Who Is on the Dodgers Mt. Rushmore ?

                                                Got to thinking about this topic the other day. But I doubt you could just pick four.  And with all the history of this team you would have to separate LA from Brooklyn because they have played as long in each city equally. To really do each justice, you would need to pick a team out of players from both cities. A Brooklyn team, and an LA team.  Picking just the four greatest would be almost impossible. 

                                               If you did only pick four, one of them would not be a player. No person had more impact on the Dodgers in their long history than Vin Scully. 67 years as a broadcaster for the Dodgers plus all the work he did for network TV. He even called Larsen’s perfect game in the World Series. Scully called 19 no-hitters. He also called three perfect games. To tell you the truth, I could not pick just four.  Most impactful four would be Scully, Robinson, Valenzuela and Koufax. Robinson and Valenzuela for their cultural impact and Koufax because of his impact imbedding baseball in Los Angeles. He was the first true LA superstar. 

                                              But I digress. So, let’s pick 8 position players, 2 starting pitchers, a lefty and a righty, and 1 closer.  Then a utility guy from each city. 12 players you feel are the best both cities had to offer.  My picks:

                                              Catcher: Brooklyn, Roy Campanella. Outstanding defensively, 3 MVP awards, HOF, all-time Dodger HR leader for catchers. Member of first and only Brooklyn Championship team.  LA, tough choice, but I go with Mike Scioscia. Caught more games than any other catcher in Dodger history. One of the best plate blockers in the game. Member of the 1988 World Championship team, 4th on the all-time defensive WAR list for LA. Not the hitter Piazza was, no catcher in their history has been. But played his entire career, like Campy, as a Dodger. 

                                             First Base: Brooklyn, Gil Hodges. Three-time gold glove winner. Top 10 in Dodger history in most offensive categories. HOF, 2-time World Champion, 55-59, 2nd to Duke Snider in all-time HR’s. In fact, he and Duke the only 2 players with 300 plus homers as a Dodger. Second to Snider on the all-time RBI list. One of only 4 Dodgers to drive in more than 1000 runs. Furillo and Wheat are the other two.  LA., this position is a tie. Steve Garvey and Eric Karros. Karros is the all-time LA Dodger leader in homers. But Garvey has an MVP award and participated in four World Series. Both finished their careers elsewhere. Garvey was a gold glove first baseman, but they are very close in most offensive stats. Garvey had a higher BA with LA. 

                                           Second Base: Brooklyn, no contest, Jackie Robinson. HOF, ROY, broke the color barrier in MLB. Member of six NL champs and the 55 World Champs. NL MVP in 1949. Stole home 19 times including a huge steal of home in the World Series. LA. Davey Lopes. Lopes was a converted outfielder and was part of what was known as “The Infield.: Along with Ron Cey, Bill Russell and Steve Garvey, they were together as a unit longer than any infield in MLB history. Second to Maury Wills on the Dodgers all-time stolen base list. Led NL in steals twice. 

                                           Third Base: Brooklyn, not many players played third for more than a few years when the team was in Brooklyn. I have to go with maybe the best glove man they had in Brooklyn, Billy Cox. Cox played 7 years with the Dodgers and was part of three NL Championship teams. 49-52-53. He was a career .262 hitter, but he was excellent on defense. He even finished 23rd in the MVP voting in 1953. LA. The Penguin, Ron Cey has to be the choice here. Ron was a power hitter and a very good fielder. He played on six All-Star teams and had 228 HR”s while a Dodger. He finished his career with 316 HR’s. He was in double figures in homers 14 consecutive years, and he drove in 100 or more runs twice. He also had one of the best Aprils in Dodger history, driving in 29 runs. 

                                          Shortstop: Brooklyn, no contest, Pee Wee Reese. Reese was a Kentucky native, and was called the Little Colonel by some, and just the captain by others. Pee Wee was a good hitter, and one of the better SS in the league for many years. He lost 3 seasons to WWII, but he played for the Dodgers for 16 years. Only Bill Russell and Zack Wheat played longer. Reese was an All-Star 10 times. He is a Hall of Famer and his #1 is retired by the Dodgers. LA, well I debated this for a while, then I went with the player who made the most impact, Maury Wills. Wills joined the team in 59 because Don Zimmer was having an awful year. He did not really set the world on fire, but he brought speed to a lumbering veteran team. He would come into his own in 1962 when he became the first MLB player to steal 100 bases or more. He earned a MVP award that season. Wills was part of 3 WS champs, and even after being banished to Pittsburgh, he returned a couple years later and finished his career with the Dodgers. Was a roving instructor in the organization for many years. 

                                        Left Field: Brooklyn, again, no contest. During the Boys of Summer years, they had many leftfielders since they could never really find a full-time guy. Amoros, Gilliam, Robinson, Pafko, and many others spent time there during that period. But back in the early 1900’s, Zack Wheat was the man. Wheat was considered a power hitter in his day, but he never hit more than 16. In fact, he hit in double figures just 4 times in his career. He drove in 100 or more runs only twice. But he could hit. He is in the top 10 in many of the Dodgers all-time offensive stats. A career .317 hitter. He had 2804 hits in his 18 years in Brooklyn. Zack entered the Hall in 1959. He was also one of the better defensive outfielders in his day. LA, this is a little tougher than Wheat. But I have to go with Dusty Baker. Dusty played his best ball as a Dodger. Very good defensively and added a solid bat to the team after the trade. Part of three pennant winners and one championship team. Honorable mention would go to Tommy Davis, who won 2 batting titles, but had his LA career cut short by his injury. And Wally Moon, who made the Moon Shot a household word. 

