Smokey

Today’s post is about the longest tenured Dodger manager. Walter Emmons Alston. Smokey to his friends. Alston was the manager when the team moved from Brooklyn. He was just 3 years removed from guiding them to their only World Championship in their long history. His team was a mixture of old Brooklyn stars, Reese, Hodges, Snider, Furillo, Erskine, and some new blood just beginning to make some noise on the MLB landscape.

But Jackie was gone, having retired after the 1956 season and a subsequent trade to the Giants. So was Campy, now confined to a wheelchair after a terrible accident in New Jersey that winter.

Untested kids battle hardened vets with numerous aches and pains. Quite a mix. But the bigger challenge was ahead, the ballpark. Since there was not a suitable major league facility available, the Dodgers would be playing in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Originally built for the 32 Olympics, it was now used mainly for football. USC and the Rams of the NFL used it as their home.

It also was used for 4th of July fireworks displays and circuses. They laid out a baseball field, and what the players saw the first time they laid eyes on it must have been a shock. The left field fence was 251 feet away. Protected by a 30 foot screen which extended from the foul line to left center field.

So in April of 1958 the Dodgers began play in LA. That year was not a good one for them. The aging vets and the kids limped to a 7th place finish. Power hitters like Snider and Hodges saw their power numbers dip significantly. Snider, who had hit 40 or more HR’s for 5 straight seasons, saw his total dip to 15. Partially due to the fact that he was injured, and also because the right field fence at the coliseum was a short cab ride away, not really, but it was nowhere near as friendly as Ebbets Field.

Walter Emmons Alston was born in Venice Ohio on December 1st, 1911. He spent much of his youth on a farm in Morning Sun. When he was a teenager, his family moved to Darrtown. He attended Milford Township High School in Darrtown and received his nickname ” Smokey” as a high school pitcher owing to the speed of his fastball.

He graduated from high school in 1929 and married his longtime girlfriend Lela the next year. In 1935 Alston graduated with a degree in Industrial Arts and Physical education from the Miami University in Oxford Ohio. He had stated that finances while he was at school were a challenge and that he paid his way through school by playing pool. He lettered 3 years in both basketball and baseball.

He played in the minors for the Greenwood Chiefs and Huntington Red Birds in 35 and 36. He hit 35 homers for Huntington in 120 games in 1936. His only major league at bat occurred in 36 on the 27th of September. He substituted for Johnny Mize at first base. In his only at bat, Lon Warneke struck him out. He also made an error on one of his two chances in the field.

He would not return to the majors until he became the manager of the Dodgers in 1954. He stayed in the minors for some years. In the 40’s he was a player-manager for many different teams. In 1944 he moved to Trenton and became the player-manager there. He was given that job by Branch Rickey, who had signed him as a player when he was in the Cardinals system.

He moved from Trenton to Nashua. He served as a player-manager for the first integrated US baseball team in the 20th century. The Nashua Dodgers of the Class-B New England league. The Dodgers featured Don Newcombe and Roy Campanella. They went on to win the New England title in 1946. Alston stated that he did not give too much consideration to racial issues and he simply thought how much they would benefit the team.

He moved on to Pueblo of the Western League the next season and led the team to a title. He also made his last appearance as a player that season. In 13 years at the minor league level, Alston hit .295 with 176 HR’s. But he only hit .239 at AA, which until 1945 was the highest minor league classification.

In 1948, he moved on to manage the St Paul Saints, a Dodgers AAA affiliate. The team finished in 3rd place. Campanella was on his team thus integrating the American Association. Some complained that he was only there to integrate the league, but Campy hit 13 HR’s in 35 games and was called up to Brooklyn.

The 49 team went on to win the league finishing a 1/2 game in front of Indianapolis. During the off season, Alston would work as a teacher in Darrtown.

In 1950, Alston moved on to manage the Dodgers other AAA affiliate, the Montreal Royals of the International League. Over the next 4 seasons the team won between 86 and 95 games every year. In 51 and 52 they won International League pennants. In 51 and 53 they won the Governor’s Cup playoff tournament. Alston would later be inducted into the International League Hall of Fame, 2010.

