I know my first MLB game was at the Los Angeles Coliseum to watch the Dodgers with my dad and brother, probably in 1961. I have no memories of that game though. I went to two games at Dodger Stadium, one with my Little League team, another my family, and can't recall those either, except blowing one of those annoying plastic horns and eating cotton candy.
I do remember the May 31, 1968 game, Dodgers vs. Giant that my brother took me to see. Don Drysdale was trying to pass Walter Johnson for the all-time scoreless inning streak. It continues to be one of my fondest memories of games seen live. This is an except from Dick Dietz's obituary from the L.A. Times:
Drysdale was in the process of setting a major league record of 58 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings and bidding for his fifth straight shutout when the Giants loaded the bases with no outs in the ninth inning.
Dietz came up to bat and was hit in the elbow by a 2-and-2 pitch.
But before he could take first base to force home a run that would break Drysdale's streak, home plate umpire Harry Wendelstedt ruled that Dietz did not try to get out of the way of the ball.
The Giants argued the call, but Dietz returned to the plate with a full count and hit a fly ball that was not deep enough to score a run. Drysdale retired the next two batters to finish the shutout and extend his string to 45 scoreless innings.
"He stood there like a post," Dietz's former Giant teammate Ron Hunt recalled Wednesday. "It was a high slider, and he didn't make an attempt."
Hunt, who once held the career hit-by-pitch record, remembered that Wendelstedt made the call right away. But that didn't stop the Giants from complaining.
"We'd seen a lot of those things where it was or wasn't called, when it wasn't such a big deal," Hunt said.