Dodgers fans emotional journey to Fenway Park
BOSTON – After long days as a laborer under oppressive conditions in California’s San Joaquin Valley, Martin Morales would gather his family and watch his Dodgers whenever they were on television.
Although the Tejano settled closer to San Francisco Giants country decades ago, his loyalty to the team that plays at Chavez Ravine was settled when a portly left-hander from Etchohuaquila, Mexico, captivated the baseball world.
Morales was one of hundreds of thousands of Mexicans, Mexican-Americans and Latinos who became loyal Dodgers fans after Fernando Valenzuela captivated the baseball world by helping Los Angeles claim the 1981 World Series title as he won the National League Rookie of the Year and Cy Young Award.
Morales never had the disposable income or time for the six-hour drive to take his children to see his team play at Dodger Stadium before he died early last year. A part of him was at Fenway Park on Tuesday night, however, when his Dodgers faced the Red Sox in Game 1 of the World Series.
Morales’ son Jorge and grandson Miguel, 17, were at Fenway Park, cheering their patriarch’s beloved Dodgers.
“Finally, I told myself if they made the World Series I would come down to Boston,” Jorge Morales, 37, said. “They won, I found the tickets and at the last minute we came to Boston.”
Jorge Morales, who lives in Lodi, Calif., attended Game 1 with his nephew. They donned blue Dodgers caps and mingled with the raucous Red Sox fans.
Valenzuela’s legacy was on full display as Latino Dodger fans mixed in among the fans in Red Sox gear.
“Ever since Fernando Valenzuela,” Jorge Morales said, “that’s when the whole family became Dodgers fans. He would have loved it, especially if he would have come out here. It’s about a year and half ago [since] he passed.
“Especially where we come from, I don’t think he would have ever thought that we could have been at a World Series game. It means a lot coming out here.”
Fellow Dodgers fans Frank Montiel, 32, and Paul Manisa, 31, also made the pilgrimage to Fenway Park for Game 1.
Although they grew up not far from the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim’s stadium in Orange County, their immigrant roots long ago endeared them to the Dodgers.
They didn’t decide to go to Game 1 until Sunday night, setting in motion a hectic 24-hour trip to Boston.
“It’s beautiful,” Montiel said. “First time here, just soaking it all in.”
Montiel is too young to have any memories of the Dodgers’ last championship in 1988.
His favorite Dodgers memory was the game on Sept. 18, 2006, when they hit four consecutive home runs in the ninth inning to erase a four-run deficit against the Padres, setting up Nomar Garciaparra’s two-run, walk-off home run an inning later.
The historic night was one of many memorable Dodgers moments for Montiel, but the team’s trailblazing past is why he loves the franchise that broke baseball’s color barrier with Jackie Robinson on April 15, 1947, and then gave America Fernandomania in 1981.
“The reason that I’m a Dodgers fan is just the fact that so much history and tradition,” Montiel said. “The whole thing with the race barrier, we did it twice (with Robinson) and Fernando Valenzuela, just bringing to life Mexican players that were just as strong and were just as good.
“Just tradition, my team has so much history, and I really embrace it a lot. It’s like family.”
Featured Image: La Vida Baseball