As I look back in the history of the Dodgers, there have been many occasions when a player was switched from his original position to a new one, and both the player and the Dodgers were better for it.
I could probably go back to the early days in Brooklyn and find some guys who did this. But I thought I would stick with the history that I have witnessed personally and go back only to those players who were active in my lifetime. I am sure I will miss someone, and someone will correct me, but that is cool.
The first obvious choice is Jackie Robinson. Jackie was a shortstop. When he was signed, some of the white players who opposed his coming to the Dodgers went to Pee Wee and asked him how he felt about a black man taking his job.
Pee Wee did not have to worry. The Dodgers wanted their All-Star shortstop to stay where he was. Jackie would break into the Dodger lineup as a first baseman. That was 1947, his rookie year. And that was where he was needed most. He worked hard with Clyde Sukeforth and learned to play the position well enough to play it in the 1947 season.
But in a lot of ways, Jackie was a super-utility guy who played every day. He also played second base, third base, and some outfield while a member of the Dodgers. He moved where needed as needed. Before Billy Cox came over, he played some at third. After Cox became a regular, he moved to full-time at second. When Gilliam arrived, he moved all over the field. And that was the way it was until he retired.
Jackie was the ultimate team player. He in turn was moved off of first base when they decided to take 3rd string catcher, Gil Hodges, and move Gil to first. The main reason was Campy coming up, Bruce Edwards, Campy’s back up was more skilled than Hodges. But they wanted Hodges bat in the lineup, so he learned how to play first base.
How did that work out? Gil was an 8-time all-star. He won the first 3 gold gloves ever given to a first baseman, and basically, he was the best first baseman of his era. No one was better. Stan Musial moved between first and the outfield. There were some other very good first basemen, but Gil stood out. He played for the Dodgers for 16 years and hit 361 HR’s. Second only on the all time list to Duke Snider.
Those are the two most prominent in that era I can think of. There are like I said, probably others. Ron Fairly was signed as a first baseman. And his first action in LA was in that capacity. But Fairly was moved to the outfield in 1965 when Wes Parker took over the starting job at first. Fairly spent 12 years with LA. He was a steady player and had respectable numbers.
Jim Gilliam was a jack of all trades. Most of us remember him as a 3rd baseman on the series-winning teams in 63 and 65. But he played all over the field. He was the player removed from the game for Sandy Amoros in game 7 of the 55 World Series. Probably the smartest move Alston made in his entire managing career. Gilliam would have never caught Berra’s drive down the line. Amoros being left-handed sprinted over and made the catch to save the game.
The next impact players to change spots came in the early ’70s, and there were multiple guys. Davey Lopes, an outfielder who became an all-star second baseman and member of the longest-running infield in the majors. Bill Russell, another outfielder moved to the infield. And of course, Steve Garvey moved to first from third because of his bad throws from third. This also facilitated the move of Bill Buckner, another natural first baseman to the outfield.
Billy Bucks would of course return to first after leaving LA with disastrous results in a World Series. Joe Ferguson was pressed into duty in the outfield while he was in LA.
Pedro Guerrero, an infielder also playing out of position in the outfield at times. But with that bat, they were going to get him in there any way they could. Nomar Garciaparra moved to 1st base to play with LA. And for one glorious year, Nomar was the toast of the town.
On the other side of the coin are position players moved to the mound. The most prominent in memory right now is Jansen. Jansen was a no-hit catcher with a gun for an arm. They moved him to the mound in 2009 and he was in the majors to stay by 2011. No matter what you might think of him now, that was a smart move. Jansen has been one of the best in the league since then.
Pedro Baez was drafted as an infielder. He actually hit 13 HR’s one year in the minors. But they switched him over in 2013 and he became a very serviceable reliever. He is now on the IL with Houston, Covid protocols.
Gary Sheffield was drafted as a SS. Bellinger as a first baseman. Muncy as a second baseman. Kike never had a set position. Taylor was a SS. They drafted Busch as a second baseman if I remember right. He looks too large to be one of those. Dee Gordon moved to second and became a better player. He, like Sax, had the yips.
Today’s game is so much different. Versatility is the name of the game now. Outfielders can play multiple positions out there. Even Mookie has had a turn or two somewhere else. Belli has played 1st, center, and right. Pollock center and left.
Former Dodger, Brett Eibner is in the Marlins system trying to make it as a pitcher now. The Dodgers had a guy in their system last season who was a former outfielder trying to make it as a pitcher. I cannot remember his name right off of the top of my head, but he threw in the high 90’s.
