by Cary Osborne
Dodgers Shohei Ohtani, Emmet Sheehan and Ben Casparius had just left Fire Station 69 in Pacific Palisades on Thursday afternoon.
Eric Nakamaru, captain of the station, was reflecting on the visit that had just taken place and the donation the Dodgers gave to the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation.
It was meaningful that the Dodgers showed their appreciation, especially for him — a lifelong Angeleno who grew up in Echo Park in the shadow of Dodger Stadium.
Nakamaru began talking about the Dodgers and their run to the World Series championship in 2024. And then he saw a parallel.
“I and all of us here admire the teamwork this Dodger team has shown — the togetherness, the joking around, the playfulness. But when it comes down to it, it’s clutch,” Nakamaru said. “Every time Shohei came up, or Freeman, or Betts, you really felt like we could be down by 10 and still figure we’re still in this game. These guys have so much fight — similar to the night these guys were fighting the fire. That we were against all odds. We had a firestorm coming at us, and the guys fought hard, just like they would in the last inning. And we were able to save the station, as you can see the devastation around here.”
Across the street from the station, homes were burned to the ground — the only pieces left were charred brick chimneys and iron gates.
Sheehan was out of state watching news clips of fires ravaging multiple Los Angeles communities earlier this month, including in Pacific Palisades and Altadena. Sheehan — a New York native — lived 10 minutes from Pacific Palisades during the season. He arrived with Casparius, Ohtani, Dodger and Bank of America personnel on a bus. He was stunned by what he saw out of the window.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” Sheehan said. “But just to see the houses gone, just chimneys still standing and cars burned, everything burned, people just losing everything — it’s just terrible.”
https://medium.com/media/79292a0c1b75c8dd11a063fb1ff4acb4/href
Sheehan said he was eager to help Thursday and visit firefighters and paramedics who risked their lives to save other lives.
“Just to try to repay them a little bit for what they’ve been doing, even though that would be impossible, but hopefully to brighten their day and give them a little bit of fun in between,” Sheehan said.
The trio of Dodger players toured the station and thanked the firemen and paramedics. They also jumped on fire engines and toured the area.
https://medium.com/media/23e6eedd4d3480d9c4287fcd8da8e92c/href
The Dodgers, as part of their annual Dodgers Love LA Community Tour presented by Bank of America, also presented two checks to the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation — one for $350,000 and one for $10,000.
Not too distant from the station, Freeman visited students at Brentwood Science Magnet Elementary where the Dodgers presented a check for the Los Angeles Unified School District Education Foundation’s Emergency Relief Fund on Thursday.
Throughout the week, the Dodgers have helped Los Angeles heal. On Tuesday, California Governor Gavin Newsom, Magic Johnson, Dodger President and CEO Stan Kasten and entertainment and sports executive Casey Wasserman announced the launch of the recovery initiative “LA Rises.” During the press conference at Dodger Stadium, it was also announced that Dodger owner Mark Walter, the Mark Walter Family Foundation and the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation have provided a commitment of up to $100 million for fire recovery efforts.
‘Clutch’ is a shared word on Dodgers Love LA Community Tour was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.