A child’s first visit to baseball heaven, Dodger Stadium

By Sydney Irene Ortiz

My first trip to Dodger Stadium was very exciting, but it felt kind of weird at first because Dodger Stadium didn’t have a roof. Growing up in Houston attending Astros games at Minute Maid Park, I became accustomed to stadiums with roofs.

When I looked at Dodger Stadium, I wasn’t sure how it would put stuff in it because it didn’t have a roof on it. I thought it was just the stands and nothing else. I was wrong.

My dad, who grew up cheering for the Dodgers in Los Angeles, told me they don’t need a roof for baseball in his hometown.

When I ate the food I was very surprised by how big the slices of pizza were. The food was very good.

I was confused by how many things in the building were about the Brooklyn Dodgers instead of just about Los Angeles.

While I was eating my slice of Brooklyn pizza, my dad walked up to this man and started talking to him in Spanish and then asked him if he would take a picture with me. I didn’t realize until after the picture that the man was Mr. Manny Mota, who was a former Dodgers player, coach and broadcaster. My dad told me that he was one of the late Roberto Clemente’s closest friends in baseball.

At first I had no clue who the man was, so I just took the picture. As soon as he left I had to ask my dad who he was. That’s when I learned that Mr. Mota once held baseball’s record for most pinch hits. Then it all made sense because I don’t think my dad would ask me to take a picture with a stranger.

My dad tried to get me to eat the famous Dodger Dogs, which are the only hot dogs he eats.

I enjoy hot dogs, but I do not enjoy hot dogs with wieners that are bigger than the bun. If you’ve ever seen me eat a hot dog, you’d know I cut the part of the hot dog that’s over the bun. I want more of the bun and less of the hot dog.

My Brooklyn pizza was very good. It was probably the best pizza that I’ve ever had. First of all, it was very big, so it gave me more of it than tiny little slices. They put a lot of pepperonis on it, and I like pepperoni. When I looked at it at first, it reminded me of what my school pizza looked like, and I wasn’t impressed. But when I ate it, it didn’t taste anything like my school pizza. It was much better.

The Triple Play Churro Sundae was the best sundae I have ever had. They put the sundae in a miniature batting helmet. I chose the white helmet with the Brooklyn “B.” My favorite part of the Triple Play Churro Sundae was probably the churros. It had three churros on top of ice cream. I picked vanilla instead of chocolate ice cream. When I was getting the sundae, we were in this very, very long line. We were in a rush, so I got very worried that I might not be able to eat it and that I might have to leave the line.

At first I thought it was a mini sundae. It’s ginormous. I had to eat it with someone to keep myself from getting a stomach ache. It was more than I needed, so I let my dad have a few bites.

If I had to rate this trip from one to a 10 I would probably give it a 10 because it was very fun and it was very exciting. There was not a part when I didn’t know what was going to happen next.

I watched two of the three games in the series against the Pittsburgh Pirates. In the first game I watched, it was the first inning when they scored. I actually caught the home run on video with my phone. It was really exciting. It made me feel really good, and I was very impressed by it. A lot of games I see they don’t usually score this early in the game, so I was very excited and super happy. I don’t know a better way to start a game.

It was sad to leave Dodger Stadium on Sunday, but it was super fun because I will never forget the days. I also cannot wait to go to another Dodgers game. I knew there wasn’t going to be a roof, but I still got pretty confused. There were a bunch of things I didn’t know they have.

My highlights were probably meeting Mr. Manny Mota, videotaping some of the home runs and watching baseball while eating my Triple Play Churro Sundae.

And they won three games while I was there this weekend. I cannot wait to go back to Dodger Stadium.

Sydney Irene Ortiz, 10, is a fourth grader and longtime Dodgers fan who proudly dons her Dodgers jersey and Clayton Kershaw shirt to school regularly. She also loves her hometown Astros, but the Dodgers are her favorite National League team because they’re her father’s hometown team.

Featured & Inset Images: Courtesy Jose de Jesus Ortiz