LOS ANGELES — As the third-oldest active ballpark in Major League Baseball, Dodger Stadium is filled with displays celebrating the rich history of one of the most storied franchises in the game.
And every now and then, a visiting player does something so notable that it’s worth recording for posterity.
As of Thursday, Kyle Schwarber is one of them. Just one day after the Phillies’ slugger launched a moonshot of a home run off Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Game 3 of the National League Division Series, the Dodgers installed a plaque commemorating the Statcast-projected 455-foot blast around where it landed beyond the Right Field Pavilion seats.
By giving Schwarber a plaque, the Dodgers have recognized him as one of a handful of players who have hit a home run out of Dodger Stadium. The others are Willie Stargell (Pirates, 1969 and ’73), Mike Piazza (1997, Dodgers), Mark McGwire (1999, Cardinals), Giancarlo Stanton (2015, Marlins) and Fernando Tatis Jr. (2021, Padres).
Schwarber’s majestic blast to right field cleared the seating bowl, but hit off the top of the pavilion roof. Even so, the Dodgers decided that it qualified as leaving the ballpark, taking into consideration the renovations in recent years that have changed the architecture in the area behind the outfield pavilions.
That makes Schwarber only the second left-handed hitter to accomplish the feat, joining Stargell. Both are the only ones who have done it out to right field.
Shohei Ohtani was very nearly the first to join Stargell in that regard in July 2024, when he clubbed a projected 473-foot shot to right that stands as the second-longest homer at Dodger Stadium in the Statcast era (since 2015), second only to Stanton’s 475 footer that left the yard. But Ohtani’s big blast did not clear the pavilion roof, one of the team’s criteria.
It may be only a matter of time until Ohtani has a plaque of his own out there. But for now, Schwarber and Stargell are in an exclusive club within an exclusive club.
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