I’m back in Dodgertown for the duration of the spring and as I was heading from Orlando’s airport to Vero Beach this morning, I thought of another interesting side of Spring Training that many of you probably don’t get to hear about, so I figured I’d pass it along.

As many of you may know, Vero Beach is somewhat of a retirement community and therefore, we have a lot of longtime Dodger fans who have moved here and take part-time jobs during the spring in various roles. One of those jobs is that of the drivers who shuttle back and forth to the airport to pick up players, staff and families and bring them to Dodgertown.

Today, my driver was Jerry, a lifelong Dodger fan from Texas who spent 30 years in the oil industry in Texas before moving here and taking his dream job working with the team. Apparently, he’s also a regular reader of Inside the Dodgers and it’s people like him who have the passion for the team that really make this place feel like a family. They’re all around Dodgertown, as ushers, security, receptionists, drivers…you name it, and they are all greatly appreciated by those of us who call Vero Beach home for more than a month each year.

Meanwhile, for those who want a small taste of Dodgertown from a distance, tune in tomorrow night for our game against the Cardinals on KCAL 9. The next two nights are actually both televised at 4:10 on the West Coast and 7:10 here in Florida.

I hope everyone got a chance to watch the game on KCAL this morning and that some of you even got a chance to stop by Dodger Stadium for the Open House.

Given that it’s St. Patrick’s Day, it’s somewhat fitting that walteromalley.com launched a story today written by former Dodger Director of Broadcasting and Publications, Brent Shyer. The article is about Bump Holman, the team’s former pilot and the son of Bud Holman, the local businessman who convinced the Dodgers to move to Vero Beach so many years ago.

As for today, Tomko had another impressive outing and has really got a lot of people talking about his new delivery and how well he hides the ball. Let’s hope that will lead to great things for him this season, as he’s definitely deserving of a big role on the team.

That’s about it for now. Heading back to Vero tomorrow night and very much looking forward to being back where all the action is.

A few things for you guys to be aware of coming up…

Tomorrow night is the opening of National Pastime, a play about the life and times of Jackie Robinson that is being held at the Los Angeles City College Theatre Academy. It will run through March 24th and tickets can be purchased online at www.laccfoundation.org/events/index.asp.

On Saturday at Dodger Stadium, there are two events going on. The first is the annual Job Fair that we hold here for the local community. It goes from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and features training providers, government agencies and employers including: Bally Total Fitness, Federal Express, Macy’s, NBC Universal, Sears, Primerica, Southern California Gas Company, United States Secret Service, University of Southern California and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Also at the stadium on Saturday is our open house event from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., where you can take a look at some of the seats that are still available for the season.

Of course, starting at 10 a.m. is the first telecast of the spring on KCAL 9 and Sunday night on KFWB 980 is DodgerTalk at 8 p.m., followed by FSN Prime Ticket’s "Dodgers Live" at 10 p.m.

And I don’t know about all you, but I personally think too much pitching is a good problem to have. I’ve seen all the posts about Hendrickson vs. Tomko vs. Kuo, but it’s really great to see these guys thriving in competition — it will only make the team better.

The D.J. Strawberry on Maryland is, in fact, Darryl Jr., son of the former Dodger outfielder.

From what I understand, it was a very quiet day at Dodgertown today, with everyone but Randy Wolf getting a day off. I’m still away from Vero Beach until the weekend and I head back on Sunday night, but things will pick back up again tomorrow with a split squad game, followed by the Red Sox and Daisuke Matsuzaka (and 100 media members in tow).

With the first telecast on KCAL 9 coming on Saturday, Vin Scully arrived in Dodgertown today, as did Frank and Jamie McCourt. Be sure to watch the game that day, as St. Patrick’s Day will be highlighted with green jerseys, green bases and plenty of good baseball, we hope.

The rest of the front office is back here in LA, getting things ready for Opening Day. It never ceases to amaze us how quickly this creeps up and how much has to get done before the Freeway Series. But, without sounding too corny, it’s something we all take pride in doing because we really do want to make this the best fan experience in all of baseball and hopefully you will all agree that it is…

For some reason, there were hardly any comments on the last post and I think I know why. Everyone is trying to figure out who to pick in the NCAA Tournament and therefore they too preoccupied to waste away the day on Inside the Dodgers. So I’ll save you time by saying this: It doesn’t really matter who you pick – we’re all basically guessing anyway, so just put your picks in and get back to posting on the blog.

