Dodger Decades: Part 2 Los Angeles

The Los Angeles chapter of Dodger history began in 1958 after the move from Brooklyn. They would play their games in the massive LA coliseum, with a left field screen just 251 feet away. 1958 would begin with heavy hearts for Dodger fans, both from the team moving west, and the tragic accident that paralyzed popular catcher, Roy Campanella. The 58 team was a mix of aging veterans and kids trying to make their mark. Playing in the coliseum was not easy. It was a short cab ride to right and right-center. A death knell for the one left-handed power hitter on the team, Duke Snider. The short-left field with its 30ft tall screen, might have been enticing to a pure pull hitter like Campy, but trying to pull the ball all the time could really mess up one’s swing.

                                             Buzzie Bavasi was the teams GM. He had taken that job when Branch Rickey was bought out by O’Malley. When the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles, Mrs. Smith sold her shares to the Mulvey’s and O’Malley. The starting lineup for the 1958 team was Roseboro C, Hodges 1B, Charlie Neal 2B, Don Zimmer SS, Dick Gray 3B, Gilliam LF, Snider CF, Furillo RF. The starting staff was Drysdale, Podres, Koufax, Williams and McDevitt. Newcombe, their Ace in Brooklyn, went 0-6 and was traded to the Reds. Carl Erskine was injured much of the year. Labine was the teams closer. 

                                           Snider led the team with a .312 average. But after hitting 40 or more homers 5 years in a row, he hit just 15 the first season in LA. Hodges and Neal tied for the team lead with 22 each. Furillo added 18. The best bench players were Cimoli, Larker, and Joe Pignatano. Pee Wee, now 39, batted just .224 and would retire and become a coach after the season. Kids like Ron Fairly, Don Demeter, Bob Lillis, Jim Gentile and Frank Howard got their feet wet. Podres led the staff in wins with 13. Labine had 14 saves. They finished in 7th place, 21 games back of the Braves.

                                          In the winter of 1958, Bavasi made a trade in December that would impact the team greatly. He traded Gino Cimoli to the Cardinals for former ROY LF, Wally Moon. He then traded Sparky Anderson to the Phillies for Rip Repulski, Jim Golden and Gene Snyder, a left-handed reliever. In April, they got a young SS back from Detroit. He had previously been picked up from LA but did not make the team. He was Maury Wills. His mid-season call up was critical to the team’s success.

                                         The 1959 team was again a collection of grizzled vets and a bunch of players trying to make their marks in the majors. If you look back, they had no real star players. Snider and Hodges were both past their primes. The Giants had Mays, the Braves had Aaron and Mathews. Their entire starting pitching staff was under 30. Roger Craig, at 29 was the elder statesman. Drysdale, 22, Podres, 26, Koufax, 23, McDevitt, 26, filled out the starters. Carl Erskine pitched in just 10 games and was 0-3. He would have to retire at age 32. He just could not overcome his balky elbow. In this era, they could have repaired it. Drysdale won 17 to lead the team, but Craig had the lowest ERA at just 2.06. He was called up right around mid-seas0n and won 11 of his 17 starts. Labine led the bullpen with 8 saves. Larry Sherry won 7 and saved 3.

                                    Snider, .308 and Moon, .302 were the only .300 hitters. They hit 148 homers as a team led by Hodges 25 and Snider’s 23. Moon added 19 and perfected going the other way over the screen. Vin Scully dubbed those, ” Moon Shots”. From 1959-61, Moon would launch 37 homers over the left field screen.  The team finished the season in a dead heat with the Braves. So they traveled to Milwaukee for the first game. All the stats from these games would be counted towards the players season stats. 

                                    White Sox manager, Al Lopez and his staff were at the game scouting their potential opponent in the World Series. Rain delayed the start of the game and only 18,297 fans were left once the game started. Danny McDevitt started for the Dodgers with Carl Wiley starting for the Braves. LA struck first. With one out, Neal singled and advanced to second on a ground out by Moon. Larker then singled him home. McDevitt set the Braves down in the first but was driven from the game in the second when the Braves scored two. With one out, he walked Logan, Crandall singled and Burton singled to tie the game. Sherry relieved him. Wiley got aboard on an error by Wills and Crandall then scored on a ground out to put the Braves up 2-1.

Rosey

                                   Sherry would shut the Braves down for the rest of the game. Meanwhile LA tied the game in the third. Neal singled but was forced out by Moon. Larker singled moving him to second, and he scored when Hodges singled tying the game. In the top of the sixth, Roseboro hit his 10th homer of the year putting LA up 3-2. That is the way it ended. Both teams returned to LA for game 2. LA had proposed that game 2 be played at night giving both teams a longer rest since they both flew back to LA after the game. This had been proposed before the series began, but NL president, Warren Giles insisted that all the games would be played during the day. The crowd that day was 36,528. Had it been played at night, they might have drawn 80,000 plus. 

                                   Two Aces started the game, Lew Burdette for the Braves, Don Drysdale for the Dodgers. The Braves scored in the first. Mathews walked and Aaron doubled. The Dodgers disputed the call at second, Snider had recovered the ball quickly and fired to Neal, but Donatelli said Neal missed the tag. Frank Torre singled and the Braves led 2-0. Too bad they did not have the challenge system back then! LA struck back as Neal tripled and scored on a single by Moon. 

                                 The Braves got the run back in the second. Logan singled, and was running for third on a Burdette single, Snider’s throw to Gilliam was obstructed by Logan, Gilliam missed the ball and Logan scored. Eddie Mathews 46th homer of the year chased Drysdale in the 5th, and he was relieved by Johnny Podres. Neal’s homer, #19 in the fourth had closed the gap to 3-2. The Braves scored their fifth run off of Chuck Churn in the eighth as Crandall tripled and scored on a sac-fly by Felix Mantilla. Mantilla had replaced Logan at SS in the bottom of the seventh after Larker crashed into him trying to break up an inning ending double play. Logan had to be removed from the field on a stretcher. 

                                Going into the bottom of the 9th, the Braves held a 5-2 lead. Burdette was still on the mound looking to complete the win. Moon and Snider had back-to-back singles. Lillis ran for Snider and Hodges singled, loading the bases. Don McMahon relieved Burdette. Larker singled scoring Moon and Lillis with Hodges advancing to third. Spahn relieved McMahon. Pignatano ran for Larker and Furillo came in to pinch hit for Roseboro. Furillo hit a sac-fly tying the game. Wills singled and Jay replaced Spahn. Fairly grounded out and Gilliam flied out ending the inning and sending the game into extras. 

                              Stan Williams came in for the top of the 10th. Jay remained in for the Braves. Both teams threatened in the 11th but did not score. Bob Rush relieved Jay in the bottom of the 11th with two outs. Willaims set the Braves down in the top of the 12th. Rush got the first two batters out in the bottom of the inning, but then he walked Hodges. Pignatano then singled sending him to second. Furillo cane to bat. Furillo hit a single that was fielded by Mantilla, but his throw to first went wild and Hodges scored, LA had won its first pennant.

                              They would go on to beat the White Sox in the 1959 World Series 4 games to 2. They lost both of their games by shutouts. 11-0 in game 1 and 1-0, Shaw beating Koufax, in game 5. Game six was a romp. Seminal moment for the Sox was Smith getting a beer dumped into his face watching Snider’s homer. Sherry was the series MVP with 2 wins and 2 saves. Snider hit his 11th and final World Series homer, which is still a Dodger record for World Series play. It took 65 years in Brooklyn for the Dodgers to win their first series. It took just two in Los Angeles. The 50’s ended with the Dodgers having won five pennants and two World Series. They also lost one playoff series and were beaten out of the pennant on the last day in 1950. Would the 60’s be more successful? Young stars would emerge; the Boys of Summer would all retire or be traded elsewhere. And the Left Arm of God came out of a wild young pitcher from Brooklyn. 

                                                                                                                                                         1960-69

                           1960 was the Dodgers third season in Los Angeles. Some new young players would begin to make their mark as Dodgers. Frank Howard, the 6’7″ outfielder, would win the ROY. He was the fifth Dodger to do so. Hondo could hit the ball a long way, when he hit it. He slashed .268/23/77 for the year. Another rookie, Tommy Davis, began his long, big league journey that season. Davis was 21 and Howard 23. They played in 117 and 110 games respectively. Norm Larker took over as the regular first baseman with Hodges having some injury issues and almost won the batting title finishing just .002 points behind the Pirates Dick Groat. Maury Wills became the everyday SS and hit .295 while leading the league with 50 steals. Moon hit .299, second to Larker’s .323. Snider hit 14 homers in a reserve role.

