When news broke on Friday that the Dodgers had finally re-signed extremely popular 32-year-old outfielder Teoscar Hernández to a three year / $66 million contract extension that will keep him in Dodger Blue through 2027 (with a team option for 2028), it was music to the ears of every Dodger fan on the planet.
As Dodgers fans well know, 2024 was the Cotui, Dominican Republic native’s best season of his nine-year MLB career (his first with the Dodgers), during which he slashed a very impressive .272/.339/.501/.848, slugged a career-high 33 home runs, and drove in a career second most 99 runs. In the simplest of terms, the Dodgers would not have become the Champions of Baseball in 2024 were it not for Teoscar Hernández.
But 2024 was a great year for Dodgers fans for another reason. It marked the ninth season that 56-year-old Dieter Ruehle was behind the keys of the Dodger Stadium Roland Atelier AT-80s organ playing Randy Newman‘s famous I Love LA after every Dodgers win.
(Ron Cervenka)
Dodgers fans also know that the Van Nuys, CA native and Burbank High School graduate (Go Bulldogs!) is also the organist for the LA Kings, for whom he has played since 1989.
But what Dodgers fans may not know is that Ruehle comes from a very rich history of arguably the best stadium organists in Major League Baseball dating back to the team’s Brooklyn days.
As noted on Langill’s list, Ruehle’s predecessor was 28-year Dodger Stadium organist Nancy Bea Hefley, who retired in 2015 and lives in Silver Springs, Nevada, from where she and her husband Bill used to commute for Dodgers home series.
Music to our ears indeed.
Play Ball!
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