Steve Webb
LOS ANGELES — It happened in the seventh inning on Wednesday night. After Dodgers reliever Alex Vesia had put down the first two Diamondbacks hitters without incident, he fell into a 3-1 hole against Pavin Smith. Then, there was a long break in the action. Those watching on TV only heard “someone has gone onto the field” while cameras focused on the slightly agitated Vesia, who just wanted to pitch, and other players who looked quizzically toward the outfield.
Usually when such things happen, it’s a guy in the left field stands who hit the beer vendor one too many times, and he runs across the field on a dare from his equally drunk buddies. However, it appears that this incident on Wednesday night had more elements of staged political theater to it.
According to various reports and photos from fans who were at the game, the fans who ran across the outfield were holding signs that said “#Bishop”, “#La Loma”, and “#PaloVerde”, a reference to the three mainly Latino communities that were razed back in the 1950s to make room for Dodger Stadium in the Chavez Ravine area of the city. In addition, some activists hung a large banner from the right field reserve section which read “#NotChavezRavine”.
Not surprisingly, Dodger Stadium security made short work of the protestors, tackling them, and carting them off the field pretty quickly and the game could resume.
Of course, it was no coincidence that such a protest occurred on the eve of Mexican Independence Day and on the night the Mexican hero Fernando Valenzuela was honored with a bobblehead night commemorating the 40th anniversary of his magical rookie year. The origin story of Dodger Stadium is a sore spot among many in the Los Angeles Mexican-American community. There was a lot of not-so-great stuff that happened in order to clear the way for this wonderful site where we now can enjoy our beloved Dodgers. And, obviously, these activists wanted to remind us of that. Not quite sure what their ultimate goal was, but certainly they won’t be getting back into any Dodger games any time soon.
Sometimes, Dodger fans have to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time. We have to hold two opposing but not necessarily contradictory thoughts in our head at the same time. On one hand, Dodger Stadium is a fantastic venue, and seeing a game there is about as close to “Blue Heaven on Earth” as we can get. On the other hand, there were a lot of lives upended, and a lot of people hurt to make that possible. Both things can be true at the same time. It’s complicated.
Just like life.
