It seems most Dodger fans, and those of other playoff-bound teams, are trying to pre-determine which players will make up the roster for the first playoff round. I must admit it does interest me but mostly because I have favorite players that I would like to see on “the list”. I do not attempt to make any rational judgment as to whom will make the cut. In the meantime I reminisce a bit as reminiscence becomes
more important, it seems, the older I get. The older I get, I also have to spell check,“reminisce”. Huh!
I must apologize for momentarily taking the site away from the play-off conversation with this post. However, as part of my looking back, I came across a name I had all but forgotten. It is an amazing story and does have a connection to the 1963 World Series many of us remember so well as our Dodgers swept the Yankees.
Oh, before I forget I will reaffirm an assertion by 2D2, MT and AC. Corey Seager is a good player and finally healthy is the Corey Seager we had seen and will see for quite some time. As mentioned he was the most recent NL Player of the Week.
Batted .500 (10-for-20) with five runs scored, two doubles, a triple, two home runs, seven RBI and a 1.000 slugging percentage over five games played.
Logged a hit in each game during his award-winning week and enters play today in the midst of an eight-game hitting streak, dating back to September 13th.
Has recorded two hits and a run scored in each of his previous five games, tied for the 10th-longest such streak in franchise history, and the longest since Dee Gordon’s five-game streak in 2014.
Clubbed his 18th home run of the season in the contest against the Colorado Rockies, leading the Dodgers to their 100th win of the season.
As you can see I have very high DQ – distraction quotient, so back to the topic at hand. Back to Roy Gleason and his story of firsts.
He was born on April 9, 1943, in Melrose Park, Illinois which is a suburb of Chicago. His family moved to Garden Grove in the fifties when he was 11 and he attended high school there starring on the baseball team. Garden Grove is located 34 miles southeast of Los Angeles.
His high school play attracted scouts and especially caught the attention of Dodger scout Kenny Myers. By this time his father had left the family and Myers became a father figure to the teenager. Imagine this. For three seasons, he threw batting practice to the Dodgers before games at the Coliseum during the team’s early years in Los Angeles but the best was yet to come. Following his graduation from high school, the Dodgers offered him a contract which had a stipulation with it.
“I was a pitcher until the day I signed,” Gleason recalled. “That’s when the Dodgers said, ‘You’re not a pitcher anymore; you’re going to be an outfielder.’ If I had signed with any other team I’d have been a pitcher, and I think my heart was with pitching because I really knew I could pitch. But I wanted to play every day, and the Dodgers had taken me under their wing when I was 15 years old.”
He played the 1962 season with the Reno Silver Fox, a Dodger Class C affiliation. The young switch hitter responded with 22 home runs and 76 runs batted in. The following season with Class A Salem Dodgers he got off to a terrible start. After an adjustment in his swing by lowering his hands he went on a tear hitting near .400 until the end of the season and hitting 12 home runs in two and one-half weeks.
“From that day on,” he said, “it was like the Fourth of July. The ball looked like a beach ball coming in. It was just one of those things: I was in a groove.”
The 20-year-old Gleason who would later fill out to a 6’5”/220-pound outfielder got a call up to the Dodgers on September 3, 1963. He was there for 8 games, scored three runs, got into a rhubarb and had to wait until the second last game of the season to get an at-bat. His three runs were scored as a pinch-runner.
Gleason could not understand why he didn’t play or at least get to the plate. Then it happened. Dodger manager Walter Alston put him in as a pinch hitter for pitcher Phil Ortega. That is the Phil Ortega that went to the Washington Senators with Frank Howard and brought pitcher Claude Osteen to the Dodgers.
Gleason describes his at-bat.
“There was an adrenaline rush, and to me, it looked like he was throwing change-ups,” Gleason continued of the opposing pitcher, Phillies lefty Dennis Bennett. “He only threw me two pitches. The first was a fastball that missed down and in. I looked at the catcher and said, ‘He’s throwing a changeup to a pinch hitter on the first pitch?’ He said, ‘That was his fastball, rook,’ and I expected the next pitch to be behind my ear because that’s how we played in those days.
“Then the next pitch was a little more up and in, I think it was a strike, and I lined it into left field for a double. I was on top of the world.”
That was the end of his MLB career in which he hit 1.000. His time with the Dodgers earned him a World Series ring. He played in the minors from 1964 through 1966.
On April 1, as spring training was about to close up in 1967, Roy Gleason got another call. The Selective Service System had reclassified him, formerly 3-A because he supported his mother, to 1-A and notified he would be called to duty in Viet Nam. He ventured off carrying his WS ring with him.
