May 1, 1920. In the city of Boston, the police were uneasy in the murky morning mist. Between intermittent showers, they stood with shoulders hunched against the chilly air as they trudged out in extra details, alert to the morning headlines, “Guard against Bolshevik uprisings here. As it turned out, the only battle that day took place at the local ball field as the Bostons, and the Brooklyns battled for…
Eddie Mathews was born on October 13th, 1931, in Texarkana, Texas. His family moved to Santa Barbara, California, four years later. Eddie got his love of baseball from his father. His dad was a Western Union telegraph operator and former semi-pro ballplayer. His mother got in on the action too. She would pitch to him, and his dad would shag balls. If he hit one up the middle close to…
There once were three brothers pitching in the Dodger system at the same time. Ramon Martinez, his brothers Pedro and Jesus. Pedro and Ramon threw from the right side. Jesus was a southpaw. Two of them made it to the Dodgers. One’s stay was brief. and he was traded. The other pitched well for LA for several seasons. Jesus got a brief call-up in 1996. But did not make it…
Edward Charles Ford was born on October 21,1928 in New York City. He was the only child of Jim and Edna Ford, who lived on 66th St. in Manhattan. When Ford was 5, his family moved to 34th Ave. in Astoria, Queens. An Irish, Italian and Polish neighborhood. His dad worked for Consolidated Edison, and his mother was a bookkeeper for a local A&P store. After he began pitching professionally,…
Jerry Reuss was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on June 19, 1949. His father worked for RC Cola and drove a truck. His mom worked in real estate and also as an interior decorator. The big baseball fan in the family was his grandfather on his mom’s side, Alfred Hellwig. He would ride a streetcar to Sportsman’s Park to watch the Cardinals and the Browns almost every day. Jerry was…
Steve Howe came out of nowhere. At age 21 he was pitching in AA San Antonio and was a starting pitcher there. He made the Dodger roster out of spring training in 1980 and went on to win the ROY that year. The second of 4 LA Rookies of the Year in a row. Rick Sutcliffe won in 1979. He would be followed by Fernando and Steve Sax. Howe was…
One of the players who I respected the most when I was growing up was Ernie Banks. I do not think I have ever seen anyone who enjoyed playing more than he did. He always had a great smile and the man could hit. The man loved the game. Ernest Banks was born in Dallas Texas, on January 31, 1931. He was the second oldest of 12 children born to…
The last Dodger no-hitter was a combined effort by Buehler, Tony Cingrani, Yimi Garcia and Adam Liberatore against the Padres in Mexico City, Mexico on May 4, 2018. It was the first combined no hitter in team history, and it was also the first no hitter thrown outside of the United States or Canada. In their long history, Dodger pitchers have thrown 26 no-hitters. They have been no-hit 20 times….
On July 20, 1970, righty Bill Singer threw what was the 18th no-hitter in Dodger history and the first since Koufax’s perfect game in 1965. In doing so he accomplished something that Dodger legends like Don Drysdale and Don Sutton never did. He threw a no-hitter in a major league game. It would be 10 more years before a Dodger pitcher, (Jerry Ruess) would throw another. William Robert Singer was…
My most memorable memory of Bob Welch was his confrontation with Reggie Jackson as a 21-year-old in the 1978 World Series game two. He struck Mr. October out to win the game. Epic battle. The slugger against the fireballing rookie. The Dodgers would end up losing the series, but that is probably the best memory of that series I have. Robert Lynn Welch was born on the 3rd of November…