Growing up, Pete Reiser excelled at any sport he tried. Besides baseball, he earned $50 a game playing soccer against professional players and was a talented football player with a dream of becoming a star player with Notre Dame. He was a skillful bowler and proficient at ice skating. Perhaps his greatest strength was that he was truly ambidextrous.
On April 12, 1962, one week prior to my 11th birthday, Pete Richert made his major league debut against the Cincinnati Reds. I was listening to the game on my transistor radio. Richert entered the game in the top of the bottom of the second inning, with two outs and a runner on second. The Reds had already scored four runs in the inning.
We all know postseason play is often not won by the best team, but the hottest team. I don’t think that bodes well for the blue. With 14 teams in the mix, it’ll be tough to come out on top.
Game 1 is in the books. Behind the solid pitching of Clayton Kershaw and a trio of relievers, the Dodgers shutout the Giants, and the Dodger batters crushed Johnny Cueto 15-0. LAD fell short of their 8 home runs hit in last year’s opener, but they did manage 6, including a grand slam by Joc Pederson. Corey Seager, Max Muncy, Cody Bellinger (2), and Will Smith all hit 4-baggers. Besides…
I must admit it is a major disappointment having made it through the baseball drought that is winter. Our provincial government and federal have asked us to stay home and when out maintain the two-meter separation going out only if really necessary.
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 sufficiently valiant.
It took me a while to come to grips with it, but I’m now absolutely convinced that the coronavirus hysteria and panic has been perpetrated by the Boston Red Sox so that the Dodgers might never have Mookie Betts play a game for them. Think about it, it is plausible. Stinking Red Sox!!!
In March 2013 I decided to play Nostradamus regarding the Dodgers and made predictions as to what would happen to a number of Dodger players in eight years. So here we are, seven seasons later, and I can now see how far off I was with my predictions. Surprised? Not really. I always seem to view the Blue with optimism. Here is the post below. I’ll interject with italics to…
Many can identify Chuck Connors as the “The Rifleman” but perhaps not nearly as many know he was once a Dodger and always remained a Dodger in his heart. Chuck Connors, christened Kevin Joseph Aloysius Connors, was born in Brooklyn, New York on April 10, 1921. His parents of Irish descent, Allan and Marcella Connors, had emigrated to the United States from what was then the Dominion of Newfoundland and…