                        Drysdale led the staff with a 15-14 record and led the league with 246 Ks and 10 HBP. Podres and Williams won 14 each. Koufax, who was 11-11 in 59, finished 8-13. He had flashes of greatness in 1959, including striking out 18 Giants. In the following season, he would turn his career completely around. The team finished in 4th place with a 82-72 record, 13 games behind the eventual World Champion Pirates. 

                         In the winter of 1960, MLB held an expansion draft for the American League which was adding teams in Los Angeles and Washington DC. The original Senators had moved to Minnesota to become the Twins. Since 1953, The Browns, A’s, Braves, Dodgers and Giants had all moved their franchise’s. The Browns had changed their name to the Orioles. The NL was not going to expand until 1962 adding the New York Metropolitans and the Houston Colt 45s. The Angels of Los Angeles opted to play their home games in Wrigley Field, which was close to the coliseum. 

                     The 61 edition for the Dodgers improved and finished 2nd to the Reds four games back. Their home and road records were almost identical. They had 1 more win at home than on the road. Over the winter, they had almost traded Koufax to the Yankees for C Elston Howard, but supposedly the Yankees owner nixed the deal. Good for LA in the long run. They had a new CF, Willie Davis. Duke Snider played in just 85 games but hit .296 and slugged 16 homers, which was third on the team behind Roseboro’s 18 and Moon’s 17. Wills led the league in steals for the second year in a row with 35. Tommy Davis was a reserve that year, with Moon the primary left fielder. Gil Hodges, now 37 got into just 109 games, mostly backing up Larker. Ron Fairly was also used as a backup at 1st and in the outfield.

                  Drysdale took a backseat to Koufax who had his finest year to date as a Dodger, going 18-13 and leading the league with 269 Ks. Big D won 13 games, Williams 15 and Podres tied Koufax with 18. Sherry had 15 saves out of the pen and newly acquired Ron Perranoski, 6. They traded for Dick Farrell, and he added 10 saves. It was their last year in the coliseum, in 1962 they would finally move into O’Malley’s dream, Dodger Stadium.

                  In the NL expansion draft they lost Hodges and Craig to the Mets, Farrell, Aspromonte, Golden and Larker to the Colt 45s. They traded Neal to the Mets for Lee Walls. A lot of very good things would happen for the 62 Dodgers. But it would end badly, and Sandy Koufax’s career almost ended because of a freak injury. Tommy Davis became the first Dodger since Carl Furillo in 1953 to win a batting title. Davis hit .346, drove in 153 runs, still a record for the Dodgers. He also recorded 230 hits, still a record. But the excitement came from Maury Wills, who broke Ty Cobbs season record of 96 steals by stealing 104. Drysdale won the Cy Young, with 25 wins. They still only gave 1 to both leagues. Wills was the MVP.

                Back to Koufax. Sandy had almost quit after the 1960 season. He had asked Bavasi to trade him, but that did not happen. Advice from a scout who saw a hitch in his delivery, and the talk he had with backup catcher Norm Sherry in spring training of 1961, had changed his careers trajectory. Moving out of the coliseum totally benefited Koufax. Dodger Stadium was pitcher friendly, and he took full advantage. He would lead the league in ERA for the first time. On April 24th he struck out 18 Cubs, tying his own record. He hit his first MLB homer off of Warren Spahn on June 13th. On the 30th of June, he no-hit the New York Mets for the first no-hitter by an LA Dodger pitcher. He had an immaculate inning in that game. So far, he is the only pitcher to have one of those in a no-hitter. 

            Koufax had been dealing with an injury to his pitching hand since April. He had jammed his finger during a game in April. His left index finger became numb and then turned pale and cold. Due to the fact he was pitching so well, he ignored it thinking it would go away. But by July, his whole hand became numb. Pitching in a game in Cincinnati, his finger split open. A vascular specialist determined he had crushed an artery in his palm. 10 days of experimental medicine finally cleared up the condition preventing amputation. He was finally able to return in September, but he was rusty and ineffective. 

            The Dodgers led the Giants by 4 games with 8 games left in the season. They won two of them and finished in a tie with the Giants. That forced a 3-game playoff. The first game was in San Francisco. Koufax started but was KOed early as the Giants won 8-0. In game 2 in LA, the Giants were up 5-0 heading into the bottom of the 6th. LA scored 7 runs in the bottom of the 6th to take a 7-5 lead. The Giants tied the game with two in the eighth. The Dodgers would score an unearned run in the bottom of the 9th without a hit on a Tom Haller error winning 8-7. Game 3 was started by Podres and Marichal. SF scored 2 in the third to take a 2-0 lead. The Dodgers scored one in the bottom of the fourth. They got two more on a 2-run homer by Tommy Davis in the sixth. They scored their fourth and final run in the seventh. Wills singled, stole second, and then third, scoring on a throwing error by Haller.

     Podres went 5 innings and was replaced by Ed Roebuck, who pitched 3 scoreless innings of relief. In the top of the 9th, Matty Alou singled, but was forced out at second by Kuenn. McCovey pinch hit for Haller and walked. Bowman ran for McCovey. Roebuck was on fumes by this time. Why Alston let him go back out to pitch the 9th is still being debated. Felipe Alou then singled to load the bases. Mays hit a liner that Roebuck knocked down and held Willie to a single. Matty Alou scored. Stan Williams relieved Roebuck and gave up a sac-fly to Cepeda, tying the game. Alou went to third and Mays to second on a wild pitch to Ed Bailey. They walked Bailey intentionally to load the bases. Davenport walked giving the Giants a 5-4 lead. Pagan then hit a routine grounder to second baseman Larry Burright that he kicked for an error scoring Mays. Billy Pierce pitched a perfect 9th and the Giants won the pennant. It was Pierces only save of the year. 

       There were reports later that both Duke Snider and Don Drysdale had asked Alston to let Big D go to the bullpen for the 9th. Alston refused saying he needed Drysdale to pitch game one of the World Series, forgetting you have to get there first. It was a huge mistake on Alston’s part to send Roebuck back to the mound. He had not pitched that many innings all year. That winter, Snider was sent to the Mets and Williams would be traded to the Yankees for Bill Skowron. Jim Gilliam was the last position player left from the teams Brooklyn days. 1963 would be a year of redemption and Sandy Koufax’s Hall of Fame run.

      The 1963 Dodgers were built on pitching. The teams ERA was 2.85. Koufax would win the Cy Young by winning baseballs pitching triple crown, 25 wins, 1.88 ERA and 306 strikeouts. He had 20 c0mplete games and led the league with 11 shutouts. Drysdale added 19 wins, Podres 14 and Bob Miller 10. Perranoski was 16-3 with 21 saves in 69 games. Pete Richert went 5-3 as a spot starter. Koufax’s strikeout to walk ratio was 5-1. 

      Tommy Davis won his second consecutive batting title with a .326 mark. As a team, they batted just .251 and they hit only 110 homers. Frank Howard led the team with 28. Davis drove in 88 to lead the team. Three of the starting eight were in their 30’s. Moon got into 128 games, mostly as a replacement or pinch hitter. Wills would steal 40 based and lead the league again. The race got really close in September when they went to St. Louis to play the second place Cardinals nursing a 1 game lead.

        Podres started game 1 against Ernie Broglio. Podres shut the Cardinals down until Musial homered in the seventh. LA had scored in the sixth on a Tommy Davis single. Bobby Shantz relieved Broglio in the 9th. Fairly doubled to lead off the inning. Roseboro moved him to third and he scored on a Willie Davis single. McMullen walked and Skowron PH for Podres. He hit a grounder that 2B Julian Javier misplayed for an error and Davis scored. Perranoski pitched the 9th and got his 18th save. Game two had Koufax against Curt Simmons. Sandy threw a 4-hit shutout but only struck out 4. He did not walk anyone. Simmons held LA to 1 run until the top of the 8th when Howard blasted a 2-run shot off of him. LA scored another in the 9th for the 4-0 win. Game three had Gibson against Richert. The Dodgers scored a run in the top of the second, but the Cards scored 3 in the bottom of the second. They chased Richert in the third scoring a run off of him and one more off of Bob Miller. 