And then there was Rick Ankiel. He lost his confidence on the mound and switched to the outfield and made it back to the majors. Perseverance can sometimes pay off.
Nice work, Bear! Change is good.
Nothing like a little jog of the memory.
That Trevor Bauger is pretty good! Now, watch that dumbass Manfred do something stupid!
It’s great to see CT3 and Mad Max off to great starts.
Tomorrow, 2Demeter2 gets up off his recliner and pontificates here. Stay tuned!
I see what you’re doing here, Bear. You’re suggesting that all the Dodgers change positions in order to give their opponents a chance. Obviously sitting players isn’t working, so everyone needs to play out of position.
Bauer looks like he’s on another level. He seems to change speeds on all his pitches and routinely paints corners. This guy is a pitcher.
Don’t look now but the pen has allowed just 2 ER in its last 12 and 1/3, good for a 1.46 ERA. Not bad for a crappy pen. Price had a clean inning and Alexander closed it out with a scoreless frame.
Man, I’m ready to fast forward a couple of days. I can’t wait to play the Padres and get a real test in their yard.
Thanks again Bear for an interesting take on Dodger history. Price looked so much better last night. Although he looked a little upset with some of his location, he was hitting 94 with his fastball. If he and Nelson get comfortable coming out of the pen then our “weakness” becomes a strength! And Bauer finally got through a 7th inning. He looked like Cy Young Bauer last night. Nice to have 5 aces in our staff right now!
Thank you Cassidy. I love the history of the game and the team. And these kinds of posts are fun to do. Of course probably the most impactful position change of all time affected not only his team, but baseball over all. That was when Babe Ruth quit pitching and became a full time outfielder. His slugging prowess changed the way the game was played. Pissed guys like Cobb off too.
I did not get a chance to respond to your reply yesterday. I am elated to have Betts and u could certainly argue that we would not have a World Series without him. My point was we gave up a lot while other teams don’t seem to give up anything for Arenado, Darvish etc.
Yeah, but the Rockies PAID the Cardinals 50 million for taking Arenado. LA got Boston to pay 1/2 of Prices contract for 3 years. Different teams have different needs. Chicago unloaded his salary. And they got a MLB ready pitcher back in the deal along with the prospects. Downs still has not cracked the Red Sox roster, and neither has Wong. So since he was in the last year of his deal, the Red Sox got from the Dodgers a better package than most teams would have paid for a one year rental.
Not directly on topic, but I wanted to comment upon this Dodgers team in general. This could well be the greatest Los Angeles Dodgers team in history. Now that I write this, maybe we will lose ten games i n a row, I certainly hope not. But we are really, really good. Betts was out, Bellinger still is out. Seager missed a couple of games, we still win. Of course, we have not played one good team. But we are so deep a and talented that it might not matter much, we will see.
Trevor Bauer. I was very excited when we got him, although a few, not here, were not. I do hope he stays for another year at least. I wish we could have signed him for five years. He is great, intensely determined, with the highest standards for his efforts. He is a real star, and very much complements the rest of the staff. I am very much hoping that we find a way to extend his contract , as the third year is cheap, and he would walk if not extended. He could even leave after this year, for a three- or four-year deal, since the net value of this last two years here is less than he would be offered by many teams. I don’t really understand the concept of the contract we offered, all frontloaded to the first two years. And the season has just started. But if we want to stay ahead of the Padres, who are going to have an awesome pitching staff, we need to keep Bauer, period.
If you had to choose between extending Bauer or Kershaw who would you pick? Of course, the Dodgers won’t have to make that decision until the end of the year at the earliest.
I’m sure Bauer is going to like being here. Maybe that means something, maybe not. The dude definitely beats to different drum. 😉 I enjoy his weirdness as much as his greatness.
Great article Bear. Russell Martin was another player who changed his position SS to catcher and it worked out well.
I had forgotten that Martin changed positions. I always saw him at catcher.
We have 7 of our guys OPSing .999 or better. McKinstry is at .999
Muncy
Smith
Turner
Betts
Seager
Taylor
McKinstry
I realize it’s a small sample but still. As I said before the season started I’m high on our offense. Team OPS .867
Dodgers No1 in baseball in OPS and No3 in ERA.
Blake Snell is off to a rough start. 3 games, 10 IP, 4.35 ERA. All of the Dodgers starting pitchers have a better ERA than Darvish and Snell even though 4 of them have already pitched at Coors field.
