It was a tough blow. No, not losing game-7 of the 2017 World Series to the Houston Astros – although that was extremely excruciating. It was a tough blow when Dodgers season ticket holders opened the emails from their beloved Dodgers informing them that season ticket prices for the upcoming 2018 season had been jacked up anywhere from six to 25 percent or more … A LOT more. In fact, for those with two Row-A seats out in the Left Field Pavilion and including season parking, the increase is 43.5 percent over 2017 prices. That’s an increase of $2,740!

Sure, one can argue that being a season ticket holder most certainly has its perks, such as receiving every stadium giveaway item and a nice discount on merchandise purchased at any of the team stores at Dodger Stadium, but the bottom line is that such an insane price increase is sticking it to their most loyal fans.

“We will always rest on the value of the ticket,” Dodgers vice president of ticket sales David Siegel recently told LA Times writer Bill Shaikin. “Our play on the field speaks for itself.”

Earth to David Siegel … the Dodgers lost the World Series.

But there is another thing that sticks in the craw of not only season ticket holders, but of every Dodger fan on said Earth – the fact that beloved former Dodgers left-hander Fernando Valenzuela‘s number 34 still has not been retired and added to the prestigious ‘Ring of Honor’ at Dodger Stadium, this in spite of the fact that no one – no one single player – has worn that jersey number in 27 years; not since Fernando left the Dodgers following the 1990 season and, in all likelihood, never will.

“It’s not retired but it’s Fernando,” longtime clubhouse manager Mitch Poole told superstar slugger Manny Ramirez, when Manny wanted that jersey number after being traded to the Dodgers in the final seconds (literally) of the July 31, 2008 trade deadline. “But it’s not retired,” Ramirez told Poole. “Well, not officially, but…,” Poole added, trailing off. In the end, Mitch Poole and every Fernando fan on the planet – and there are many – won, and Manny agreed on jersey number 99 which, of course, turned into a marketing goldmine for the Dodgers.

When Fernando pitched in the Old-Timers game in 2013, he looked as though he could still go nine.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Yet with every new season, longtime Dodger fans – especially those who live in the large Hispanic communities of Los Angeles – remain hopeful that the Dodgers will finally … finally give the man affectionately known as ‘El Toro’ his due by officially retiring his jersey number.

For those unfamiliar with the criteria used by the Dodgers when it comes to retiring a jersey number, it’s actually quite simple – be enshrined in the sacred Halls of Cooperstown. But while that works for nine of the ten former Dodger who have had their jersey’s retired (and for Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully, who was rightfully added to the Ring of Honor this past season), former Dodgers infielder Jim Gilliam had his jersey retired on October 10, 1978 without having been enshrined in the Hall of Fame.

Gilliam, who became a coach for the Dodgers after his 14-year MLB career with both the Brooklyn and Los Angeles and was the 1953 National League Rookie of the Year, died suddenly at the age of 49 just prior to the 1978 World Series between the Dodgers and New York Yankees. And while it is impossible to argue that Gilliam was not deserving of having his number retired, he is not and in all probability will never will be elected into the Hall of Fame.

Retiring Fernando’s number and adding it to the Ring of Honor is long overdue.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

If ethnicity and emotion are the sole reason why Gilliam and his career .265 / .360 / .355 / .715 slash-line is immortalized in the Dodgers Ring of Honor, then so too should be Fernando Valenzuela with his Dodgers career mark of 141-116 and 3.31 ERA over his 11 seasons with the Dodgers. In fact, during those 11 seasons, Fernando won one NL Cy Young award (1981), one Silver Slugger award (1983), one Gold Glove award (1986), and was named to six consecutive NL All-Star teams (1981-1986). He also possessed one of the best screwballs the game has ever seen.

While there is no argument that Fernando’s 17-year career 173-153 record and career 3.54 ERA are most certainly not Cooperstown-worthy, what he did to unify the second largest city in the United States as a Mexican-American makes him every bit as worthy of having his jersey number retired as that of ‘Gabby,’ as Jim Gilliam was affectionately known.

Lifelong Dodger fan and Hooligan Sports entrepreneur D.J. Baltazar recently added this T-shirt to his inventory in a campaign to have Fernando’s number retired.
(Image courtesy of Hooligan Sports)

In no way is intended to take anything away from Jim Gilliam, but retiring Fernando Valenzuela’s number 34 is long overdue.

Give Dodger fans what they want, Guggenheim Baseball Management Group. After all, they are paying for it.

…through the nose.