Dodgers Interview: Hartung reflects on the nervewracking 2025 run and a decade’s worth of “pinch-me” moments
CLAREMONT — Legends’ Attic in Claremont felt like Dodger Stadium spilled into a museum. Rain was coming down outside, but inside, it was all blue, all noise, all stories. Fans lined up for Miguel Rojas autographs, checked out the artwork, and wandered through rows of jerseys, photos, and signed baseballs. In the middle of it all stood a guy who has been in Dodger living rooms for more than a decade, stopping every few feet like a kid at his first game. SportsNet LA studio host John Hartung was making his first visit to Legends’ Attic, and he looked as wide-eyed as any fan in the building.
“It’s overwhelming because there’s so much incredible stuff here,” Hartung said as he tried to take in the Dodgers room. “I walk around and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, oh my gosh.’ Everywhere I look I have this reaction because I’m very much a baseball nerd and really a sports fan in a lot of ways. And I love memorabilia.” He said the shop triggered old memories right away. “When I was a kid, when I was 14 years old, I worked at a baseball card store. There was a lot of memorabilia as well, so in some ways it takes me back to my childhood, but this is on a whole different level. There’s so much incredible stuff. I can’t wait to see it all.”
Even with fans asking for photos and other media waiting to talk, you could tell he wanted to just wander. “You could spend hours in here,” he said. “I got a quick tour the first time I came here, and I felt like I just wanted to stop and look around. I want to be able to take everything in and look at the detail on all the paintings. I could literally spend all day in here just looking at everything. Like I said earlier, it’s overwhelming, but it’s incredible.”
Of course, Hartung was not just there to admire the walls. The night was about celebrating a back-to-back World Series title and the new status of Miguel Rojas as a Dodger legend. It was also a full-circle moment for Hartung and interviewer Alysha Del Valle, who worked together long before he joined Spectrum. She reminded him that he had once left their old station to chase baseball. Now here he is, a dozen seasons into his dream job, trying to keep it together emotionally while calling one of the wildest World Series runs we have ever seen.
Asked what it was like to live through Game 6 and Game 7 as both a studio host and a fan, Hartung did not sugarcoat it. “Excruciating,” he said with a laugh. “Orel [Hershiser] could tell you this, and Nomar [Garciaparra] could tell you this. Nomar looks at me and he laughs at me because I ride that roller coaster of emotion up and down, up and down. And I get so stressed in these playoff games.” He reminded everyone that the fan label from the top of the interview is not just a throwaway line. “You mentioned at the top of this interview, diehard fan. I truly am a diehard Dodger fan and I have been since the 70s growing up here in Los Angeles.”
Hartung said that identity never really turns off, even when the camera light comes on. “I tell everybody this right off the bat. I am a fan first,” he said. “And a distant second, I’m the host of the Dodgers pre and postgame shows. Sometimes when we come on the air, I’m still feeling the emotion of what just happened, especially if it was the World Series or a walk-off win, anything like that.” Then he smiled and pointed out that not every walk-off is a happy one. “Sometimes it’s bad. Sometimes it’s a walk-off after the Dodgers lost when Yamamoto was one out away from a no-hitter and then they lose the game, and I’m so mad and I have to put on a face and do this show and be professional. But it’s just a dream come true.”
Even after all these years, he has not gotten used to it. “I’ve told Orel and all the guys so many times, I still have, 12 years in now, pinch-me moments all the time,” he said. The latest title run only added to that feeling, even if it aged him a little. “This postseason, I think I aged a lot,” he joked. But he admitted that the constant nerves made the final result sweeter. “The emotional roller coaster of this World Series made it that much more special.”
On this afternoon in Claremont, that emotion centered on Miguel Rojas, who was inside greeting fans who refused to let a Southern California rain keep them away. Hartung said that reaction fits the city perfectly. “As you know, being an Angelino, we love our teams,” he said. “And we love our heroes. Orel was a hero back in 1988. And that’s something Miguel Rojas can look at someday down the road and think it’s going to be like that for him because of what he did in Game 6 with the defense, what he did in Game 7 with the defense, and of course the home run, which has changed his life forever.”
Hartung believes that swing off the bat has permanently shifted Rojas’s place in franchise history. “Whether he realizes it or not, his life is never going to be the same again,” Hartung said. “He’s had two weeks to kind of take in what that life-changing experience is like. And him being here today talking about that as well, he’s truly going to be a World Series hero forever in Dodgers lore.”
Part of that lore is already hanging on the wall. Artist Dave Hobrecht, whose work fills much of Legends’ Attic, unveiled a painting of Rojas that left the shortstop almost speechless. Hartung did not see the moment live but still felt it from the parking lot. “I was telling Dave I was listening in my car. I was in the parking lot trying to find a parking spot, dang this rain,” he said. “I was listening, and I heard them put the microphone in front of Miggy and ask him a question. He said he couldn’t talk because he was overcome with emotion when he first saw the painting. I can’t wait to see the painting, and I can’t wait to talk to him about it as well.”
Even with fans still celebrating the parade and the Claremont party in full swing, Hartung admitted that the baseball calendar never really stops. “Winter meetings are in December,” he said when asked how long they could ride this high. “That’s the thing. People are already talking about, okay, what are you going to do for next year? Like, wait, we just had a parade. Can’t we just enjoy this a little longer? They’re on to the next. We want a three peat. We want a four peat. We want it all, win each and every year.”
He added that the organization hears that challenge loud and clear. “You know what,” Hartung said, “the front office and the ownership that they have, they’re going to try to do that.” He even joked about the phrase at the center of every Dodger fan’s dreams. “Can we say three peat or do we have to pay Pat Riley?” he said, relaying what Dave Roberts has told them. “I think Pat Riley, according to Dave Roberts, has already given him permission to use the three-peat at Dodger Stadium. He does own that.”
As he headed back into the crowd to explore more rooms and talk to more fans, Hartung shook his head again at what he was seeing around him. “This is incredible,” he said. For a kid who once rang up packs of cards behind the counter at a shop, standing in a packed memorabilia gallery after a second straight World Series win and talking Dodgers with a room full of true blue might be about as good as it gets.
Have you subscribed to the Bleed Los Podcast YouTube channel? Be sure to ring the notification bell to watch player interviews, participate in shows & promotions, and stay up to date on all Dodgers news and rumors!