      Gibson kept the Dodgers off of the board until they rallied for three in the top of the 8th. Rob Taylor, who relieved Shantz to record the last out in the 8th, started the 9th inning for the Birds. After Tracewski grounded out, rookie Dick Nen PH for Miller. He homered deep in to the right field stands tying the game. Ron Perranoski, who had relieved Miller, would pitch 6 shutout innings of relief. Lew Burdette would get the loss when LA pushed across a run in the 13th inning. LA left town 4 games in front. Since there were only 9 games left, they cruised to the finish winning 5 of the 9 for a 6-game lead at the end of the season.

      Their pitching would dominate the Yankees in the World Series. Koufax set a single game K record with 15 strikeouts in game 1, a 5-2 win. Podres won game 2, 4-1. Skowron, the former Yankee, blasted a homer off of Al Downing putting LA up 3-0 in the 4th inning of that game. The series switched to LA. Don Drysdale pitched perhaps his best series game ever. A 3-hit 1-0 shutout beating Jim Bouton. LA’s run came in the first on a Tommy Davis single that scored Jim Gilliam. Game four was in Koufax’s hands. Whitey Ford started for the Yankees. He did not allow a hit until the 5th inning when Frank Howard hit a shot right down the line into the loge level for a 1-0 lead. Mantle hit his only homer of the series in the 7th tying the game. In the bottom of the inning, Gilliam hit a high hopper to third that Clete Boyer nabbed, but Joe Pepitone lost the ball in the white shirted crowd, the ball hit him in the arm and Gilliam went all the way to third. He then scored on Willie Ds sac-fly. Koufax shut the Yanks down the rest of the way and the Dodgers won their third championship. So far, it is the only one they have won on their home field. Koufax was awarded both the Cy Young and the MVP award. He was the second Dodger pitcher to do so, Newcombe was the first in 1956.

    1964 was a letdown year. The NL had expanded to 10 teams in 1962, and the 64 Dodgers finished 6th with a 80-82 record. The offense was not very potent. They batted .250 and slugged just 79 homers. Wills led the league with 53 steals. 17-year-old Willie Crawford made his debut and got into 10 games. Willie Davis hit .294 with 42 bags. Koufax won 19 games and led the league in ERA with a 1.74 mark. But he only pitched in 29 games. His arthritis made its first appearance, and he ended up spending time on the DL. The rest of the starting rotation, Ortega, Moeller and Larry Miller, were largely ineffective. Podres missed almost the entire year pitching in just 2 games.

      The first big change was the Dodgers sending five players to the Senators for Claude Osteen and John Kennedy, a SS. Howard, Ortega, Richert, McMullen and Dick Nen went to the Senators. They sacrificed power to boost their starting pitching. Jim Lefebvre, a rookie, took over the starting second base job. Jim Gilliam, who started the season in the coaching box, came out of retirement in May to play third base. Tommy Davis suffered a severe break in his ankle in May and was replaced by journeyman Lou Johnson. Sweet Lou became a fan favorite and played very well in Davis’s absence.

     This team won because of its pitching. They hit just .245 as a team and only had 78 homers. Koufax won the Cy Young again and struck out 382 batters setting a major league record that would stand until Nolan Ryan broke it by one. Koufax was 26-8 with a 2.04 ERA. He had 27 complete games and 8 shutouts. He also registered 2 saves. On September 9th, Sandy pitched his 4th and final no-hitter, this time a perfect game 1-0 win over the Cubs. LA had just 1 hit in the game. Big D won 23. Osteen won 15 and lost 15. Perranoski had 18 saves.

     Lefebvre won the Rookie of the Year award and was tied for the team lead in homers with Johnson at 12. Willie Davis was the only other player with more than 9 hitting 10. Wills stole 91 vases to lead the league for the sixth straight year, and the last time in his career. The bench was made up of some kids and guys like Moon, who was in his last season. There was an incident during the season that affected the pennant race. in August. In a game in San Francisco, Juan Marichal took a bat to John Roseboro’s head after he felt Rosey threw a ball too close to his ear on a return throw to Koufax. He would be suspended 10 games but miss just one start.

(Original Caption) Los Angeles Dodgers’ catcher John Roseboro suffered a cut on top of his head in 3rd inning during a bat swinging fight with San Francisco Giant pitcher Juan Marichal. It was believed that Marichal got angry when Roseboro fired the ball to close to his head while returning it to pitcher Sandy Koufax. On deck batter Giant Tito Fuentes (partially out of picture- right) pulls Roseboro away while Marichal wields bat at Koufax while umpire Shag Crawford and Giant coach Charlie Fox try to break it up.

    The Twins had plenty of firepower with guys like Killebrew, Allison, Mincher, and Jimmie Hall, all of whom slugged 20 or more. They had a solid defensive team and some very good pitchers. Their SS, Zoilo Versailles won the AL MVP. Grant won 21 games, Kaat 18, and Al Worthington had 21 saves and 10 wins. Since game one fell on Yom Kippur, Drysdale started game one against Grant and lasted just 2.2 innings. The Twins won the game 8-2. Game two featured Koufax-Kaat. Koufax went 6 innings allowing 2 runs, only 1 earned. Perranoski gave up 3 in his 1.2 innings of work. Kaat shut the Dodgers down allowing just 1 and LA lost 5-1.

    The series went to LA with Osteen scheduled to pitch game three. He shut the Twins out, beating Camilo Pasqual, 4-0. Big D against Grant again in game four. This time Drysdale went the distance allowing 2 runs and striking out 11. Both runs came on homers. LA got homers from Wes Parker and Johnson. They scored 5 runs off of Grant and knocked him out after 5 innings. Koufax against Kaat again in game 5. Sandy threw a 4-hit shutout, 7-0. He walked 1 and struck out 10. LA scored 2 in the first and never looked back. Wills went 4-4 with 2 doubles. The teams returned to Minneapolis for game six. Grant, pitching on 2 days’ rest, bested Osteen this time, tying the series at 3 win apiece. Fairly’s homer was the only run in a 5-1 loss.

UNITED STATES – OCTOBER 24: Baseball: World Series, Los Angeles Dodgers Sandy Koufax victorious after complete game vs Minnesota Twins

  Alston decided to pitch Koufax on 2 days rest and have Drysdale in the pen if needed. Koufax pitched his second shutout of the series, a 2-0 win. Johnson hit his second homer of the series, a shot off of Kaat that hit the foul pole, and Parker knocked in Fairly for the second run in the fourth. LA won its third title in LA and the fourth in team history. 1966 would start with Koufax and Drysdale holding out together.

   They would finally sign after actor Chuck Connors arranged a meeting. Sandy got 125,000 making him the highest paid MLB player in 66. The holdout had little effect on Koufax. He went 27-9, with a 1.73 ERA striking out 317. He had 27 complete games and 5 shutouts. Big D on the other hand was 13-16. Osteen, 17 wins and rookie Don Sutton, 12, rounded out the starting rotation. Phil Regan, who earned the nickname ” The Vulture”, won 14 out of the pen and saved 21.

    The World Series against the Orioles would last just four games. LA was outclassed from the beginning. They scored 2 runs off of Dave McNally in his 2.1 innings of work, and after the third inning of game one, they did not score again in the series. 33 straight innings without a run. They hit .146 as a team, that’s 17 hits in 120 at bats. Koufax would lose his last big league start 6-0. Not because of bad pitching, but because his team made 6 errors behind him. 3 of them in one inning by Willie Davis.

    1967 would bring huge changes to the roster. Koufax retired in November. His doctors had advised him if he kept pitching, he would lose the use off his left arm eventually. He had upset GM Bavasi by not postponing the announcement until Bavasi could trade for a replacement. Tommy Davis, who had returned for the 66 season, but played only 100 games and was a shadow of what he had been, was traded to the Mets for Jim Hickman and Ron Hunt. 

   Maury Wills, who had left the team during their tour of Japan following the season, incurred the wrath of O’Malley after being spotted playing music in Las Vegas, was traded on orders from O’Malley to the Pirates for Bob Bailey and Gene Michael. The 67-squad finished in 8th place 28.5 games back. The 68 team also saw some big changes. In November of 67, they traded Perranoski, Roseboro and Bob Miller to the Twins for Versailles and Mudcat Grant.  Lou Johnson was sent to the Cubs for Paul Popovich and Jim Willaims. 

