{"id":23873,"date":"2025-10-26T06:27:15","date_gmt":"2025-10-26T06:27:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/23873\/"},"modified":"2025-10-26T06:27:15","modified_gmt":"2025-10-26T06:27:15","slug":"commentary-hes-just-happy-to-root-for-the-dodgers-again-after-almost-dying-during-the-last-world-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/23873\/","title":{"rendered":"Commentary: He\u2019s just happy to root for the Dodgers again after almost dying during the last World Series"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There was probably no Dodgers fan more grateful to see the Blue Crew lose badly in the opening game of the World Series<\/a> than Conrado Contreras. See, the 75-year-old was happy to enjoy any Fall Classic at all.<\/p>\n

A year ago tomorrow, the Zacatecas native suffered a heart attack and mild stroke in the moments after seeing his Dodgers win Game 2 of the World Series against the New York Yankees<\/a>. He spent three days in a medically induced coma at St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood and regained consciousness to news from jubilant nurses that the Dodgers had won the championship.<\/p>\n

The lifelong baseball fan had no idea what they were talking about. His passion for the sport was lost along with his memory. <\/p>\n

When family members put on highlights from the 2024 championship during his rehabilitation at a clinic in Gardena throughout the end of the year, the former carpenter would shrug and change the channel. When someone told him that legendary Dodgers pitcher Fernando Valenzuela had died<\/a>, Contreras swore that he had just seen his fellow Mexican pitch at the stadium. <\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t until the 2025 baseball season came along that Contreras\u2019 mind began to truly rebound. He watched games from his longtime home in the unincorporated Florence-Graham neighborhood and learned to love the Dodgers anew. But he didn\u2019t cheer like before. Contreras followed doctor\u2019s orders to stay calm when the Dodgers were losing instead of cursing like the past and quietly applaud when the team was winning when he would\u2019ve previously roared.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s the father-in-law of my sister Alejandrina. And I wanted to hang out with Don Conrado for Game 1 of this year\u2019s World Series to experience fandom in all its mortality.<\/p>\n

Wearing a flat-brimmed fedora and a blue Dodgers 2024 World Series champions T-shirt, I caught Contreras just as he was entering my sister\u2019s Norwalk home holding on to his walker with the help of Alejandrina\u2019s husband, Conrad. His father talks slower than he used to and can\u2019t drive anymore, but Contreras is once again the same man his family knows: witty, observant and baseball-crazy.<\/p>\n

A schoolyard pitcher in his hometown of Monte Escobedo, Contreras fell in with the Dodgers almost as soon as he migrated to the United States in 1970 to join a brother in Highland Park. He used to attend games every week \u201cwhen $10 got two people into the stadium and you could also eat a hot dog,\u201d Contreras told me in Spanish before Game 1 began.<\/p>\n

His stories from those years were immaculate. Don Sutton throwing a shutout. The Cincinnati Reds always \u201cready to play to the death.\u201d Pittsburgh Pirates slugger Willie Stargell<\/a> hitting a home run out of Dodger Stadium in 1973 \u201cand all of us just staring above our heads in awe.\u201d <\/p>\n

Contreras was such a fan that he took his pregnant wife, Mary, to watch Valenzuela pitch on the day in 1983 that Conrad was due because they were giving out \u201cI (Heart) Fernando\u201d T-shirts, an anecdote that left their son flabbergasted.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat happened to the shirt?\u201d Conrad asked his mom in Spanish.<\/p>\n

\u201cI threw it away,\u201d replied the 61-year-old Mary.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019d cost a lot of money now!\u201d he groaned.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were cheap! The color really faded fast.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Los <\/p>\n

Los Angeles Dodgers two-way player Shohei Ohtani hits a two-run home run during the seventh inning of Game 1 of the World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays at Roger Centre on Friday in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Blue Jays won, 11-4.<\/p>\n

(Robert Gauthier\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

The family continued to attend games through Conrad\u2019s teenage years but stopped \u201cwhen even the birds couldn\u2019t afford to attend,\u201d Mary said. Conrad, 42, thinks the last time he went to a game with his dad was \u201cat least\u201d 20 years ago. But they regularly watched games on television. It was he who administered the CPR a year ago that saved his dad\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was walking around the house angry all that game,\u201d Conrad said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, well, Roberto was making me mad,\u201d Conrado replied, his nickname for Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. \u201cBut I can\u2019t get mad anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

I asked how he thought this year\u2019s series would go. He mentioned Shohei Ohtani, whom he kept calling el japon\u00e9s in a respectful tone because, well, his memory can be fuzzy.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe strikes out too much, but when he hits it, he hits it. If he plays like that, they win the series. But if Toronto hits, forget it.\u201d<\/p>\n

