Vero Beach, Fla.-- --It was St. Patrick's Day, so "Dodger Bob" Scholl and his wife, Patty, wore some green to mark the occasion and added black armbands to mark the passing of an era.
"I've been coming here since 1964, and I've been a Dodgers fan since 1948," said a clearly disconsolate Dodger Bob, "and this is it. I don't want to see the Orioles."
The Dodgers played what is expected to be their final exhibition game at Dodgertown yesterday, losing to the Houston Astros with Tommy Lasorda filling in as manager and 60 years of memories swirling around windy Holman Stadium.
There still is some uncertainty about the future of the place. The Dodgers could be forced to come back here if their new facility in Arizona is not ready to be occupied in February, or the Orioles could end up here next spring if the Dodgers don't and Fort Lauderdale is unable to make good on a long-delayed deal to renovate and expand the Orioles' current facility.
One of the original Boys of Summer, Carl Erskine, played the national anthem on the harmonica and sat next to Lasorda throughout the game, then explained in typical old Dodgers style why he also finds it hard to stomach the thought of the Orioles' possibly moving into Dodgertown.
"Could it be worse than orange and black?" said the 81-year-old pitcher, who threw the first pitch at brand-new Holman Stadium on March 11, 1953. "Those are the Giants' colors. Duke Snider used to say, 'We hate orange and black so much, we don't even celebrate Halloween.'"
Erskine meant no disrespect to the Orioles, who just about everyone agrees represent salvation for the Dodgertown complex, which might face residential redevelopment if another major league team does not take the place of the one that captured this little town's heart six decades ago.
"I think, in this situation, it would be OK," said Lasorda, who fought back tears during his post-game media session. "They need a team here. They need a team here very much. I hope they [the Orioles] come here."
The locals had been bracing for this day for quite some time. It's not as if a big Mayflower truck just pulled up in the middle of the night and stole away with the team. This has been coming for a while, and Vero's Dodgers faithful grudgingly accept the logic of the team's shift to a facility within driving distance of Los Angeles. No other West Coast team spends the spring on the East Coast.
"I think this is a baseball town and Vero Beach will still support baseball," said Vero Beach High baseball coach Jeff Steinman, who gave his players the day off so they could come over after school to see the late innings of the final game.
"As much as I understand the financial situation, it's very sad. It won't be the same. I'd like to see tradition overcome that, but this is the way it's going to be."
If it takes some time for Vero Beach to muster up some excitement about the Orioles, it's not really about Baltimore, though the Orioles did upset the Dodgers to win their first world title in 1966.
"Nothing against your town," Dodger Bob said, "but I'm a Dodger fan. I'm heartbroken they are leaving. I know it makes sense, but it's still terrible."
Lasorda, who has acted as interim manager since Joe Torre and part of the team traveled to China for a historic two-game series against the San Diego Padres, was honored before the game and got a huge ovation from the sellout crowd. He addressed the fans briefly and mirrored the emotion in the stands, as if he were getting homesick for Dodgertown even before he left.
"You want to make me cry?" he said. "We came here a long time ago, and the people here have always been so wonderful to the Dodgers. My memories are so much about Vero Beach and Dodgertown. We are going to leave, but we are not leaving our memories. We will have those forever."
Behind the counter at the home plate concession stand, one of the older servers gave a look of resignation and said the town would adjust if a certain rebuilding franchise from the Mid-Atlantic region decides to make Vero Beach its new spring training home.
"We'll just call it Birdland instead of Dodgertown and sell Bird Dogs instead of Dodger Dogs."
peter.schmuck@baltsun.com
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