The Dodgers played the Pittsburgh Pirates on this 50th Opening Day in Chavez Ravine. The Stadium was sold out, but the biggest single crowd may have been from the LAPD, which was present on bikes, undercover, and scouting in uniform for drunken tailgaters in the parking lots. Nobody's forgotten last year's opening game, when Giants fan Bryan Stow was beaten so badly he suffered brain damage. Two suspects have pleaded not guilty to mayhem, assault and battery. Die-hard Dodger fan Tomás Benitez went to the World Series against the Yankees in 1963. He's now development director at Plaza de la Raza and an advisor to the Baseball Reliquary, a traveling sports museum.
KCRW