   Tom Haller was traded to the Dodgers from the Giants in February for Ron Hunt and Nate Oliver. They bought Rocky Colavito from White Sox in March. It would not matter. They finished 7th 21 games out of first. Bavasi had left the team to join the new Padres who would join the league in 1969. Fresco Thompson became the GM in June, but he would die in November and be replaced by Al Campanis. There was a bright spot in 1968. Don Drysdale set a major league record with 58.2 innings of scoreless baseball. It was Big Ds last hurrah. He would be forced to retire due to a torn rotator cuff in 1969. He was 32 years old. Koufax was just 30 when he had to retire. The other good thing that happened was when the Dodgers drafted in the 68-draft, they would have maybe the best draft in their history. They drafted Davey Lopes and Geoff Zahn in the secondary phase in January of 68. In June they drafted Bobby Valentine, Steve Garvey, Bill Buckner, Sandy Vance, Ron Cey, Tom Paciorek, Joe Ferguson, and Doyle Alexander. Many of those players would help change the team’s fortunes in the 70’s.

     In 1969, both leagues split into divisions as San Diego, Montreal, Seattle and Kansas City were added to the league. The Dodgers would finish 4th in the new NL West.  Al Campanis, in his first year as the GM, retooled the team in the winter before the 69-season trying to improve the offense. He sent Mike Kekich to the Yankees for outfielder Andy Kosco. He even traded his own son, Jim, to the Royals. His winter moves did not do much for the offense, so in June, he traded long-time Dodger Ron Fairly and Paul Popovich, to the Expos for Maury Wills and Manny Mota.  Mota took over in LF and batted .323. Wills, now 36 years old, played 104 games at SS and hit .297. Willie Davis hit .312. Kosco hit 19 homers to lead the team, Wills 25 and Davis 24 led the team in steals. Rookie second baseman, Ted Sizemore, was the ROY. Osteen and Singer each won 20, and Sutton 17.  Jim Brewer saved 20 games. Thus ended the 60’s. LA’s 68 draft class would begin making their way onto the roster. The team’s fortunes would improve. But winning the World Series would have to wait.

                                                                                                                                               1970-79

                 Don Drysdale retired after he was diagnosed with a torn rotator cuff. The 1970 team had a rotation of Bill Singer, Sutton, Osteen, Alan Foster, Joe Moeller and Sandy Vance. Brewer was once again the closer. The team would finish a distant second, 14.5 games back of the Reds in the West. Highlight of the year was Singer’s no-hitter against the Phillies in July. Bill won just 8 games. Osteen led the team with 16, and Brewer saved 24. Four Dodgers hit .300 or better, Parker .319, Sizemore .306, Davis and Mota .305 each. They hit .270 as a team, but had little power, just 87 homers. Over the winter, Campanis started revamping the offense again. 

             He traded Foster to the Indians for C Duke Sims. He traded Kosco to the Brewers for LHP Al Downing. He sold Torborg to the Angels. The June draft in 71 brought Rick Rhoden into the system. His big trade landed Dick Allen from the Cardinals for Sizemore and C Bob Stinson. Allen led the team with 23 homers and 90 driven in. Mota at 33 was now a reserve and led the team with a .312 average. Willie Davis hit .309 and led the team in steals with 20. Buckner, Garvey, Valentine, Russell and Ferguson, all members of the 68-draft class, got their feet wet in the majors. Buckner had the most playing time, getting into 108 games. Valentine 101.

           Downing won 20 in his first year as a Dodger. Sutton won 17. Osteen won 14 and Singer 10, but he lost 17. Brewer saved 22 and Pete Mikkelson won 7 and saved 5. Doyle Alexander won 6 in his first season. They finished 2nd in the West, one game back of the Giants. Walter O’Malley was big on the players participating in community functions and the Dodgers scheduled these during the season. Allen incurred his wrath by refusing to participate. His view was that he was paid to win games, not sign autographs. After the season, he was traded to the White Sox for LHP Tommy John and Steve Huntz. The same day in December, he sold Haller to the Tigers, then traded Doyle Alexander, Sergio Robles, Bob O’Brien and Royal Stillman to the Orioles for Pete Richert and Frank Robinson.

          Even adding the future Hall of Famer Robinson, did not improve the teams power output much. He and Willie Davis with 19 homers each, were the only Dodgers in double figures. Lee Lacy 2B, Steve Garvey 2B, and Bill Russell SS, became the regulars at their positions. Mota was back in LF and hit .325. Buckner hit .319 as a reserve. Valentine was used as a utility player. They finished 2nd in the West, 10.5 games back of the Reds. Osteen won 20, Sutton 19 and John 11. Brewer saved 17 out of the pen. 

           After the season, Campanis struck again. This time he sent Robinson, Valentine, Singer, Grabarkewitz and Mike Strahler to the Angels for Andy Messersmith and3B, Ken McMullen. Jim Lefebvre was released. It would later be said that Alston felt Robinson was undermining him as a manager and questioning his moves. Wes Parker retired. In April of 73 he traded for SS Rick Auerbach. The 73 Dodgers finished 2nd for the third straight season. They won 95 games and finished 3.5 behind the Reds. 

          Three-fourth’s of the infield made their debuts together. Joe Ferguson was the starting catcher, Buckner was at 1st, Lopes at second, Russell at short and Cey was the starting 3rd baseman. Mota led the team with a .312 BA and Garvey hit .306 in a reserve role. Ferguson hit 25 homers and led the team with 88 RBIs. Still not a power laden team, they hit 110 homers. Four starters won in double figures, Sutton 18, Messersmith 14, John and Osteen 16 each. Brewer saved 20 games. Charlie Hough, Doug Rau, Richert and George Culver also recorded saves. 

        Campanis, never one to stand pat, traded Willie Davis to Montreal for reliver Mike Marshall. The same day he traded Richert to the Cardinals for Tommy Agee. The next day, he traded Osteen and minor leaguer David Culpepper to the Astros for Jimmy Wynn. Agee was released in March. But at the beginning of April, he traded LHP Bruce Ellingsen to the Indians for Pedro Guererro. Steve Yeager took over as the starting catcher. Garvey, due to a propensity for throwing the ball into the stands when playing third, was moved to first, and “The Infield” played their first season together.

      Buckner was moved to LF and Wynn was the new everyday CF. Buckner led the team with a .314 BA. Garvey hit .312 and drove in 111 runs to lead the team. Wynn hit 32 homers and drove in 108. As a team, they hit 139 homers. They batted .272 and scored 798 runs. The pitching staff was led by Messersmith who won 20. Sutton won 19, Rau and John 13, and Marshall won 15 out of the pen and saved 21. Garvey earned the NL MVP Award and Marshall was the NL Cy Young. 

     They won the West with a 102-60 record by 4 games over the Reds. They faced the Pirates in the NLCS. Sutton won game one in a shutout, Messersmith won game two, 5-2. They were shutout in game three by Bruce Kison, then in game four they routed the Pirates and Jerry Ruess, 12-1 behind Don Sutton. Garvey slugged two homers, one off of Ruess and the other off of Ken Brett. They went to the World Series against the A’s. Four of the five games would be decided by the same 3-2 score. Only game two, Sutton’s third post season win, did they come out on top. There were some moments that were crucial. Ferguson cut in front of Wynn and nailed Dick Green at the plate during game two. It kept LA in front. He also hit the go ahead 2-run homer off of Vida Blue to give LA the lead in that game in the sixth.

      In game five, Buckner got thrown out at third trying to stretch a double. LA had come back to tie the game in the top of the sixth inning. In the bottom of the seventh, there was an on-field delay when Buckner complained about fans tossing debris onto the field. Marshall, who always pitched in short sleeves, disdained taking his 8 warm-up pitches. Joe Rudi then hit his first pitch into the seats for what would be the winning run. Buckner’s attempt at a triple came in the top of the 8th. Marshall had set an MLB record that year pitching in 106 games. But I always felt the guy was a little to arrogant about his ability to get hitters out. 

     The team was not the same in 1975. Marshall got injured, as did Bill Buckner. Tommy John was lost for the season when he became the first pitcher to have the surgery which would later bear his name. Wynn’s production tapered off a lot. They would finish second, 20 games back of the Big Red Machine. After the season Campanis traded Wynn, Paciorek, Jerry Royster and Lacy to the Braves for Dusty Baker and Ed Goodson. He then traded Willie Crawford to the Cardinals for former Dodger and ROY, Ted Sizemore. But the big news that winter was the suit filed by Andy Messersmith and Dave McNally challenging the reserve clause. They would win, and free agency was born. Messersmith was declared a free agent in March of 1976. In June they drafted Mike Scioscia, Max Venable, Ted Power, and Jack Perconte. They would finish second to the Reds again. This time 10 games back. Baker had an awful first year and was often booed. In June, they traded Joe Ferguson and a minor leaguer to the Cardinals for Reggie Smith. Then they traded Marshall to the Braves getting Lacy back and Elias Sosa. But the biggest change came with 4 games to go in the season, Walter Alston retired, and Tommy Lasorda was named the manager. Alston had managed the Dodgers for 23 years. His teams won four World Series, 55,59,63 and 65. They lost three, 56, 66, and 74. He finished with 2040 wins, the most ever by a Dodger manager.

