I have lived and had a home in Vero Beach, Florida, for more than 25 years. The Dodgers have been the defining brand for Vero Beach and Dodgertown has given Vero Beach a feel of a “special place”. One of my favorite memories in life was going to spring training games with my dad and my son. Spring training games in a small park in the sunshine is just a beautiful experience.
I have lived and had a home in Vero Beach, Florida, for more than 25 years. The Dodgers have been the defining brand for Vero Beach and Dodgertown has given Vero Beach a feel of a "special place". One of my favorite memories in life was going to spring training games with my dad and my son. Spring training games in a small park in the sunshine is just a beautiful experience. Yesterday was the last spring training game for the Dodgers at Dodgertown as they move, rightly so, back west to a new modern facility for next year’s spring training. The Brooklyn Dodgers moved to Vero Beach and created the best spring training facility in the major leagues. But time moved on. The Dodgers moved to LA. Their Brooklyn based fans died off and at most games there were more fans of the opposing teams than for the Dodgers and what was considered modern as a facility became known as quaint. Time moves on and now Vero Beach will be forced to recruit a replacement team – rumored to be the Baltimore Orioles – and upgrade the facility and start anew memories for families.
That sad part is not only that they left, but also the way they left.
Very first baseball memory was going to Vero Beach as a child and seeing Dodgers in Spring training. I met Manny Mota and got his autograph. As a kid it was a thrill to see real life baseball players. I was a Dodger fan a good portion of childhood because of that and lack of team in DC. Still remember that experience like it was yesterday.
A nice feature of Caps hockey games in Sunrise & Tampa in March is having the chance to attend spring training baseball games also. Nats in Viera, Braves in Orlando, Tigers in Lakeland, and for the last time this year, the Indians at Chain of Lakes.