DODGERS : He Has More Than Baseball on His Mind

Dave Staton’s voice started to tremble. He stopped, rubbed his eyes, and regained his composure.

Sitting in front of his locker Friday, his mind was 3,000 miles away.

This was his first day back in the Dodger minor league clubhouse, after spending a week with his mother in Sacramento, wondering whether he would see her again.

His mother, Suzan, 50, had undergone 22 hours of surgery to remove a cancerous brain tumor.

“It was the worst thing I’ve ever been through,” said Staton, Suzan’s only son. “I was so scared. I’ve never been faced with the realistic possibility of losing one of my parents.

“Nothing could prepare me for just seeing the sight of her in intensive care. I couldn’t even believe that was my mom. She was physically altered, and in so much pain. It hurt knowing what she was going through.

“My God, I can’t begin to tell you all the prayers.”

It will be several weeks, Staton said, before his mother will be released from the UC Davis hospital. She still cannot breathe on her own.

Yet, Staton says, his mother will recover.

He can’t wait for the day she is cooking homemade meals again at the family home in Tustin. He can’t wait for the day when she’s sitting in the stands again watching him play. And maybe, one day she’ll be watching him play first base at Dodger Stadium.

“For my mom to go through this, after losing her own mother a year ago to a brain tumor,” Staton said, “is a testament to her strength and determination.

“I’m not saying I took my mom for granted, but sometimes you tend to forget how important she is to you, especially when you leave home.

“Believe me, she’s my inspiration now to get back to the big leagues.”

Dodger Notes

The Dodgers announced that tickets for the first home stand of the regular season will be at 1958 prices ($3.50 for field and loge, $2.50 for reserved, $1.50 for top deck and pavilion), regardless of which players take the field.