Justin Turner did not wear the correct jersey one day, and now he would pay for his sin.
His teammates formed two lines, one facing the other. Turner snaked through the gauntlet, as his teammates playfully slapped and shoved him around.
Turner is 41, an All-Star and World Series champion, one of the most beloved players in Dodgers history. Yet there he was on a gloomy Saturday afternoon in a 50-year-old stadium in Tijuana, subjecting himself to a mashup of a kangaroo court and a hazing ritual, three hours before he would play in a uniform with six s on the jersey and four more on the pants.
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“Justin doesn’t have to be here,” said former major leaguer Roberto Kelly, the manager of the Tijuana Toros. “He doesn’t need this to continue his life.”
For the first time in 17 years, Turner is not playing in the major leagues. No team wanted him.
In Tijuana, whether he decides to end his career here or elsewhere, he has nurtured a special bond with his son and emerged as an improbable tourist attraction for Dodgers fans.
The sun sets in the neighborhood surrounding Toros Mobil Park. A fan hands Justin Turner a bobblehead of Turner to sign before the start of Friday’s Tijuana Toros game. Justin Turner follows through on a swing while warming up in the batting cages before the start of Saturday’s Tijuana Toros game.
Life is what you make of it. When Turner signed with the Toros, he wanted to make a video introducing himself to their fans. He drove 45 minutes from Studio City to East Los Angeles, to the only store he could find in L.A. that stocked Toros caps, then stood in line to buy some.
“Are you buying these hats because Justin Turner just signed in Tijuana?” the clerk asked, without looking too closely at the customer.
“Yes,” Turner said, without letting on.
When Turner went job hunting last winter, the top line of “41-year-old with a .602 OPS” carried the day, even if he was primarily a platoon player last season, with a .759 OPS against left-handers.
Justin Turner jokes with batboy Valentin “Chevale” Burgos before the start of Saturday’s Tijuana Toros game. (Ronaldo Bolaños/Los Angeles Times)
He said he pursued a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training, then simply a minor league contract, where he could start the season at triple A and both he and the team could evaluate as the season went on. Even the Angels, whose annual lack of depth already is on stark display, said no.
“I wasn’t expecting to be handed anything or guaranteed anything,” Turner said. “But I was not expecting to not even get a chance to play at all.”
He looked into playing in Japan and South Korea, but the guaranteed roster spots there filled as he held out hope for a job in the United States. In Mexico, where the season does not start until mid-April, three teams offered him contracts.
He chose Tijuana, where he and his family could live in San Diego and commute to the games.
Lights in the stadium turn on and off as Saltillo Saraperos players have a mound visit. (Ronaldo Bolaños/Los Angeles Times)
“It’s hit and miss, same as L.A.,” he said. “Depending on what time you go, it could be 20 minutes, or it could be an hour.”
Turner’s son, Bo, turns 2 in July. Dad could have stayed home with him all year but, in baseball as in life, diamonds are forever.
Bo Jordan is held by his father, Justin Turner, while he takes photos with fans after Saturday’s Tijuana Toros game. (Ronaldo Bolaños/Los Angeles Times)
“I got a late start in parenthood,” Turner said. “I’ve been around a lot of guys who had the opportunity to have their kids grow up in a clubhouse, and I’ve always thought that was really cool.
“He wakes up in the morning, and the first thing he says is ‘baseball.’ He’s definitely not at the point where he’s going to retain any of this, I don’t think, but he’s already developing the love for baseball that I have.
“I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
Neither would the Toros. With Dodgers fans regularly making the trip from Los Angeles to see Turner, and with the Dodgers having the largest fan base of any team in Mexico, Toros president Omar Canizales said, ticket sales are up 30%. The Dodgers’ Pantone 294 fan club has bought a block of tickets for the Toros’ June 2 game.
The Toros never had sold jerseys with player names on the back until this year, a team official said, and 98% of the jerseys sold have Turner’s name on the back.
Luchador masks and other Tijuana Toros merchandise on display for sale. (Ronaldo Bolaños/Los Angeles Times)
A roasted pig lays on a flat iron stove at a food stand. (Ronaldo Bolaños/Los Angeles Times)
Canizales declined to say how much the Toros are paying Turner this season. He said top Mexican League players make in the $150,000 range and Turner would generate enough business by himself for the Toros to recoup the entire cost of Turner’s contract.