I actually find it very funny that at this time of year, everyone starts to pretend like they’ve been watching college basketball. Most sports fans can name the five top players in the country and can usually contribute a coach’s name when a team goes up on the board, but otherwise there isn’t really anyone I’ve ever met who could actually tell me whether Davidson actually could beat Notre Dame. Heck, most people can’t even tell me where Davidson is, let alone who plays for them. But for the record, I’ve got them upsetting the Fighting Irish (and I’ve finished fourth out of about 125 entries in the office pool two years in a row).

And then there are my beloved Indiana Hoosiers, who just might surprise some people this year. Then again, they might not. I know the whole team backwards and forwards and I still can’t tell you if they have any shot of holding off Gonzaga in the first round.

What does this all have to do with baseball or the Dodgers? Nothing, I guess. I just figured it was time to start a new post to get people talking again. So take this fun fact to the bank: Three different Dodgers all went to the University of South Alabama – Luis Gonzalez, Marlon Anderson and Juan Pierre. Too bad the Jaguars didn’t make it to the big dance.

Then there’s the random connection between Mark Hendrickson and the NCAA tournament – he actually played in it! Mark was at Washington State and played for Indiana’s current coach, Kelvin Sampson. (By the way, I have Oral Roberts upsetting Hendrickson’s Cougars in the first round).

As for the rest of the 40-man Dodgers, none of the other college guys have teams in the tourney. No Georgia Tech (Nomar), Pepperdine (Wolf), U. of Pacific (Houlton), Cal (Kent) or ASU (Ethier). But you better believe the non-rosters will be paying close attention, especially Travis Smith (Texas Tech) and Jonathan Meloan (U of Arizona).

Now get back to work…

You can listen live to today’s game right now.

Tonight at 8 p.m. PT, DodgerTalk on KFWB 980 will have Andre Ethier as the guest.

Tonight at 10 p.m. PT, FSN Prime Ticket will air its show from Vero Beach.

In between the end of the game and DodgerTalk, entertain yourself with podcasts from KFWB or spend some time checking out the new community section of dodgers.com.

And don’t forget that Time Warner Cable subscribers can get regular updates on Dodgers on Demand and they’ve been really cool so far this spring.

A great story today by Ben Platt about native Angeleno, Ruth Smith, who turns 107 today. Seriously. Born in 1900, she is just 10 years younger than the Brooklyn Dodgers.

For anyone interested in tuning in, the Today Show on NBC is scheduled to have a feature on Spring Training tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. The feature is all about the rite of passage that Spring Training has become for families across America and they are using Dodgertown as the setting to tell the story.

Be sure to tune in or set your TiVo!

Today’s post focuses on fielding, which is often overlooked in the game of baseball but obviously a huge part of a winning team. The Dodgers have had their struggles in the early going during spring, but no one seems terribly concerned that it will carry over into the regular season.

Still, one of the really cool things about working at Dodger Stadium is how often Dodger legends wander in and out of the offices. Yesterday alone, while I was sitting in a meeting, I saw two Gold Glovers, Willie Davis and Wes Parker walk by my office, which is a regular occurence. Between the two of them, they had nine Gold Gloves from 1967-73, which is pretty impressive.

While catching up with Wes, we got to discussing how he is one of the six finalists for the Best Fielding First Baseman in Major League history, according to Rawlings. This is quite an honor and I’m sure that anyone who watched him in his heyday would agree that he is very deserving of the honor. So, if you’d like to vote for him (and you should!), go to this link.  Other former Dodgers on the ballot include Greg Maddux and Devon White.

Staying with the defense theme, I asked Elias Sports Bureau to help us out with some fielding stats for our media/information guide and while it took them some time to compile it, we are grateful for the info they sent us. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get it in the guide this year, but thought you might find this interesting. There are definitely some surprise names on the lists below. (Sorry if it looks a little strange. I’m still new at posting charts on this system).

And for those of you with more time, check out the new guide which is printed and now available for purchase at the Top of the Park Gift Store and free if you want to check it out online.

