Riverside Marine Sergeant to be Honored at Dodger Game

Courtesy photo

By City News Service

Former Marine Corps Sgt. Juan Gonzales of Temecula will be honored as the Military Hero of the Game at Sunday’s Los Angeles Dodgers-St. Louis Cardinals game at Dodger Stadium.

Gonzales enlisted shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He served deployments to Haditha and Fallujah in Iraq as a provisional rifleman and to Herat and Helmand provinces in Afghanistan with the Special Operations Task Force as an engineer.

As with all Sunday home games except the final one, the Dodgers will conduct their Viva Los Dodgers family-friendly festival. Musical entertainment will be provided by Viento Callejero and Los 5.

Dodger broadcaster Manny Mota will sign autographs from 3-5 p.m. at Viva Los Dodgers.

Viva Los Dodgers begins at 3 p.m. at Dodger Stadium’s 76 station.

Mickey Hatcher, an outfielder-infielder on the Dodgers’ 1988 World Series championship team, will sign autographs in the left field pavilion from 3-5 p.m.

The first 15,000 children 14 years old and under will receive a cereal bowl.

Jason Wade, the lead singer of the alternative rock band Lifehouse, will perform the national anthem.

As with most Sunday home games, children 14 and under can run around the bases following the game.

Auto gates will open at 2:40 p.m. and stadium gates at 3:10 p.m. Pregame ceremonies will begin at 4:55 p.m. for the 5:08 p.m. game.

This will be the final regular season game in 2015 between the Dodgers and Cardinals. The Dodgers lead the series since 1900, 1,018-1,016, with 16 games ending in ties.