Gleason served with distinction, more concerned about his mother and who would look after her than his baseball career. On July 24, 1968, his military career came to an end. His unit was ambushed and a blast instantly killed the unit’s machine gunner and sent shrapnel slicing through Gleason’s left wrist and left calf. As the point man, he blamed himself for not spotting the IED up in a tree.
Roy Gleason was awarded the Purple Heart, the only one awarded to an MLB player serving in Viet Nam. In fact, he was the only MLB player wounded in Viet Nam and the only player who was called to serve in that war. That makes him the only MLB player to bat 1.000, earn a WS ring and be awarded a Purple Heart. However, his WS ring did not come home with him when his belongings were returned to him. It had gone missing from his locker where he kept it.
He played one more season in 1969 in the minors and then his professional baseball career was over. Nerve damage made it difficult for the switch-hitting Gleason to hold onto the bat when he swung right-handed, and the shrapnel in his calf sapped some of his speed. He was gone but thankfully not forgotten.
In September 2003, Roy Gleason got another call from the Dodgers (thanks to team historian Mark Langill) that the Dodgers wanted him to throw out the first pitch on September 20, 40 years almost to the day of his 1963 double. Gleason recounts the event.
“They just told me they wanted me out there to throw out the first pitch, and that’s all I thought I was going to do,” Gleason said. “They shocked me. I threw the ball and one-hopped it to the catcher, which was really irritating to me, and I got halfway off the mound when I hear Vin Scully say, ‘Hold up, Roy. Hold it right there, we’ve got something for you.’”
“Then the whole Dodger team came out on the field with Jim Tracy, at the time the manager, and presented me with my 1963 World Series ring. I was biting my tongue and everything else to keep from crying. I was literally probably in shock for a little bit. I couldn’t believe it was happening. It was like a dream.”
Prior to the game, Roy Gleason was amazed that so many individuals greeted him, including Tommy Lasorda, umpire Bruce Froemming, and aging scouts. He didn’t really count himself as an MLB player but all of those he met did.
His tour ended up behind the Dodger Dugout where there is a tunnel and a wall bearing the names of the Dodgers all-time roster. The rest of this story is told by Bill Plaschke in an LA Times article, “At Ease, at Last”.
Gleason scanned the montage and said, “I’m sure I’m not up here.”
Mark Langill stood behind him thinking, “Please be up there. Please be up there.”
After a few minutes, they found it, above Roy Campanella, below Delino DeShields – Roy Gleason.
“I didn’t really feel like I played enough to warrant being called a major leaguer,” he said.
He touched the wall gently, with a finger that has been numb since he took shrapnel in Vietnam. His eyes glazed. The truth hit.
Once a Dodger, always a Dodger, even if only momentarily a Dodger.
He had never left second base after all.
Sgt. Gleason looked at Langill and shook his head.
“I’m glad I’m on this wall, instead of the other wall,” he said.
Arizona Fall League – Game 6
The Dodgers were out in force as the Glendale Desert Dogs played Aguilas de Mexicali. Gerardo Carillo started and went 4 innings while striking out 3 and walking 1. Omar Estevez (.278 BA) again led off and played SS and was 1-5 with an RBI. Devin Mann (.091 BA) was 0-2, but Jeren Kendall (.333) was the DH (batting last) was 2-3 with 3 RBI. He has 5 on the season. He also stole a base.
DC, you outdid yourself with this one. Many of us are familiar with Roy Gleason, but you brought his story back to life, at least for me. I now have to dust off his book, “Lost in The Sun”. I read it when it was first published, and now it needs to be re-read.
I haven’t read it but wonder if some reason is given as to why he was the only MLB player selected to go to Viet Nam.
The book goes into great detail about how that happened. I won’t reveal it here, because I encourage everyone to read the book. It’s a wonderful baseball book blended with a great look back at how the Vietnam war and the draft was viewed during that era.
Great story DC! My most cherished Dodger Memorabilia is a ball and card signed by Roy Gleason, together with an autographed copy of “Lost in The Sun.” My secretary’s daughter was married to Roy’s son. Before I knew of her family relationship, I was sharing what I had remembered about Roy’ story with her. That Christmas I received the book, card and ball, which still proudly sits on my office credenza.
My secretary tells me that Roy is an exceptionally fine man, who still possesses movie star good looks.
That in itself is an amazing story. I can see why that is your most cherished Dodger memorabilia.
DC, thank you, fantastic article.
What a wonderful story. Mark you are a true journalist even if at times you can not spell, one of my many weaknesses too. Thank you so much for writing about Roy Gleason, a truly amazing man and so humble. Dodgers had a nice win last night. Rich Hill is a person of courage and true grit. Muncy hit a tremendous home run, Gonsolin pitched well but not so sure about Floro. I still can not understand how they figure who gets the win in a bullpen game. I mean it is simple if the game is tied to determine winner or loser, but is it a scorekeeper’s judgement? I know it should not matter to me, but it does.
