$15 for a World Series ticket? Dodger fan recalls attending 1981 game vs. Yankees

LOS ANGELES (KABC) — As the Dodgers prepare to face the Yankees in the World Series Friday, lifelong Dodger fan David Campbell is reminiscing about the last time the two rivals met for the championship – back in 1981.

He still has his ticket from Game 5. Campbell, who was 31 at the time, and a friend got two seats in the outfield bleachers for just $15 each. That’s a far cry from this year’s series, where tickets on reseller sites start at well in excess of $1,000.

“There was an advertisement in one of the newspapers that indicated how the public could get a hold of tickets for the 1981 World Series and of course it was several weeks before the World Series actually happened,” Campbell recalled. “I sent in my application, put all my information on a 3 by 5 card and mailed it to the Dodgers. They had a lottery system at the time. And they notified right before, a week before, that my name had been selected.”

After losing to the Yankees in the 1977 and 1978 World Series, the Dodgers beat New York in 6 games back in 1981, bringing the title back to Los Angeles for the first time since 1965.

The two teams have played each other in the World Series more than any other rivals in Major League Baseball history, dating back to when the Dodgers were still in Brooklyn.

“It was very special. I had been a Dodger fan since I was a child. I had learned to read by reading Jim Murray’s columns (in The Los Angeles Times) about the Dodgers back in the early ’60s. My dad picked up on that. I went to my first Dodger game in 1962 and it was a habit to watch the Dodgers, listen to Vin Scully on TV. A lot of the games were not broadcast on TV back then, but it was a special occasion when they were,” said Campbell.

Fernando Valenzuela, who died this week at age 63, was a big factor in that 1981 World Series, helping the Dodgers to a 5-4 win in Game 3 after pitching a complete game.

Tributes to Valenzuela are expected at Dodger Stadium for Game 1 on Friday. Campbell says he hopes memories of Valenzuela will help inspire the team to another championship title this year.