                                     Center Field: Brooklyn, Duke Snider, he still is the all-time leader in home runs, offensive WAR, RBIs, extra base hits, intentional base on balls, and four categories I have never heard of, Base-Out Runs Added, Win Probability Added, Situational Wins Added and Championship WPA. All of that available on Baseball reference. Duke was an excellent outfielder with a very good arm. He went in the Hall in 1980. He is second to Pee Wee in offensive WAR. He hit 11 homers in World Series play and is the Dodger leader in that stat. His #4 is retired. LA, based on the amount of time he spent with the Dodgers, it would have to be Willie Davis. Willie was one of the fastest players I have ever seen. He had some power and could cover a lot of ground. Was a member of the 63 and 65 Championship teams. The only real tarnish to his legacy was an awful 3 error game in the 66 series.  Fell on hard times in retirement. 

                                    Right Field: Brooklyn, only a few choices, but it has to be Carl Furillo. A very underrated player. Had a cannon for an arm and was a very good hitter. Drove in over 1000 runs in his career and won a batting title in 1953. An integral piece of the Boys of Summer. Had two important hits in the 1959 run to the title. His walk off single against the Braves, and a run scoring single in the World Series with the Sox. Member of the 55 and 59 Champs. Honorable mention would go to Babe Herman, a great hitter, and mediocre defender who still has the record for the highest single season BA in Dodger history, .393 in 1930. LA. This one is hard. No player in LA history has started at the position more than 5 years in a row, and no one has played it more than six on opening day. So, I have to go with the player who stayed with the Dodgers the longest, Andre Ethier. Captain Clutch. Ethier was acquired in a trade with the A’s, but he spent his entire MLB career as a Dodger. One year he had 6 walk off hits. He was a solid hitter whose best season was 2009. Ethier still has ties to the Dodgers and can be seen at Dodger Stadium during the year. 

                                    Utility: Brooklyn-LA, Jim Gilliam was a jack of all trades. He played the outfield, second and third base and was the # 2 hitter behind Wills while the team was in LA. He was the ROY in 1953 and after his playing days, he was a Dodger coach. His sudden death in 1978 was the catalyst for the team dedicating the World Series in his memory. He and Fernando the only two non-hall of fame players to have their numbers retired. He played 5 years in Brooklyn, and 12 in LA. Honorable mention, Kike and Taylor. Both have been very valuable pieces in the Dodgers current run of excellence. 

                                   Starting Pitchers: Brooklyn, the RHP is Dazzy Vance.  All time Brooklyn wins leader with 190. Did not pitch regularly in the majors until he was 30 and pitched until he was 44. Hall of Famer, he was known for his fastball. The lefty would be Nap Rucker. Because Brooklyn was so bad during his career, he does not have a lot of wins, he finished exactly at 134-134. But his career ERA, 2.42. He only had one season when his ERA was above 3. No other Brooklyn lefty comes close. LA: This will always be one of the more debated positions. Pitching has been a Dodger strength most of their time in LA. If you go by stats, it’s Kershaw-Sutton.  I have seen them all. My choice comes from seeing these guys pitch in the highest leverage conditions. So, my two are Koufax and Drysdale. Both were pivotable members of three World Champs. But Sandy has four rings and Big D 3. Sandy was a rookie on the 55 team and did not pitch in the series. He did not pitch in the 56 series either. He lost his only game in 59. But he pitched the clincher in two WS wins, 63-65. In 65 he did it on 2 days rest. He has 3 Cy Youngs, won the ERA award 5 years in a row. He might have won another Cy Young in 64, but an injury and the Dodgers bad year dropped him to 3rd in the voting. He won the MVP in 1963 and finished second in the voting in 65-66. 4 no-hitters including a perfect game. He would be my choice in any must win game. As for Big D, he was something that neither Sutton or Orel, two of the better LA right handers, ever were. Intimidating. He also won a Cy Young in 1962 and was the Dodgers opening day starter 7 times. He held the scoreless inning record until Hershiser broke it. Both are in the Hall and their numbers are retired. Kershaw has many of the career records, and if he returns next season, he will probably become the only Dodger pitcher to record 3000 Ks as a Dodger. My choice of Koufax over Kersh is more about Koufax’s big game performances, than it is about their overall careers. CK has 3 Cy Youngs and an MVP too. This generation would no doubt pick him over Sandy.

                                Closers did not become a thing until the sixties. Saves was not a stat until 1969 when Dodger pitcher, Bill Singer recorded the first official save. Since then, baseball reference and other stat sites have gone back and credited former pitchers with saves.  In Brooklyn, probably the most prolific closer was Clem Labine, who also started many times. Including a couple of important World Series games. In LA, it has to be Kenley Jansen. LA career saves leader, much vilified his last few years in LA as being unreliable, rebuilt his rep in Boston. But Eric Gagne had 88 consecutive games without a blown save. 

                              Now to the Mt. Rushmore stuff. If I had to pick 4 men to put on a Dodgers Mt. Rushmore, to me, it would be the men who made the most impact, not just necessarily on the field. Because of that, my four would be Vin Scully, Walter O’Malley, Jackie Robinson and Fernando Valenzuela.  Scully is obvious, as is Jackie. Valenzuela simply because he impacted the way the Latin community viewed the Dodgers at the time. He got the Latin community involved in Dodger baseball and is the catalyst for the vast base of Latino fans in Los Angeles. O’Malley many might disagree with, but had he not moved the team from Brooklyn when he did, and remember, he had plans to build a state-of-the-art ballpark in Brooklyn, who knows how long it would have taken for LA to get MLB? And he had to convince another owner, Horace Stoneham, to make the move with him. Okay, there are my picks, let’s hear yours.