One more question before game time, the one too many liberal Latino Dodgers fans are belly-aching over right now: is it ethical to root for the team<\/a> considering they haven\u2019t been too vocal in opposing Donald Trump\u2019s deportation campaign and owner Mark Walter has investments in companies that are profiting from it?<\/p>\n

\u201cSports shouldn\u2019t get into politics, but all sports owners are with Trompas,\u201d he said, using a nickname I\u2019ve heard more than a few rancho libertarians<\/a> use for Trump. He shrugged. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo what\u2019s one to do? They kept la migra out of the stadium,\u201d referring to an unsuccessful June attempt by federal agents<\/a> to enter the stadium parking lot. \u201cIf the team had allowed that, then there\u2019d be a huge problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mary wasn\u2019t as sympathetic. \u201cLatinos shouldn\u2019t let the Dodgers off so easy. But when Latinos surrender, they surrender.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was game time.<\/p>\n

Conrad slipped into a gray Dodgers away jersey to match his black team cap. My sister, an Angels follower for some reason, wore a Kik\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez T-shirt<\/a> \u201cbecause he stands with immigrants.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only good thing about the Dodgers is that they aren\u2019t winning with a gringo,\u201d said Mary, who actually doesn\u2019t care much about baseball because she finds it boring. \u201cIt\u2019s someone [Ohtani] who doesn\u2019t want to speak English who\u2019s winning it for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her husband smiled.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s see if Mary gets into baseball.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019ll be the real miracle,\u201d she snapped back.<\/p>\n

Contreras rubbed his hands in glee as the Dodgers went up 2-0 in the top of the third and merely frowned when the Blue Jays tied it in the bottom of the fourth while we were enjoying takeout from Taco Nazo. \u201cHis anger comes in waves, it\u2019s a trip,\u201d Conrad said. \u201cHe\u2019s calmer but se enoja.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWho?\u201d Conrado deadpanned.<\/p>\n

When Dodger starting pitcher Blake Snell left the game with the bases loaded and no one out in the bottom of the sixth, Contreras shook his head in disgust but kept his voice calm.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is what gets me mad. They should\u2019ve taken him out long ago, but Roberto didn\u2019t. This is what I was afraid of. When Toronto get on, they get on. They won\u2019t stop until they destroy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sure enough, the Blue Jays erupted for nine runs that inning<\/a>, including a two-run blast by catcher Alejandro Kirk, who had sparked the Jays\u2019 initial rally a few innings earlier. <\/p>\n

Earlier in the game, Alejandrina had told Conrado that Kirk was a Tijuana native. The pride in shared roots, albeit generations apart, took a little bit of sting off his home run, which made the score a humiliating 11-2. <\/p>\n

\u201cThank goodness he\u2019s Mexican,\u201d Conrado told his son, patting his knee. \u201cThat\u2019s what\u2019s left for us\u201d to be happy about the game.<\/p>\n

An inning later, Contreras began to feel woozy. His sugar level was elevated. Mary took off his jacket to fix his insulin device. My sister\u2019s corgi, Penny, jumped onto the couch and lay on his lap.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey do know when someone\u2019s ill, right?\u201d he said to no one before scratching Penny\u2019s tummy and cooing, \u201cYou know I\u2019m ill, right? I\u2019m ill!\u201d<\/p>\n

When the \u201cmassacre\u201d finally ended, Contreras remained philosophical.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s incredible that I\u2019m able to see this. But I\u2019m still malo. My feet hurt, my memory isn\u2019t what it used to be, my sense of balance isn\u2019t there. But there\u2019s the Dodgers. But they need to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Conrad went to the bedroom to grab his father\u2019s walker.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you want a Toronto shirt now?\u201d he joked.<\/p>\n

His dad stared silently. \u201cNo, that would give me another heart attack.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There was probably no Dodgers fan more grateful to see the Blue Crew lose badly in the opening…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23874,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[18584,18587,13430,18581,18583,4691,426,8593,423,18586,9251,4468,48,52,51,18582,47,50,49,18585,72],"class_list":{"0":"post-23873","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-61-year-old-mary","9":"tag-baseball-season","10":"tag-blue-jays","11":"tag-conrad","12":"tag-conrado-contreras","13":"tag-contreras","14":"tag-dodgers","15":"tag-family-member","16":"tag-game","17":"tag-heart-attack","18":"tag-home-run","19":"tag-inning","20":"tag-la","21":"tag-la-headlines","22":"tag-la-news","23":"tag-last-world-series","24":"tag-los-angeles","25":"tag-los-angeles-headlines","26":"tag-los-angeles-news","27":"tag-sister-alejandrina","28":"tag-year"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23873\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}