Photo courtesy Nancy Bea Hefley Twitter account
It’s been a bumpy season for veteran Dodger organist, Nancy Bea Hefley, so perhaps that’s the reason she decided it was time to retire. You might remember, Hefley was the apparent target of a campaign to phase her out and replace her with “pre-recorded pop and hip hop music” at Dodger Stadium. Well, the fans took to social media and shamed the Dodger organization into promising Hefley a job for life.
All that drama may have been too much for a musician who just want to play the standards like “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.” So after 28 years, Hefley announced she is calling it quits at the end of the 2015 season. It means she will no longer have to commute from Silver Springs, Nevada where she has lived for some time. ” My husband and I felt that this was the right time to settle down in our home in Silver Springs and eliminate all the travel. The Dodgers have told me I can come back and make guest appearances and I greatly appreciate this gesture. I hope to get back to Dodger Stadium on occasion,” Hefley said in a news release last Friday.
Also in that release, Lon Rosen, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of the Dodgers, praised Hefley for her contributions and left the door open for her to visit: “We wish Nancy Bea and Bill well in their plans for retirement and we’re looking forward to her coming back for special performances at Dodger Stadium.”