KUDOS for a terrific article! Tears in my eyes.
Sorry DC. I thought Mark had written it. Saw his name on top of article. I am going to order the book now. I thought it was a fabulous article.
Great story, it brought tears to my eyes. Thanks DC!
It’s nice to be a fan of such a classy organization!
Shame on you DC for posting such an interesting article and distracting us from that gutty performance by Rich Hill last night. If that’s a preview of things to come, I’m elated about our prospects of post-season domination.
I mean, who the heck does this? Dick Mountain is making Schillings bloody sock look like “merely a flesh wound” as Monty Python would call it. Kirk Gibson’s got nothing on Hill. After all, he just stood in for a single solitary AB and didn’t even have to run the bases. Rich came out of the first inning, somehow unscathed. Barely getting the “Fastball” to crack 88. I’m not sure anyone thought he would come back for a second inning, surely he was done after giving it his best try while limping back to the rubber after each pitch.
Nope. He puts on a helmet, stands in the box and instead of just taking pitches so he wouldn’t have to run, he pulls a double down the line. Thank God it was of the stand up variety. What he heck would his slide have looked like? I can only imagine.
The baseball Gods liked his gumption, so they mercifully spared him the pain of having to run home. Instead they permitted him to come back out to the hill the next inning, obviously wanting more and placing side bets on his mettle. Dick was up to the challenge striking out the side with increased velocity and that dirty bender. Two innings was enough for the Gods to see so they permitted him to leave the game unscathed.
But, Dick wasn’t done. He needed more work, so he ran out to the pen and grunted another inning full of pitches for the fans to watch in amazement. Not to be pitied and to re leave the audience of future doubt, he raced back the length of the field to show the world that Dick will not be beat! That Dick is ready for more. That Dick is hard to keep down. And Dick is ready to stand upright and strong like a Mountain when the call of the post-season comes for him.
Hill didn’t technically pull a double down the line, he went opposite field for a double. Semantics but just wanted to offer a correction.
Damn, I can’t edit it after the timeout. But, those two innings were among the most interesting of the entire seasons. Wow!
Well I finally figured out who the hell this Dick Mountain is. Took me a minute. Got my playoff tickets and 1 World Series ticket to game one. I hope to use them all.
Dick Mountain is a play on the words Rich Hill and was his player’s weekend nickname last year.
I don’t think we can underestimate what Hill did last night. He could have easily called Doc out to the mound in the first inning and said “I tried, but I just can’t do this”.
With the team on cruise control since the All Star break, Hill’s grit showed those guys how important it is that everyone go above and beyond what’s comfortable when playoff time comes.
It was a truly epic performance, even though it lasted only two innings and I think it will act as real inspiration to the rest of the guys going into the NLDS.
Well stated!
Nice article in The Atlantic today on AJ Pollock…
https://theathletic.com/1238788/2019/09/25/im-in-a-good-spot-now-despite-change-a-j-pollock-settles-in-with-the-dodgers/
It might surprise some that he’s been the second best offensive force since July 12…
Through April, he was hitting .223, getting on base at a .287 clip and slugging .330. Since the Dodgers resumed play July 12, Pollock is hitting .295 and slugging .560. He has logged a .355 on-base percentage. By Fangraphs’ wRC+ metric, he has been 38 percent better than the average hitter. Only one Dodger, Justin Turner, has logged better statistics.
Another good one on Corey…
https://theathletic.com/1234232/2019/09/25/mccullough-after-a-frustrating-year-on-the-sidelines-corey-seager-is-heating-up-at-the-ideal-time/
Confirmation that he isn’t 100% this year and a reminder of just how good this kid is.
Hill is the potential playoff-changer for us. He almost always pitches well for us in the postseason. Obviously, his physical health is crucial, but he wants to compete, and his two innings last night were very good. Without Hill, our fourth starter is a rookie up for less than half a season. It is hard for me to see such a rotation, plus a fairly questionable bullpen, going all the way. But if Hill could give us five good innings in his one start in each series, we are much better off.
That intensity and competitiveness is what we’ve been lacking since such an early clinch so hopefully this kinda jump starts us for the playoffs. Gotta get the bats going again! Time for Belly to step up in post season and be our MVP! Go Big Blue!!!!!!!
What was most encouraging was the he was actually running better after his bullpen session. His passion to play has to be contagious. However, if I’m an opposing team, I’m bunting like crazy while he’s out there until he proves that he can handle it. Dick Mountain’s outing on Sunday will be very important for the makeup of the postseason roster.