    The entire culture of the Dodger clubhouse was about to be turned upside down. Unlike the mild mannered but firm Alston, Lasorda was a fire-breathing zealot for Dodger baseball. He proclaimed he bled Dodger blue. Tommy would never back down from an argument if he thought he was right. Lasorda had an advantage Alston did not. He had managed most of the Dodgers young core in the minors. 

      Campanis made some more trades in the offseason leading up to 1977. In December of 76, he traded Sizemore to the Phillies for Johnny Oates to back up Yeager. In January he traded Jeff Albert, a minor leaguer Ivan DeJesus and Bill Buckner to the Cubs for Mike Garman and Rick Monday. Buckner would win a batting title for the Cubs in 1980. Monday was an important piece of three pennant winning teams for the Dodgers. In April he signed Boog Powell as a free agent. The June draft in 77 netted Ron Roenicke, Bob Welch, Joe Beckwith, Mickey Hatcher, Bobby Mitchell and Mitch Webster.

     Meanwhile, Lasorda had his 8 regulars run together before each game. He felt that promoted team unity. For the first time in MLB history, a team had four players hit 30 or more homers. Garvey led with 33, Smith hit 32, Cey and Baker, 30 each. Baker hit his 30th on the last day of the season at Dodger Stadium off of J.R. Richard in a 6-3 loss. Manny Mota and Glenn Burke also homered that day, their only homers of the year. Mota had been activated from the coaching ranks in July and hit .395 down the stretch. Vic Davalillo hit .313 coming off of the bench as a LH pinch hitter. Reggie Smith hit .307 to lead the regulars and also led the league in OBP at .427. He also had the highest OPS+ in the league, 168. They hit .266 as a team with 191 homers. They finished 10 games in front of the Reds.

Baseball: NLCS Playoffs: Los Angeles Dodgers Tommy John (25) victorious after winning Game 4 and series vs Philadelphia Phillies. Philadelphia, PA.

      All five starters won in double figures. John 20, Rhoden 16, Rau and Sutton 14 and Hooton 12. Charlie Hough and his knuckleball went 6-12 with 22 saves. They had a team ERA of 3.22. They defeated the Phillies in the NLCS, 3 games to 1. They lost game one in LA and then swept the next 3 with John getting the win in the deciding game. They split the first two games of the series at Yankee Stadium, losing game one, 4-3 in 10 innings, winning game two, 6-1 behind Burt Hooton. The Yankees took the first two at Dodger Stadium, 5-3 and 4-2. LA staved off elimination with a 10-4 win behind Don Sutton. Back in the Bronx, the Yankees came back from 2-0 and 3-2 deficits to win 8-4 and take the series. Reggie Jackson earned the nickname Mr. October, blasting three homers off of three different pitchers in game six.

       The Dodgers out homered the Yankees in the series, 9-8. They also scored more runs, 28-26. Reggie Smith had 3 of LAs 9 homers and Yeager hit 2. Their pitching let them down. It was also during this series that Lasorda had his famous melt down on the mound with Doug Rau that was profanity laced and pretty heated. Other than signing Terry Forster as a free agent, Campanis did not make any major deals at the winter meetings. 

       Ed Goodson and Willie Crawford were released in March. In May he traded Glenn Burke to the A’s for Bill North. They would go on to win the West by 2.5 games over the Reds. No one on the team hit 30 homers this time. Smith led the team with 29. Cey hit 25 and Garvey 23. Baker hit just 11 and Monday in a part time role added 19. Garvey’s .316 BA led the team. They hit .264 as a team with 149 homers. All the starters again won in double figures, Sutton 15, Hooton 19, John 17, Rau 15, Rhoden 10. Bob Welch won 7 as a spot starter. Forster had 5 wins and 22 saves. They had a 3.12 ERA. 

      On September 15th, coach Jim Gilliam suffered a massive brain hemorrhage. Following surgery, he lapsed into a coma from which he did not recover. He died on October 8th, nine days short of his 50th birthday and one day after the Dodgers beat the Phillies in the NLCS. It was their 10th pennant. They dedicated the Series to his memory. Jesse Jackson spoke at his funeral which was attended by over 2000 people. Gilliam was buried with his uniform, and his #19 was retired two days after his death prior to game one of the World Series. His was the first non-Hall of Famer number to be retired. Gilliam spent his entire playing and coaching MLB career with the Dodgers. The 1953 ROY was respected by all of the players on the team. Gilliam in 1965 had been part of the Dodgers all switch-hitting infield.

    They had dispatched the Phillies for the second straight year in four games. They won the first two in Philadelphia, lost game 3 in LA to Steve Carlton, then won game four, 4-3 in 10 innings. Steve Garvey was the series MVP. They won the first two games of the 78 World Series in LA 11-5 and 4-3. Game two featured a epic matchup between Reggie Jackson and Bob Welch that ended with Welch striking Jackson out. But it wasn’t Jackson who was the MVP of this series. It was Bucky “Freaking” Dent. Dent hit .417 and drove in 7 runs. 

     Ron Guidry started a must win game three for the Yankees. The Dodgers scored their only run in the third when Bill North walked, stole second, went to third on a ground out by Yeager. At that point, Lopes hit a missile that Graig Nettles snared turning a possible double into an out. Russell hit an infield single scoring North. Smith followed with another rocket at third that Nettles snared and threw to first for the third out. LA was not heard from again. Nettles made two more stops on hard grounders that kept the Dodgers off of the board. A three-run rally in the bottom of the seventh sealed the win. 

    Game four would feature one of the more controversial moments in World Series history. Ed Figuroa, the Yankees starter and John, were locked in a scoreless duel until Reggie Smith slugged a 3-run homer in the 5th. John shut the Yankees down in the 5th. In the bottom of the sixth, with one out and two on, Jackson scored White with a single. With Jackson and Munson on base, Pinella hit a soft liner that some say Russell misplayed on purpose. Russell recovered the ball and stepped on second forcing Jackson; he then threw the ball towards Garvey. Replays would show that Jackson stuck his right hip out at precisely the right moment deflecting the ball down the first base line. Instead of immediately retrieving the ball, Garvey began arguing with first base umpire Frank Pulli over the non-interference call before retrieving the ball. Meanwhile Munson scored the second run of the inning.

(Original Caption) New York, New York: Dodger manager Tom Lasorda takes on four umpires as he protests call in the sixth inning of World Series, game four, October 14. The Dodgers argued that Reggie Jackson interfered by stepping in the way of shortstop Bill Russell’s throw to first in a DP attempt. Thurman Munson scored on the play as the ball bounced away from Steve Garvey at first after hitting Reggie.

    Lasorda waged a heated argument with Pulli, but to no avail. The Yankees would tie the game in the 8th when Munson doubled in Paul Blair. It remained tied until the bottom of the 10. Welch walked White with one out. Jackson singled White to second. Pinella then singled driving in White to win the game and even the series at 2. Game four would be a blowout in the Yankees favor, 12-2. LA took a 2-0 lead by the third, but the Yankees scored 4 in the bottom of the third and never looked back. They had 18 hits, 16 of them singles, a series record. Thye also had 4 walks, and the Dodgers committed 3 errors. Jim Beattie got a complete game 9 hit win. 

    Lope hit his 3rd homer of the series leading off game six against Catfish Hunter. But it was LA’s last lead in the series. The Yankees scored 3 in the top of the second off of Sutton. LA got close with a run driven in by Lopes. But that was the last gasp for LA. Lopes and Russell had excellent series, but their big guns, Garvey, Smith, Baker, Monday and Cey, did little. That and shoddy fielding doomed them to defeat. They again outhomered NY, 6-3, but the Yankees outscored them 36-23. Munson caught Cey’s popup for the final out. It would be Munson’s last series game; he would be killed in a plane crash during the 1979 season.

