VERO BEACH, FLA. - The first time Don Zimmer reported to Dodgertown, it was hardly the most charming dot in the baseball universe. The converted naval air station was called simply "the base."

"There I am, four guys in a room. Upper and lower bunks. No toilets. No air conditioning. No heat," the Tampa Bay Rays senior adviser recalled.

"Seven o'clock in the morning, they'd blow a whistle through the barracks and get you all up and get in the chow line for breakfast," he said.

After 60 years in this spot where players and fans chat on pathways made of crushed seashells, the Los Angeles Dodgers will play today for the final time at Holman Stadium. After the split-squad game against the Houston Astros, they'll head west to finish the exhibition schedule.

Next spring, Los Angeles plans to open an $80 million complex in Glendale, Ariz., that the Dodgers will share with the Chicago White Sox.

So long, Don Drysdale Drive. Farewell, Vin Scully Way.

Because of construction delays, the move may be postponed for a year. But the Dodgers' Class A minor-league team left last season, and the end is coming.

Make way for Cal Ripken Road and Brooks Robinson Boulevard. The Baltimore Orioles are eager to slide 150 miles north from Fort Lauderdale.

"I'm glad that somebody else is moving in here so it just doesn't go away to a bunch of condos or something," said Washington minor-league coach John Stearns, a former All-Star catcher. "To me, Vero Beach is just almost sacred as far as spring training is concerned."

But the impact of Dodgertown goes further in this city of about 20,000 on Florida's east coast.

What becomes of Dodgertown Elementary School? Who replaces the picture of Dodgers pitcher Jonathan Broxton on the cover of the local phone book?

"It is the closing of an era," former Dodgers MVP Kirk Gibson said. "It's just different than any other place."

Gibson also played for Detroit, which is training in Lakeland, Fla., for the 63rd straight year.

Yet, aside from Cooperstown, nowhere do the game's past and present blend so neatly as Dodgertown. Sandy Koufax showing a minor leaguer how to grip a curveball, Tom Lasorda greeting visitors from his golf cart, Brooklyn's Boys of Summer returning for fantasy camps.

"It always lent itself to a lot of history," former Dodgers second baseman Steve Sax said.

At Holman Stadium, the seats go just 17 rows deep, and the dugouts do not have roofs. There were no outfield fences until the last decade or so; there was a grassy embankment ringed by palm trees.

It has been quite a change for new manager Joe Torre, who was accustomed to the New York Yankees' well-guarded complex at Legends Field.

"This is so different. The fans love it; you get a chance to mingle with the players. The intimacy of it is very unique," Torre said.

A year after training in Havana, Cuba, the Dodgers started out 1948 in the Dominican Republic. The team later flew into Vero for one day, then left for exhibitions.

The Dodgers permanently moved to the converted base in 1949, and Zimmer arrived the next year. The area was sparse and some called it Zero Beach.

Jackie Robinson was the star attraction. Recently, one of the signs for Jackie Robinson Avenue disappeared.

Scully would like a souvenir, too, maybe a Vin Scully Way sign.

"I don't know what they plan to do with those when the team finally moves, but I certainly would like to have one as a reminder of all those days and nights here," Scully said.

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