Dodger Stadium carries the architectural distinction of being the only major league ballpark carved into the side of a ravine, making it also the only major league ballpark that players enter from above the nosebleed seats.
Trayce Thompson always believed he would make it back there, but he could never know for sure, so every day, he leaves for work just a minute or two early. He pulls into the player parking lot and enters on the eighth floor, high above home plate, and takes the stairs down a level. He strolls out into the stands, where the best view in baseball unfolds beneath him. Then he pauses. Sometimes he prays. Sometimes he just breathes. It’s an emotional way to start the workday.
He chuckles, wondering what the cleaning crew must think. The ones who know his story probably understand why he needs that time: He was a second-round pick and phenom until he broke his back with the Dodgers in 2016; he has passed through eight organizations and recorded 395 major league plate appearances in the six years since. But a July trade back to Los Angeles, intended just to cover for injuries, has reignited something in the outfielder, and in only 50 games, at 31, he has been the ninth-most valuable player on the best team in baseball. He has forced himself into the starting lineup most days. He has regained his health, received help from his hero, resuscitated his career. So every day, when he arrives at Dodger Stadium, he says thank you.
“I would’ve foreseen playing there again, but to put this uniform on, being in this locker room—it’s something that I’m very grateful for every day,” he says.
The people around him, many of whom have known him since he was 25 and on a star track, have noticed.
“I think that’s what gravitates me toward him, and what pulls me to root for him, because I just don’t think there’s enough people in our game—or in the world—that have gratitude, and Trayce has gratitude,” says manager Dave Roberts. Roberts tries to believe that he loves all his players equally, but he knows that’s not quite true. Thompson’s success feels special.
“Given his ups and downs and having to go back to the minors and scratch and claw his way back and overcome injury and [now he’s] making an impact for our ballclub, it’s certainly gratifying,” Roberts says. “And also then you layer in on the character of this guy, there’s no one better.”