~
I know Orel was searching to say good things about Kenley because everyone including me wants him to succeed and building his confidence can’t hurt. Despite not allowing a hit or run, I did not think Kenley looked good at all. I thought his cutter had minimal cut to it and right after Orel said he hadn’t thrown any that had backed up, he threw three in a row that backed up. The Kenley that was supposedly fixed after the impressive outing vs the Mets hasn’t shown up since in my opinion. If i was Doc, I don’t think I would have done anything differently in regards to Kenley, but at this point I’m no longer committed to him closing games in the postseason.
I agree with you Hawkeye on bunting against Hill. Only problem is that 90% of major league players cannot bunt. Sad.
If they cant bunt for a hit against the shift then they won’t suuddenly learn how to bunt against Hill!
* Sometimes the more you see, the less you know. Rich Hill was truly inspirational last night and I felt I was watching a man pitch for his career. It started to badly, limping around the mound and looking pained. Don’t take this wrong as I know this isn’t cancer but I had flashbacks to Dave Draveky’s comeback where he took the mound and every pitch created such suspense. That one ended so ugly and I just prayed Hill wouldn’t blow something up on every delivery. And I’m thinking during the first inning, how do you tell a warrior and an inspiration, he isn’t making the playoff roster. And then he did what he did raising from the ashes plus threw the most photographed bullpen ever. If you weren’t moved by his grit you’re pulling wings off of butterflies. Wow, now Sunday will be another pins and needles outting. Damn I hope he does well. How would you not want him on this team?
* It’s a competitive game in the post season and I too would bunt anybody who can against Dick Mountain in the post season (not now – very bush) just to see. You have to.
* Don’t give Floro any more innings. He’s not going to be on the playoff roster so pitch guys who are.
* I love the left handed hitters trying to show bunt with no intention at all of bunting, just to add a line to an advanced scouting report and maybe bring a third baseman in a step.
* What is “General Lower Body Soreness” with Kelly. Is that what I have every morning?
Like your description of “rising from the ashes” Phil. Maybe Dick Mountain’s new name should be “The Phoenix” except for the fact that it’s the home of the D’backs.
Phil, I remember watching that game with Dravecky on the mound disintegrating before my eyes. It was a shocking moment. Very sad.
Anyone with a love of sport has to be rooting for Hill, I just wish I had more confidence that his body can withstand the demands of pro sport. When I look at his eyes, he doesn’t seem healthy to me. Battling through pain is not uncommon for many athletes. But pain is the body’s way of telling you to take it easy, proceed with caution. Sometimes wanting to succeed is not always the best medecine.
Agreed on Floro. He’s just a body at this point. No role for him in the post season.
Kelly is another guy that I keep thinking something is wrong with. He’s had real command problems this year and I’m not sure about his history as I never followed him as a player. I have serious reservations about him on the pro level. He looks weak, mentally as well as physically, but he’s got that rocket arm that he can’t control. I’m sure they will continue to keep working on him as they have a couple more years to help him get right.
Good points philjones, I agree completely with you on Hill. He is a warrior and hope he does well in SF. As far as a “lower body injury”. They use that description a lot in hockey. It usually means a pulled groin. Hope not,because that can take a long time to heal and would be hard to pitch with.
Well the Yanks lost! That means we now control our own destiny to have home field vs NY in a potential World Series matchup.
I want to apologize to Dodger Chatter. I had to go to Chicago early this AM and I just got back and realized that my name was listed as the author of this blog. I changed it to DC because it was him and not me. You should have known that because I could not write something that good.
Sorry for the mixup. Great Post, DC.
If that was your biggest problem for the day, you must have had a really great day. No apology necessary.
Ross making a statement that he’s NOT an option for the #4 starter! Would you rather have his experience or May’s stuff as a bullpen option? Looks like we’re not having any trouble with the 95+ heater tonight
Stripling is on the roster. Doc made the statement last week. Not the best outing but some bad luck on a weak hit ball that beat the shift.
Poor Seager is cursed! Big blow to our playoff hopes! Ouch!
The sky is falling!
If Kenley can do his job it will be his 300th career save and will tie Bruce Sutter for 28th all-time.
Rich Hill is my favourite Dodger, and has been for some time.
I love his openness and honesty – that is exactly why everyone is rooting for him. What a team mate.
Some positives tonight. Joc’s on fire, Rios has some serious power, and Kenley was lights out.
But for me, Dustin May has to be on the Playoff Roster. He has stuff that misses bats, and was hitting 99mph consistently.
Losing Corey would be s disaster however.
I know Doc & the FO do not have a great history of telling the whole story when it comes to injuries, but Doc said after the game that it was purely precautionary, and that Corey would be in the Lineup on Friday.
Mmmm….