Letters to the Editor: Will the baseball gods curse the Dodgers over Shohei Ohtani’s home run ball?
To the editor: Bill Plaschke’s column justifiably excoriated the Dodgers for the way they treated Ambar Roman, who caught Shohei Ohtani’s first home run with the team at Dodger Stadium. However, the team needs to make it right for more than just whiffing mightily in this situation.
Jinxes are real in baseball. The Red Sox traded away Babe Ruth and suffered under the Curse of the Bambino for 86 years before they won the World Series.
The Chicago Cubs told William Sianis to leave the stadium and take his billy goat with him during the 1945 World Series. Sianis put a curse on the team, and the Cubs didn’t win a World Series until 2016.
Roman has been a good sport through all this, maintaining that she still loves the Dodgers — but the baseball gods may feel differently.
Mark Wilding, Studio City
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To the editor: Couldn’t the Dodgers have afforded a competent community relations director to deal with Ohtani’s first home run at Dodger Stadium? Was it necessary to physically separate Roman from her husband, Mr. Valenzuela (oh, the irony)?
There were myriad ways the Dodgers could have properly handled Ohtani’s first home run. What happens when an 8-year-old child catches an important ball? Will the Dodgers separate the child from the parents?
It’s only been 11 months since the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence debacle, when the team invited, disinvited and then reinvited the group to LGBTQ+ Pride Night at Dodger Stadium.
When Roman and Valenzuela return to Dodger Stadium, the team should have Ohtani pose with them as the authenticated ball is graciously handed back to the couple with a generous donation to a charity of their choice.
Tina Arrañaga Kubasek, Whittier
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To the editor: My immigrant parents took me to a Dodger game when I was 10 years old. It was 1962, and the excitement I felt walking into Dodger Stadium has never gone away — until now.
How the Dodgers organization treated the woman who caught Ohtani’s first home run with the team wasn’t just wrong, it was a slap in the face to all Dodger fans.
I had always bled Dodger blue, but now I bleed pale blue. Tommy Ladorda is turning over in his grave. Please right this wrong.
Martin Fontaine, Sherman Oaks
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To the editor: Have the Dodgers and Ohtani ever heard of Sal Durante? He was 19 years old when he caught Roger Maris’ record-breaking 61st home run ball at Yankee Stadium in 1961, a far more important moment than what occurred at Dodger Stadium last week.
And what did Maris do? He gave Durante the ball.
Durante wasn’t hassled by the Yankees or pressured into giving the ball up. He was happy to give the ball to Maris when he was taken to meet the Yankees slugger. But Maris, matching the class of Durante, said, “Keep the ball.”
Maris was the epitome of class. Durante was the epitome of class. The Dodgers and Ohtani? Not so much.
Sheldon Bull, Pasadena
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To the editor: Misogyny is alive and well at Dodger stadium.
Besides the egregious taking of the ball that Roman caught, to separate her from her husband is a blatant ploy to coerce the “little woman” to give up the ball that was rightfully hers. How disgusting to treat the loyal fans like this.
And, thanks to The Times for reporting this ugliness.
Barbara Busch, Santa Barbara
