As the Dodgers and their fans were enjoying a rare and much-needed off day on Thursday, a group of (approximately) 250 Dodger fans – including a couple who had flown in from South Dakota – did so by (wait for it…) talking Dodgers baseball.

Gathered in the community room of historic South Pasadena Public Library, this group of die-hard Dodger fans had gathered to listen to former Dodgers general manager and current SportsNet LA analyst Ned Colletti, and renowned Dodgers historian Mark Langill share stories and answer questions about their beloved team.

The event, which was technically a book signing event for Colletti’s popular book ‘The Big Chair: The Smooth Hops and Bad Bounces from the Inside World of the Acclaimed Los Angeles Dodgers General Manager’, included a viewing of part one of SportsNet LA’s ‘Dodgermentary: 1988,’ which recapped the Dodgers historic season that ended with them beating the highly favored Oakland Athletics in the 1988 World Series.

But not everyone had come to purchase a copy of ‘The Big Chair’ and have it signed by its author, primarily because that had already done so at an earlier appearance by Colletti at the historic library. No, they were there to participate in the hour-long (ish) question and answer session that followed.

The session actually began with famed Dodger Stadium peanut vendor Roger Owens telling his remarkable story that included him appearing on the Tonight Show (when Johnny Carson hosted it) and appearing at former President Jimmy Carter’s inauguration, and ended with the 75-year-old tossing out bags of peanuts utilizing his signature behind-the-back toss without a miss.

Even at 75 years old, longtime Dodger Stadium peanut vendor Roger Owens did not miss with his famous behind-the-back toss on Thursday night. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

After a brief but fact-based introduction of Colletti by Langill, himself a published author several times over and a contributor to the Dodgers annual Yearbook and the booklets handed out during every homestand at Dodger Stadium, Colletti took over.

The 64-year-old former Dodgers GM and baseball lifer began by sharing stories about growing up in a rented small four-room flat in 1950’s Chicago (Lincoln Park).

“Four rooms, not four bedrooms,” Colletti described. “In fact, you could fit our whole house in this room.”

After sharing interesting stories about his childhood, Colletti and Langill opened the floor to an equally interesting – and impressive – Q and A session with the group. The first question – and a very good one – was what is Colletti’s take on the emergence of oft-controversial Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig who, just the night before, hit a game-winning three-run home run that led to a three-game Dodgers sweep over the NL West second place (by 2.5 GB) Colorado Rockies?

“I’ve known Yasiel since 2012 when we signed him,” Colletti began. “And I think that something I have learned through life is that when we meet somebody, it’s not the first day of their life. And so you don’t know everything that’s gone on in the 21 years before the day I shook Yasiel Puig’s hand.

“I think it took some time for him to adjust. I think you’re talking about coming from Cuba, coming from a different type of society, different cultures, different leadership, different responsibility is a different thing now that he’s here – a much more controlled society” Colletti added. “And then he comes here and now he’s got 42 millions dollars a year after we sign him and he’s in Los Angeles, and he’s the king of the hill.

“I think that if we all went to Harvard-Westlake and then went to UCLA or USC or any baseball university in the neighborhood that’s got a great baseball program, and then was a number one pick, and got to the big leagues a year later and is on SportsCenter every night and on the Baseball channel every night, and was the talk of the sport, I think that we’d all have trouble at 21 years old keeping it under control and keeping it figured out … and that’s if we were a Dodger fan since we were five years old and knew the city and knew what the whole deal was, and he had none of it, and so it took awhile.

“I give him a lot of credit because I’ve seen very few players that have two, three, four years in the big leagues are willing to change, are willing to adjust. His ability to be patient and quiet and calm at the plate, and I think the word Yasiel Puig and the words patient and quiet and calm are probably the first time those words have been together in one sentence,” Colletti added to a roar of laughter from the audience.

The former Dodgers GM added that he is proud of Puig and acknowledged that he still has more baseball education to go through, but said that the (now) 27-year-old Cienfuegos, Cuba native and huge Kobe Bryant fan has a chance to be the next Kobe Bryant in this city, has a chance to be beloved, but needs to make better choices.

