Thirty years later, the Los Angeles Dodgers are finding a way to honor one of their biggest hits in franchise history.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the Dodgers and former World Series hero Kirk Gibson have joined forces on a ticket-price increase that should be easy for fans to rally around.
Gibson, whose dramatic Game 1 game-winning home run off Oakland Athletics closer Dennis Eckersley catapulted the Dodgers toward their last championship in 1988, and the team announced Monday that the seat in the right-field pavilion where the home-run ball landed will be painted blue and signed by Gibson.
The price of Seat 1 in Row D of Section 302, normally about $50 a game, will be raised to $150 a game this season, with $100 from each ticket going to the Kirk Gibson Foundation to help raise funds for Parkinson's disease research.
"Anything anybody can to do help raise funds for and the awareness of Parkinson's, I'm very interested in talking to," Gibson, who was diagnosed with the disease in 2015, said on a conference call.
"I'm proud to say the Dodgers have stepped up in a huge fashion to join forces with me and my foundation while celebrating the 30th anniversary of the home run."
Gibson, 60, will throw out the ceremonial first pitch before the March 29 season opener against the San Francisco Giants in Dodger Stadium. He will also be on hand March 30 when a special-edition Gibson bobblehead will be given to the first 40,000 fans in attendance for the second game of the season.
An additional 88 limited-edition bobbleheads signed by Gibson will be auctioned off along with game-worn jerseys from the Friday game, with proceeds going to Gibson's foundation. And 50 percent of the proceeds from the Opening-Day 50-50 raffle drawing will go to the foundation.
Not happy
According to The Associated Press, Martina Navratilova is "angry" and feels let down by the BBC after learning that John McEnroe gets paid at least 10 times more than her for their broadcasting roles at Wimbledon.
In a list of the BBC's highest-paid workers published last year, it was revealed that McEnroe earned between 150,000-199,999 pounds ($210,000-280,000) for working at Wimbledon.
Navratilova said she gets paid 15,000 pounds ($21,000).
Navratilova, a nine-time singles champion at the All England Club, said she was told by the BBC that she earns a "comparable amount, so ... we were not told the truth."
"It's extremely unfair and it makes me angry for the other women that I think go through this," Navratilova told "Panorama: Britain's Equal Pay Scandal," a program being aired on the BBC on Monday.
The BBC responded to Navratilova's comments by saying that, as an "occasional contributor," she appears on fewer broadcasts and is on a different type of contract than McEnroe.
"John and Martina perform different roles in the team, and John's role is of a different scale, scope and time commitment," the BBC said in a statement. "They are simply not comparable."
The corporation said that while Navratilova is paid per appearance, has a fixed volume of work and has no contractual commitment, McEnroe is on call for the entire 13 days of the tournament, has a larger breadth of work -- including radio and publicity -- and has a contract that means he cannot work for another British broadcaster without the BBC's permission.
SPORTS QUIZ
What American League team did Kirk Gibson win a World Series with?
ANSWER
The Detroit Tigers in 1984.
Sports on 03/20/2018