In the winter of 1953, Charlie Dressen was pressing ownership for a 2 or 3 year contract. O’Malley refused, so Dressen was out. Buzzie Bavasi campaigned hard for O’Malley to hire Alston, and finally he was named manager for the 1954 season. He signed a one year contract. And for the rest of his run as manager, he did the same thing every year.

His first year, the Dodgers went 92-62 finishing 2nd to the eventual World Champion Giants. A let down since the Dodgers had won the pennant in 52 and 53. He was ejected from a game once that season. His star second baseman, Jackie Robinson, thought Alston was not fiery enough. Jackie loved arguing with umps, and Alston seemed to avoid it.

Then came 1955. The Dodgers burst out of the gate and were never headed. They won 98 games and lost 55 with 1 tie. Then the World Series with the dreaded Yankees.

Game one featured each team’s ace. Whitey Ford against Don Newcombe. The Dodgers jumped out to a lead, but the Yanks came back to tie. Snider’s HR in the next inning put Brooklyn back up, but the Yanks tied the score on an RBI groundout. Joe Collins leadoff HR put the Yankees back in front 4-3. Collins then hit a 2 run HR in the 6th to put the Yanks up 6-2. An error by McDougal put runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out. Zimmer hit a sac fly and Robinson then stole home and it was 6-5.

That was the final score as Bob Grim came out of the pen to finish the game. Game 2 featured Tommy Byrne, and Billy Loes, after jumping into the lead again, the Yanks went ahead and earned a 4-2 win. Now up 2-0, the series went to Brooklyn.

Game 3 was Johnny Podres against Bob Turley. The Dodgers scored 2 in the first on Campy’s homer. Yanks came back with 2 in the second on a Mantle homer, and a Rizzuto run scoring single.

The Dodgers came right back with 2 in the bottom of the second when Jim Gilliam and Pee Wee Reese both drew bases-loaded walks off the Yankee pitchers. The Dodgers scored 3 more in the 4th to lead 6-2. The Yanks then scored a run in the 7th, but the Dodgers came right back with 2 more and the final score was 8-3.

Carl Erskine started game 4, but was ineffective and the Yankees had a 3-1 lead going into the bottom of the 4th. Campy hit a solo shot, and Hodges hit a 2 run homer and they were up, 4-3. But in the 5th, Snider hit his second homer of the series, a 3 run shot and Brooklyn was cruising. The Yankees scored 2 in the 6th off of Labine to make it closer, but the Dodgers strung together 3 singles to get another run in the 7th for a 8-5 win.

The series was now tied 2-2. Game 5 featured Bob Grim, and rookie Roger Craig. Amoros hit a 2 run shot to put the Dodgers in front, and Snider hit his 3rd homer of the series in the 3rd for a 3-0 lead. The Yanks scored 1 in the 4th inning, but the Dodgers came back with one of their own in the 5th to make it 4-1.

Červ homered off of Craig in the 7th, and Berra hit one off of Labine in the 8th, and it was 4-3. But the Dodgers pushed across a run of their own, and won 5-3.

Up 3-2, the series shifted to Yankee Stadium. Karl Spooner started for the Dodgers and it was Ford again for the Yanks. The Yanks scored all 5 of their runs in the 1st inning off Spooner. A couple of walks, back to back singles, and then a 3 run bomb by Bill Skowron, and they were up 5-0. Ford for his part pitched a complete game 4 hitter allowing 1 run in the 4th on a single by Carl Furillo.

With the series tied, Alston went with the lefty, Johnny Podres against the Yanks Tommy Byrne. Podres bobbed and weaved his way through the Yankee lineup. He scattered 8 hits through the game. In the 3rd inning, with Rizzuto on base, the Yankees got their only hit with a runner in scoring position, but instead of it being 1-0 Yankees, Rizzuto was out because the ball hit him.

The Yanks had a couple of scoring opportunities, a Berra leadoff double, but they failed to score. Then in the 6th, came the play of the game, with 2 runners on, and 1 out. Yogi Berra hit a line drive to the opposite field. Sandy Amoros who had just come into the game as a defensive replacement for Gilliam raced to the line and caught the ball right in front of the stands. He fired the ball to Reese who relayed it to Hodges, and they were out of the inning.

