First-Year Players 1982-1989

Basking in the glow of a World Championship and with labor strife behind them, the Dodgers came to spring training with hopes of doing it again. Of course there had been some changes over the winter as Davey Lopes was traded to the A’s. Lopes had only played 58 games in 81.

          4 of the 8 starters were in their 30’s. Garvey, Cey, Baker and Russell. Rookie Steve Sax became the everyday 2nd baseman. He had to overcome a bad case of the yips. Kind of like what Gavin Lux went through last spring. Scioscia was the starting catcher much of the time with Pedro Guerrero in RF and Landreaux in CF.

         Rick Monday at 36, and 33 year old Co-MVP of the 81 series, Steve Yeager now had prominent backup roles. Monday appeared in 104 games and had 11 HR’s. The only part time player to reach double figures.  Guerrero led the team with 32 long balls and 100 ribbies hitting .304. Baker was the only other regular to hit .300. Young Mike Marshall got into 49 games. Greg Brock saw his first MLB action getting into 18 games. Sax’s older brother Dave, got into 2 games.

       The starting rotation was pretty good except for Hooton who had a down year with a 4-7 record. Stewart and Neidenfuer became large parts of the bullpen. Ricky Wright and Steve Shirley made their debuts.

       After opening with 2 wins, the team had a rocky April ending up 10-11 already 6 games back in the west. They got better in May going 15-13 but after the first two months they were 1 game over .500. But they had picked up 3 games in the standings. But those gains were lost over the month of June and they entered July 6 back again.

      July was more of the same and they finished the month back by 7.5. They had been 10 back on the 28th of the month. Amazingly, they made no deadline deals. Goltz had been released in April and they released Jay Johnstone in May.

       They started August winning 11 of their first 13 games including a 4 game sweep of the Braves at home. 3 of which were walk off wins. By the 13th of August they were 15 games over .500 and 2.5 games ahead in the NL West.

      Things were looking up. September was a whole different story. Even though they had a 7 game winning streak from the 10th to the 17th, it did not keep them from having a losing month at 12-14. That set up a 3 game series in San Francisco against the Giants and they were only 1 game behind the Braves.

       They won the first, 4-0 behind Jerry Ruess. The second was a 15- blowout behind Bobby Welch. But the Braves had won both of their games to stay up by 1. Heading into the last day, all they could hope for was to win, and the Braves lose and force a playoff.

       The Braves lost that day to the Padres, 5-1 and it was over before the Dodger game ended. So they knew they had a chance. The game was tied, 2-2 going into the bottom of the 7th inning. Fernando was pulled and Neidenfuer came in. He got one out and then gave up a couple of hits. Lasorda, with the LH hitting Joe Morgan coming up, went to the pen and brought in Terry Forster.

       Forster came inside with a fastball and Morgan hit it over the RF fence for a 3 run homer. Dodger fans watching the game saw the season end to the Giants once again. They rallied for a run in the 8th, but went meekly in the 9th and the Braves won the division. They outhit SF 9-5 but 82 was over. Steve Sax had a stellar rookie season leading the team in hits with 180, and becoming the 4th Dodger in a row to win the ROY award. The Dodgers had traded former ROY Rick Sutcliffe to Cleveland along with Jack Perconte over the winter of 81 for Jorge Orta and Jack Fimple.

                                          1983

                 The winter of 82 saw more change as 2/3rds of the infield left. Garvey to free agency, signing with the Padres and Ron Cey, traded to the Cubs for Dan Cataline and Vance Lovelace. Orta was traded to the Mets for Pat Zachry. Greg Brock took over as the starting first baseman, Yeager was back behind the plate at 34. Fimple and Scioscia backed him up. Guerrero became the starting 3rd baseman and Marshall took over in RF.

