Editorials

Catching up with Former Dodger James Loney: Life in Retirement

James Loney spent 7 years in Los Angeles playing with the Dodgers. He made his Major League debut with LA on April 4th, 2006. In those 7 years, Loney gave Dodger fans a lot of memorable moments, such as his grand slam HR against the Cubs, in Chicago, giving the Dodgers a 4-2 lead, in the 2008 NLDS or his walk-off single against the San Francisco Giants in 2010, at Dodger Stadium.

The topics discussed were about what he is doing now, since retiring from playing baseball, former Dodger teammates, how it felt hitting a grand slam during the alumni game, at Dodger Stadium, and if he would consider coming out of retirement, to give it one more shot with the Dodgers.



Q: What are you doing, now that you’ve retired from baseball?

A: I’m doing quite a few things. I’ve got the family, with the two boys keeping me pretty busy. With coaching a little bit at a junior college here in Nevada, called College of Southern Nevada. As of late, I did a couple of shows at Sports Central on KCAL with Jaime Maggio. I did some color commentary for the Triple-A team, Aviators. So, just kind of getting my feet wet, in different areas to see what I like, whether it’s coaching, video booth, or TV.

Catch James Loney on KCAL 9 with Jaime Maggio, in the near future.

Q: Would you consider becoming a broadcaster in the future?

A: I would if the situation was right. I enjoyed it, I really like analyzing the game, from that perspective, and being able to talk about the game, as far as, where it’s going now too, like the analytics, the technology, social media, there are so many different apps that I didn’t really have, and that we didn’t really talk about much, when I was playing.

Q: Now that you have seen your former teammates, Matt Kemp and Russell Martin rejoin the Dodgers, Kemp making a trip to the World Series, and Russell Martin rejoin the Dodgers, in great position to reach as the World Series, as well, would you consider coming out of retirement and rejoining the Dodgers, possibly next season?

A: I mean, if they wanted me, I’ll be there, but they haven’t said anything to me, as of late, so it’s not something I’m holding my breath for, but yeah, I would definitely consider it. It would be a fun ride, obviously. It would be cool if we could link up again. It’s interesting now, some of the guys, like you said, Russell, and Matt. Andre [Ethier] and Matt, got to go to the World Series during different times, and now Russell with a chance this year, but we didn’t get to do it together. But it’s pretty cool seeing those guys get to play after all those years right now.

Q: What was it like to see your former teammates rejoining the Dodgers?

A: It was pretty cool for me. Because they’re getting older, still having a chance to win a ring, and they were apart of some pretty special teams like they won so many games. To interact with the younger guys, help them out. I got to talk to a few of them at times — I went to the stadium a little bit, so I think it was a pretty rewarding experience for them.

Q: What are your thoughts on this 2019 Dodgers team?

A: I like them. I’ve watched a few games this year, and I like the energy that they bring, I think it’s imperative that they stay healthy, it’s a big thing in the playoffs too — you want your strong guys upfront, your rotation, your lineup, so I think that’s the biggest issue for them right now. There is nothing that stands out that’s really a glaring weakness to me. Obviously, there is always room for improvement, but overall, I think they have a great shot.

Q: Did it feel good hitting at least one more home run — a grand slam– at Dodger stadium for that alumni game?

A: It was pretty cool to go out there, and be amongst some of the older guys, we had some of the younger guys too, but it went by quick, you’re trying to soak it all in, and enjoy it, but the grand slam was pretty cool, and I had to bust my phone out to take pictures. They have the All-Star game in Los Angeles next year, and I may try to get into the celebrity softball game, maybe back in action again next year.

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James Loney finished his 11 year career with the New York Mets in 2016. He’s still a young 35, and you never say never in this wild game of baseball, but at least for now his career resulted in a .284 batting average in 1443 games. He added 108 home runs, 669 runs batted in, and 528 runs scored.

He never struck out 100 times in a season. He had 9 seasons with 100 hits or more. His career postseason average stands at .350 in 23 games over 8 playoff series.

Dodgers Nation thanks James for his time.

Levon Satamian

My name is Levon Satamian. I am currently attending Cal State Northridge, and majoring in Broadcast Journalism.

3 Comments

  1. Putting Loney at First doesn’t sound much worse than Tyler White or Jed Gyorko.

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