18 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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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 .
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,
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
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
Today my topic is Johnny Roseboro. One of the things I often wished was that I had been able to see Campy play when he was at his peak. Even one year in LA would have been nice, but it was not to be. So for my formative years watching the game, our catcher most of the time was John Junior Roseboro. He was born in Ashland, Ohio on May
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
Every true baseball fan knows about Kershaw and nearly everybody on the planet knows about Koufax, but only the truest of true Dodger fans know that there was yet a third outstanding left-handed “K” who once pitched for the Dodgers – Karl Spooner. Karl Benjamin Spooner was born on June 23, 1931 in Oriskany Falls, a village in upstate New York about 20 minutes south of Utica. He grew up
For those of us old enough to remember the 1959 World Series it conjures up memories of Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Johnny Podres, Duke Snider, Gil Hodges, Jim Gilliam, and John Roseboro. We remember the WS MVP, Larry Sherry with his remarkable 2 wins and 2 saves (By the way there was nothing in the 1959 season that would have indicated that he would have done what he did).
Last week we had a look at the pitching coaches in the Dodgers minor league system. Today we get a glimpse of the hitting coaches down on the farm. Being a hitting coach must be one of the most difficult jobs in all of professional sports simply because hitting a baseball in full flight is the most difficult task in all of professional sports. At what other task in the
Anytime the season starts with a Giant loss, especially a fantastic bullpen meltdown and a Dodger win, It s all good! Obviously, there is a long way to go, but you might as well get off to a good start against the AAAA Little Sisters of the Poor. I think Clayton Kershaw makes more than the whole team and it s easy to see why! Seven straight Opening Day wins! Joc Pederson