                Guerrero hit 30 plus homers again and drove in over 100. No one hit .300. Derrell Thomas was the most active sub getting into 118 games. Rick Monday got into 99. Ron Roenicke got extended playing time for the first time in his career. Dave Anderson, R.J. Reynolds, Gil Reyes, German Rivera, Sid Bream and Cecil Espy all made their debuts. Hooton rebounded a little to go 9-8 in 27 starts. Alejandro Pena joined the rotation and went 12-9. Welch and Valenzuela won 15 apiece and Ruess added 12 wins. Howe, Neidenfuer and Stewart were joined in the pen by Joe Beckwith and Pat Zacry. A 24 year old kid named Hershiser got into 8 games. And another young pitcher, 20 year old Sid Fernandez got into 2.

             After the roller coaster ride of 82, they turned the tables in 83 and beat the Braves by 3 games. This despite going a combined 11-25 against the Giants and Padres. They were 34-20 against the rest of the west. The Padres outscored them in those games, 99-66 and the Giants bettered them by 75-51.

             Unlike their previous appearances in the NLCS against the Phillies, this time they got beat 3-1. Valenzuela beat the Phils 4-1 in game 2, but the Phils hammered them for 7 in each of the next 2 games to win the series.

             Brock hit 20 HR’s in his rookie campaign, but only hit .224. None of the other first year players had a major impact on the season.

                                                 1984

                       Another winter of change. Thomas was granted free agency. Beckwith went to the Royals. Sid Fernandez was sent to the Mets for Bob Bailor and Carlos Diaz. Terry Whitfield was signed as a free agent. Baker left as a free agent in February. He would sign with the Giants. Rick Monday would get his release in June. Rick Honeycutt who had come over in August of 83 from the Rangers for Dick Stewart and Ricky Wright, became part of the starting rotation. Candy Maldonado took over in RF, and Marshall moved to LF taking over for Baker. Scioscia was back as the starting catcher. Anderson took over at SS for aging Bill Russell. The last of the infield still with LA. German Rvera was the most used sub. Guerrero was the only player on the team to hit .300. But his power and RBI’s dropped quite a bit. Ed Amelung made his debut at age 25.

        The team was not very good. Offense was not very powerful. All of the starters finished with double digit wins including 25 year old Hershiser who got 20  starts and 11 wins. Valenzuela had 11 complete games, Pena and Hershiser 8. Ken Howell went 5-5 in his rookie year. The team went 79-83 13 games behind the Padres who won the pennant. Oh yeah, former ROY Rick Sutcliffe won the Cy Young that season with the Cubs.

                                               1985

              Hooton left as a free agent in Nov of 84. In February, they traded Pat Zachry to the Phillies for Al Oliver. Bobby Castillo and Jay Johnstone came back as free agents. In July, Howe would be released. We would not find out about his addiction until later. Oliver would be traded in July for Len Matuzek. They also got Enos Cabell in July from the Astro’s. In August they would trade 3 players to the Pirates for Bill Madlock. R.J. Reynolds, Sid Bream, and Cecil Espy.

           Scioscia had probably his best year to that point, hitting .296. Brock rebounded to hit 21 HR’s and get his average to .251. Mariano Duncan took over at SS for Anderson who was moved to 3rd. Guerrero went back to LF. Candy Maldonado was the swing man in the outfield getting into 121 games but not hitting much. Cabell hit .292 after the trade. Madlock raked at a .360 clip. Whitfield was also a valuable piece off of the bench.

         Reggie Williams, Franklin Stubbs, Ralph Bryant and a kid named Stu Pederson, yeah, Joc’s dad, made his debut also. Hershiser led the staff with a 19-3 record and a 2.03 ERA. Valenzuela added 17 wins, and Ruess and Welch 14 apiece. Honeycutt went 8-12. Niedenfuer saved 19, and Howell 12. Diaz went 6-3. Tom Brennan who was something else to watch, and made the team out of spring training earning the Nickname of The Grey Flamingo, he went 1-3 in 12 games.

          They won the division by 5 1/2 games over the Reds and moved forward to play the Cardinals in the NLCS.

            They won game 1, 4-1 behind Valenzuela. The next day, Hershiser threw a complete game to put them up 2-0 in the series. Final score was 8-2. Brock hit a 2 run shot off of Andujar in the 4th to put them up 5-1. Madlock and Landreaux each had 3 hits. Landreaux scored 3 times too.