DODGERS ALL-TIME FIELDING LEADERS BY POSITION

FIRST BASE
                                    PCT    TC    E    G
Garvey, Steve                .996 14781   63 1470
Parker, Wes                   .996 10380   45 1108
Murray, Eddie                 .995  4224   23  458
Brock, Greg                    .994  4081   26  447
Karros, Eric                     .993 14614  103 1579

SECOND BASE
                                    PCT    TC    E    G
Robinson, Jackie             .983  3992   68  751
Grudzielanek, Mark          .983  1958   34  428
Cora, Alex                       .981  1427   27  335
Neal, Charlie                   .980  2718   55  577
DeShields, Delino             .980  1674   34  355

THIRD BASE
                                    PCT    TC    E    G
Cox, Billy                       .964  1914   68  663
Wallach, Tim                  .964   937   34  384
Cey, Ron                        .963  4486  166 1468
Stripp, Joe                     .961  1732   68  589
Gilliam, Jim                    .952  1888   90  760

SHORTSTOP
                                    PCT    TC    E    G
Izturis, Cesar                  .980  2329   47  553
Anderson, Dave               .970  1691   50  410
Cora, Alex                      .969  1259   39  338
Griffin, Alfredo               .964  2165   77  472
Wills, Maury                     .963  7366  272 1497

OUTFIELD
                                    PCT    TC    E    G
Butler, Brett                  .996  1708    6  745
Rosen, Goody                .991  1058    9  388
Baker, Dusty                  .987  2073   27 1092
Buckner, Bill                  .986  1143   16  577
Bordagaray, Frenchy       .985   687   10  314

CATCHER
                                    PCT    TC    E    G
Haller, Tom                   .991  2721   25  444
Lo Duca, Paul                .991  3787   35  498
Roseboro, Johnny          .990  8547   87 1218
Piazza, Mike                  .989  5237   58  700
Torborg, Jeff                 .989  1948   22  350

PITCHER
                                    PCT    TC    E
Fitzsimmons, Freddie     .985   267    4
Davis, Curt                    .985   329    5
Perez, Odalis                 .980   205    4
Ruether, Dutch               .979   238    5
Vance, Dazzy                  .979   665   14

Minimum: 300 games for each position except pitcher.
Pitcher minimum: 200 total chances.

DODGERS SINGLE-SEASON FIELDING LEADERS BY POSITION

FIRST BASE
                               YEAR    PCT   TC  E   G
Garvey, Steve           1981   .999 1075  1 110
Parker, Wes              1968   .999 1009  1 114
Garvey, Steve           1976   .998 1653  3 162
Karros, Eric               2002   .997 1285  4 142
Parker, Wes              1965   .997 1534  5 154

SECOND BASE
                               YEAR    PCT   TC  E   G
Reed, Jody               1993   .993  698  5 132
Robinson, Jackie       1951   .992  832  7 153
Neal, Charlie             1959   .989  808  9 151
Grudzielanek, Mark    2002   .989  626  7 147
Cora, Alex                 2004   .987  612  8 138

THIRD BASE               YEAR    PCT   TC  E   G
Beltre, Adrian            2004   .978  452 10 155
Cey, Ron                   1979   .977  397  9 150
Wallach, Tim             1995   .976  211  5  96
Cey, Ron                   1980   .972  457 13 157
Stripp, Joe                1936   .968  316 10 106

SHORTSTOP
                               YEAR    PCT   TC  E   G
Izturis, Cesar             2004   .985  674 10 159
Izturis, Cesar             2002   .979  471 10 128
Wills, Maury               1971   .978  720 16 144
Reese, Pee Wee         1949   .977  788 18 155
Izturis, Cesar              2003   .977  695 16 158

OUTFIELD
                               YEAR    PCT   TC  E   G
Butler, Brett             1991  1.000  380  0 161
Butler, Brett             1993  1.000  375  0 155
Roberts, Dave           2002  1.000  257  0 117
Grissom, Marquis       2001  1.000  233  0 123
Landreaux, Ken         1981  1.000  214  0  95

CATCHER
                               YEAR    PCT   TC  E   G
Ferguson, Joe           1973   .996  817  3 122
Owen, Mickey           1941   .995  597  3 128
Lo Duca, Paul            2004   .995  558  3  81
Campanella, Roy        1952   .994  721  4 122
Roseboro, Johnny      1965   .994  884  5 131

PITCHER
                               YEAR    PCT   TC  E
Vance, Dazzy            1928  1.000   72  0
Casey, Hugh              1939  1.000   67  0
Davis, Curt                1942  1.000   67  0
Hatten, Joe               1947  1.000   67  0
Fitzsimmons, Freddie 1939  1.000   65  0
Ruether, Dutch          1922  1.000   65  0

Minimums: Played at least two-thirds of team’s games for
          each position except catcher and pitcher.

Catchers minimum: Played at least half of team’s games.

Pitchers listed by most total chances, no errors.