Minor league baseball would not return to Los Angeles County for 39 years - not until tonight, when the Lancaster JetHawks open at home against the Visalia Oaks at "The Hanger."
The county's long minor league drought will end as JetHawks right-hander Ken Cloude delivers the historic first pitch to open a new chapter in Antelope Valley sports history.
"There's so much history in the County of Los Angeles as it relates to minor league baseball," says KIEV radio personality Irv Kaze, who was a Hollywood Stars publicist in 1957. "When the Dodgers moved out here from Brooklyn in 1958, it meant the end of the Stars and the Los Angeles Angels and the old Pacific Coast League here.
"Remember, though, that the Stars and the Angels between them drew over a million fans shortly after World War II. It was the minor leagues that introduced baseball to Los Angeles and started the love affair that welcomed the Dodgers."
Hotels in Hollywood and Los Angeles were the sites for organizational meetings for the California League in 1940, and again in 1946, following the end of World War II.
But only tonight will Los Angeles County begin fielding a team in the Cal League.
Prior to the JetHawks, the closest the Cal League has come to Los Angeles County has been Rancho Cucamonga in San Bernardino County, Lake Elsinore in Riverside County and Ventura in Ventura County.
Though Lancaster is well outside the Dodgers' 35-mile radius of exclusivity under the Professional Baseball Agreement that governs the major and minor leagues, JetHawks ownership and the city of Lancaster made courtesy calls to Dodger Stadium to seek the blessing of the county's only other professional baseball team.
"There's plenty of room for another good professional baseball organization in L.A. County," said Robert Schweppe, Dodgers baseball operations administrator and one of General Manager Fred Claire's most valued assistants. "There are some people (in the Dodgers organization) who're afraid it cuts into our fan base, but I don't agree.
"I feel Mike and Matt Ellis and the JetHawks are going to give us the chance to bring new fans to baseball. And once those fans see their JetHawks making it to the major leagues with the Seattle Mariners or some other organizations, they'll probably want to follow major league baseball, too."
Lancaster's had a significant role with the Dodgers through KAVL radio, which is located across the street from Lancaster Municipal Stadium on Avenue I.
The station carried Dodger baseball across the High Desert for 30 years. Since increasing its power to 5,000 watts in 1994, KAVL has become a pivotal network listening link between KABC in Los Angeles and KDWN in Las Vegas.
Last summer, even before the Dodgers enthusiastically welcomed the JetHawks, they welcomed Jim Bruske, the Valley's first player to wear Dodger Blue. Bruske is a former Palmdale High and Antelope Valley College star.
While the Valley had dozens of players in the minor leagues over the years, Bruske is one of only 10 from this area ever to make it to the major leagues. With the JetHawks, obviously, that figure will increase dramatically.
"I think it's wonderful Lancaster is getting a team and L.A. County has minor league baseball again," said Tim Mead, assistant general manager of the California Angels. "The more experience people get with professional baseball, the better off major league baseball is going to be.
"The purity of the game is still there in the minor leagues. It's not affected as much by the business and commercial pressures we see in the major leagues. It's old-time baseball, and it's great to see more of it."
Though Anaheim Stadium is 97 miles from The Hangar, compared to the shorter 67-mile trip to Dodger Stadium, Mead said the Angels, too, consider the Valley and northern Los Angeles County an important part of their fan base.
Valley fans are no strangers to the Big A, what with Jim Slaton's three seasons with the Angels (1984-86), Dwayne Murphy's visits with the Oakland Athletics from 1978-87 and the 250-person Valley motorcade on June 4, 1989 that rooted for former AV High star Kevin Appier in his major league debut vs. California.
Symbolically, Murphy, a 1973 Antelope Valley High School graduate, will be on the coaching lines for Visalia when his hometown opens its first minor league game.
On this historic night, "The Big A" defers to "The Big AV."