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Don Drysdale

60 posts

Is There Hope for Clayton?

Last week, I said that unless Clayton could recover 3-5 MPH on his fastball, he could not be more than an “opener” and that we could not count on him to help carry the team. Well, last night he recovered at least 1 MPH on his fastball. His fastest pitch was 89.7 MPH. This leads…

By Mark Timmons · September 24, 202360

Why are there no workhorse pitchers?

It used to be that every team had at least one or two “workhorse” starting pitchers. These are the guys who started 33 to 37 games a season and pitched 25 complete games! In 1966, the Dodgers used a four-man rotation, which was composed of Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Claude…

By Mark Timmons · May 11, 202382

Dazzy Vance: Late Bloomer

Dazzy Vance: How he kept from tipping over is amazing Charles Arthur Vance was born March 4, 1891, in Orient, Iowa. His father was Albert Theophilus Vance, a farmer, and his mother, Sara Elizabeth; He was their fifth child. When he was young, they moved to a farm in Pleasant…

By Michael "Bear" Norris · March 2, 202333

Lost Among the Stars

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…

By Michael "Bear" Norris · September 13, 202238

MLB Awards

MLB hands out more awards than one might think. We all know about player of the week, month, and so on. They also award one for the rookie of the month. So I am checking out the Dodger media guide to see how the Dodgers have fared. The Dodgers have had 7 NL Rookies of the Month…

By Michael "Bear" Norris · January 13, 202211

Retired Numbers

Believe it or not, this topic can generate some hot debate. Which players deserve the honor? And that is where the debate begins. The Yankees have by far the most retired numbers, 21. Number 8 and 42 are retired honoring two different players. 42 for Robinson and Rivera. 8 for…

By Michael "Bear" Norris · October 30, 202139

The Best Years of Our Lives

I got to thinking about this, and for most, it is a long and happy marriage, kids, grandkids, and just living the good life. When you break it down for sports fans, it is the years that their team is on top of the heap in their sport. Rams fans never celebrated a championship in…

By Michael "Bear" Norris · October 25, 202189

Let's Go Streaking!

Okay, do not confuse these streaks with the stuff pulled in the ’70s by drunken idiots. These are the best streaks in Dodger history. I love this kind of stuff. Scoreless Innings 59 innings: Orel Hershiser, 1988. In the midst of his best season as a major leaguer, the Bulldog…

By Michael "Bear" Norris · September 27, 202143

Podres

When you think of the great rotations in Dodger history, Johnny Podres has to be included. His teaming with Koufax and Drysdale would help LA win two World Series. 1959 and 1963. Podres was born on the 30th of September in 1930 in Witherbee, New York. Witherbee is one of five…

By Michael "Bear" Norris · September 6, 202199

What If? Injuries Have Derailed Many Dodger Careers

Since there has been a glut of injuries to Dodger players this season, I thought this might be a good topic of discussion. So far there have been, and hopefully will not be any career-threatening injuries. May, Rios, Nelson are all out for the year. Early in the season, May and Rios were injured and have already had their surgeries. Nelson still waiting to see how they will handle his .

By Michael "Bear" Norris · August 22, 2021123

Dodgers Top 24 All-Time WAR Leaders

WAR, what is it? Simply a tool used to judge a player s value to the franchise. It stands for Wins Above Replacement. WAR simply meaning how many wins this player is better than the guy who has replaced him. No Dodger in team history has a WAR higher than Kershaw s 71.8. That was almost 72 games better than his replacements. There are currently 31 players who finished with a WAR

By Michael "Bear" Norris · August 12, 2021132

Dagger to the Heart

At the request of one of our readers, I shall endeavor to bring back some not so good, and some good moments in Dodger history, the close, but not close enough games, and the ones where we snatched victory from defeat. And we will go back a few years to do so, and bring back some good, and not-so-good memories. The Dodgers won pennants in 1916 and 1920. They played

By Michael "Bear" Norris · August 10, 2021129

L. A. Dodger Trades The Good and the Bad.

Since the deadline is just a few days away, I thought it might be fun to look back on some of the trades the Dodgers have made over the years. Some were significant in helping the team win, others, well they just were not all that good or popular. Winter: 1958 On the 4th of December, the Dodgers sent Gino Cimoli to the Cardinals for OF Wally Moon and P

By Michael "Bear" Norris · July 28, 2021164

Don Sutton: Dodgers All Time Leader in Wins

Earlier this year, the Dodger family lost 2 Hall of Famers, Tommy Lasorda, and Don Sutton. To be truthful, I never was a huge Sutton fan. And in all the times over the years that I saw him pitch, no one performance stands out. He never threw a no-hitter, but he had 5 one-hitters and 10 two-hitters. He had 58 shutouts over his career. He never finished higher than 3rd

By Michael "Bear" Norris · July 24, 2021132

When I was Young and a Dreamer

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 .

By Michael "Bear" Norris · March 29, 202124

WHEN FAVORITES LEAVE

Last week, Joc Pederson left the Dodgers as a free agent to join the Chicago Cubs, and prior to that, Kike’ Hernandez signed with the Red Sox. Both were very popular with Dodger fans. Kike’, the Banana Man to many, and a versatile player, had enthralled fans with his energy, and his sometimes flair for the dramatic. His best day as a Dodger was in game 5 of the 2017

By Michael "Bear" Norris · February 8, 202122

What Might Have Been

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,

By Michael "Bear" Norris · December 21, 202077

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

By Michael "Bear" Norris · December 16, 202028