Good Morning America" television host David Hartman of "Good Morning America" puts on a Dodger uniform and participates in exercises and a Spring Training workout.   He was videotaped for an episode that was shown on the morning television show. 2

March 4, 1979

Five years before the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, planning was underway to include baseball as a medal sport for the first time in the Games. Bruno Beneck, president of the Italian Baseball Federation and Max Cecotti, executive secretary of the federation, visited Dodger President Peter O'Malley to discuss the nomination of baseball to be included for the Los Angeles Games. 3

March 17, 1979

Popular singing star Toni Tennille and her husband, musician Daryl Dragon, are in Dodgertown to watch Spring Training and she sings the National Anthem before the Dodgers' exhibition game at Holman Stadium with the New York Yankees. 4 The Grammy-award winning artist is a Dodger fan and would later sing the National Anthem at Dodger Stadium for the 1980 All-Star Game. Attendance for the game is 8,200, the largest crowd in Holman Stadium history. 5

March 25, 1979

Sandy Koufax has returned to Dodgertown as a pitching instructor for the Los Angeles Dodgers, offering assistance to major and minor league Dodger pitchers and pitching batting practice at Holman Stadium. Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda said upon seeing Koufax in uniform in Dodgertown, "He (Koufax) doesn't know it, but Koufax is going to be my opening day pitcher." 6

March 31, 1979

Sportswriter Gordon Verrell relates the story of Bill Russell, signed as an outfielder in high school and his conversion to shortstop by the Dodgers. Early in Russell's career, Dodger Manager Walter Alston saw Russell taking fly balls in the outfield and said, "That kid may be the best shortstop we've got." 7   Russell would become the Dodgers' regular shortstop in 1972 and remain there through the 1983 season.

August 10, 1979

Columnist Joe Hendrickson remembers Walter O'Malley and a tip-off O'Malley had when he knew had the cards. "I do remember," wrote Hendrickson, "that O'Malley often won when he wanted to win. When the Lion (O'Malley) put his World Series ring on his cards, indicating he didn't wish to draw further, you knew he had something." 8

August 10, 1979

Third baseman Ron Cey appreciated the benefits of Dodgertown as accomplished by O'Malley. "We (the players) would see him mostly in Spring Training, riding around in his golf cart. He was a very kind man…..You could tell by our Spring Training facilities, which are by far the best in baseball, how much he thought of the players." 9

August 10, 1979

1979 National League Rookie of the Year Rick Sutcliffe told a story of Walter O'Malley and himself in Dodgertown. Sutcliffe said, "I was sick and couldn't make one of the trips. I was in bed and the nurse called, asking if I wanted something to eat. A few minutes later there was a knock on the door. I got up and opened it and there was Mr. O'Malley standing there with a tray. He came in, we sat and talked and then we listened to the game on the radio." 10

August 10, 1979

Sportswriter Jim Alexander of the Riverside Press-Enterprise gathered memories of Walter O'Malley. Former Dodger outfielder Ron Fairly said, "He (O'Malley) was happiest in the spring time, riding around in his golf cart, wearing one of those crazy flowered shirts. He'd get in line in the cafeteria (at Dodgertown) with the players and kid us. Some of those kids didn't even know who he was. They thought he was just some guy who worked around there." Don Newcombe, Director of Community Relations for the Dodgers said, "There's one thing I'll remember in particular. Jackie Robinson and I loved to play golf. But we couldn't play golf in Spring Training because the Vero Beach municipal course wouldn't allow blacks to play. Mr. O'Malley called us in and said, 'I'm going to do something about it. Give me time, and I'll take care of it.' And he (O'Malley) did. Now there's two golf courses on the Dodgertown grounds." 11

August 10, 1979

Columnist Mitch Chortkoff writes of Walter O'Malley and his poker games at Dodgertown. "He (O'Malley) loved to raise (poker stakes). It wasn't the fact he had much more money than others in the game, it was consistent with his personality to make the aggressive move. Sometimes he had the right cards and sometimes he didn't, but all the time he enjoyed watching us squirm. In a nice way." 12

August 25, 1979

Jesse Crawford, the chef at Dodgertown, was asked the difference between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New Orleans Saints (the Saints trained in Dodgertown in 1974) and he replied, "About two steaks." 13

September 4, 1979

Hurricane David in Florida brought winds up to 90 MPH and Dodgertown was used as an evacuation center for people whose residences were damaged. 14

1979

In the book "Commemorations" published by the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, it was written that Walter O'Malley once said, "The great thing about baseball is that every spring is a new beginning." 15 The Walter and Kay O'Malley Endowment in Mayo Medical School was established to encourage students. In 1980, the Student-Faculty Lounge at the Mayo Medical School was dedicated "Walter and Kay O'Malley Student-Faculty Lounge." 16

1 ^ Melvin Durslag, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, February 28, 1979

2 ^ Mike Littwin, Los Angeles Times, March 5, 1979

3 ^ Mike Littwin, Los Angeles Times, March 5, 1979

4 ^ Mike Littwin, Los Angeles Times, March 18, 1979

5 ^ Larry Reisman, Vero Beach Press Journal, February 21, 1988

6 ^ Mike Littwin, Los Angeles Times, March 25, 1979

7 ^ Gordon Verrell, The Sporting News, March 31, 1979

8 ^ Joe Hendrickson, Pasadena Star-News, August 10, 1979

9 ^ Los Angeles Times, August 10, 1979

10 ^ Jim Alexander, Riverside Press-Enterprise, August 10, 1979

11 ^ Jim Alexander, Riverside Press-Enterprise, August 10, 1979

12 ^ Mitch Chortkoff, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, August 10, 1979

13 ^ The Sporting News, August 25, 1979

14 ^ Los Angeles Times, September 4, 1979

15 ^ Commemorations, Mayo Foundation, 1979

16 ^ Los Angeles Dodgers Press Release, October 30, 1980

For more on the history of the Dodgers Spring Training visit walteromalley.com