     The 79 season was not a good one in LA. They slipped under .500 and were third in the West behind the Reds and Astros finishing 11.5 games back. John joined the Yankees as a free agent. He was replaced on the roster by rookie, Rick Sutcliffe. Sutcliffe would win 17 games and be named the ROY for 79. He was the first of four ROYs in a row. Sutton was 12-15, Hooton 11-10 and Jerry Reuss, 7-14 after coming over in a trade for Rick Rhoden. Messersmith returned as a free agent but did not pitch well. They moved Welch to the bullpen. Bobby Castillo led the team with 7 saves and Dave Patterson, a 22-year-old rookie won 4, lost 1 and saved 6 in his only season in the majors. 

     Reggie Smith played in just 68 games. Garvey, Lopes and Cey all hit 28 homers, with Garvey batting .315 and driving in a team high 111 runs. Joe Ferguson, back after a trade with the Cardinals, hit 20 homers in a part time role. Derrell Thomas, who drove Lasorda nuts with his basket catches, was the new full time CF with Monday injured almost all year. Manny Mota, now 41, played in 47 games getting 47 at bats. He hit .357. They hit 183 homers as a team and batted .263. The pitching staff’s ERA was 3.86. No Dodger led the league in any offensive or pitching stat. The 70’s ended with a thud, no championships and an aging core. 

                                                                                                                                          1980-89

       1980 was one of those years that you wonder what if. Feeling the need to add some pitching, Campanis first signed Dave Goltz, who was a starter for the Twins, then he signed Don Stanhouse, the one-time closer for the Orioles. You can tell all you need to know about Stanhouse from the nickname that was hung on him by Earl Weaver, Full Pack. As in he would smoke a full pack of cigarettes when Stanhouse was on the mound. He signed Jay Johnstone to be an extra outfielder but made no trades at the winter meetings. He would not make any at the deadline either. 

      The West would be a close race for the entire season. The Infield was still together. Lopes was the oldest at 35, Garvey was 31, Russell 31 and Cey 30. Yeager and Baker were 31 and Smith was 35. The only starter under 30 was CF Rudy Law who was 23. Smith would play in only 92 games, but he led the team with a .322 BA. Garvey hit 26 homers and drove in 106 runs, leading the team in that stat. Cey hit 28 homers and Baker led the team with 29, while driving in 97.

      They had a pretty solid but aging bench. Monday hit 10 homers in a part time role. Derrell Thomas and Johnstone were solid contributors. Young Pedro Guererro batted .322 in 75 games playing mostly in CF. Mike Scioscia got his feet wet playing in 54 games. They hit .263 as a team and scored 663 runs. They hit 148 homers. Reuss led the starting staff with 18 wins and threw a no-hitter against the Giants in June. The only base runner for SF came on an error by Russell in the first inning. Welch and Hooton won 14 apiece, and Don Sutton, in his last year with LA, won 13 games and the leagues ERA title with a 2.21 mark. Goltz had trouble adjusting to the NL and was 7-11. 

       Stanhouse would pitch in just 21 games. He was 2-2 with 7 saves, but an ERA over 5. Rookie Steve Howe became the closer, making the jump straight from AA to the majors. He won 7 lost 9 and had 17 saves with a 2.66 ERA. He would earn the ROY, becoming the second Dodger in a row to do so. Sutcliffe, now a spot starter and reliever saved 5 as did Castillo. The teams ERA was 3.26. At the end of the season, a young lefty from Mexico would pitch in 10 games in relief. He went 2-0. He did not give up an earned run and showed exceptional poise for a 19-year-old, Fernando Valenzuela. 

    LA was 3 games back of Houston with 3 games to play against the Astros in LA. All three games would be one run affairs. Sutton started game one against Ken Forsch. He went 7 innings and allowed 2 runs and was relieved by Valenzuela. The Astros scored 1 in the second inning. LA tied it in the 4th. The Astros went up 2-1 in the top of the eighth. LA got a 2-out single in the bottom of the 9th to send the game into extras. Valenzuela kept the Astros off of the board in the 1oth. Joe Ferguson then led off the bottom of the 10th with a homer to deep left field winning the game. 

    Reuss faced Ryan in game two. In the bottom of the second, Derrell Thomas singled with 2 outs driving in Garvey. Houston answered in the top of the 4th when Howe singled in Jose Cruz. The tie did not last long, Garvey led off the fourth with a homer to left. That was it for the scoring. Reuss shut down Houston the rest of the way for the 2-1 win. He gave up 7 hit and walked 1, striking out 7. Ryan went 7 innings giving up both runs, 6 hits and striking out 9. 

    Vern Ruhle faced Hooton in game 3. Happy lasted just 1 inning. He allowed 2 runs on 3 hits and a walk. One of the runs was unearned as Hooton made an error. Castillo relieved him and pitched through the 5th giving up a run in the fourth. Ruhle lasted just 2 innings and was pulled in the third with a runner on. Andujar replaced him and shut LA down until the bottom of the fifth when they scored on a Lopes single. Sambito replaced Andujar in the seventh and gave up the Dodgers second run on a single by Manny Mota.

    Valenzuela had replaced Castillo in the sixth and pitched 2 scoreless innings. Howe came in to relieve in the eighth. Frank LaCorte relieved Sambito in the seventh and kept LA from scoring again after Mota’s single. In the bottom of the eighth, Garvey singled and Cey then homered to left and LA led 4-3. Howe went out to pitch the 9th but got into a little trouble with 2 outs. Sutton relieved him and got the last out for the save. LA had tied Houston, forcing a game 163. 51,000 fans showed up at Dodger Stadium for that game. They should have stayed home. Goltz started and was hammered for 8 hits and 4 runs, only 2 of them earned. He lasted 3 innings. Sutcliffe then gave up 3 in his one inning of work. LA could not muster any offense against Joe Niekro and lost the game and the West, 7-1. Lucky me, I did not get to watch or hear the game, I was in the hospital in San Pedro having surgery.

     As always in the off season there would be a few changes. Doug Rau was released. Sutton signed with the Astros as a free agent. They released Stanhouse. In March, they traded Hatcher, and two minor leaguers to the Twins for CF Ken Landreaux. The June draft would bring Dave Anderson, Sid Bream, Sid Fernandez, John Franco and Stu Pederson to the organization. Jerry Reuss was unable to make the start opening day, so 20-year-old Fernando Valenzuela took his place. 

     What he would do over the next two months would begin what was called, Fernando Mania. He shut out Houston 2-0 in his first start. LA came out of the gate beating Houston 3 straight in LA. They then swept the Giants for a 6-0 start with Fernando beating SF 7-1 in the second game. His next start, he shut out the Padres 2-0 in San Diego. People were starting to take notice. At Houston for his next start, he shut them out 1-0. His next start against SF in LA, he shut them out 5-0. He was now pretty much the talk of baseball. 

    By May 14th, he was 8-0 with 8 complete games and 5 shutouts. His ERA was 0.50. Fernando Mania was in full bloom. Who was this guy. After that win, LA was 5.5 games ahead in the West. He would lose his first game in his next start against Philadelphia when Marty Bystrom shut LA out. Valenzuela gave up just 3 hits, but one of them was a 3-run shot by Mike Schmidt. He got a no decision against the Reds then lost his second game to the Braves in Atlanta. 

   But behind the scenes, trouble was brewing for MLB. The players were threatening to go out on strike. They voted on the 29th of May to strike on June 12th. The season continued though, and Fernando got his 9th win on June 1st in Atlanta. He would lose his next 2 decisions before the players struck on June 12th. LA went in to the strike with a 36-21 record, a half game in front of Houston. 

     It took until July 31st for the two sides to reach an agreement. It was August 9th before games resumed. This was the fourth strike by players, but the first that resulted in the loss of games played. Nearly 34% of the season was lost. The owners lost about 72 million total and the players about 4 million a week in salaries. The press blamed the owners for this one. The league declared the season would be split into two halves and the Dodgers were declared first half winners. There would be a division playoff before the LCS after the season concluded. 

    Back in business, LA stayed in first place in the West until September 18th. That loss to the Reds started a season ending slide where they lost 11 of their last 16 games. They finished four games back of Houston. The Reds got screwed in the deal because they won 66 games, the most in the West. LA won 63 and Houston 61. LA met Houston in the division series. Valenzuela finished with a 13-7 record, 8 shutouts, 11 complete games, 190 Ks, all leading the league except for wins. He would win the Cy Young and the ROY, LA’s third in a row. 