           Scene shifted to St Louis. Cards jumped to a 4-0 lead off of Welch and he was gone after 2.2 innings. The Dodger bullpen shut them down the rest of the way, but the offense managed 7 hits and only 2 runs despite getting 5 walks. 4-2 was the final.     Sax, Landreaux and Marshall had 2 hits apiece. Sax and Ken were hitting .500 at this point.

            Game 4 was over almost as soon as it had begun. St. Louis put up 9 runs in the second off of Ruess, and Honeycutt. It was a 12-2 romp. However, only 5 of the 12 runs were earned. A Ruess error opened the floodgates. They would not score until the 7th when Guerrero took Tudor deep. Those two would later be traded for each other.

             Game 5 was a nail biter. Cards jumped out in front with 2 in the first off of Valenzuela. Dodgers struck back with a 2 run shot by Madlock off of Forsch in the 4th. Dodger pitching kept putting up zeros, and the Cardinals did the same. Valenzuela went 8. In the 9th, Lasorda brought in Niedenfuer. He got the first hitter, Willie McGee out. Then up came Ozzie Smith. Smith hit a pitch right down the RF line for a homer and the Cards now led the series 3-2. Smith had hit 6 during the season, but the one he hit off of Niedenfuer was the only postseason HR he ever hit.

          Game 6 was back at Dodger Stadium. Hershiser against Andujar. By the 5th, the Dodgers were up 4-1 on some clutch hitting and the 3rd homer of the series by Madlock. In the 7th, the Cardinals rallied for 3 to tie the game at 4 and knock Hershiser out of the game.

        He was replaced by, you guessed it, Niedenfuer. Niedenfuer got out of the inning without any more damage and shut them down in the 8th. The Dodgers got a run in the 8th to go up 5-4. Mike Marshall hitting a shot off of Worrell.

      In the top of the 9th. A couple of hits by McGee and Smith got Niedenfuer in trouble. He got Herr for the 2nd out and up came Jack Clark. Lasorda elected to have Niedenfuer pitch to Clark. Even though the on deck hitter, Van Slyke was hitting .091 and Clark was hitting .375. With 2 strikes on him, Tom left one right in the middle of the plate, and boom, Cards 7- Dodgers 5. They went meekly in the 9th and then went home. I always thought that was the dumbest move Lasorda ever made. And Niedenfuer was the goat. Losing games 5 and 6 with 9th inning home runs.

                                            1986

              Anyway you look at it, 1986 was a bad year. There was the bad aftertaste from the loss to St. Louis. Yeager was granted free agency and then resigned only to be traded to the Mariners for Ed Vande Berg. Maldonado was sent to the Giants in a rare deal between the rivals for C Alex Trevino. Bailor and Castillo were released. Former Astros star, Cesar Cedeno was signed as a free agent. He would be gone by June.

           But the crushing blow to the season came in spring training. Pedro Guerrero was injured in a slide to 3rd at Vero and was lost for almost the entire year. He managed to get into 31 games late in the year. Steve Sax was the bright spot, hitting 332 and garnering 210 hits. Only other player over 100 was Bill Madlock. Stubbs hit a team leading 23 HR’s. Madlock led with 60 RBI’s. So as you can see, offense was not their forte. Reggie Wiliams took over as the regular CF over Landreaux, who did manage to get into 103 games. Jeff Hamilton made his MLB debut.

          Valenzuela had his only 20 win season going 21-11. Welch was 7-13. Hershiser had a 14-14 campaign. Honeycutt added 11. Howell was 6-12 with 12 saves and Niedenfuer was 6-6 with 11. Dennis Powell went 2-7 in his rookie campaign and Brian Holton went 2-3 in his. Altogether a very forgettable 73-89 season.

                                              1987

            Bill Russell was released in December, ending his 18 year run with the team. The Dodgers traded Brock to the Brewers for Tim Leary and Tim Crews. Powell was sent to the Mariners for Matt Young. Mickey Hatcher and Jack Perconte came back as free agents. Niedenfuer was traded in May to the Orioles for Brad Havens and John Shelby. Madlock would be released in May.

