VERO BEACH — Spring training is expected to return to the former Dodgertown facility next year, although it won’t involve a major league team.

“In March when people are used to spring training we will hopefully have spring training baseball again in Vero Beach, just at a different level,” said Dave Barnard, owner and president of RussMatt Baseball, who is currently marketing the complex for use by college and high school teams next year.

Barnard’s group has reached an agreement with the Minor League Baseball, which is now operating the facility, to use it from Feb. 20 through April 24 for what is being advertised as the RussMatt Invitational at Dodgertown.

Barnard said the colleges would probably be using the facility from the last part of February to the last week in March, with high school teams coming in from late March to the end of April. (more…)

VERO BEACH — The former Dodgertown Golf Course, with roots deep in the history of baseball, could be restored, possibly with the assistance of Minor League Baseball.

Tough economic conditions, however, are likely to delay any possible restoration for at least of couple of years.

The city of Vero Beach now controls the former golf course and maintains mowing the land once roamed by Los Angeles Dodgers Hall of Famer Jackie Robinson.
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Thursday, April 23, 2009

VERO BEACH — Minor League Baseball executives expect to occupy Dodgertown by June 1 if they can get an agreement with county officials approved by then.

“They want to occupy Dodgertown as soon as possible and we want them there,” County Administrator Joe Baird said Thursday.

At this point, the two sides’ attorneys are poring through the proposed agreement.

“And that takes on a life of its own,” MiLB President Pat O’Conner said.

Neither Baird nor O’Conner envisioned anything holding up the deal. And at least the county won’t have to spruce up the grounds before MiLB moves in, Baird said. (more…)

VERO BEACH — A baseball-related organization is reportedly close to signing a five-year agreement for the use of Dodgertown.

County officials are declining to release the name of the proposed new tenant, although county officials previously met with Minor League Baseball President Pat O’Conner about the facility.

While the deal expected does not involve a Major League team, it leaves open the possibility of one using Holman Stadium for spring training in the future.
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Marlins pitcher Scott Proctor (left), plays with his 3-year-old daughter, Mary Elizabeth, and wife, Carrie. Photo by Sarah Grile

JENSEN BEACH — There’s no disputing Scott Proctor’s passion for baseball. After a tough loss, the new Marlins reliever once burned his glove on the dugout steps at Yankee Stadium — “a sacrifice to the baseball gods,” he explained.

Proctor persuaded his wife to name their first child,  5-year-old Camden, after Baltimore’s baseball yard.

Their youngest, 18-month-old Cooper, got his name from the New York town that’s home to the Hall of Fame.

“It helped me understand what really matters,’’ he said. (more…)

By Laurel Pfahler

INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — The Los Angeles Dodgers have not left Vero Beach just yet, but when they do, Dodgertown will not be completely empty.
The team is leaving behind several items to keep the facility functional for a new tenant, as well as some items that will help the county preserve the Dodgers’ history at the site where they spent 60 spring training seasons.
The Dodgers closed the facility Dec. 31, but they are still packing up and moving out. In the meantime, they continue to pay the electric bill.
“We finished going through all the inventory, and we expect they will be out in a couple weeks,” Indian River County Administrator Joe Baird said.
Baird walked through the property with Craig Callan, the Dodgers’ vice president of spring training and minor league facilities, before the new year, taking the final inventory of what would stay and what would go.
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