No detail, or diamond, was spared.
Modern-day championship rings, Dodgers chief marketing officer Lon Rosen joked, have essentially “turned into wearable sculpture pieces.” And after a month of intricate design planning this offseason, the Dodgers’ 2024 World Series ring is no exception.
Presented to players and coaches on the field before Friday night’s game against the Detroit Tigers at Dodger Stadium, the latest championship ring in Dodgers history is easily the most grandiose yet.
Looking down at the top of the hulking piece of jewelry, the team’s LA logo is spelled out in blue gems, with a bed of oval-shaped diamonds serving as a backdrop. Around the edge lies a circle of 34 sapphires honoring late Dodgers pitcher Fernando Valenzuela, who died in the midst of last year’s World Series run. On either side, eight more diamonds were included to recognize the organization’s eight all-time championships. On the top and bottom, “World Champions” is spelled out in more bling.
Down the side of the ring, there are personalized touches, with each team member’s last name and number displayed around a hexagon shape inspired by Dodger Stadium’s unique scoreboards. Inscribed on the inner half are also each recipient’s signature, next to logos of the three teams the Dodgers defeated on their way to the crown.
Beneath the lift-off top of the ring itself, more easter eggs abound — most notably, cut-up pieces of the bases from the team’s title-clinching Game 5 win at Yankee Stadium, as well as a bedazzled recreation of Dodger Stadium with the Commissioner’s Trophy in the middle.
One final touch resides on the bottom of the ring: Five diamonds to signify the five-run deficit the Dodgers overcame in the title-clincher.
“We had input from our ownership, from Stan [Kasten, team president], from me,” Rosen said. “Looked at it, worked with designers, and our owner made the final decision, which we all actually agreed on.”
“It’s very cool,” Rosen added shortly before the start of Friday’s pregame ceremony. “The guys are gonna be really excited.”
Even before the rings were presented, anticipation was high in the Dodgers’ pregame clubhouse.
“This is the final piece [of our 2024 title celebration],” manager Dave Roberts said. “Just to have the fans here to enjoy this with us, the players, to kind of close the book on 2024, and still staying focused on the baseball game tonight, there’s just a lot of excitement. Probably more than I can ever recall, with the Dodger fanbase. Our players feel that.”
In a fitting twist, the rings were presented on the same night a key piece of the Dodgers’ 2024 team, L.A. native Jack Flaherty, pitched against the club as a member of the Tigers — who re-signed Flaherty this offseason after trading him to the Dodgers at last year’s deadline.
“He was somewhat of a savior, to be honest with you,” Roberts said of Flaherty, who will get his ring on Saturday. “He was the right person at the right time for our club. And I’m happy that he got family and friends who got to see him in a Dodger uniform, get a championship ring.”
“Now,” Roberts added with a laugh, “we can go beat him up today, and give him his ring tomorrow.”
Like most of his players, Roberts isn’t one to wear World Series hardware often. The rings from his previous two championships — as Dodgers manager in 2020, and as a player with the Boston Red Sox in 2004 — reside inside a safe in his garage.
But, the manager conceded, he was excited to get to try on this year’s piece during Friday’s pregame ceremony.
“I hope it fits,” he joked. “If you see me fiddling with it, and it ends up on my pinky, we’ll have big problems.”
Then again, championship rings now are less for wearing anyway. As Rosen noted, they have transformed more into pieces of art. And after the franchise’s first full-season title in more than three decades, the Dodgers didn’t waste an inch of this year’s diamond-studded design infusing as much symbolism as they could from their triumphant 2024 season.
Kiké Hernández on the mend
Friday’s ring ceremony was also a special occasion for Kiké Hernández.
Though the veteran utilityman played a key role in the Dodgers’ 2020 title, he missed out on all of the team’s season-opening ceremonies the next year after signing with the Boston Red Sox that winter.
Then, on Thursday, Hernández was absent again during the club’s 2024 World Series banner raising, unable to make it to the ballpark for the Dodgers’ home opener while battling a stomach illness.
On Friday, however, Hernández was feeling strong enough to return to the ballpark. He didn’t feature in the starting lineup, and it remains unclear when he will be back on the field. But Roberts said Hernández was “feeling much better” and seemed hopeful his illness would cause only a short-term absence.
“He is not going to be here at the ballpark early on, doing work, just make sure that he kind of stays strong and builds up,” Roberts said.
“But,” he added of Hernández’s attendance for the ring presentation, “he wasn’t going to miss this one.”
Pitching injury updates
Hours before Friday’s game, injured pitchers Tony Gonsolin (back) and Evan Phillips (shoulder) both faced hitters in live batting practice. Reliever Michael Kopech (shoulder) threw a flat-ground session in the outfield. And Clayton Kershaw (who is recovering from offseason toe and knee surgeries) told reporters he would face hitters for the first time this year on Saturday.
Gonsolin, who tweaked his back while doing squats in the gym near the end of spring training, and Phillips, who had a PRP injection this offseason to address a partially torn rotator cuff he suffered during the playoffs last year, are the closest of the group to returning to the active roster.
Phillips will likely throw another live BP before beginning a rehab assignment, keeping him on track to rejoin the team in the next couple weeks. Gonsolin’s next step will be to throw three innings in either another simulated setting, or as the start of a minor-league rehab assignment, as he works toward a long-awaited return from his 2023 Tommy John surgery.
“To have something like that, non-baseball-related, really sucked, honestly,” said Gonsolin, whose last appearance in the majors came in August 2023. “I don’t really have any other words for it. But again, it’s a minor setback, and I’ll try to take this time to build back up and get into an even better position.”
The timeline for Kopech’s and Kershaw’s returns are less clear, but Kershaw said he remains hopeful of being ready right around the time his 60-day injured list stint is up near the end of May.
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