        Did not make much difference what they did. They wound up with exactly the same record as 86, 73-89. But they did climb from 5th to 4th in the division. Stubbs took over for Brock at 1st. He was not much of an upgrade. Sax’s average dropped 52 points from the previous year. Hatcher took over at 3rd for most of the year. He hit a very respectable .282. Guerrero, back on the beam and playing LF hit .338 and led the team in HR’s and RBI’s. Shelby brought outstanding defense and a solid bat to CF hitting .277. Marshall rounded out the OF with a solid .294 year.

      The bench was in a word, weak. None of the main players hit above .234. There were vets on that team like Landreaux, Phil Garner, Danny Heep, Tito Landrum, and Len Matuzek. Woodson, Mike Devereaux, Mike Sharperson, Chris Gwynn, Jose Gonzalez all got their first taste of the show.

       The pitching was not great. 3 of the 4 starters were in double figures. But only Welch was above .500 with a 15-9 slate. Pena and Leary, Young and Howell were the most active out of the pen. Leary saved 12 games, but lost 11. Young added 11 saves. Shawn Hillegas made his debut. Another lost season. But once again, the winds of change were blowing. And one addition to the Dodgers in 1988 would bring things into focus, and instill a different attitude in the Hollywood Dodgers.

                                                 1988

              The offseason was another busy one for the front office. In April of 87, Al Campanis had made some remarks on Nightline which led to his firing 2 days later, Peter O’Malley who was now the President had no choice but to fire him and name Fred Claire GM.

           In November, Garner and Landreaux left via free agency. John Wetteland was lost in the rule 5 draft. They got Glenn Hoffman from the Red Sox in trade. In a 3 team trade, Claire sent Welch and Matt Young to the A’s, and Jack Savage to the Mets. In return, they got Alfredo Griffin and Jay Howell from the A’s and Jesse Orosco from the Mets. He would later be center stage at the attitude change. Tapani and Whitehurst went to the Mets from the A’s.

        Mike Davis came from the A’s as a free agent. Don Sutton was signed as a free agent in January. But the big shoe dropped on the 29th of January as Tiger star Kirk Gibson inked a 3 year deal. John Wetteland came back. A minor signing that would later be significant was made at the end of March when veteran catcher, Rick Dempsey came aboard.

       Spring training at Vero always seemed very laid back. Actually, it seemed sort of idyllic more than anything else. But it was rocked to its core. On the 3rd of March, Jesse Orosco thought it would be pretty funny to put eyeblack on the inside of Kirk Gibson’s cap.  When Gibson removed the hat and his teammates were laughing at the joke, he stormed off of the field and was livid. He was there to work. If they were going to play games, it would pretty much be without his participation.

       He came back the next day, but the message was received and there were no more antics. A new leader was in town, and he was there to win. Gibson brought a football players mentality to baseball. He played hard all the time and never took a play off.

     Griffin took over at SS. Hamilton was the primary 3rd baseman. Gibby in left, Shelby in center and Marshall in right. Davis and Anderson were the most used subs off of the bench. Anderson managed to hit .249, but Davis, who had been a power hitter who could run had a miserable year. Hitting .196 with only 2 homers. Guerrero, now 32 and relegated to a bench role would only play 59 games before being traded to the Cardinals for John Tudor when LA felt it needed more pitching help.

     A group of substitute players dubbed themselves ” The Stuntmen” Hatcher was their leader with Dempsey and others joining in. Hatch did his part hitting .293. Hershiser, Belcher, and Leary did well as starters while Valenzuela and Sutton not so much. Howell had 21 saves out of the pen, and Pena added 12. Orosco, added 9 more as Lasorda split the load. Tudor after coming over was 4-3. Ramon Martinez made his debut and went 1-3.

      By the end of April, they were in 1st, 1/2 game in front. At the end of May, it remained the same. June was a good month and they were up 4 1/2 by the 29th.

