Game 4 of the 2009 National League Championship Series: Dodger vs. Phillies. In dramatic fashion, Philly comes from behind and wins in the bottom of the 9th, essentially pounding the final nail in LA’s coffin and booting my beloved Dodgers out of the playoffs. Somebody pass me the cyanide.

Baseball can be cruel, but the offseason heals all wounds. And like my fellow die-hard fans, by the time spring training rolls around, I’m ready to be suckered in again.  The sunshine. The crack of the bat. Hall of Fame sportscaster Vin Scully’s voice on the radio. Never fails.

The VISA collections department is still calling about all the playoff tickets I charged last fall, so traveling to Arizona for Cactus League spring training games is out of the question. Instead, I stick close to home for my preseason fix.

The Dodger Stadium Tour website reads “Highlights of this 80-90 minute tour may include a trip down to the field and a visit to the Dodger Dugout.” Historic Dodger Stadium (third oldest park in the majors) has been my April-to-September second home since I was a kid in the late 70s, and I have the stack of beer-stained ticket stubs to prove it. Yet, I’ve never been behind the scenes at Chavez Ravine.

I meet my tour group at the Top Deck nosebleed seats. Below is the streamlined jewel of a stadium that instantly captured LA’s heart when it opened in 1962. Baseball played against a backdrop of palms, the tree-covered Elysian Park hills, and in the smoggy purple twilight beyond, the San Gabriel Mountains. Who can blame Angelenos for falling in love at first sight?

The tour guide, a pretty girl in her early 20s, recounts the history of the team and the ballpark. A few of her historic tidbits are new to me, which makes me feel like a Dodger dunce who needs to spend less time agonizing over manager Joe Torre’s bizarre pitching changes, and more nights hitting the Dodger history books. As she highlights past Dodger glories, all I think about is the fact Big Blue hasn’t won a World Series in more than 20 years. Thanks for depressing me, Dodger Stadium Tour. 

Lifting my spirits is our next stop: the Vin Scully Press Box. Unfortunately, the play-by-play poet’s booth is off limits. So we tour the rest of his namesake press box, stopping to check out a booth manned by a TV tech who shows us how he edits a ballgame highlight reel. If you’re the type that lives for ESPN SportsCenter, it’s a fascinating demo. If not, it’s a good time to take in the view.

Standing behind the desk where sports writers wolf down comp Dodger Dogs and tap on laptops, I scan the ballpark below. With the seats empty and no action on the field, it’s a joy to study the stadium’s graceful symmetry and clean architectural lines. Apart from the corporate advertising that’s popped up over the past decade or so, Dodger Stadium remains the antithesis of the busy, cluttered design of new retro-modern ballparks with their wacky, angled field dimensions. No cheap home runs here; it’s 385 feet down the power alleys, and 395 to straight-away center, as the baseball Gods intended.

Like a rainbow, the three main decks of the stadium’s signature pastel-colored seats make a grand, swooping stretch from foul pole-to-foul pole. White, 1960s space-age roofs (think Tomorrowland) crown the upper decks, while wavy, sawtooth-like roofs shade the outfield bleacher pavilions. Beyond the parking lot, atop a hill, HOLLYWOOD sign-style letters spell out “THINK BLUE.”

Skyscrapers aren’t part of the picture, but this isn’t a classic urban ballpark like Fenway or Wrigley. In L.A., with its torturous freeway traffic and epic sprawl, Dodger Stadium inhabits its own little world, tucked away in the hills above downtown Los Angeles. Suits me fine. Baseball should be an escape from the day-to-day big city grind.

Next, we head for the Stadium Club, an upscale restaurant/bar overlooking right field and open only to season ticket-holding high rollers. Nearby, we drop by a memorabilia/game lounge featuring “Sinatra’s Corner,” a nook decked out with pictures of Old Blue Eyes at the ballpark (he and former LA manager Tommy Lasorda were pals), plus the Chairman’s actual season seats, which were salvaged during the 2005-06 renovation that replaced every seat in the stadium. 
  
On the field level, behind home plate, we duck inside the Dugout Club, another sleek restaurant/bar exclusive to season ticket holders. The Club serves as an unofficial Dodger history museum. Among the scores of memorabilia (think autographed balls, bats, jerseys, photos and vintage game programs) I spy the 1981 and 1988 World Series trophies. In my mind, I begin plotting an “Ocean’s Eleven”-style heist.

Finally, it’s time for the Dodger Dugout. We shuffle through a tunnel (used by team officials, VIPs and players’ families) and climb the steps to the field. I always feel a rush whenever I stumble into the stadium for a game and catch my first glimpse of the brilliant green Bermuda grass and bright white Dodger uniforms. But emerging from the darkness and suddenly being at eye-level with the field, I reach baseball geek nirvana.

For fifteen minutes we’re free to hang in the dugout and pace the fringes of the diamond; setting so much as a single toe on the playing surface is forbidden. A visit to the Dodger bullpen is occasionally included in the tour, though not today. The tour guide dishes up more Dodger lore.  But I’m not listening; just soaking in the scene.

If you bleed Dodger blue, you know this isn’t the original dugout where Sandy Koufax kept his arm warm during that perfect game in ‘65. Nor is it the one Kirk Gibson limped out of in the dramatic first game of the ’88 World Series. The old bench was replaced in the mid-2000s. But that doesn’t really matter. For any baseball freak, it’s undeniably cool to kick back in a major league dugout.  
    
Only three truly classic big league ballparks survive: Fenway, Wrigley and Dodger Stadium. If you’re a baseball fan visiting LA, tour this grande dame and catch a game if you can. I’ll see you there, and will try like the devil to discourage my fellow fans from doing the ridiculous “wave” and embarrassing me. I’ll manage that on my own.


Dodger Stadium is at 1000 Elysian Park Ave.; phone (866) 363-4377. Tour admission $15; $10 (ages 4-14, ages 55+ and military with ID). Tours depart daily at 10 and 11:30; no tours on holidays or when day games are scheduled. Tours begin at the stadium’s Top Deck near the Top of the Park Store; parking is in Lot P. Purchasing tickets in advance online, at a Dodgers ticket outlet or by phone is recommended. Tickets purchased from the tour guide on the day of the tour are cash only and subject to availability.