Podres had little trouble the rest of the way, and when Elston Howard grounded to Reese in the 9th, the Dodgers had their first Championship. And it was Alston at the helm.

One thing though, the heart and soul of the team, Jackie Robinson, was not on the field that final game. He had been replaced at 3rd by Don Hoak.

Alston’s run of success had just started. His 56 team went back to the series, but lost to the Yankees. Partly due to the perfect game pitched by journeyman pitcher, Don Larsen.

In 58 the team was gone from Brooklyn and moved to Los Angeles. Campy and Robbie were gone, Erskine’s balky elbow finally caught up with him. Snider was hurt for part of the year, and the team limped home in 7th place their first year in their new home.

They played on a converted football field with really odd dimensions. Snider’s power alley was so far away he would say it was a cab ride to get there.

59 was a transition year. The Vets were not playing as much, and off season pick up, Wally Moon became the regular left fielder. Snider shared center with Don Demeter. Reese had retired and was a coach. So Zimmer started the year as the SS. But he was so bad that they called up a speedster named Wills at midseason. Neal was at second, Roseboro was the catcher. Gilliam played third most of the time with Hodges at 1st.

They ended up tied with the Braves and won a 2 game playoff. Drysdale and Podres were the top pitchers on the staff. The top man out of the pen was Larry Sherry.

They beat the White Sox in 6 games. Duke Snider hit his 11th and final World Series homer, and in their second year in LA, they had their second World Series title.

Over the next few years Alston would get them to 3 more World Series, and really close to a 4th. They would win in 63 and 65, then lose to the O’s in 66.

As the team’s roster changed and the old guard moved on, Snider and Hodges to the Mets, others to the Astros, the 2 new expansion teams, it became a little harder to win since now there were 10 teams in the league.

Koufax called it quits after the 66 season and Alston lost his Ace. Big D was still there, but the team struggled scoring runs. In 67 and 68 they had back to back 8th place finishes.

In 1969 division play started, and the Dodgers finished 4th in the NL West. But new blood was coming.

1970 marked a 3 year stretch where they averaged 87 wins a year. Finishing 2nd twice and 3rd once. In 1973 they won 95 games and finished 2nd. It was the first year the infield of Garvey, Lopes, Cey and Russell was together.

In 1974 with the Addition of Jimmy Wynn they got Alston his 7th and final pennant. Facing the two time champion Oakland A’s, they lost the series 4-1. Oddly 4 of the games ended with the same 3-2 score. The other game was 5-2. In 75 and 76, they finished second to the Reds Big Red Machine. Alston turned the team over to Tommy Lasorda with 2 games left in the 76 season and he retired.

Over his last 8 years the team averaged 85 wins a year and had 5 second place finishes. In 71 they finished 1 game back of the Giants.

Alston was called “The Quiet Man” for his demeanor. He never would chew players out in public. He always would pull them aside and explain why he was upset with their performance.

He was also one of the strongest guys around. He once challenged anyone on the bus to get off and fight him if they had a gripe. The players had been complaining about a bus that was having engine trouble and they were stuck in traffic. He took responsibility when the team lost, and gave credit to his players always.

Some players characterized him as indecisive. But they also said he managed to get the best out of his guys.

His 4 Series Championships are the most of any Dodger manager. As are his seven pennants. He could have possibly had a couple more.

Alston retired to his home in Darrtown. The Dodgers retired his number in 1977, He became the 4th Dodger to be so honored. He was elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veteran’s committee in 1983.

He suffered a heart attack that year and was in the hospital for a month. His grandson went to Cooperstown to represent him at the induction ceremony. Alston passed away on the 1st of October, 1984 in Ohio. He is buried in his hometown of Darrtown. He was 72 years old.

His winning legacy and the 2040 games his teams won in those 23 years have made him the winningest manager in Dodger history. Lasorda who managed 21 years had 1599, and Wilbert Robinson who managed for 19 years finished with 1399.

Walter Alston was a Dodger legend.