Dodgertown

Spring’s Eternal at Dodgertown

The Sporting News list of 100 Most Powerful People in Sports for the 20th Century, December 1999

  1. Pete Rozelle
  2. Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis
  3. Roone Arledge
  4. Branch Rickey
  5. Marvin Miller
  6. David Stern
  7. Rupert Murdoch
  8. Avery Brundage
  9. Ban Johnson
  10. Muhammad Ali
  11. Walter O’Malley
  12. Steve Borstein
  13. Phil Knight
  14. George Halas
  15. Babe Ruth
  16. Walter Byers
  17. Lamar Hunt
  18. Ted Turner
  19. Paul Brown
  20. Michael Jordan
  21. Jackie Robinson
  22. Pierre De Coubertin
  23. Juan Antonio Samaranch
  24. Donald Fehr
  25. Tex Rickard
  26. Roy Hofheinz
  27. Horst Dassler
  28. Red Auerbach
  29. Bill France Sr.
  30. Arnold Palmer
  31. Al Davis
  32. Birch Bayh
  33. Billie Jean King
  34. Paul Tagliabue
  35. Charlie Finley
  36. Clarence Campbell
  37. George Steinbrenner
  38. Peter Ueberroth
  39. Bert Bell
  40. Jacob Ruppert
  41. Dick Ebersol
  42. Mark McCormack
  43. Al Neuharth
  44. Tex Schramm
  45. Bill Veeck
  46. Arthur Ashe
  47. Howard Cosell
  48. Fathers Theodore Hesburgh and William Beauchamp
  49. Don King
  50. Connie Mack
  1. David Falk
  2. John Wooden
  3. Andre Laguerre
  4. August Busch Jr.
  5. Peter Seitz
  6. Roger Penske
  7. Wilt Chamberlain
  8. Jack Nicklaus
  9. Bill France Jr.
  10. Bowie Kuhn
  11. George Preston Marshall
  12. Ed Barrow
  13. Abe Saperstein
  14. John McGraw
  15. Larry MacPhail
  16. Dick Schultz
  17. Gary Bettman
  18. Adolph Rupp
  19. Walter Brown
  20. Jesse Owens
  21. Deane Beman
  22. Phog Allen
  23. Wellington Mara
  24. Charles Comiskey
  25. Eddie Robinson
  26. Knute Rockne
  27. Arch Ward
  28. Jerry Jones
  29. Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
  30. Bobby Orr
  31. Art Rooney
  32. Alan Eagleson
  33. Pele
  34. Bud Selig
  35. Tommie Smith and John Carlos
  36. Pat Summit
  37. Laurence Tisch
  38. Bobby Jones
  39. Tiger Woods
  40. Leigh Steinberg
  41. Henry Iba
  42. Bill Bowerman
  43. Anatoli Tarasov
  44. Albert “Happy” Chandler
  45. “The Voices of Baseball” — Mel Allen, Red Barber, Vin Scully, Harry Caray, Jack Buck, Ernie Harwell,Bob Prince, Etc.
  46. Sonny Werblin
  47. Ed and Steve Sabol
  48. J.G. Taylor Spink and C.C. Johnson Spink
  49. Wayne Gretzky
  50. The Famous Chicken
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ABC Sports ranks the Top Ten Most Influential People "off the field" in sports history as voted by the Sports Century panel in December, 1999

  1. Branch Rickey
  2. Pete Rozelle
  3. Roone Arledge
  4. Marvin Miller
  5. Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis
  6. David Stern
  7. Avery Brundage
  8. Walter O’Malley
  9. George Halas
  10. Mark McCormack
×

Attendance 1953-1957 Brooklyn Dodgers vs. Milwaukee Braves

Attendance 1953-1957 Brooklyn Dodgers vs. Milwaukee Braves
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The Dodgers arrived in Vero and were welcomed by Mayor Barber and Chamber of Commerce President William C. Wodtke. Radio station WIRA carried the festivities live. For the two exhibition games, Durocher and his wife, actress Laraine Day, had been assigned one of the barrack’s finest “suites,” but Day found it more than wanting and moved them to the beachfront hotel, the Windswept, five miles away from Dodgertown.

Complementing the lack of heating and air conditioning in the two wooden barracks, each standing two stories high on stilts, were the paper-thin walls. Neither bats nor cleats were permitted inside — bats for obvious reasons and cleats because they would ruin the floors. For most of the players, they would sleep six in a room. “It was a lot like the army,” said Danny Ozark, a former minor league player and later a Dodger coach.Ibid.

With all the pomp and circumstance for their first exhibition game, the Dodgers defeated Montreal, 5-4, as Jackie Robinson homered in the first inning. Florida Governor Millard Caldwell threw the ceremonial first pitch at so-called “Ebbets Field No. 2.” A sign reading “You Are Now Entering Dodgertown” welcomed a strong showing of some 6,000 fans, paying $1.25 in the grandstands and bolstered the idea of more games being played on base in the future. Baseball Commissioner Happy Chandler, who had suspended Manager Durocher one year earlier, shook hands with “The Lip” and wished him good luck.

So intrigued by the new facilities was Life magazine that it made Dodgertown the April 5, 1948 cover story and devoted four more pages inside.

A contingent of the Brooklyn National Guard who had traveled to Florida to watch the Dodgers were introduced and went home with a “load of oranges presented to them by the Vero Beach Jaycees.”Special Dodger Section, Vero Beach Press-Journal, February 27, 1958

Isolated from the downtown Vero Beach area, Dodgertown enabled the players to be self-contained in the airport area and at the living quarters on base. The Dodgers built up the base so that a player would have all of his basic needs cared for, including their own postal station, canteen, barber shop, Western Union office and lounge.

For the 1948-50 seasons, the Dodgers made the best of the camp as more than 600 players each year ran, ate, slept and played games at Dodgertown. Rickey pushed the players up the ladder with the abundant minor league teams. The cream would rise to the top and every player was graded by coaches and scouts in a host of activities held throughout the day. Versatile Herman Levy, the camp mailman and night watchman, who early each morning would run the American flag up the pole and audibly state the Pledge of Allegiance, blew a shrill whistle that virtually got players jumping from their beds by 6 a.m.

Classes were held to teach the nuances of the game — baserunning, pitching, hitting, fielding, positioning and training techniques. A pitching area known as “The Strings” was established enabling up to six pitchers to warm up and get their practice work done simultaneously. The strings were held on poles in front of the catcher to simulate a strike zone. As the thrown ball passed through the open space of the strings, the pitcher, catcher and coaches could instantly gauge the result, ball or strike. Pitching machines never tired of throwing strikes to batters in fenced off areas. Several sliding pits with sawdust and a base were created. Regular size and half fields were used for practice purposes. A giant brick wall was erected for fielders and pitchers to utilize.

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  • Dodgertown and Vero Beach, FL are synonymous now. But, in the early years, the Dodgers struggled to draw fans to the complex to watch games. In fact, the majority of Dodger spring training exhibition games were played in Miami.Dodgertown and Vero Beach, FL are synonymous now. But, in the early years, the Dodgers struggled to draw fans to the complex to watch games. In fact, the majority of Dodger spring training exhibition games were played in Miami.
  • The innovative pitching “strings” area, which outlines the strike zone, helps pitchers to pinpoint their control.The innovative pitching “strings” area, which outlines the strike zone, helps pitchers to pinpoint their control.
  • One of the many training areas at Dodgertown includes the sliding pits, with their sawdust and base.One of the many training areas at Dodgertown includes the sliding pits, with their sawdust and base.