June 2nd, 2023 at 9:00 am 
by Ron Cervenka Like many kids, I was blessed to have a father who was an avid baseball fan, albeit a Cubs fan, having moved to Southern California from Chicago the year before I was born. As such, whenever his Cubbies would come to town, he would herd up my brothers and me and schlep us off to the L.A. Memorial Coliseum and later to brand new Dodger Stadium where, of course, I became a huge Dodgers fan (sorry Dad).
Although most of those trips to the Coliseum and the Ravine involved the Dodgers and Cubs (and Dodger Dogs and those incredible Carnation frozen malts), my dad also took us to Game-3 of the 1963 World Series between the Dodgers and the New York Yankees at Dodger Stadium – the epic (and historic) complete game 1-0 shutout pitched by Hall of Fame right-hander Don Drysdale, with the Dodgers scoring the only run of the game on a first-inning RBI single by Tommy Davis to score Jim Gilliam from second base.
That was the sum and total of the scoring on that (very) memorable day for my then nine-year-old self. It also made Don Drysdale my all-time favorite Dodger (to this day) and is half of the reason for my ‘FanSince 53’ nickname. (The other half having been born in 1953 and Dodgers fan since that day).
The Dodgers would go on to sweep the highly-favored Yankees in four games, two of which were won by fellow Hall of Fame left-hander Sandy Koufax.
(Jerry J. Cervenka)
(Ron Cervenka)
Needless to say, whenever the National League Dodgers play the American League Yankees – such as the next three interleague games between these two historic franchises – it immediately brings back those incredibly fond memories of my dad and is absolutely must-see stuff.
Play ball!
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Posted in 
AWESOME! Just AWESOME!
Did you go to the LA Wrigley Field to watch the PCL Angels before the Dodgers moved from Brooklyn? I went to a few games, usually when the Angels were playing the Hollywood Stars.
I did not. However, I did visit Wrigley during one of my trips to New York to visit my daughter. Also visited Fenway during one of my trips as well. You could just feel the history.
We went to Fenway last August — it was like no other sporting event I have ever attended. Walking into and then out of the park with hundreds of people milling around the outside was electric. Then, watching the game (they were playing the Braves) was like floating back in time — I could almost see the ghost of Ted Williams in the on-deck circle. A time I will never forget.
Sorry for the late response. I read the dialogue a couple of days ago and have not had a chance to reply. Ron and Jesse, you guys are great. Your views are almost always spot on! This last one brought back memories of my late grandfather and grandmother who lived in the same house in Culver City from 1959 until my grandfather passed away in 2012. They would pick me up from my house in Torrance and we would spend Sunday afternoons at beautiful Dodger Stadium. I saw Willie Mays and Hank Aaron hit homeruns, I saw the Pirates and Roberto Clemente. I loved to watch Willie Davis and Willie Crawford play the outfield, and I remember getting rookies Steve Garvey and Bill Russell’s autographs when the Dodgers used to have players positioned behind the seats at podiums to give autographs before the games. Upper deck tickets were $.75 for adults and $.25 for children. Walt Alston was the manager and I remember watching Don Sutton, Al Downing and Jim Brewer, then Andy Messersmith and Tommy John (I was sad to see Richie Allen traded, even sadder when he won the MVP with the White Sox). That’s when I became a fan of my beloved boys in blue, FanSince 70 would be me. I was lucky enough to see game 6 of the 1978 world series, sadly won by the Yankees, but put Reggie Jackson with the hated cheating Astros as my Dodger’s number 1 enemies. Finally, I have not been to Fenway, but saw a game in Wrigley with my three of my children back in the late ’90’s. It was really a feeling like no other. Been to many ballparks around the country, but there was something mystical about Wrigley. Also, my grandpa used to go to Wrigley in Los Angeles back in the ’50’s. I have a signed ticket envelope by the great Stan Musial and another by Ralph Kiner that my grandpa gave me so many years ago. Thanks Grandpa!
Thank you for sharing these wonderful memories with us, Cid. You are every bit as much a member of our family as we are.
Thank you again for sharing.
PS: I was a HUGE Willie Crawford fan back in the day!
Thank you for your kind words Ron. Even though this year’s team may not be as talented as last year, I really enjoy watching these boys play. How about this kid Bobby Miller? Pretty early to tell (see Jose DeLeon), but he looks pretty good, tough loss yesterday, I kept thinking they were going to pull it out. Great thing about baseball, there’s a new game tomorrow!