Dodgertown complex to house Minor League Baseball

The pathways made of crushed seashells. The dugouts with no roofs. The cozy seating at Holman Stadium.

All of Dodgertown’s one-of-a-kind hallmarks will again have visitors.

The governing body for Minor League Baseball agreed to a five-year contract Wednesday to take over operations of the storied Dodgertown complex in Vero Beach, Fla., bringing tournaments and fantasy camps back to one of baseball’s most hallowed grounds.

For Ralph Branca and Brooklyn’s Boys of Summer, it just won’t ever be the same.

“I doubt I’ll ever be back,” Branca said Wednesday. “The Dodgers meant something special. To see it without them there would be a shame. But I’m glad there will at least be baseball there again. It’s the finest training facility in the world.”

The deal with Indian River County and Vero Beach will bring high school and college tournaments and camps for players and umpires to the facility, but there will still be no major league team for spring training.

This past spring was the first time in 61 years that the Dodgers did not occupy the facility. They left for an $80 million complex in Glendale, Ariz., that they share with the Chicago White Sox. Vero Beach had been the spring training home of the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers since 1949.

But things changed this past spring.

Jackie Robinson Avenue was removed. So was Don Drysdale Drive and Vin Scully Way, packed up and shipped West along with hundreds of other treasures that made Dodgertown so unique.

Branca was there from the start, when the players used to stay in old military barracks.

“It was so fan friendly,” the former star pitcher said. “You could walk and talk with players. Just getting up-close with fans was one of my favorite things. I have so many memories, probably more there than anywhere I’ve been.”

County and city officials will lease the complex for $1 per year, with Minor League Baseball to be solely responsible for maintaining the grounds, according to the agreement. The tenant will collect revenue from local tourist taxes.

The lease will begin by at least May 1 and leaves open the possibility of a major league team to return.

“We expect a long relationship that will create opportunities for fans to see high caliber baseball in the historic Dodgertown venue,” Vero Beach City Manager James Gabbard said in a statement.

Officials had hoped to lure a major league team for spring training permanently.

They negotiated for months with the Baltimore Orioles, who have struggled to get a new stadium deal as their lease in Fort Lauderdale is about to expire. But negotiations broke down last year, ending when the county rescinded its offer to the Orioles.

At that point, Minor League Baseball President Pat O’Conner said he became involved in the process.

“The county asked me, with my connections around baseball, to help them brainstorm ways to secure a tenant for the facility,” O’Conner said at the announcement in Vero Beach on Wednesday. “The more we talked, the more it became evident that maybe this was something that (Minor League Baseball) should do.”

Minor League Baseball, based in St. Petersburg, Fla., will keep the name Dodgertown and Holman Stadium, according to the agreement.

“I’m glad they’re doing that,” Branca said. “But it still won’t be the same Dodgertown.”