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Dodgers Removed Padres Star Fernando Tatis' Plaque From Dodger Stadium

J.P. Hoornstra|
San Diego Padres right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. (23) scores a run during the third inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on June 17.
San Diego Padres right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. (23) scores a run during the third inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on June 17. | Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

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Fernando Tatis Jr. did something unforgettable on the final day of September in 2021. He launched a baseball 467 feet into the dry California air, the ball disappearing beyond the left-field pavilion at Dodger Stadium, as if it had somewhere better to be.

It was only the sixth home run to leave the park entirely — a club with five other members, none of whom wore brown and gold.

The Dodgers, guardians of history and grudges, honored the feat with a small plaque near the bleachers. That was then.

This week, the plaque vanished.

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First noticed by a Reddit user with a sharp eye and a keen sense of timing, the disappearance came during a series defined, once again, by animosity between the Padres and the Dodgers.

Dennis Lin of The Athletic asked the Dodgers for an explanation. Their answer: the plaque had been damaged and would be replaced before the team’s next homestand.

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No one could say how it got damaged. Plaques are usually sturdy. But then, so is Tatis.

The two-time All-Star was hit by pitches three times in six days: once by Lou Trivino in San Diego, again by Trivino in Los Angeles on Tuesday, then Thursday by Jack Little. The 93-mph fastball from Little, a rookie making his major league debut, caught Tatis square on the right wrist — the same one that once cost him a season.

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Tatis didn’t charge the mound. He just shook the wrist, grimaced, and walked to first. But if the tension was simmering before, it boiled over when Manny Machado stepped in front of reporters after the game.

“They better pray he’s OK,” Machado said. “Set a little candle up for Tati tomorrow.”

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Maybe two candles. One for the wrist. One for the plaque.

The other sluggers' plaques in Los Angeles — Giancarlo Stanton, Mark McGwire, Mike Piazza, and Willie Stargell — all remain bolted into the Dodger Stadium concrete, as permanent as the grudges in Chavez Ravine.

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Tatis' homer left the yard. His plaque didn’t stay long. And for a rivalry that feeds on bad blood, short tempers, and long memories, maybe that’s the most fitting tribute of all.

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J.P. Hoornstra
J.P. HOORNSTRA

J.P. Hoornstra is an On SI Contributor. A veteran of 20 years of sports coverage for daily newspapers in California, J.P. covered MLB, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Los Angeles Angels (occasionally of Anaheim) from 2012-23 for the Southern California News Group. His first book, The 50 Greatest Dodgers Games of All-Time, published in 2015. In 2016, he won an Associated Press Sports Editors award for breaking news coverage. He once recorded a keyboard solo on the same album as two of the original Doors.

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