38 posts
Just wanted to look back at some of my favorite trades in Dodger history. Some, I was very young for, others, not so much. They are in no particular order. 1. Gino Cimoli for Wally Moon. On December 4th, 1958, the Dodgers made the first trade that would impact the team…
When I was a kid, Wes Parker was definitely one of my favorites. The guy was absolutely the best defensive first baseman in the game, (Gold gloves for six consecutive years, 1967-1972). In 1970 he came into his own and hit .319 and knocked in 111 runs. He was popular, had movie…
Wills steals # 104 I have many memories of Maurice Morning Wills. Most of them involve his stealing a base. He was one of my favorite Dodgers in my childhood. He inserted energy into an aging team and helped them towards a pennant, and World Series wins. And the journey to that…
Every Dodger fan who has not been living under a rock knows who Maury Wills was. He was undersized but bigger than life. He was not a great hitter, but he won the MVP. He revolutionalized the running game while remaining immensely popular. Maury debuted in 1959, but 1960 was his…
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…
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…
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…
https://www.milb.com/fans/2021-organization-all-stars On Monday MiLB released the 2021 Organization All-Star list for the Dodgers. The list was developed by Michael Avallone who apparently had some discussions with Will Rhymes, the Dodgers Director of Player Development. These…
On November 15, I started to write about the impatience some fans have with Gavin Lux, and it imploded into an overall generalization about many fans seeing MiLB stats and believing that those numbers will automatically translate to MLB numbers. And then when they do not, then…
Earlier in the week I had a dialogue with MT and Bluto regarding the lack of confidence I have in RVS as a competent MLB Team Batting Coach. I have no doubts that his methodology can and does work for some, but each batter is different and needs a different approach. At least…
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…
I was 11 when the Dodgers won their first World Series in L.A. Living in Highland Park at a home for kids. I had gone to my first games at the coliseum in 1958. We went to about 5 games during the 1959 season. The Dodgers had replaced long-time retiring SS Pee Wee Reese with Don…
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
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
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,
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
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
Peter O Malley was born on the 12th of December 1937 in Brooklyn, New York. We all know who his parents were. He spent his childhood as a child of privilege. His dad s success allowing the family comforts many of the citizens did not enjoy due to the depression. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. And then from the Wharton School of Business in 1960. Peter s first job with the
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
A few days ago the Dodger family lost Ron Perranoski. And Mark asked about his leaving on bad terms. So I did some research to check on that simply because I could not remember the circumstances of his leaving. Perry was born on April 1st, 1936 in Patterson, New Jersey. There is not much information on his Wikipedia page, but he grew up in the town of Fair Lawn, N.J .
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
A week or two back, Jeff asked if I would be willing to write an article about Jim Lefebrve, the 1965 Rookie of the year 2nd baseman. I jumped on the idea right away, as “Frenchy” was one of my favorite players when he was with the Dodgers. I thought to myself that this should fairly easy, as there was sure to be much written about Lefebvre. Surprisingly, however, despite
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
Watching the game on Sunday against the Astros, I saw Chris Taylor lay down a bunt that went for a hit. And it took me back to a time when the bunt was an offensive weapon to be reckoned with. Over the last several years, especially with the Dodgers, the only time you saw a bunt was when the pitcher came up and attempted to move the runner over. Maeda,
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
This is to follow up on Bear’s excellent piece on Pee Wee Reese. That is, Captain Pee Wee Reese. It is written in the present tense as I wrote it back when there were still three MLB team captains on July 12, 2013. So, I am again digging through the archives. I thought it might be appropriate as a number of the official or unofficial duties of the now defunct
I am old school. Never have claimed to be anything but. Baseball has been a part of my life, a big part, for over 60 years. LA was a minor league city until the Dodgers moved here in 1958. We played the game anywhere we could, usually on our school playground. Some played little league, others did not. I never really had any coaching until I played little league. Then
Most of us can remember where we were when important events occur in our lives. On Nov 22, 1963, I was at choir practice in our auditorium when I heard about JFK s assassination. 9-11-2001, I was in South Gate at the JB Hunt terminal when the planes hit the twin towers. But the day I fell in love with the game That actual date escapes me. And since my love
