Dodgers fans party, prep for first Series in 29 years

When the Los Angeles Dodgers play in their first World Series in 29 years on Tuesday, Ross Goldberg will be where he always is for games — Dodger Stadium, loge box, section 140.

Lifelong Dodgers fans Ross, left, and Josh Goldberg watch a game in 2015. They'll be at the World Series opener on Tuesday.

And the Westlake Village resident's 22-year-old son Josh will be with him.

"It's his first World Series in his lifetime," said Goldberg, a lifelong Dodgers fan who long ago offered to fly his son, a Georgetown graduate, back to Southern California if the Dodgers ever made it to the Series. "He's hopping on a plane Monday night."

Dodgers fans across Ventura County started to celebrate Thursday night about the time Kiké Hernandez hit a grand slam to ice the Chicago Cubs. Friday morning, they were still at it.  

"My wife turned to me and said, 'Are you crying?'" Goldberg said. "I said, 'Maybe just a little.'"

If there were tears, some of them were for Josh, who endured year after year of Series dreams ended in playoff disappointment.

"I called him instantly," said Goldberg, "and we sat on the phone together watching the post-game celebration. We weren't talking a lot because we wanted to see it. But we were on the phone together because we wanted to share the moment."

Jackie Robinson. Pee Wee Reese, Roy Campanella. Barbara Martin, 78, of Silver Strand, remembers the names from the days when she grew up in Newark and rooted for 'da Bums — the Brooklyn Dodgers.

When the final out was recorded and the Dodgers ended their Series drought, Martin let out a huge breath.

"Big, happy relief," she said. "... It was our turn this year."

The victory means Dodgers fans now focus on who's next. For Martin, that brings thoughts of the days when her Brooklyn boys made it to the Series and lost time and again to the Yankees, although the Dodgers won the last time the teams met, in 1981. Martin's first inclination was to root for the Houston Astros to beat the New Yorkers.

"I don't want the curse of the Yankees," she said, then reversing herself. "Actually, yes. I think we would beat them this time."

John Poehler hustled back from his softball game in Newbury Park to watch the ninth inning of the Dodgers game at Camarillo's Cronies Sports Grill, where he's general manager. When shortstop Charlie Culberson caught a line drive for the final out, the place erupted.

"It was thrilling. It gave me chills," said Poehler, thinking of the last time the Dodgers made the World Series in 1988. "It gave me a flashback to when I was 8 years old and watching the game with my grandfather." 

Poehler's great-grandfather spent time in New York in the military, sparking stories from Poehler's grandpa about watching games in Ebbets Field and Yankee Stadium. That's why Poehler's American League team is, always has been, the Yanks.

"This would be awesome to the see the Dodgers and the Yankees in the World Series," he said. "... I win either way."