To avoid traffic congestion, the Dodgers opened the ballpark early at 10 a.m. Johnny Boudreau’s band and Dodger organist Bob Mitchell entertained the early stadium arrivals while outside 100 parking lot directors worked to keep traffic moving in the parking lot while extra police were hired to help the flow outside with the late-arriving lunch hour crowd.
 Stadium workers painted the outfield grass with a vegetable dye, which turned the baseballs a shade of green during batting practice. The Reds were impressed as they surveyed their surroundings Tuesday morning.
“The beautiful new stadium should be a tremendous psychological lift for the Dodgers,” infielder Eddie Kasko said. “Like every other club in the National League this year, the Dodgers have their problems but they’ll be going all out every game and I can understand why. They won’t want to leave.”
Renowned tenor Alma Pedroza sang the national anthem at 12:45 p.m. after the coaches and players were introduced from home plate.
The starting lineups:
CINCINNATI
Eddie Kasko - Shortstop
Cookie Rojas - Second Base
Vada Pinson - Center Field
Frank Robinson - Right Field
Wally Post - Left Field
Gordy Coleman - First Base
Tommy Harper - Third Base
Johnny Edwards - Catcher
Bob Purkey - Pitcher
LOS ANGELES
Maury Wills - Shortstop
Jim Gilliam - Second Base
Wally Moon - Left Field
Duke Snider - Right Field
John Roseboro - Catcher
Ron Fairly - First Base
Daryl Spencer - Third Base
Willie Davis - Center Field
Johnny Podres - Pitcher
At 1 p.m., Kay O’Malley threw out the ceremonial first pitch to catcher John Roseboro. The honor was a “two day early” birthday present from her husband.
Kasko climbed into the batter’s box and took the first pitch from Podres. It was called a ball by Hall of Fame umpire Al Barlick, who nearly missed the honor of working behind the plate. His equipment, which had been air expressed to the stadium, couldn’t be located until a few minutes before game time.
Kasko opened the game with a double into the left field corner and scored on Pinson’s one-out single.
In the second inning, fans in the Left Field Pavilion unfurled a streamer reading “Fallbrook City Limits” in honor of the Dodger captain. Snider lined a single to right field, the first hit by a Dodger.
The Dodgers took a 2-1 lead in the fourth inning on Fairly’s two-run double, which scored Gilliam and Snider. Cincinnati evened the score in the fifth on Harper’s RBI single.
With two out in the seventh, Pinson stroked his third hit of the game, a double. The Dodgers intentionally walked Robinson to face Post, who hit Podres’ first pitch over the center field fence for a 5-2 lead.
Post’s home run traveled an estimated 420 feet. The ball was caught by Salvatore Consolo, a 38-year-old postal clerk and baseball fan who was the first in line to enter Dodger Stadium. Consolo said another fan paid him $50 for the ball and with the money he planned to buy his mother a new coat. Consolo, a cousin of Philadelphia infielder Billy Consolo, caught 20 baseballs at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in 1961.4
|
