Tribute to Davey Lopes and “The Infield”

June 23, 1973: Dodger Stadium Los Angeles, opponent, the Cincinnati Reds. In the second game of a doubleheader, Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes, Ron Cey, and Bill Russell, started a game together as an infield for the first time. They would make up the infield for the next eight years. Their actual first game together had come on June 13th against the Phillies. Garvey entered the game in the fourth inning, replacing Tom Paciorek, who moved to CF in place of Willie Davis in a 16-3 drubbing by the Phillies at Veterans Stadium.

On the 23rd, Garvey appeared in game 1 as a pinch hitter for Andy Messersmith and singled off of Fred Norman in the 8th inning of a 5-1 loss. Cey hit a homer in the 9th off of Norman for the Dodgers lone score. Tommy John started game 2 and had a complete game 5-1 win. Garvey went 2-4 with a double. Cey was 0-1, he left and was replaced by Ken McMullen who hit a 3-run homer. Lopes 1-3 and Russell, 0-3.

Although they did not play the entire rest of the season as a group, they were together a majority of the games. Cey missed several games in June. Garvey hit his first homer of the year on June 24th off of Don Gullett. Garvey displaced Bill Buckner as the starting first baseman and Bill moved to left field most of the rest of the season. Garvey played 76 games at first that season. His line, .304/8/50.

Cey .245/15/80, Lopes .275/6/37 and Russell .265/4/56. Lopes stole 36 bases but was caught 16 times. He and Cey tied for 6th in the ROY voting. 1974 would be the group’s first full season together. Cey and Garvey made the All-Star team. Garvey won the MVP award over Lou Brock who stole 118 bases that year. Jimmy Wynn finished 5th. Garvey .312/21/111, Lopes .266/10/35, Cey .262/18/97, Russell .269/5/65. Lopes stole 59 bases, most by a Dodger since Maury Wills.

Garvey and Russell hit .389 in the NLCS against Pittsburgh, Cey hit .313, and Lopes .267 and stole 3 bases. Garvey 2, and Cey 1, slugged homers. Garvey was the only member of the quartet to hit well in the series with a 8-21 performance, but all his hits were singles, and he drove in just 1 run. Russell had 4 hits, one being a triple. Lopes 2-18, and Cey 3-17 had no extra base hits.

LA would finish 2nd in 1975, but they were 20 games behind the “Big Red Machine”. Garvey hit .319/18/95, Lopes .262/8/41, but he stole 77 bases and led the league. Russell .206/0/14 was injured most of the season and played in just 84 games. Cey .283/25/101, led the team in homers and RBIs. Injuries struck Russell, Buckner, and Mike Marshall, derailing the Dodgers pennant hopes.

There were some major roster changes in 1976, Dusty Baker joined the team in the Jimmy Wynn trade. Reggie Smith came over at mid-season in a trade with the Cardinals for two minor leaguers and Joe Ferguson. Lopes had a down year with the bat hitting just .241/4/20, but he stole 63 bases. Garvey hit .317/13/80. Cey again led the team with a .277/23/80 line. Russell .274/5/65. At the end of the season when the Dodgers finished 2nd again, this time 10 games back of the Reds, Tommy Lasorda replaced Alston as manager.

Buckner was traded to the Cubs for Rick Monday that winter and he joined the starting 8. Lasorda was a totally different kind of manager. He had the starters running in the outfield together prior to games to show team unity. Whatever his method, it worked. For the first time in baseball history, four players on a team hit 30 or more home runs. Garvey .297/33/115, sacrificed a little average for more power. Cey .241/30/110, Baker rebounding from an awful first year .291/30/86 and Smith .307/32/87 were the quartet who accomplished the feat. Russell .278/4/51 and Lopes .282/11/53 also made big contributions.

LA won the West, then defeated the Phillies 3-1 in the LCS. Baker hit 2 homers and drove in 8, Cey had a grand slam in game 1 off of Steve Carlton in the only game LA lost. They would lose the Series in six games to the Yankees. Cey, Garvey, and Lopes all homered in the Series, Smith though hit 3. Game six was the famed Reggie Jackson 3 homer game.

1978 would be another pennant winning year for the team. None of the four players who hit 30 or more in 77 would hit 30 in 78. Smith came close with 29. Garvey .316/21/113, Lopes .278/17/58, Cey .270/23/84, Russell .286/3/46 were as steady as usual. Lopes won his first and only Gold Glove. LA whipped the Phillies in the LCS, 3-1. LA hit 8 homers in the four games, Garvey had 4 of them, and Lopes hit 2. The team dedicated the World Series to coach Jim Gilliam, who had passed away suddenly in October.

