Chavez Ravine Is as Beautiful as Ever

It is midweek, midafternoon, several hours before the first pitch.

I am sitting alone in the top row of the top deck at Dodger Stadium, looking beyond the empty diamond, the murals on the outfield fence, beyond the summer-tanned hills that are Chavez Ravine’s natural and panoramic answer to the warehouse of Baltimore’s Camden Yards and the skylines of Detroit’s Comerica Park, Cleveland’s Jacobs Field and Pittsburgh’s PNC Park.

What I can see from this solitary and lofty location is all 40 years of Dodger Stadium history, flipping through the scrapbook of the mind from Sandy and Big D in the 1960s to the Iron Man infield of the ‘70s to Fernando, Orel and Kirk Gibson in the ‘80s to Nomo and Piazza and the tumultuous change of ownership and management in the ‘90s, on into the new millennium with Kazu and Odalis and Shawn Green.

I am sitting amid the yellow, orange, blue and red rainbow of empty seats and I am reminded of how Dodger Stadium has been the stage for as much drama, and occasional comedy, as the nearby Music Center, and I am thinking of how easy it is to forget its niche as a community treasure and a baseball shrine rivaling Boston’s Fenway Park, Chicago’s Wrigley Field and New York’s Yankee Stadium.

In an era of ongoing ballpark construction, at a time when the magic of those new facilities is evaporating quickly, in a year in which attendance is down about 6% and 24 of the 30 teams have experienced a decrease in per-game average from their final totals of last year, the Dodgers are up slightly and on pace to draw more than 3 million for the seventh consecutive season and 16th time since they first did it in 1980.

The average of 38,010 projects to 3,078,840, and that is likely to increase as schools let out, temperatures rise and the race in the National League West heats up even more than its current congestion.

Considering baseball’s ever-changing aura and popularity, and the escalating price of tickets, the ability of the Dodgers to keep the turnstiles purring can be traced to a storied history, a booming population base and a generally competitive team playing in a stadium that has escaped major face lifting, continues to wear its age better than most Tinseltown ladies and has become an attraction in itself, a regular stop for the tourist buses and peripheral fans.

If it has become a challenge to extract enough revenue out of a 40-year-old facility to support a $100-million payroll, the challenge really rests with the baseball department in rebuilding the farm system so that a competitive team can be restocked with home-grown products who are younger and cost considerably less than ... well, a thirtysomething pitcher vulnerable to injuries.

Dodger Stadium is what it is, a still beautiful and functional facility that is a tribute to Walter O’Malley’s foresight, keyed the downtown renaissance and isn’t going to be duplicated or significantly improved on by constructing a costly park closer to the heart of downtown or a dual-purpose stadium satisfying neither football nor baseball.

In addition, although the Dodgers would probably be an attendance hit playing in any facility, the new parks don’t carry a warranty.

Fourteen have opened since 1989, beginning that June with Toronto’s SkyDome. The Blue Jays promptly drew more than 4 million for three consecutive seasons, including 1992 and ‘93, when they won the World Series, but attendance has steadily declined to 1.8 million and 1.9 million in the last two years, and they are 25th among the 30 teams this year, averaging 18,339 a game.

In fact, all 14 teams playing in a new facility are down from last year, although the Seattle Mariners and San Francisco Giants could both be up before the season is over.

“There is no question but that the positive shelf life of a new stadium has shrunk considerably,” Commissioner Bud Selig said by phone. “The new parks in themselves can’t be a long-term or midterm panacea for the problems.

“You can do all the marketing and promoting in the world and you still have to win and win consistently.”

If the Orioles, Indians and Colorado Rockies, teams that moved into new stadiums earlier in the most recent building cycle, enjoyed a longer shelf life, that glow has now diminished in conjunction with their records, and the teams that moved into new stadiums more recently have found the honeymoon over after only one year.

Selig’s Milwaukee Brewers, for example, set a franchise record by drawing 2.8 million last year, their first in Miller Park. They now may set a major league record for largest second-year decline, their per-game average dropping 10,000 to 24,241 as the team on the field produces the worst record in the National League. Similarly, the Pirates set a franchise record by drawing 2.4 million last year, their first in PNC Park, but they are now down about 9,000 a game, averaging 21,838, and there has been a comparable falloff in Detroit.

However, with parks being built in San Diego, Cincinnati and Philadelphia, and new hope in Minnesota, Selig is quick to say, “It would be a mistake to conclude they’ve lost their importance. The Brewers, Tigers and Pirates could not have survived without new parks, so they’re still way ahead and their revenues are up even with the drop-off in attendance.”

Whether any of the new parks can retain their youthful complexion as well as Dodger Stadium has remains to be seen. Whether any will still have their gates open in 40 years may be the more legitimate consideration.

“I was out there a couple weeks ago and you tend to forget how really beautiful it is,” Selig said of Dodger Stadium, agreeing that it’s a baseball shrine, crediting Walter O’Malley with “remarkable vision” and adding:

“You know, in many ways, it was the first of the new stadiums and set off what was a building boom in the ‘60s, but we’ve basically replaced all of those others that were built in that time frame. I mean, it’s hard to believe it’s been 40 years because Dodger Stadium looks almost new.”

The commissioner might have been even more awed had he paused for a reverie from the top row of the top deck.

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*--* Current Stadiums When current baseball stadiums were opened: AMERICAN LEAGUE 1912--Fenway Park Red Sox 1923--Yankee Stadium Yankees 1966--Edison Field Angels 1968--Network Associates Coliseum A’s 1973--Kauffman Stadium Royals 1982--Metrodome Twins 1989--SkyDome Blue Jays 1990--Tropicana Field* Devil Rays 1991--Comiskey Park White Sox 1992--Oriole Park at Camden Yards Orioles 1994--Jacobs Field Indians 1994--The Ballpark at Arlington Rangers 1999--Safeco Field Mariners 2000--Comerica Park Tigers * Stadium completed in 1990; team started play in 1998 NATIONAL LEAGUE 1916--Wrigley Field Cubs 1962--Dodger Stadium Dodgers 1964--Shea Stadium Mets 1966--Busch Stadium Cardinals 1969--Qualcomm Stadium Padres 1970--Cinergy Field Reds 1971--Veterans Stadium Phillies 1977--Olympic Stadium Expos 1993--Pro Player Stadium Marlins 1995--Coors Field Rockies 1997--Turner Field Braves 1998--Bank One Ballpark Diamondbacks 2000--Minute Maid Park Astros 2000--Pacific Bell Park Giants 2001--Miller Park Brewers 2001--PNC Park Pirates

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