Best Years of Our Lives: Outstanding Seasons by Dodgers

Where to start? Through the years there have been many Dodgers who have had outstanding and career years. I thought about this because of the outstanding performances this season by Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman.
Sometimes one year defines a player’s whole career. As good as he was over the course of his career, Fernando, even though he threw a no-hitter and had a 20-win season, he never quite reached the level of dominance he had his first season.
He had 8 shutouts that year and in a truncated season to boot. He won his only Cy Young award and was the Rookie of the Year. The only other time he came close to a Cy Young, was his 21-win season in 1986. He lost out to Mike Scott of the Astros. Scott was an 8 WAR player that year, 3 more than Fernando. His ERA was almost a run lower, even though he won 3 less games.
Fernando’s rookie year was special, and it defined his career.

Babe Herman in 1930 set the Dodger record for the highest batting average in any season, and no one has gotten close to breaking it. Babe hit .393 and did not even win the batting title. Bill Terry of the Giants hit .401 to win the title. He is another tid-bit from that season that might surprise you, of the top-10 hitters in the NL that season, none of the qualifiers hit under .356. That guy was Hack Wilson. Wilson would hit 56 homers that season and knock in 191 runs. Still a major league record.

One thing the Dodgers have never had a lot of is batting champions. In their entire history, Brooklyn and Los Angeles, only 10 times has a Dodger wore the crown. Only two Dodgers won more than one. Jake Daubert 13-14, and Tommy Davis, 62-63. They have however had players finish second 12 times, most recently, Freddie Freeman last year. Trea Turner who won the title in 21, spent a majority of the season with the Nationals.

But for Tommy Davis, 1962 would be his best season ever. .346 batting average, 27 homers, 230 hits, 153 runs batted in, still a Dodger record. No other LA Dodger has ever driven in more than 126. Davis would win another in 63, .326, 16/88. But his career was derailed in 1965 when he broke his ankle sliding into second base. Although he remained a very good hitter, he never came close to those numbers again. In fact, after 1967, although he played until 1976, Davis had only one double digit homer season. He finished with a career .294 BA.

Norm Larker debuted as a Dodger at age 27 in 1958. He was basically Gil Hodges caddy. He played in 99 games, hit .277 with 4 homers and 29 driven in. He played more in 1959, 108 games, hitting .288, with 8 homers and 49 driven home. When he wasn’t giving Hodges a breather at 1st, he was pinch hitting or playing the outfield. He did not play well in the 59 World Series, hitting .188 with just three singles.

In 1960, Norm Larker would challenge for the NL batting title. Never a power hitter, Norm was a line drive hitting machine. He would make the NL All-Star team for both games, and finish 15th in the MVP vote. The only time he would accomplish either. This was made possible because Hodges was having the worst season of his career. He hit .198. Larker ended up with a .323 BA and finished second to Dick Groat of the Pirates, who won the pennant and beat the Yankees in the 1960 series. Larker never came close to that performance again, and he was out of baseball by the end of the 1963 season at the age of 32. Larker was one of those players who walked more than he struck out. 211-165.

Don Drysdale was one of the best pitchers in Dodger history and a Hall of Famer. He was durable, nine straight years of 40 or more starts, physically imposing on the mound for the period, 6-5. Threw almost sidearm and would hit anyone at any time to show that the plate was his. He won 20 twice in his career, 62 and 65. Won in double figures every year of his career except his first and his last. Set a record for consecutive scoreless innings that stood until Orel Hershiser broke it.

But for all of his pitching skill, his best season came in 1962. Big D was simply dominant. Paired with Koufax until Sandy went down with an injury in April that eventually led to his being shut down in July. He did not return until September. But Drysdale took the mound every time his turn came around and usually came out ahead. He went 25-9, with a 2.83 ERA. He struck out 232. He led the league in wins, innings pitched, games started, strikeouts and batters faced. He was voted the Cy Young award in a time when only one pitcher was chosen. The ultimate team guy, Big D told Alston he would pitch in game three of the playoff against the Giants. Alston told him he was saving him for game one of the World Series, forgetting that you have to get there first.

There are some who think that Steve Garvey belongs in the Hall of Fame. We will not debate that here. Garv had many very good seasons as a Dodger. But the best year of his life, had to be 1974. He would have years later on where statistically he was better than 74. But 1974 was the year he put it all together.

He found a home at first base, becoming the anchor of what would become known as “The Infield”. He, Cey, Lopes and Russell would form the Dodger infield for 8 years. Garvey had a solid season, hitting .312, with 21 homers and 111 RBI’s. He was an All-Star for the first time, and he made it as a write in candidate. He also won the MVP award for the All-Star game.

The Dodgers won the pennant for the first time since 1966. Led by the “Toy Cannon”, Jimmy Wynn, they racked up 102 wins. The then beat the Pirates in the NLCS and ended up losing the World Series to the three-time champion A’s in five games. After the season, Garvey was voted the 1974 Most Valuable Player Award. The only other time he would come close to winning that award was in 1978 when he finished second.

But the best year of his life, was 1988. Great year for Dodger fans too. The year was magical all around. Led by Kirk Gibson, they would claw their way to the division title. Hershiser was dominant. He went 23-9 with a 2.26 ERA, 15 complete games, 8 shutouts and a save. He got a win and a save in the playoff series against the Mets and was awarded the MVP for that performance. Then he dominated the powerful A’s in the World Series, garnering the MVP award for that too. Hershiser had ended the year with a phenomenal scoreless inning streak of 59 consecutive innings, beating Big-D’s mark by 1/3rd of an inning. He made the All-Star team, won a gold glove and was the unanimous Cy Young winner.

Orel would pitch for 12 more seasons and never come close to those numbers again. In fact, that was his only 20-win season in an era where wins meant something. He is now, as we all know, a color analyst on the Dodger TV broadcasts.

Outside of Roy Campanella, and Jackie Robinson, Brooklyn did not have many MVPs over the years. Newcombe would win in 1956 becoming the last Brooklyn Dodger to do so. Prior to Jackie and Roy, three Dodgers had won the MVP award, Jake Daubert in 1913, Dazzy Vance in 1924, and Dolph Camilli in 1941.

Camilli was born in San Francisco and went to school there. He spent 9 years in the minors before debuting with the Cubs in 1933. He was traded to the Phillies the following year. Dolph was a free swinger and for the era, he struck out too much. He would become the first MLB player to have three 100 strike out years. But he also had power and was a pretty decent RBI machine. After the 1937 season, the Phillies traded him to the Dodgers for Eddie Morgan and 45,000 dollars.

Camilli did not have a great first year for Brooklyn, hitting only .251 but he did drive in 100 runs and added 24 homers. He improved on that in 39 with a .290/26/104 line. He went down some in 1940, .287/23/96. But 1941 would be a very good year indeed.

Although his stats for 1941 are not all the best he ever did, he did have career highs in homers, 34, RBI’s, 120, and strikeouts, 115. But he hit .285 and was one of the Dodgers best clutch performers. He helped Brooklyn get to the 41 World Series. But he, like many before him and after, did not have a good series and the Dodgers ended up losing in 5 games. He was voted the NL MVP award. Making 1941, the best year. The Dodgers would end up trading him to the Giants in 1943.

I will do another post on great Dodger seasons. If you have a player in mind, just let me know and I will do the research.