Posted on 11/26/2007 11:00:05 PM PST by BurbankKarl
When people talk about baseball played at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, most point to May 7, 1959, as a highlight. That was the night 93,103 fans honored Roy Campanella by lighting matches and cigarette lighters as Pee Wee Reese pushed him in his wheelchair toward home plate in the fifth inning.
"Roy was so proud of that," said his former teammate, Don Newcombe, who was in Japan that night and missed the exhibition game between the Dodgers and New York Yankees. "He talked about it.
"He was proud of it. He was my roommate. He was my buddy. Same as I miss Jackie [Robinson], I miss Roy."
On Monday, the Dodgers announced that, in honor of their 50th anniversary in Los Angeles, they will play an exhibition game against the Boston Red Sox at the Coliseum on March 29.
The field will be reconfigured as close as possible to the original playing dimensions, meaning there will be a 42-foot screen in left field about 250 feet from home plate that players must clear for a home run.
A host of former Dodgers greats -- including Newcombe, Maury Wills and Tommy Lasorda -- joined politicians, new Los Angeles manager Joe Torre, general manager Ned Colletti, owner Frank McCourt and Red Sox chairman Tom Werner outside the stadium's peristyle entrance to announce the game.
"We always knew the Dodgers would return to the Coliseum before the NFL," Coliseum Commission Vice president David Israel quipped.
(Excerpt) Read more at sports.espn.go.com ...
Where are they going to play next year?? I hadn’t heard anything about this...will they share the Rose Bowl w/ UCLA?? This is totally news to me. Wow.
True
That is cool, Diver Dave. Nice to know we share the same Dodger favorite/hero, the one and only Duke Snider.
Oh, the memories that come seeing those names. Steve Yeager was another of my top favorite Dodgers, aka “The Boomer.” He and Rick Monday were roomies on the road.
I think you’re right re Sandy, he was a true phenom. In the zone like no one before or since.
Kirk Gibson’s HR, the most electrifying moment in modern baseball.
You’re exactly right. The New York City government assumed that it, rather than the Dodgers’ owners, held the perogative for management of the team’s future.
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