       Another good month in July, and the lead remained the same. Hershiser was dominating the league. Gibson was leading the offense. In August they managed to add two more games to the lead. It was looking good heading into September. After starting the month 3-5, they went on a 5 game winning streak at home  which included two walk off wins.

      They went on the road and after losing the first game in Cincy, ripped off 4 more in a row and were now 9.5 games up. They went 6-6 the rest of the way and won the west by 7. The Reds finished 2nd and LA went 94-57. Now they had to play the Mets.

The Mets owned the Dodgers during the 88 season winning 10 of the 11 games. . They opened in LA. The Mets bested LA 3-2 with Howell taking the loss. Dodgers came back behind Belcher to win game 2 6-3. They scored 5 over the first two innings and never looked back. Marshall drove in 2 and they scored 5 of the 6 with 2 outs.

      In NY for game 3, LA jumped out to a 3-1 lead after 3 innings. The Mets tied it in the 6th and LA took the lead back in the top of the 8th. In the bottom of the 8th. The roof fell in. Howell started the inning. But he was ejected after one hitter when the umpires found a foreign substance in his glove. Pena came in and  gave up 2 runs along with the inherited runner Howell had left. Orosco came in facing 3 hitters and got no outs. Horton finally got them out after giving up a hit which allowed  1 of the runners Orosco left to score. Game over, 8-4 Mets.

       Looking to go up 3-1, the Mets started ace Dwight Gooden. LA countered with John Tudor. LA jumped on top 2-0 in the first. Shelby drove in Sax and Hatcher with a 2 out single.

      The Mets scored 3 in the 4th with 2 homers. One by Strawberry and the very next hitter, McReynolds. They went up 4-2 when Carter drove in McReynolds in the 5th knocking Tudor out of the game. Holton and Horton would pitch into the 8th, Meanwhile, Gooden was cruising. Hanging 7 straight zeros on the Dodgers.

     With 1 out in the 9th, Shelby got his 2nd hit and up came Scioscia. Scioscia hit a game tying homer off of Gooden, sending him to the showers. The Mets were shut down in the 9th by Pena.

     Into extra innings, Pena walked 3 but allowed no hits in 3 innings.  In the top of the 12th, Kirk Gibson, who at that point was 0-5 in the game, hit a homer off Roger McDowell putting LA ahead.

     Leary came in to start the 12th, but got 1 out and allowed 2 hits. Mets were threatening. In comes Orosco, he gets an out, but also walks a man loading the bases. Out of the pen comes ace Orel Hershiser to try and get the last out and tie the series at 2. Orel throws 3 pitches, gets the out and the series is tied.

     Game 5 in New York featured Belcher against Fernandez. Looking to head home in the lead in the series, LA scored first with 3 runs in the 4th inning. Then in the 5th, LA scored 3 more capped by a HR by Gibson. Dykstra hit a 3 run shot off of Belcher in the bottom of the 5th and it was 6-3. The Mets cut it to 6-4 with another run in the 7th. LA got that run back in the 9th and Horton and Holton shut the Mets down in the 9th. Back to LA up 3-2.

    Game 6 was never really in doubt. Cone completely shut down the Dodger offense and the Mets had chased Leary by the 5th inning. Gibson, hurting with leg injuries and hitting a paltry .154 for the series was 0-4. Holton scored the only run on an out by Danny Heep.

     Like game 6, game 7 was never in doubt. Only this time it was LA Ace, Orel Hershiser who took matters into his own hands. LA jumped all over Ron Darling and scored 6 runs over the first two innings. Two of the runs were unearned. But the damage was done and Hershiser mowed the Mets down inning after inning. Gibson was removed after the second inning. His legs were really a problem now. The Stuntmen did their part, Hatcher and his buddies playing important roles all series. Hershiser gave up 5 hits, walked 2 and struck out 5 and was never really in trouble. It was off to the World Series with the best team alive in the mighty A’s. Well, they did not have to go anywhere since game one was in LA.