   LA beat Houston, 3-2 in the division series. They then faced the Expos for the NL Pennant. Montreal won 2 of the first 3 games, shutting out LA 3-0 in game two, Burris beat Valenzuela. They lost game 3, 4-1 to Steve Rogers. Hooton pitched a gem in game four, it was a 1-1 nail biter going into the 8th. LA scored 2 in the eighth on a 2-run shot by Garvey. They sealed the win with a 4-run ninth. Valenzuela faced Burris. The game had been postponed a day due to really bad weather. The stadium was about 2/3rds full. It was a very cold and drizzly day. The pitchers dominated the game. Valenzuela gave up a run in the first on a double by Raines, who would score on a double play. 

   LA got the run back in the fifth when Monday singled, going to third on a single by Guererro, and then scored on a ground out. Neither team scored after that through 8. Burris left after the 8th and Steve Rogers replaced him. With 2 outs, Monday homered on a 3-1 pitch putting LA ahead 2-1. Valenzuela got 2 outs but walked 2, so Welch came in and got the final out sending LA to the World Series where they would face the Yankees for the third time in a row. Montreal would never reach the playoffs again. It would be 31 years before they returned to the playoffs, but by then they had relocated to Washington D.C. 

    LA lost the first two games of the series to the Yankees in New York. Back in LA, they won game 3 behind Valenzuela, 5-4. LA scored 3 in the first on a homer by Cey. NY got 2 back in the second on a Watson homer and a single by Milbourne. They took the lead in the third on a 2-run shot by Rick Cerone. Valenzuela would keep them off of the scoreboard after that despite giving up 9 hits and 7 walks.  In the bottom of the fifth, LA scored 2 off of George Frazier. Garvey and Cey singled. Guererro doubled home Garvey and Cey scored on a double=play grounder by Scioscia. That was the final, 5-4. 

    Reggie was back in the lineup for game four, which turned out to be another nail biter. Welch started and faced just 4 hitters. Goltz relieved him and LA was down 2-0 in the first. NY scored solo runs in the second and third to lead 4-0. In the bottom of the third, the Dodgers got to Rueschel for 2 in the third on a RBI single by Lopes and a RBI groundout to Cey. Rudy May relieved him. LA scored another in the fifth on a double by Garvey and Cey’s RBI single. NY got to Neidenfuer for 2 in the sixth, taking a 6-3 lead. In the bottom of the sixth, Ron Davis relieved May and immediately ran into trouble. He walked Scioscia with 1 out and then gave up a pinch-hit 2 run homer to Jay Johnstone. Lopes then hit a liner to right that Jackson missed for an error with Lopes taking second. He stole third and scored on a single by Russell, tying the game. 

   In the 7th, LA picked on Frazier again. Baker had an infield hit. He went to third when Monday hit a ball to CF that Bobby Brown missed when trying to make a shoestring catch, Monday reaching second on a double. Guererro was intentionally walked. John replaced Frazier. Yeager, pinch hitting for Scioscia, hit a sac-fly scoring Baker. Monday taking third. Lopes then hit an infield single scoring Monday and giving LA a 8-6 lead. Reggie hit his 10th and final World Series homer off of Howe in the 8th tying Lou Gehrig. Howe closed the game out despite Randolph pinning Thomas against the CF wall with a deep drive in the 9th. The series was now tied.

    Game five was another close game. Reuss gave up a run in the second inning on a Jackson double and a single by Pinella. Guidry shut the Dodgers down completely through six innings. Then he struck out Baker to open the 7th. Baker suggested to Guererro and Yeager that they move up a bit in the batter’s box to negate Guidry’s late breaking slider. Guererro and then Yeager hit back-to-back homers to almost the same spot in left-center on Guidry’s slider to take a 2-0 lead. Reuss kept the Yanks off of the board and LA led the series 3-2. They went back to NY for game six. 

    The date was October 28th. This would be the latest ending date for a series since 1911. The game had been postponed a day by rain, because of that, Yankees manage, Bob Lemon, was able to start Tommy John. But it also allowed LA to have Cey in the lineup. Randolph homered off of Hooton in the third for a 1-0 lead. LA got the run back in the fourth on a single by Yeager. In the bottom of the fourth, Lemon made a much-debated move. After getting two outs, Hooton allowed a double to Nettles. He then walked Milbourne to face John. There was no DH in this series since it had been used the year before, and it that era, they would alternate. Bobby Murcer then flied out to end the inning. John was seen pacing the dugout in disbelief. Much as Blake Snell would do in 2020 after being pulled during a dominant performance against LA.

Three Los Angeles Dodgers players named as MVP, the most valuable players in the World Series against the New York Yankees, celebrate after the Dodgers win in New York, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 1981. From left, outfielder Pedro Guerrero, catcher Steve Yeager and third baseman Ron Cey. (AP Photo)

     Frazier, he comes that man again, relieved John. LA jumped right on him with Cey hitting an RBI single and Guererro a 2-run triple to take a 4-1 lead. They scored 4 more in the sixth against Davis and Reuschel for a 8-1 cushion. NY scored their final run in the sixth on a Pinella single. Guererro homered off of May in the 8th, and LA would win 9-2. Their fifth series win. Jackson would leave after the season as a free agent. Frazier became the first pitcher to lose 3 games in a six-game series. Yankees star Dave Winfield was 1-22 in his first series. Steinbrenner went on TV and apologized to the fans for the Yankees performance. And for the first time ever, and so far, the only time, there were three players selected as the series MVP. Guererro, Cey and Yeager.  

          The Infield was broken up in February of 82 when Lopes was traded to the A’s for Lance Hudson, a minor leaguer. Campanis traded Sutcliffe and Perconte to the Indians in December for Jack Fimple, Jorge Orta and Larry White. He resigned Monday, then signed Mark Belanger as a free agent to be Russell’s back up. Steve Sax would take over the second base job, with the rest of the infield intact. He traded Castillo and Mitchell to the Twins for a couple of minor leaguers then signed Mariano Duncan as a free agent. In March he traded CF Rudy Law to the White Sox for Cecil Espy and a minor leaguer.

    It was a tight race for the West in 1982; LA would finish just 1 game back of Atlanta. Scioscia took over as the everyday catcher. Garvey played in all 162 games and batted .282 in his walk year. Sax hit .282 and won the ROY, fourth Dodger in a row. Guererro was the teams hitting star. Batting .304 with 32 homers and 100 driven in. Cey 24, and Baker 23, were the only other hitters with more than 20 homers. Monday and Yeager found themselves in reserve roles. Young 22-year-old OF, Mike Marshall saw action in 49 games. Valenzuela led the team with 19 wins, Reuss had 18. Welch won 16 and Steve Howe saved 13. Neidenfuer saved 9. Team ERA was 3.28. They batted .263 as a team and hit 138 homers. They stole 151 bases. 

     Garvey left for the Padres as a free agent for the 83 season, he was replaced at first by Greg Brock. Guererro moved to third as Cey was dealt to the Cubs for Dan Cataline and Vance Lovelace. In May they traded John Franco and another minor leaguer to the Reds for Rafael Landestoy. This was a significant deal for the Reds because Franco would become one of the better closers in the majors. Yeager was the starting catcher again as Scioscia was injured and only played in 12 games.

UNDATED: Pedro Guerrero #28 of the Los Angeles Dodgers

    The team would win 91 games and finish 3 games in front of the Braves. They were dispatched in the LCS by the Phillies in four games. Guererro moved to third base. It was said he would pray they did not hit the ball to him, and then he prayed they would not hit it to Sax, who had developed a serious case of the yips. Pedro slashed .298/32/103. Brock hit 20 homers in his first year. Baker 15, Yeager 15, Landreaux 17 and Marshall 17, were the big boppers. They hit .250 as a team and hit 146 homers while stealing 166 bases. 

   Valenzuela and Welch 15, Reuss and Alejandro Pena 12, won in double figures. Howe saved 18 and Neidenfuer 11. Dave Stewart saved 8 before being traded to Texas in August for Rick Honeycutt. The team had a very good 3.11 ERA. Campanis’s first big trade of the winter sent Sid Fernandez to the Mets with Ross Jones for Bob Bailor and Carlos Diaz. Dusty Baker and Derrell Thomas left as free agents. 

