28 posts
Cookie Topps Card Harry ” Cookie” Lavagetto was the son of Italian immigrants Luigi and Adelaide Lavagetto. Luigi came to the United States in 1901. Adelaide arrived in 1906. Harry was the youngest of four sons born on December 1, 1912, in Oakland, California. He was christened…
The Forgotten Man Ron Fairly #6 1B-OF Los Angeles Before Justin Turner, the Dodgers had another redhead. He played 1st and the outfield and spent 12 years of his 21-year MLB career as a Dodger. And in the overall scheme of things, he is somewhat of a forgotten man. Ronald Ray…
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has given us a keyhole view towards the heart of our Milky Way Galaxy, where a dazzling array of stars reside. Most of the view of our galaxy is obscured by dust. Hubble peered into the Sagittarius Star Cloud, a narrow, dust-free region…
Wally Moon. Dodgers # 9 Wallace Wade Moon, born 4/3/1930 in Bay Arkansas, was the son of Henry Albert Moon and the former Margie Leona Vernon. He was the second of their three children. Bay is a swampy hamlet by some railroad tracks. Henry was a factory worker who later became…
With little real news, I return to writing about what I love most about the Dodgers. Their history. Everyone knows the story, 1955 was a magical year for Brooklyn. And the Boys of Summer finally full filled all of the promise they had shown for years. 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers For…
Clemente-Montreal When you think about the great outfielders who played the game, many come to mind, Mantle, Ruth, Aaron, Mays, Trout, Robinson, Griffey Jr., and Clemente. When you talk about great outfield arms, the list narrows some especially from the RF position. But some…
A few days ago, we celebrated Veterans Day. A day that we thank those who have served our country over the years. Protecting the freedoms we have all come to cherish. In a couple of weeks, the 80th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor will be observed. There are not many…
You go back over the years and there have been players who were on Dodger winning teams, made a contribution, and never were heard from again. This one will take some research! Off the top of my head though, I can name 3 easily. 1959, Chuck Churn, 1963, Dick Nen, and Dick…
1959, start of the season A young 11-year-old boy reads about his heroes in the daily sports page. A right of passage in those days. Games on TV were few and far between, especially Dodger games. The only televised games were those from San Francisco on KKTV channel 11. Vin Scully and Jerry Doggett did the announcing. Doggett would do the 3rd and 7th innings, Vinny the rest .
Born in the small town of Washington Maine on November 30. 1901, Clyde Leroy Sukeforth, or Sukey as he was known in baseball circles, was a typical small town boy. He began playing when he was young and grew as youngsters did in those days to love the game. Over his career he would catch, coach, manage and scout for major league teams. He is forever tied to the Dodgers
This season, our long drought ended, and the Dodgers brought home the trophy. What a great feeling. And over the last few years we have come close, and just fell short. But in the days before the present system was set up and league expansion, there were only 2 winners. No second chance at a title. Just two teams battling it out for MLB supremacy. Four times in their history,
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
This is a follow up to the best that have ever played in my estimation. Some I never saw. Others I saw many times. It will consist of the starting 8, a pitching staff of 12 and the bench players. Not an easy thing to do. Starters 1st Base Easiest pick for me. Gil Hodges. 370 lifetime homers as a Dodger First to win the Gold Glove when they were
If you want a sure fire way to start an argument, just pick the best players ever for your team. Everyone has their own ideas of who are the greatest players in a team s history. And the Dodgers have a long and colorful past. 67 years in Brooklyn as a part of MLB, and 62 in LA. So, choosing the best ever is a hard task. In this case, I
From 1950 to 1998 there was one constant with the Dodgers. Ownership. Walter Francis O Malley took control of the team as it s primary stockholder and owner in 1950. Branch Rickey s contract was expiring in October of that year. He had purchased a 25% ownership of the team in 1944. Rickey and John L. Smith were also part owners as were the heirs of McKeever who had owned the team with
