Opinion: Did you really say that, Frank McCourt?
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I’ll have to admit that I’m a little conflicted about Dodgers owner Frank McCourt. On one hand, compared to previous owner News Corp., McCourt has more or less proven his commitment to building a successful franchise by renovating Dodger Stadium and keeping up with league-wide increases in average team payroll. (Whether the Dodgers are spending their cash on the right players is another matter.)
But McCourt has this clunky insecurity about him, as if he really, really wants Dodger fans to like him no matter how clueless he looks. I can’t think of a quote that embodies this feeling more than what he said when the the team played its final game this week at Dodgertown in Vero Beach, Fla., where the Dodgers have held their pre-season spring-training since 1948 (the team plans on moving to a sports complex in Glendale, Ariz. in 2009):
McCourt said many Dodgertown landmarks, such as the street signs and light posts topped with baseballs, will be relocated to the Arizona facility or put on display at Dodger Stadium. ‘After all, Dodger Stadium is Dodgertown,’ he said. ‘And for that matter, L.A. is Dodgertown.’
No, no, no, no, no, Frank.
It’s safe to say that any lifelong Dodger fan (as I am) can pick up the total historical tone-deafness of that statement. You don’t shrug off abandoning your spring-training home for six decades by implying that Vero Beach doesn’t deserve the well-earned Dodgertown moniker on your way out. As I’m sure McCourt knows, the Dodgers have played spring ball at Vero Beach since they were the Brooklyn Dodgers. Vero Beach Dodger fans can arguably claim a stronger emotional attachment to the team than Angelenos.
Granted, holding spring training in Florida as opposed to Arizona makes little economic sense. But the Dodgers’ trip there every March was a sign that the team still valued a tradition that pre-dates its arrival in Los Angeles. Moving away from that tradition may be necessary, but it’s also a somber ritual — even Tommy Lasorda reportedly cried in the clubhouse following the final game.
As for McCourt, all he should do from here on out is make the economic case for the spring-training move to Arizona and acknowledge the historical significance of this change.