Millions of fans everywhere dream about being able to take some
swings at a major league ballpark. They dream about walking onto
the field and experiencing the beautiful feeling of hitting a line
drive at a place where they’ve seen so many of the players
they admire do the same thing.
Wednesday, I got to live that dream at Dodger Stadium.
Watching a game on TV gives you one perspective. Watching in the
stands gives you a closer one. But nothing compares to actually
being on the field and taking batting practice on it.
It is there that you realize how cavernous a baseball stadium
truly is, and how much muscle it takes to truly drive a ball.
Hitting a home run or even a ball to the deep outfield is hard to
do with a wooden bat ““ even when just facing a
batting-practice pitcher who isn’t exactly a major-league
flamethrower.
The Dodgers were promoting their new Think Blue Rewards program,
in which fans can sign up and earn points when they buy things at
any of the more than 200 different merchants. These points can be
used toward Dodger merchandise or actual experiences with the
Dodgers, like taking batting practice.
Other local media and I got that chance on Wednesday and took
full advantage of it. Even T.J. Simers, who has been whining about
a bad knee for weeks in his Los Angeles Times column, got out there
and took some hacks, and sadly, hit much better than I did despite
being about 10 times my age.
Before heading to Dodger Stadium, I had grand visions of
connecting on some line drives, getting in a rhythm, and trying to
get a hold of one and take it deep. It’d be a story to tell
forever.
Quickly, reality set in though.
I figured I’d soak in Dodger Stadium for a while and let
all of the other media members hit before me.
And I watched as the able-bodied people struggled to really
drive the ball.
Finally, it was my turn. I stepped into the same batters box
that so many great hitters had stepped into. Every
great right-handed hitter in the National League over the past
45 seasons had stood where I stood, gazing at the NL’s
second-oldest stadium, which has remained remarkably true to its
original 1962 design.
I got ready and eyed the pitcher, Casey Haakinson, who works in
the Dodger front office.
My first swing was a weak ground ball to the shortstop. Not bad,
I thought. But I can do better.
Hitting with a wooden bat is also significantly different than
hitting with an aluminum bat, which is the type of bat used at
nearly every nonprofessional level. You hear the sweet crack of the
wooden bat instead of the annoying ping of an aluminum bat. And the
ball doesn’t carry as far.
A few swings later, I felt like I had got a hold of one. It went
back, way back … all the way to where the left fielder would
stand if he were playing shallow.
After a barrage of infield ground balls later and a line drive
that nearly hit Haakinson’s head, and I was down to my last
few pitches. It was a hot day, so I gave everyone a breeze with a
few consecutive whiffs. One more to go ““ and, swinging for
the fences, I fouled a ball off my leg.
It was all over.
I wanted it to never end. But of course, the grounds crew had to
prep the field for a game later that night that people actually
cared about.
It was still an experience I will always remember. Walking on an
extremely well-kept baseball field. The batter’s view of the
rest of the stadium. The couple of line drives I hit at a
major-league ballpark. How long and narrow major-league dugouts
are. And what an empty, quiet Dodger Stadium looks like, a park
that is usually filled with people.
One tip for those of you who are ever lucky to take batting
practice at a major league ballpark (or anywhere of significance):
Practice before you go. Go to your local batting cages. I
hadn’t seriously swung a baseball bat for over two years when
I tried out for the UCLA baseball team.
Back then, I thought playing at UCLA’s Jackie Robinson
Stadium was a thrill. And it really was ““ but it
doesn’t compare to a major league ballpark.
And from now on, whenever I watch a Dodger game and see someone
ground out, I can know, in a small way, what it feels like.
E-mail Quiñonez at gquinonez@media.ucla.edu. For more
info on the Think Blue Rewards program, visit
www.thinkblue.dodgers.com.