Los Angeles: Earning Its Wings

Type the term ‘wheelchair’ in the search box on the Dodgers website. One must page through to listing number 42 (a most hallowed number) to find the first mention of a Dodgers web page containing that term.

The link takes you to the Dodger Stadium A to Z Guide. Windows users Control+F; Mac users Splat+F to try to find the same term and the word appears once in the guide in the Disabled Services entry in the glossary. There interested Dodger fans can learn about some of the features the park has that disabled fans can rely on.

As the Roadie came to a close in Los Angeles baseball was the draw, but it clearly was not the appeal for me and my new traveling companion Greg who made this leg of the trip possible. A native Angelino – and celestial being in his own right – he has also been disabled for more than half of his life. I expect the wheels on his chair to turn into actual wings soon. But his gesture, along with those of a Dodger fan and employee made for a night that would humble the even most dreadlocked of millionaire player.

Every Time A Bell Rings

Bob from Northridge sounds more like the moniker of a regular sports radio talk show caller than it does of a man who, with his wife, travels 50 miles round trip to see the Dodgers for 27 games – or 1/3 of the home season. He never revealed why his mobile phone had a San Francisco 49’ers shell, but his Russell Martin #55 T-shirt, dodger cap with affixed pins painted a picture in clear focus.

He would come to more Dodger games if he could, but 27 is plenty – and that’s even with the mini-traffic advantage he enjoys living north of the stadium rather than south or east. Going to sporting events is something he just does regardless of whether professionals he does not know; or amateurs he knows very well are competing.

The Special Olympics is something in which Bob has great interest. In addition to being a worthwhile charity, Bob has a family member who competes regularly in the games. She often medals as she did in a recent competition. Understanding the ability of all those identified as disabled, Bob carries his empathy with him at all times, including those 27 Dodger games this season.

With his niece as inspiration, Bob routinely gives Dodger souvenir gifts to at least one disabled fan somewhere in the stadium. When he gave a gift to my friend Greg he tried to walk away without proper recognition. When I tracked him down in a concession line on the other side of the stadium to properly thank him, he ended up buying US beers. A true saint indeed.

Can the random act of giving a total stranger a baseball be considered significant? Maybe. However, it was with one gesture, and four simple words: “This is for you,” that Bob provided the Roadie its most special moment to date.

Angel Second Class

The days of the grizzled usher at the baseball stadium who would grab your ticket, lead you onward, wipe down your seat, then stand by aloof “not expecting” his buck or two are gone. They are still called ushers, but they are kinder, gentler ushers as evidenced by Jessica.

Exactly five months ago Jessica, a student at Pasadena City College beat the odds by beating a torrent of fellow Angelinos to get a wristband at the Dodgers’ job fair in early March. (Click the following links to find tremendous stories in the LA Times and CNN that covered the job fair in real time).

She said she and her friends/fellow job seekers got to the area around Dodger Stadium an hour early. Instead of stop-and-going up the hill in the car with the rest of the traffic, they left the car somewhere on Elysian Park Ave. and scampered up the hill on foot as if they were channeling Teddy Roosevelt circa 1898. She got wristband #79 out of over 7,000. As a result she is spending her summer minding the customers in some prime real estate in Chavez Ravine.

Bully!

For a first time usher Jessica not only shows maturity beyond her years, but the ability to earn the post of sections 12 and 14 on the field level for every game, which include the disabled seating area. The joy she gets from not only working for the Dodgers, but to have such an important role, is abundant when she describes it. It has been an exciting season so far and the stadium has always been abuzz. This Monday night for an average Milwaukee Brewer team meant fewer fans through the turnstiles overall and in the disabled seating area. She did well in making us feel welcome nonetheless.

It will not stay that way through August. The Dodgers have two long home stands this month including seven games with the Cardinals and Cubs August 17-23. One thing is for sure. With Jessica working all those Dodger games it will be easier for those looking for work to find it, because they won’t have to deal with her charging up the hill.

Paging Clarence Odbody

What happened at Dodger Stadium on August 3, 2009 served and the perfect end to the Roadie in the perfect city given its name. One does not need to be the beneficiary Bob’s empathy, Jessica’s sympathy, or my friend Greg’s generosity to know that angels do take form among us.

They will find you – when you least expect it. And it does not take much to become one either.

In other news- The Milwaukee Brewers took advantage of walks by Dodger pitching to build a 6-2 lead heading into B9, boosted heavily by a monstrous home run off the bat of Ryan Braun. The Dodgers mounted a furious rally in the last frame loading the bases with the winning run at 2B, only to have Manny Ramirez fly out to right to end the game.

Epilogue – Dodger Stadium is the oldest stadium in the majors (1962) that is not Wrigley or Fenway in Boston. The place is immaculate. Elysian Park, despite its traffic offers no better surroundings; and the access to and seating for disabled is quite good. The aforementioned aggregated search listings need a handicapped placard of their own, but that looks like a league-wide website problem that is not specific to the Dodgers.

Greg and Jessica discuss the relative merits of Clayton Kershaw's curveball

References: ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’

This post was revised at 8:50AM, Wednesday, 8/5