A special loaded hot dog will be available at Dodger Stadium throughout the Los Angeles Dodgers’ four-game series against the Miami Marlins, which begins tonight.
The Cuban Dog is a quarter-pound all-beef hot dog topped with smoked ham, pulled roasted pork, Swiss cheese, yellow mustard and pickle chips. It will be available at the Extreme Loaded Dog concession areas on the field, loge and reserve levels.
The ceremonial first pitch will be thrown by Dodger broadcaster Rick Monday in connection with the 40th anniversary of when he was playing for the Chicago Cubs and rescued an American flag that was about to be burned by protestors on the outfield grass at Dodger Stadium. Monday plans to bring the flag to tonight’s game.
Monday drew a standing ovation from the crowd and the stadium’s message board read “Rick Monday…You Made A Great Play” after he saved the flag.
Monday’s action on April 25, 1976, was selected as the seventh greatest moment in Dodger Stadium’s history in a 2012 vote by fans in connection with the 50th anniversary of the stadium’s opening.
The national anthem will be sung by Kevin Massey, a star of the musical “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder,” which is playing at the Ahmanson Theatre through May 1.
The Military Hero of the Game will be U.S. Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Andrew Kellert of Yorba Linda, a combat engineer who has served in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Kellert received a Bronze Star for his development of an intelligence packet that helped to eliminate improvised explosive device bomb-making cells, helping route-clearance convoys improve their IED find-and-clear rate by 50 percent.
Kellert is a grandson of the late Frank Kellert, a backup first baseman for the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers, the franchise’s first World Series champions. The elder Kellert was batting when Jackie Robinson stole home in Game 1 of the 1955 World Series.
The Dodgers will also honor four Los Angeles Police Department reserve officers who are the 2015 Reserve Officers of the Year of their bureaus — Michael Hagen of the Specialized Division; Roberto Torres of Operations-Central Bureau; Richard Badger of Operations-Valley Bureau; and Michael Seitz of Operations-South Bureau.
The first 40,000 fans in attendance will receive a Clayton Kershaw bobblehead.
Tonight’s game marks the first time the Dodgers will face the Marlins since they hired Don Mattingly as their manager. Mattingly managed the Dodgers from 2011-2015, then mutually agreed with team management that he not return.
Auto gates will open at 4:40 p.m. and stadium gates at 5:10 p.m. The Dodgers will take batting practice from 4:20-5:20 p.m. and Miami from 5:25-6:20 p.m. Pregame ceremonies, including the national anthem and ceremonial first pitch, will begin at 6:57 p.m., with the game set to start at 7:10 p.m.