    LA jumped on top with a 2 run shot by Hatcher in the first inning. So Belcher went to the mound in the second with a lead. But in short order he got in trouble. He gave up a hit to Hubbard, got Weiss, walked Stewart, and then Landsford to load the bases. He got Henderson out. But with 2 outs, Canseco launched one into the LF pavilion and it was 4-2 Oakland.

      The bullpen took over and kept the A’s off of the board. Leary, Holton and then Pena. Marshall scored on a Scioscia single in the 6th, but LA just could not get anything going against Stewart.

      So going into the 9th, they were down 4-3. With 1 out, Eckersley walked PH Mike Davis. And out of the dugout popped the obviously hobbled Kirk Gibson. The home crowd went nuts. They did not know how bad Gibby’s balky knee was bothering him. But he had told Lasorda he had one good swing left in him.

     He had also been talking to hitting coach Ben Hines and Hines mentioned that Eck liked to throw his backdoor slider with two strikes, so look for it. The tension mounted as he came up.

      He swung and missed the first pitch, then he hit a little dribbler that went foul on the next one. He was obviously hobbled as he barely got out of the box. Eck delivered a ball, then another and Mike Davis stole second. It was now 2-2.  Eck threw another ball. The count was now 3-2. with 1 out. Gibby called time and backed out. Probably remembering the advice of the hitting coach. On the next pitch, he threw the backdoor slider and Gibson planted it into the pavilion. Game over. Most dramatic HR in Dodger history.

      With Hershiser dominating them in game 2, A’s were down 2-0 heading home. They pulled out a win in game 3, 2-1, but LA went up 3-1 with a 4-3 win in game 4. Belcher and Howell shutting them down.

       Game 5 LA came back with Hershiser. And although he was not as dominating as in game 2, he pitched another complete game for the series win. Mickey Hatcher, who had 1 HR all season, hit his 2nd in the first inning to start the scoring. Mike Davis hit one in the 4th to put them up 4-1. They got 1 more in the 6th on a Rick Dempsey single, and the A’s could only muster 1 in the 8th and that was it. Hershiser was the MVP. Hatcher was the hitting star.

                                                 1989

             Change came again in the winter. Sax left as a free agent and signed with the Yankees. Orosco and Pena also left. They traded Howell, Juan Bell and Holton to the Orioles for Eddie Murphy. Willie Randolph was signed as a free agent. They traded Deveraux to the O’s for Mike Morgan. Gil Reyes went to the Expos for Jeff Fischer. In July they would trade Mariano Duncan and Tim Leary to the Teds for Kal Daniels and Lenny Harris. They got Ed Vosberg from the Astros that month too.

        Scioscia was still the starting catcher. Murray at 1st, Randolph at 2nd, Griffin at SS, Hamilton at 3rd with Gibby, still hurting, Shelby and Marshall manning the outfield. Gonzalez was the 4th outfielder most of the time, and Hatcher, still producing at 34 had a .295 avg. Mike Davis in limited duty hit .249. Daniels hit .342 after coming over from the Reds. He only played in 11 games. Chris Gwynn saw a little more time. Jose Vizcaino made his MLB debut as did Darrin Fletcher.

      With not much offensive support, Hershiser went 15-15. Belcher also won 15 games. Hershiser’s ERA was 2.31. Ramon Martinez joined the rotation and went 6-4 in 15 games. Howell had 28 saves, Morgan pitched more in relief than he did as a starter, and went 8-11. Wetteland was 5-8 with 1 save in his first extended action. Mickey Hatcher pitched an inning in relief.

      Murray did not look like the same player he was in Baltimore. He hit .247 but led the team in HR’s and RBI’s. Randolph hit .282, the highest of all the regulars.

       Overall though the team slipped all the way to 4th place in the division. 77-83. 6 of the starting 8 were over 30. Only Hamilton and Marshall in their 20’s. There was youth, but not much experience on the bench. Only Hershiser and Valenzuela were 30 in the starting rotation, the pen had 3 guys over 30. Age was creeping up on some of the players.

    Next up, we will examine the 90’s. It would be a historic decade in the sense that for 5 straight years, the Dodgers would boast having the Rookie of the Year. Did it make a difference on the playing field?