It's Time for Dodgers Baseball! Once Again Thanks to Paul Sabolić

Friday, August 21, 2026

Thanks to the generosity of Paul Sabolić, we gave up on the idea of attending a high school football season opener to see Laurie's passion, the Los Angeles Dodgers, play tonight.

Paul had originally given his tickets to the game to his daughter and son-in-law but a last minute change in his son-in-law's work schedule forced him to give up the ducats.

We were going to attend the Simi Valley-Valencia game with the Sabolićs but Laurie's Dodgers mania won out.

Dodger Stadium, HERE WE COME!

Pittsburgh Pirates

63 Wins - 66 Losses

Fourth Place National League Central

17 1/2 games behind the Milwaukee Brewers

at

Los Angeles Dodgers

77 Wins - 61 Losses

First Place National League West

7 games ahead of the San Diego Padres

As is our want, we headed to the ballpark early with the thought of eating at one of our favorite hole-in-the-wall dining spots in the Highland Park district of Los Angeles near Dodger Stadium.

Chico's Mexican Restaurant

got the nod

A new Mexican lager for Laurie

The responsible driver that I am, water was my beverage of choice.

The tacos and tostada that we ordered absolutely hit the spot!

Fully sated, we were off to Chavez Ravine!

Parking at "Blue Heaven on Earth"

is a mere $45

Thankfully, Paul's season tickets include a Parking Pass for each game.

The Pirates were still taking

batting practice as we found our seats

The main reason that we arrived so early to the game was the Dodgers promotional giveaway to the first 40,000 fans in attendance.

The giveaway was this

Luka Dončić bobblehead doll

Wait just a second, Dončić is the star player for the Los Angeles Lakers not the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The tie-in was simple enough. As it turns out, the Dodgers owner, Mark Walter, was, until earlier this week, also the owner of the Lakers.

He sold his interest in the Lakers for a mere $12,000,000,000.

Yes, TWELVE BILLION DOLLARS USD!

Our two bobbleheads securely in hand, one that would go to expanding Paul's grandson Parker's sports oriented bobblehead doll collection, I opted to leave the comfort of our Loge Level seats to explore other parts of the ballpark.

The view from the top of the Club Level

Mural of former beloved Dodgers

reliever, Joe Kelly

Now up in the Upper Deck Level,

aka, the Nose Bleed seats

A tribute mural to the

Dodgers Brooklyn roots

Why the "Dodgers" you ask?

Here is your answer

The Dodgers name has a good basis in Brooklyn lore but I, for one, would have gone with the Superbas.

I loved going to Dodgers games

at the Coliseum as a yougster

The Dodgers beat the Chicago White Sox

in the 1959 World Series in six games

The Upper Deck had a series of tribute boards to past Dodgers who played in baseball's Mid-Summer Classic, the All-Star game.

Here are some that I liked.

Duke Snider was my favorite

Dodger as a youth

Gino Cimoli was an All-Star

in 1957?

Who knew?

Gil Hodges was a GREAT Dodger!

Van Lingle Mungo was an

All-Star in 1934, 1936 and 1937

Mungo is on everyone's all-time All-Name team.

Of course, Jackie Robinson's

image was on this one

Pee Wee Reese

"The Noblest Dodger of Them All"

Dodger Ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto's

first pitch of the game

Dodger Stadium Legend

Roger Owens - The Peanut Man

Incredibly, he has been selling peanuts at Dodgers games since they moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles in 1958!

I vividly remember him artfully tossing peanuts behind his back at the Coliseum over 60 years ago.

An amazing fixture at Dodgers games for decades.

The game went into extra innings

The game was tied 4-4 heading into the tenth inning.

Dodgers Second Baseman Tommy Edman hit a walk-off single to drive in the winning run in the bottom of the tenth inning to give the home team a 5-4 win.

Good times, INDEED!

Flash the stadium lights, cue the music . . .

"I LOVE L.A.!"

Hvala Paul!