(Did I mention that the first question was a very good one?).

Colletti and Langill fielded a variety of excellent questions from the gathered crowd of (roughly) 250 Dodger fans in attendance at the South Pasadena Public Library on Thursday evening. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Another hot-topic question for Colletti was whether or not he thought the Dodgers would re-sign All-Star shortstop Manny Machado.

In a nutshell (no pun intended towards Roger Owens), Colletti said probably not, due primarily to the fact that they already have an All-Star shortstop in Corey Seager, and that the popular opinion of simply rearranging the Dodgers current infield (including moving Seager to second or third base, moving Cody Bellinger to center field permanently, and moving Justin Turner to first base), leaves nowhere for the Dodgers top home run hitter Max Muncy; this in addition to the enormous (and lengthy) contract that the 26-year-old Machado is expected to land.

When asked if he thought that Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw would opt out of his current seven-year / $215 million contract which expires following the 2020 season, Colletti gave the answer that every Dodger fan wanted to hear.

“I think there’s two things that drive Clayton, and I’ve known him since he was 18. One is his family – probably if there’s 10 things, that’s one through nine – and the 10th is having a chance to win, and I think this organization has proven that to him, I think he’s proven it to them. So I do think that he’ll be back, I don’t see him opting out  ” Colletti answered, to an audible sigh of relief from the audience.

“I think this organization is in a good place, I see the organization getting stronger, I see the teams that they compete against not getting stronger. … This would be the place to be and the place to win. I think that this will come into play in his thought process. … You’re asking me, I think he stays.”

A crowd of nearly 250 Dodger fans showed up for Colletti’s and Langill’s book-signing and Q & A session on Thursday night, many of whom were clad in Dodgers gear. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Ironically, one of the most controversial questions asked of Colletti came from a Dodger fan who flew into town from South Dakota with his wife to visit friends and take in Wednesday’s exciting Dodgers game. But while in town at a local hotel, he and his wife have been unable to watch any other Dodger games because they do not carry SportsNet LA and the ongoing dispute between the regional sports network and DirecTV. Asked if he saw a resolution to this extremely unpopular and highly sensitive issue, which drew a loud applause from the audience, Colletti was a bit less optimistic than he was about the Kershaw situation.

“You’re probably going to be mad at me, I don’t have anything that I can really tell you, I don’t know,” the Emmy-winning SportsNet LA analyst said. “The Dodgers made a business decision and chose a partner that I’m sure that they thought was going to be able to take it to DirecTV and put it everywhere. The Dodgers get blamed for it a lot, it’s not necessarily, I don’t believe that it’s really their fault.”

Langill interjected.

“It’s an industry issue now in terms of… it’s bigger than the Dodgers now in terms of stations carrying that and the push-back and technology, too.”

Colletti concluded by saying that he has no idea when (if) the ongoing dispute will end.

“I don’t know when it will end, it kind of breaks my heart a little bit that it is the way it is,” Colletti said. “I grew up in a city that, way before you had a lot of games on television, but I could always watch my team. I could always watch the Cubs and that did help build the love I talked about when I started talking tonight.

“I think that, especially your younger people today, baseball is down maybe three million people in attendance this year across the board, not here, not down the street, but in other places,” he added. “But I think you have to keep young people interested, young people involved and there’s so many different things that they can be doing right now. And so even if you could see all the games, you would still have the battle to keep them choosing your sport, and I think at some point in time I hope it gets rectified.

“A lot of people here have never had a chance to watch the team. Vin Scully, say goodbye to Vin Scully, the greatest announcer in the history of sports in this country and one of the best people I’ve ever met in my life, a lot of people knew he was leaving couldn’t see him,” Colletti concluded.

Colletti and Langill certainly shared far more than is summarized here. As such, it would behoove Dodger fans to keep a close eye on the South Pasadena Public Library’s website at: www.southpasadenaca.gov/government/departments/library, as they have had – and will continue to have – guest speakers from the Dodgers organization, including current and former players.

Besides … what real Dodger fan worth their salt ever really takes a day off, right?

Play Ball!