August 16, 2023   View in browser Clayton Kershaw with multiple styles of Dodgers hats. (Illustration by Tim Hubbard / Los Angeles Times) By Bill Shaikin Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It’s Wednesday, Aug. 16. I’m Bill Shaikin, the Times’ baseball columnist. There is no greater communal gathering spot in Los Angeles than Dodger Stadium. Almost 4 million people flock to the ballpark every year. No summer in L.A. is complete without a pilgrimage to the historic ballpark with the postcard views. The park binds generations too. At Dodger Stadium, you could listen to Vin Scully call the game on the transistor radio strapped to your wrist, then fill up your gas tank for the drive home at the Union 76 station beyond center field. You could get your Dodger Dog, proudly made by Farmer John — “easternmost in quality, westernmost in flavor” — and then you could get vendor Roger Owens to toss you a bag of peanuts, behind his back. Alas, you cannot do any of those things any more. Times change. Old traditions give way to new ones. Among the traditions that remain: The Dodgers take the field in dark blue caps, with the letters “LA” interlocking and embroidered upon the front. If you wanted to support the home team, you too could buy that cap. You still can, but here’s what has changed: The Dodgers do not take the field in dark blue caps every day. Like all teams, they wear special caps for special occasions, including light blue for Father’s Day and pink for Mother’s Day. And you can show your support for the home team by wearing any one of hundreds of Dodgers caps. The website for Lids, a prominent cap retailer, showed 429 Dodgers caps for sale last week. My tolerance was exhausted recently, when I saw a Dodgers cap for sale called “Orange Popsicle.” No blue. No LA. Not even a correct confectionery reference: the cap resembles a Creamsicle bar, not a popsicle. I mean, for the low, low price of $45.99, you can show your loyalty to, what, the Great Dodger Pumpkin? Is nothing sacred any more? Once upon a time, you would never dream of wearing a Dodgers cap in the colors of a rival team. Today, you can buy a Dodgers cap in a crayon box full of colors: black or white, red or yellow, green or orange, lavender or gray. You can find caps that feature multiple colors. You can find caps decorated with an avocado, or a butterfly, or a shark. You can find corduroy caps, or tie-dye caps. Here is a quote from my story last week: “During the spring and summer, a lot of customers are looking for the brighter colors, the pastels and the brights. When you get to the fall, it’s more the earth tones.” The speaker is not talking about shirts, or dresses, or even shoes. The speaker is talking about baseball caps. See, what to me had appeared to be the loss of a great Los Angeles tradition turned out to be a fresh incarnation of a great American one: Give the customers what they want.