On Jan. 17, the 21st annual Bakersfield College baseball Hot Stove Dinner took place at Garces High School in Monsignor Leddy Hall.

Since the first dinner in 1989, George Culver has been putting the dinner together for donations toward BC, local high school baseball teams and local youth baseball leagues. Culver started donating to BC in the early ’70s with charity golf tournaments for BC baseball, which eventually branched out to become the annual Hot Stove Dinner.

For the 21st year, Culver invited Los Angeles Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti. The third-year general manager of the Dodgers brought with him two young Dodger players, second baseman Blake DeWitt and left-handed pitcher Clayton Kershaw. Both spoke briefly about starting in the major leagues to inspire young baseball players. Both Dodger players were a part of the Dodgers’ playoff run last season with a young team and Colletti compared the young Dodger team to BC’s young team this season, which received a great reaction from the crowd.

Colletti said about the dinner, “It was for a good cause, and George Culver is a great guy.” Colletti added, “I hope that they have a great evening and enjoyment” and hoped it would be “an oasis in tough times” for the crowd. Colletti also said that he wants to help encourage young players at BC and the Bakersfield area.

Colletti had some encouraging words on stage to the young baseball athletes, and he said, “Stay with it, and you’ll go where you want to be.” Colletti said that he was returning the favor to Culver by doing the dinner because Colletti and Culver would do anything for each other as good friends would. “Whatever you need me to do, I’m there,” said Colletti.

The night consisted of auctions, raffle prizes and laughs. A San Francisco Giants’ fan was heckling and yelling at Colletti during the Dodgers’ general manager’s speech.

Colletti did not lose his cool but made a joke about the Giants’ disappointing record last season.

“He talks a lot for a team that finished 20 games under .500,” Colletti said, referring to baseball percentage team winnings. Colletti is the former assistant general manager of the San Francisco Giants (1997-2004).

Culver said, “You can’t have that,” and that the committee was going to make sure that it would not happen again next year.

Colletti talked about the upcoming Dodgers season. He said the organization was still trying to sign Manny Ramirez, talked about new pitching prospects and even auctioned off two four-pack seats of dugout tickets to Dodger games for $5,000 each.

Colletti thanked the Bakersfield Dodger community for making the trek down to see the team play at Dodger Stadium every season and recognized Bakersfield as a Dodger town.

Emcee and former BC baseball and football coach Gerry Collis made the crowd laugh with jokes throughout the night.

Collis said about Culver, “He’s an unbelievable guy. [He’s] the Renegade that gives something back. He was the best player I had, but I’m more proud of him of what he did [for the community],”

In attendance were former BC and local baseball athletes who are now major-league players. Colby Lewis, former BC pitcher, who currently plays in the Japan Major Leagues, won the local pitcher of the year award, and Brent Morel of the Chicago White Sox won local pro of the year award. For Lewis, this is the fourth time he has received the honorary award.

The event raised $25,000 for the BC baseball team, high schools and other youth baseball leagues around Bakersfield. With the money, the Hot Stove committee hoped to put in lights in for Bakersfield Christian High School’s baseball field.

Culver said about the money raised on the night, “Part of that goes to BC baseball, and the people that bought tickets will get a diamond club pass for [BC baseball] season tickets.”

As far as next year’s Hot Stove goes, Culver said that it was too early to determine the guest speaker, but that it is going to be tough to top this year with Colletti and the young Dodger players.

The Bakersfield baseball community appreciates Culver with what he has done for years. Culver said, “And I enjoy doing it. Bakersfield is a very generous town with good intentions.”