小瓜呆 murielee84

* Dodgers at LA – 50 anniversary

今年 – 2008 – 慶祝道奇在洛杉磯 50 週年。

老闆不但OK， 還說 Anna (在 Getty Villa  的同事) 也是道奇迷，可以問她要不要去。

My boss was OK with it, even suggesting me to call Anna, who is super Dodgers fan.

Anna 知道今天是 Jackie Robison Day，竟比我還興奮，所以我馬上訂票；傍晚回去載淑宜。三人一同前往。一路上興奮得不得了，Anna  看到要進入停車場，簡直要把我的車頂掀破，我得叫她稍微控制一下。

It was Jackie Robison Day and Anna gladly joined us. We picked up Kelly on the way. When we approached the Stadium, Anna was so excited, yelling, “This is my first Dodgers game this year!” I had to calm her down.

先說說 Jackie Robison，他在 1947 年4月15日第一次出場，是當代美國職棒大聯盟的第一位非裔球員 (當時道奇隊還在紐約)，這對當時"黑白分明"的社會別具歷史意義。

Jackie Robson was the 1st African-American MLB player of the modern era - debut April 15, 1947 – (Dodgers was still in Brooklyn).

他曾贏過許多獎項，在 1962 年進入名人堂，同時他也為黑人民權而努力。

在1997 年的4月15日 – 他第一次出場的50 週年紀念品 – 他的背號 42 高懸，以後的球員不再使用 42。

According to Wikipedia：

Robinson won many awards and was inducted the Hall of Fame Robinson in 1962. He was “a forerunner of the Civil Rights Movement. In the 1960s, he was a key figure in the establishment and growth of the Freedom National Bank, an African-American owned and controlled entity based in Harlem, New York. . . On April 15, 1997, the 50 year anniversary of his debut, Major League Baseball retired the number 42, the number Robinson wore, in recognition of his accomplishments both on and off the field in a ceremony at Shea Stadium.”

這麼巧我就挑4月15日去看道奇比賽；今天大家都穿42號，還真搞不清誰是誰。

Everyone wore “42” and it was not easy to tell who’s who.

休息時，教練團給點指示，唯一看到背號 42、面向右邊的是小小郭。

剛好小小郭要先發，又碰到這麼有意義的4月15日，而且原價23~28 美元的票剛好特價 10 元，加上手續費及停車費，一人只要 20 元；我們前面坐了三個跟我們一樣興奮的球迷，他們跟 Anna 聊得高興，最後道奇大勝，今天簡直是太完美了！

It was almost a perfect as Jackie Robison Day; the original price ($23~28) was on sale for $10 – with transaction and parking fee, we only paid $20 each person. The three guys sitting in front of us were great game companions and we were all very excited throughout the whole game.

"We are like a family - only better - because we are not really related!"

We are bound by Dodgers.

And Dodgers won!!!

唯一美中不足的是，小小郭剛開始投的還不錯，可是之後壞球偏多，投球數已高，被換下場，雖然他下場時還領先，可是不滿五局，勝投算給了第二任投手。

Except, (there is always except) Kuo left the game at 5th inning (too many pitches already). Although Dodgers still led at that moment, he could not be the winning pitcher for he did not complete 5 innings as a starter.

SUCKED !

* Famous “Dodger Dog” – Anna devoured 2; I shall try next time.

出名的道奇熱狗， Anna 一次吃兩份；下次我也來吃吃看。

無法想像沒有棒球或是籃球的日子。

I can’t imagine life with baseball, or basketball!

* Kuo batting 小小郭打擊，不過這次沒全壘打表現。

* 後記 - 淑宜打電話回家描述說：厚，不是週末還有三萬七千多人來看，從來沒看過這麼大的停車場！