They faced the Yankees again in the series. The won games one and two in LA, 11-5 and 4-3. Game two featured and epic at bat with Reggie Jackson being struck out by Bob Welch. But they lost the next four with only game four being a close game, 4-3. Lopes led the team with 3 homers and 7 driven in.

In 1979, the Dodgers record dropped below ,500, 79-83 and they finished 3rd in the West. Smith was injured for most of the year and played in just 69 games. Garvey, Cey and Lopes each hit 28 homers that year, Baker added 23. Garvey hit .315 and had 204 hits. Russell had 7 homers and drove in 56. Joe Ferguson returned to the team and added 20 homers in a utility role. Rick Sutcliffe joined the rotation and was named Rookie of the Year. The pitching was less than stellar, thus contributing to the down season.

In 1980, the Dodgers would be in the thick of the race until the very last game. They would end up having to win the last three games of the season against the first-place Astros. They would do so and then lost game 163 to finish 2nd in the West. Garvey .304/26/106, Lopes .252/10/49, Cey .254/28.77, Russell .264/3/34 were a little below their career averages. Baker led the team with 29 homers. Smith played 92 games and hit .322. Jerry Reuss, in his 2nd year in LA was their ace, all the starters won in double figures except free agent signee, Dave Goltz, who also was the starting pitcher and loser in game 163. A young Mexican left-hander made his debut and pitched in 10 games going 2-0. He would impact the 1981 season greatly.

1981 would prove to be the last season that the infield would be together. 1981 would also be a strike year. The players went on strike in June and did not return until August. So, the season was split into two parts with a first and second half champ.

The first half of the season started for the Dodgers with the young lefty having to pitch on opening day because Reuss was injured. What did the kid Valenzuela do? He shut out the Astros. He would end up pitching 8 shutout’s, 11 complete games, leading the league in strikeouts and he won the Cy Young and the ROY, the only player in MLB history to do that. For those of you who thought Skenes did that, he won the ROY his rookie year, and the Cy Young in his second.

In 81, all of the members of the infield had down years. Garvey .283/10/64, Lopes .206/5/17 in just 58 games. He did steal 20 bases. Cey .288/13/50, Russell .233/0/22. LA had some new players in the starting lineup, Landreaux replaced Monday and Pedro Guererro replaced Reggie Smith. Steve Sax made his debut and played in 33 games. LA won the first half, and the Astros won the second. The team in the NL that won the most games, did not make the playoffs. The Reds had a combined 66 wins. They finished 1/2 game behind the Dodgers in the first half, and 1.5 games back of Houston in the second.

Because of the split season, LA now had to play in a division series as well as a championship series to get to the World Series. They lost the first two games of the division series to the Astros in Houston. They won game 3 behind Burt Hooton, 5-1 in LA. Valenzuela then outdueled Vern Ruhle 2-1. Jerry Ruess then shut out Houston winning 4-0 over Nolan Ryan. Garvey hit 2 homers and drove in 4 in the series.

They faced the Expos in the LCS. They split the first two games in LA, winning 5-1 behind Hooton and losing 3-0 to Ray Burris who bested Valenzuela, I was at that game. Back in Montreal, they lost game three, 4-1 to Steve Rogers.

With their backs against the wall, the won game four, 7-1 behind Hooton, beating Gullickson for the second time in the series. Valenzuela faced Burris in game five. Both pitchers were nails allowing just 1 run. In the 9th inning, Rogers came in replacing Burris. He retired Garvey and Cey. Monday came up and hit a ball over the fence in center field. LA led, 2-1.

Valenzuela got into some trouble in the 9th and with 2 outs, he was replaced by Bob Welch. Welch threw one pitch and got the final out. It would forever be known in Montreal as Blue Monday. They would not play another playoff game in Montreal. The franchise would next appear in the playoffs 31 years later as the Washington Nationals. LA headed to the World Series to face the Yankees.

The 81 World Series would prove to be “The Infields” swan song. In a reverse of the 78 series, LA lost the first two games at Yankee Stadium putting them in a huge hole. Back in LA for game three, Valenzuela started against Dave Righetti. LA jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first behind a 3-run homer by Cey. The Yankees came back scoring 2 in the second and 2 in the third putting Valenzuela on the ropes.