I have been redoing all my music on my computer. I could not download files onto my MP-3 player because they were corrupted. So I deleted them all and am re ripping them to the computer. While doing so, I was listening to a tune by Little Texas. You guessed it, the title is What Might Have Been . And I took that to apply to ball players whose careers
He was my favorite player growing up. A California boy who found fame in the borough of Brooklyn. He was a graceful outfielder, and a power hitting threat on the great Brooklyn teams of the late 40 s and 50 s. He was the only lefty threat in the lineup that featured Jackie, Gil, Campy, Pee Wee, and Scoonj. And in Brooklyn he was simply The Dook . I got that part from
As fans, we all know the stars of our teams, and today with the internet and all the media coverage, we know the rookies, the scrub beanies, and just about everyone else in the organization. Growing up, and learning the game, that was not the case. We found out in box scores, and those of us lucky enough to have a subscription, in the Sporting News. But for every star player, there was
In 1999 Nike came out with a clever commercial featuring Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, Mark McGwire and Heather Locklear. Rather than pay attention to the Cy Young award winning pitchers, Glavine and Maddux, Heather swooned over Mark McGuire and his ability to hit the ball over the fence. After a stringent work out regiment, Glavine and Maddux hit some out in batting practice and, for the first time, Heather Locklear
One of my most memorable moments as a young Dodger fan was when Chuck Essegian hit a pinch -hit homerun in game two of the 1959 World Series, to tie the game. I was only eight years old at the time, but I could tell from the excitement in Vin Scully’s voice that this home run was a very dramatic and important moment for the Dodgers. I can also remember
Outside the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York, a statue depicting southpaw Johnny Podres after a pitch release stands 60 feet, six inches from a statue of catcher Roy Campanella. They commemorate the Brooklyn Dodgers winning the 1955 World Series over the New York Yankees, one of the most iconic moments in Dodger history! The photo of the elated Podres leaping into the arms of Roy Campanella, with Don
The above picture of Duke, Andy Pafko and Carl Furillo is a snapshot of my all-time favorite outfield. I expect this is the case because it was my first outfield and all three homered on my first night of Dodger baseball which also gives me a way to trace my first game. That is the only time all three homered in the same game.
Like many baseball players of his era, Furillo answered the call and spent the next three years, 1943-45, in the army. He saw active duty in the Pacific Theater where he was wounded and received three battle stars. His war service gave the Dodgers an early glimpse that Furillo seemed to be uncomfortable in social situations and perhaps almost a lone wolf. Peter Golenbock in his book “Bums” writes that Carl Furillo turned down a Purple Heart medal for his wounds, saying that he hadn’t been suffic
Now that the Bobby Thompson home run has surfaced again, perhaps I can tease you one more time with a reference to that fateful hit in an article I wrote four years ago. I trace my birth as a Dodger fan back to the 1952 season. Vin Scully and Duke Snider were the midwives in bringing me into the world of “Dodger Blue.” Vin’s voice captivated me one evening in
Last Wednesday, I wrote an article on Rube Walker the Father of the Five-Man Rotation which drew some comments for which I was grateful. Presently, I am not in mourning over the Dodgers untimely exit from post-season play. It happened, it is over, and life goes on. With my ninth decade now staring me in the face each year without one more WS victory is a bit problematic,
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
Up until April 15 Niko Hulsizer was a name with which many, or most Dodgers fans were not familiar. He was selected by the Dodgers in the 18th round of the 2018 First-Year Player Draft as a junior out of Morehead State University in Morehead Kentucky. He has now burst upon the scene with his three-home run game against the South Bend Cubs on Monday evening. For some his outburst
Sunday was an off-day in the Dodgers pursuit of a World Series championship. Among other things I took a few moments to see what I could remember from each of the Dodgers 12 appearances in the World Series during my time as a Dodger fanatic. For some I don’t recall much, but for all I have a moment or two that I do. I became a Dodger fan on April
