61 posts
I was watching “The Pride of the Yankees the other day. Outside of the star, Gary Cooper, there were small parts in the movie played by the real ballplayers themselves. Of course, the most recognizable player was Babe Ruth. Babe had several scenes with Cooper in the movie. Maybe…
Early this year, Dodger outfielder, Trayce Thompson, started the season with a bang as he had a three-homer game. Unfortunately for Trayce, that was pretty much the highlight of his year, and he was traded prior to the deadline back to the White Sox. The first three-homer game…
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…
Fred ” Dixie” Walker Fred ” Dixie ” Walker won a batting title, played in two world series, and won an RBI title, and yet he is most remembered by fans for being charged as the man who tried to keep Jackie Robinson off of the Dodgers. He was born in Villa Rica, Georgia, on…
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…
Mantle goes deep Once upon a time, early in the 1950s, there were three professional baseball teams in New York City. The Brooklyn Dodgers, the New York Yankees, and the New York Giants. At that time, perhaps three of the best center fielders who ever played the game played for…
George “Shotgun” Shuba George Thomas Shuba was born on December 13, 1924, in Youngstown Ohio. His story is that of a typical average ballplayer. In parts of seven seasons, he appeared in 355 games, hit .259, and never played more than 94 games in any of those years. Nearly a…
Billy Cordell Grabarkewitz was born on January 18th, 1946 in Lockhart Texas. He is the second child of Adolph Charlie and Helen Grabarkewitz. Lockhart, for those of you not familiar with the Lone Star state, is about 30 miles south of Austin. He was of Irish descent on his…
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…
# 14 When the old-timer’s committee announced the results of their meeting and Gil Hodges became the latest Dodger to be enshrined at Cooperstown, I was elated. I had always felt Gil belonged. He was the best first baseman of his era. Although he did not garner enough writer…
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…
Most of us who have been Dodger fans for years have loved the classic look of the Dodger uniform. Next to the Yankee pinstripes, it is probably one of the more iconic uniforms in sports. Football uniforms and basketball uniforms have morphed a lot over the years, but baseball…
One of the quickest ways to start a baseball argument is to simply say, this guy was the greatest of all time . Football and basketball fans make that debate all of the time. And the opinions vary so much from state to state. Most pundits hand the crown to Michael Jordan, his…
I thought I would go back and see who had the best individual seasons in the history of the team. Won’t do all of the categories. That would be an incredibly long post. So I will try to stick to the main stats. WAR Robinson This is a relatively new way to gauge a player’s worth…
I thought it would be nice to profile one of the 13 members of the Brooklyn Dodgers still living. Carl Erskine. I was actually a little surprised that there were 13 who were still alive. I mean we all know Sandy and Carl were, but the others, well it was just nice to see that many are still with us. Besides Sandy and Carl, Bob Aspromonte, Eddie Basinski, Tim Thompson,
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
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 .
Brooklyn went berserk. The players were leaping all over the field. But the man who had led them for so many years and made so many clutch plays and hits was not on the field for the final out. Jackie Robinson was on the bench, replaced in the starting lineup by Don Hoak. His days as a Dodger Icon were on borrowed time.
In the 9th, Edwards flew out to left, but Furillo drew the 9th walk. Gionfriddo ran for Furillo and Jorgensen fouled out. Reiser was pinch hitting for Casey, and Gionfriddo stole second. That changed Mngr Bucky Harris s strategy and even though Reiser was injured, he decided to walk him. Eddie Miksis went in to run for Reiser, and Lavegetto, a 34 year old veteran was sent up to hit for Eddie Stanky.
Well, spring training is here. Right now it is dominated by the sound of balls hitting mitts with amazing velocity. There is plenty of optimism, and from each camp, you hear that this guy looks amazing, and his pitches are jumping out of his hand. All that will change in the next few days when the rest of the squad reports and soon the crack of the bat will join
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
Mark did such a great job in his tribute to Lasorda. It was moving and fitting. And as usual, it got me thinking of how many of those who influenced us in our lives have passed on over the last few years. I remember how sad I was when Duke Snider passed in 2011. He was 84 at the time, but I was glad that Duke had been alive to
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
It starts when you are young. For some, it is your first program, for others baseball cards, and some an autograph. Mine started with cards. I got my first pack when I was 7. 1955 Topps. I was living in Minnesota with my mom and we moved back to California that fall. I went to an Angels game with my uncle. And the next day I got a pack of
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
In 2017, George Springer was 0-6 with a walk and 4 strikeouts before getting a one out double off KJ in the 9th inning in Game 2. A sleeping giant had awoken. In 2020 postseason, the Rays best hitter, Brandon Lowe was in a miserable slump, but that ended when he took Tony Gonsolin deep in the first inning. And he wasn’t done. Gonsolin gives up a walk to Margot
Okay, the 25 year old Fresh Prince also comes through in the clutch as he has done so many times. Biggest hit in his 2 year career…a well timed 3-run HR. After the first three innings my headline was: Dodgers Look For Walks, Braves Look For Hits A.J. Minter has never started an ML game. Minter’s previous high in IP was 1.2 (once). He goes 3.0 IP, faces 10 batters