“We haven’t seen anything like this before,” Canizales said through an interpreter. “There’s nothing to compare it to the impact Justin has made in such little time.”
The influence Turner had in Los Angeles lives on among fans that have not forgotten that he is one of them.
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The kid who watched Kirk Gibson’s 1988 World Series home run in his grandmother's living room grew up to be the third baseman that helped the Dodgers win their next World Series, in 2020. Turner took a moment every night to sign a ball for the military veteran honored at each game at Dodger Stadium, and no Dodger did more in the community.
About 15 minutes before game time in Tijuana, a line forms next to the Toros’ dugout, and Turner signs for fans in Dodgers caps and lucha libre masks.
Fermin Padilla of Los Angeles got Turner’s autograph on a jacket, cap and jersey. “It would have been impossible to get that at home,” Padilla said.
Tijuana Toros fans scream for a baseball during Saturday’s game. (Ronaldo Bolaños/Los Angeles Times)
David and Samantha Anderson of East Los Angeles got a selfie with Turner, who signed two baseball cards for the couple.
“If it wasn’t for Justin, I wouldn’t be here,” David Anderson said. “Now I’m going to come all the time.”
The tickets are cheaper than Dodger Stadium, of course, and the food is better. The kiss cams and sing-alongs and air horns and thunder sticks are all integrated into the game, not reserved for stoppages in play.
“It’s three hours of music, dancing, drinking and entertainment, with a sprinkle of baseball,” Turner said. “There’s not really any lines they won’t cross down here.”
In one skit between innings, a character wore a sign around its neck that said “ICE.” Another character pretended to rough up the first character until the sign opened to say “ICE CREAM,” and then everyone danced happily.
Newlywed couple Jessica Oneda Rojas and Moises Benitez celebrate with mascots Tonia and Toron after signing marriage papers before the start of Friday’s Tijuana Toros game. This was the first wedding held at a Tijuana Toros game. Torina the mascot lays on the ground trying to catch her breath as a member of the Toritos dance crew performs on the field in between innings on Friday. Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles TimesToron the mascot dresses up as a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer.
Kelly, the manager, played the last two years of his career in the Mexican League. It can be a long season if the bitterness of the major league rejection of the winter lingers into the spring and summer, but Kelly does not see that in Turner.
“He’s been a good addition, not because he was a big leaguer but because of what he brings to the club. He’s not just a name,” Kelly said. “He doesn’t let us know that he played in the big leagues or how good he was. To see somebody like that come down and just be one of the players is very good for our team.
“He enjoys it. You can see him around these guys and he’s having fun.”
Orel Hershiser, the officiant at Turner’s wedding, ended his career at 41.
“I had really lost my ability,” Hershiser said.
Justin Turner works out with a barbell in the Tijuana Toros’ gym. (Ronaldo Bolaños/Los Angeles Times)
At the same age, Turner is betting he has not. Hershiser said he has not talked with Turner recently but wondered if a season in Japan could be in his future if a return to the major leagues is not.
Is Turner going to keep playing until he either gets back to the majors or knows he is not?
“No,” he said. “I’m playing until I want to be done playing.”
I told Turner that Julio Franco played in the Mexican League at 49. Turner laughed. That might be about all he rules out at this point.
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“I love playing,” he said. “I love competing. As long as I feel I’m serviceable and not just here for entertainment purposes, I’m going to keep doing it.”
Turner should have the same ending as Hershiser, a Dodger standout that represents the organization in some capacity after retirement.
Hershiser said Turner could join him in the broadcast booth, or become a great manager, or an outstanding hitting coach.
“He’s almost a hitting savant,” Hershiser said. “He’s like a Manny Ramirez for me as far as how he understands swings and how he can put himself in other people’s bodies or make adjustments for them.
“He’ll be good at whatever he tries to do.”
Justin Turner walks out of the battling cages onto the field to finish warming up before Friday’s Tijuana Toros game. (Ronaldo Bolaños/Los Angeles Times)
The one thing he probably would not do: serve as a Dodgers community ambassador, shaking hands and posing for photographs at Dodger Stadium and various events around town.
“I don’t want to be paraded around and be a sideshow,” he said.
For now, he just wants to play baseball. On Tuesday, he can, in Zapopan, Mexico.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