     They dropped under .500 and slipped to fourth place in 1984. They regressed in almost every offensive stat. Guererro hit .303 and was the only Dodger over .300. Marshall hit 21 homers for the team lead. Candy Maldonado took over in right, and Dave Anderson was the starting SS. The bench did not have much pop. Welch led the staff with 13 wins, but he lost 13 too. Valenzuela was 12-17, Pena 12-6 and Honeycutt was 10-9. Pena led the league in ERA with a 2.48 mark. Orel Hershiser was 11-8 as a spot starter and reliever. He and Pena led the league with 4 shutouts each. The team ERA was 3.17. 

       They rebounded in 85 to win 95 games and finish 5.5 games in front of the Reds. Guererro rebounded to hit .320/33/87. He led the league in OBP, slugging, OPS and OPS+. Brock hit 21 homers in support and Marshall 28. Mariano Duncan became the starting SS and finished 3rd in the ROY race. They hit .261 as a team and had 121 homers.  They stole 136 bases. The pitching staff was led by Hershiser’s 19-3 season, his ERA was 2.03. Fernando won 17, Reuss and Welch 14 each. Honeycutt was 8-12 as the #5 starter. Neidenfuer saved 19 and Ken Howell 12. Steve Howe was battling drug problems. The NLCS went 6 games. LA won the first two in LA, then lost 4 straight. Neidenfuer gave up a walk off homer to Ozzie Smith in game five, then a 3-run shot to Jack Clark in game six that put the Cardinals up 7-5. It was a crushing defeat, and Lasorda took a lot of heat for having Neidenfuer pitch to Clark with 2 outs and first base open with Van Slyke, who was hitting about .130 for the series, on deck.

      The sunk under .500 again in 1986, dropping to 5th place, 23 games behind Houston. Maldonado was traded to the Giants that winter for C Alex Trevino, then Yeager was dealt to the Mariners for LHP, Ed Vandeburg. In April they signed former Astros star CF, Cesar Cedeno to a deal. The big blow was losing Pedro Guererro to a broken ankle in spring. He would play in only 31 games. They missed his bat. Steve Sax had a career year, hitting .332. Franklin Stubbs led the team with 23 homers, Brock added 16 and Marshall 19. Bill Madlock hit 10 and was the only other player in double figures. Sax stole 40 bases and Duncan stole 48. They hit .251 as a team with 155 steals and 130 homers. Fernando won 21 games and lost 11, Hershiser 14-14, Honeycutt 11-9, Welch was 7-13 and Reuss had an awful year 2-6. Howell saved 12 and Neidenfuer 11. The teams ERA was 3.76.

    They finished 4th in the West in 87. They were 16 games under .500. Bill Russell was released after 18 years with the team. He would eventually become a coach. They traded Brock in December of 86 to the Brewers for Tim Leary and Tim Crews. They traded a couple of minor leaguers to the Mariners for Matt Young. In May, they traded Neidenfuer to the Orioles for a minor leaguer and CF John Shelby. In June they would pick up Phil Garner from the Astros. An incident on TV in April when Campanis was on Nightline with Ted Koppel would end up with Al having to resign or be fired. He resigned and Fred Claire took over. Campanis during the interview made some racially insensitive remarks about the ability of blacks to manage in the majors. He also said they lacked buoyancy and that was why they were not good swimmers. Koppel tried to give him a way out, but he missed it totally, and the criticism began immediately. Peter O’Malley was under a lot of pressure to fire him. This whole thing was unusual for Campanis since he had been one of Jackie Robinson’s biggest supporters when Jackie was coming up. 

    The offense was again mediocre, batting .252 with 125 homers and 128 stolen bases. Guererro hit .338 and was their only All-Star. He slugged 27 homers and Shelby hit 21. Stubbs and Marshall hit 16 each and those guys were their main power source. Hershiser was at .500 again with a 16-16 mark. Welch 15-9, and Valenzuela 14-14 were the pitching leaders. Honeycutt was 2-12, Leary 3-11 and Pena 2-7. Pena saved 11 games as did Matt Young. Team ERA was 3.72. 

     That winter, Claire went to work to try and boost the offense. Landreaux left via free agency. His big trade in December was a 3-team deal with the Mets and A’s. LA sent Jack Savage to the Mets, Bob Welch and Matt Young to the A’s. In return, they got Jesse Orosco from the Mets, Alfredo Griffin and Jay Howell from the A’s. The A’s sent Wally Whitehurst and Kevin Tapani to the Mets. Four days later, he signed OF Mike Davis as a free agent.

    On the 29th of January 1988, he changed the team’s direction by signing OF Kirk Gibson to a three-year deal. It would prove to be a very good free agent deal. A prank in spring training pulled by Orosco on Gibson would change the clubhouse culture immediately. Orosco put eye black on the liner of Gibson’s cap. When Gibby found out he was furious and stormed off of the field saying he came there to win, not play stupid games. From that day on, it was all business for the Dodgers. 

    They were 13-7 at the end of April, one half game in first place. By the end of May, they were 27-20, still up a half game. They were 17-11 in June expanding their lead to 4.5 games. a 16-12 July cut the lead to .5 again. They won 17 games in a month for the second time that season in August. They headed into September with a 6.5 game lead. They finished September and 2 days in October 17-13 to win the West by 7 games over the Reds. They met the Mets in the NLCS.

    The Mets were 10-1 against the Dodgers in 88. They had strong pitching from Doc Gooden, Ron Darling, David Cone, Sid Fernandez and Bob Ojeda. Their offense was led by Darryl Strawberry, Kevin McReynolds and Howard Johnson. Gibson led the Dodger offense hitting .290/25/76. Marshall hit 20 homers and drove in a team leading 82. Shelby was the only other Dodger in double figures with 10 homers. Sax stole 42 bases and Gibson 31. Hershiser had his best season ever with a 23-8 record, 15 complete games and 8 shutouts. He broke Drysdales 58.2 scoreless inning streak with 59. Leary added 17 wins and Belcher 12.

   They lost 2 of the first 3 games to the Mets. Belcher’s win in game 2 was the only victory. Game four was pivotable. They were losing in the 9th inning when Mike Scioscia hit a 2-run game tying homer off of Doc Gooden. The game remained tied until the top of the 12th when Gibson homered off of Roger McDowell for what would be the winning run. Belcher beat Fernandez in game five, 7-4 and they went back to LA up, 3-2. Cone totally shut them down in game six, 5-1. Hershiser then tossed a 6-0 series clinching shutout sending LA to the World Series against the A’s. The bad side was Gibson tearing his right meniscus on a stolen base in game six. It was doubtful that Gibby would play in the World Series at all.

     Most of us remember what happened in that series. The A’s looked poised to win game one going into the 9th inning. Up 4-3 in the bottom of the 9th behind Dave Stewart, they sent in their closer, Dennis Eckersley to finish the game. With 2 outs, Mike Davis walked, and Kirk Gibson came out of the dugout to hit for Pena.  He worked the count to 3-2 and Davis stole second. All Gibby needed was a single to tie the game. Just before the 3-2 pitch, he backed out of the batter’s box and remembered that the Dodgers advance scout had told him that Eckersley loved to throw a back door slider to lefties on a 3-2 count. Gibson stepped back in, Eck threw the slider, and Gibby sent it into the RF pavilion for a walk-off 2 run homer. 

    LA went nuts. Hershiser shut the A’s out in game two, 6-0. Oakland won game three 2-1 behind ex-Dodger Rick Huneycutt on a solo shot by Mark McGwire off of Howell. Dodgers won game four, 4-3 behind Belcher, who won his third post-season game. Hershiser then beat Storm Davis, 5-2 for the series win. The Dodgers sixth championship and fifth in LA. It was Lasorda’s second. It would be his last. LA would not see the World Series again for 29 years.

     1989 was another down season. They finished 4th, 14 games back of the Giants. Gibson was injured and played in 71 games Eddie Murray, who had come over from the Orioles led the offense with 20 homers and 88 driven in. Willie Randolph was the new second baseman with Sax leaving in free agency for the Yankees. The team had only two starting position players under 30. Jeff Hamilton and Mike Marshall. The bench was largely unproductive, with some not having a lot of experience. Hershiser and Belcher won 15 each, with Fernando winning 10. Ramon Martinez won 6 in his rookie season. Howell saved 28 games. 

    LA went into the 90’s with a lot of question marks on the roster. On the horizon would be a change of managers due to health issues, the sale of the team to Fox corporation, and five consecutive Rookies of the Year. A 99-loss season was on the horizon also, but no one knew that as the 90’s rolled around.