A lot of times team E.R.A. and team pitching OPS lineup because the Dodgers team pitching OPS is #3 too.
Inserting read on the declining need for a good glove shortstop:
https://www.thescore.com/mlb/news/2152818
Interesting, thanks for the link
Kershaw of course is the emotional choice, but Bauer probably has more great years left. Kershaw looked great on Sunday, the best he has looked in a year or two. I would expect Bauer to be more consistently good this year, but of course we must see how it develops. Right now, for a three-year contract, I would take Bauer. We would like to have both, of course.
MLBTR rated the top free agents. Seager is # 1 and they project he will get a contract bigger than Lindor’s. So that would be 340 plus. Also, they think Kersh will rate a 3 year deal at 30 per. Sorry, I do not think the Dodgers are going to pay a pitcher like Kersh, even though he is an icon to the team, 30 mil a year when his skill set says closer to 20.
10 games with San Diego in this month alone. I give Padres 3 games max. And they say it’s a great time to be a San Diego fan. I say we’ll see. I got 20 million things to do but can’t seem to take the 1st step. I’m caught in a time warp and the alarm clock is broken. It must have been the Johnson & Johnson covid shot asbestos contaminated.
I will have to consult LADT’s CFO, Jeff Dominique in order to determine if we can pay Seaver, Bauer and Kershaw.
He’ll make you stay under the CBT. 😉
I think we can get Seaver on the cheap right now!
Gil Hodges had a much better career, as a player and manager, than so many players in the Hall of Fame. The close-but-no-cigar omission is really perplexing. I have similar feelings about Maury Wills as a singular force who revolutionized the game, setting the stage for Brock, Henderson, Raines, Coleman. (I am more impressed by the short-term GREATNESS–as Fernando and Orel also exhibited–over the stats compiled through longevity. I’ll take prime Fernando and Orel over prime Sutton. )
Busch played 1B in college but on draft day the Dodgers introduced him as a second baseman. Whatever… He’s said to be a good all-around athlete so I assume he can play left field as well. He is a hit-first guy with a second-rate arm
Which reminds me of the WS moment when Joe Ferguson raced over from right to take a fly to center that seemed head for the glove of Jimmy Wynn, the Toy Cannon with the pop-gun arm. Ferguson threw a strike to cut down Sal Bando at the plate.
A thing of beauty, a joy forever.
183 millions!
https://www.dodgersnation.com/dodgers-ranked-1-in-revenue-losses-for-mlb-during-covid-19/2021/04/14/amp/
Lineup, Betts, Seager, Turner, Muncy, Lux, Beaty, McKinstry, Barnes, May …. Hodges has 370 HR’s, a career .273 BA and 1274 RBI’s and 3 gold gloves.first 3 ever awarded, 8 all star appearances in a 18 year career. Tony Perez who played 22 years has 379 HR’s, a .279 BA, No gold gloves, 7 All star appearances, and he played on 2 world series winners, same as Gil. But Gil won 1 as a manager. It figures Perez would have more ribbies than Gil, but only 9 more homers. Perez was not even the best first baseman of his era, but Gil was by a long shot.
Tony Perez got one of the magic numbers though, 1500+ RBI.
HR 500
Runs 1500
RBI 1500
Hits 3000
If you get one of those magic numbers, it’s just about automatic.
Was the case then, not so much now. I think another player that belongs in the hall is Dale Murphy. Just found out that Lee Aaker passed away on the 1st of April in Arizona. His body was not claimed and he was listed as an unknown indigent. For those of you wondering who Aaker is, he was Corporal Rusty on Rin Tin Tin. He also was in Hondo with John Wayne. I met him at Alpine Village many years ago when the band I was with was doing a benefit there. At that time he was working as a stunt man. Also there was Bob Wills Jr and Jock Mahony, who was Yancy Derringer in that TV series. RIP Lee.
Rodon is one inning away from perfect game…Or no hitter? CWS -CLE
Got the no hitter. Hit a man in the 9th.
Leave Gonzalez in there for a few innings if he is not bad.
Well, it looks as if Kenley is out to prove something to himself and to us! He really looked determined after that first walk in the 9th. And what about McKinstry? Kike who? Joc who?
Finally, do you think they’ll deliver me a Bonus Jack here in the Netherlands? It’s a bit inconvenient for me to fly to the US every time the Dodgers’ pitchers get 10 strikeouts! And it’s been happening with some regularity lately, so I’m missing out.