Righetti was gone after 2 innings, replaced by George Frazier. Down 4-3 in the fifth, LA rallied against Frazier scoring 2 runs to take a 5-4 lead. One of the runs was unearned and the other was driven in by Pedro Guererro. Valenzuela was in trouble the entire game allowing 9 hits and walking 7. He made 147 pitches and got the complete game win.

Game four was started by Rick Rueschel and Bob Welch. Welch did not make it out of the first inning giving up 2 runs without allowing a hit. Goltz relieved him and got out of the inning. But he allowed single runs in the second and third innings putting the Dodgers in a 4-0 hole.

LA began chipping away at the lead in the third as Lopes had an RBI single and Cey drove in a run with a ground out. May replaced Rueschel. In the fifth, Garvey doubled and Cey drove him in. 4-3 NY. In the top of the sixth, the Yanks scored 2 off of Tom Niedenfuer on RBI singles by Gamble and Watson.

In the bottom of the sixth with Ron Davis now pitching, he walked Scioscia with one out and then allowed a 2-run PH homer to Jay Johnstone. Lopes lifted a fly ball to right that Jackson lost in the sun for an error. Lopes then stole third and scored on a single by Russell.

In the bottom of the 7th, with George Frazier now pitching, Baker led off with an infield hit. Monday then hit a ball to center that Brown tried to make a shoestring catch on but missed allowing Monday to reach second with a single. Guererro was walked intentionally, and instead of bringing in Gossage, Lemon brought John in out of the pen. Yeager pinch hit for Scioscia and hit a sac-fly giving the Dodgers the lead. Lopes then scored Monday with an infield hit making it 8-6 LA. No more runs scored as John managed to get out of the inning stranding Guererro at third. NY scored a run in the eighth making it 8-7 when Jackson homered off of Howe. Howe shut down the Yankees in the 9th for the win and the series was tied.

Ruess outdueled Guidry in game five, a 2-1 win that was powered by back-to-back homers by Guererro and Yeager in the 7th inning. The teams went back to New York for game six. Hooton against John. The game had been postponed a day due to rain.

NY got on the board first on a solo shot by Randolph in the third. LA tied the game in the fourth on an RBI single by Yeager. In the bottom of the fourth, Nettles doubled. Hooton then retired the next two hitters and intentionally walked Larry Milbourne to face John. Lemon made what would be a much-debated decision and pinch-hit Bobby Murcer for John. There was no DH in this series. Murcer lined out to center ending the threat.

George Frazier replaced John. LA jumped on him with an RBI single by Cey and then a 2-run triple by Guererro. Frazier would eventually be charged with his 3rd loss of the series. The first pitcher to lose 3 in a best of seven series and the second pitcher to lose 3 in any series. The first was Lefty Williams, a member of the Black Sox who lost the 1919 series.

The game was basically over. LA tagged on 4 more runs in the sixth. With Davis pitching, he walked Hooton and Lopes with 1 out. Russell singled to short left, and Winfield slipped on the wet grass allowing Hooton to score. Lopes and Russell pulled of a double steal after Rueschel replaced Davis. Garvey was walked intentionally. Derrell Thomas hit into a run-scoring force out. Baker reached on a Nettles error. Guererro then singled in 2 runs making it 8-1 Dodgers. The Yankees scored a run in the bottom of the sixth on a pinch-hit single by Pinella.

Howe replaced Hooton. Guererro capped a five RBI night with a solo blast off of Rudy May in the eight. Howe shut the Yankees down the rest of the way and LA won 9-2 winning their 4th title in LA. Cey, Yeager and Guererro were named Co-MVPs of the series. Members of the infield did well in the series.

Garvey led the team in hits with 10 and batted .417. Oddly, he did not have a homer or an RBI. Cey hit .350 in the series with a homer and 6 driven in. Lopes hit just .227, but he scored 6 runs and stole 4 bases. Russell hit .240 and drove in 2 runs.

After the season, LA traded Lopes to the A’s for Lance Hudson a minor league infielder. This opened a spot for Steve Sax. Garvey and Cey would both leave after the 1982 season. Garvey as a free agent to the Padres, and Cey was dealt to the Cubs to allow Guererro to move to third so Mike Marshall could take over in the outfield. Bill Russell played his entire career in LA. It spanned 18 years, tying him with Zack Wheat for the longest tenure in a Dodger uniform. He also coached for the team and was the manager after Lasorda’s heart attack.

No infield in MLB history has been together as long. With free agency and such, it is doubtful that anyone will come close. As a group they had 21 All-Star game appearances winning four pennants and one World Series. Garvey received 4 gold gloves and Lopes one. Davey will be missed.