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…
By the way, if it’s any consolation to those of you who are worried, Clayton Kershaw gave up 15 runs in 14 2/3 innings in spring training of 2014. Fans were wringing their hands. He then went out and won the MVP.
I am limiting this to L.A. Dodgers history simply to keep it from being more than a post long. We shall travel in our way back machine to 1958 when they traded Gino Cimoli to the Cardinals for Wally Moon. Cimoli had a nice career without being a big star. He ended up playing for 6 more teams over the last 8 seasons of his career. Moon, who became so…
Since I began following the Dodgers in 1952, there have been many ups and downs and quite a few,“ Wait until next year”, times. Generally speaking in life I tend to look at the good times and not dwell on those that are not so good. The good times can’t be erased and the bad times cannot be made any better by lamenting and dwelling on the what-ifs. I expect…
I have seen many technological changes in my lifetime. As a youth, my telephone was on the kitchen wall and was part of a party line. I couldn’t have imagined back then that a day was coming when I would carry my phone with me everywhere I went, including my car, and that I would not only be able to take pictures with my phone, I would also be able…
It has been widely published that the Dodgers are 31 years between World Series Championships. All Dodger fans want to forget that, but what if…I know it sounds like the Kratt Brothers. For those with small children or grandchildren you probably know Wild Kratts. Brooklyn was nine World Series and lost their first seven: 1916 and 1920 (as The Robins – managed by Wilbert Robinson) and did not return for…
I was doing some research for a post I was trying to put together when I encountered one of my All-Time favorite Dodger pitchers, Burt “Happy” Hooten. I have no idea why, but I seem to favor pitchers from University of Texas, and pitchers from Texas in general. Nolan Ryan, Roger Clemens, Clayton Kershaw, Dustin May, Ross Stripling, Howie Reed, Huston Street, Brooks Kieschnick, Ryan Pressly, Greg Swindell, Shawn Tolleson,…
While recently doing a bit of background checks on a couple of minor league players I started to think of some Dodger memories that I have and also an update on some current items. First, I don’t know if Gil Hodges should be in the HOF or not. I really liked Harold Baines but as a Dodger in my formative years I revered Hodges as I did so many…