Mickey Vaughn Hatcher, born March 15, 1955, was one of my favorite players to watch. Mickey genuinely had fun playing the game and it showed. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio but spent part of his life in Mesa, Arizona where he graduated from Mesa High School. He went from Mesa High School to Mesa Community College. He was named All American twice in baseball and football. His #81 was later retired.
After community college, he went to the University of Oklahoma where he played both football and baseball. He played wide receiver in the 1976 Fiesta Bowl. He was drafted twice in 1974 in the 12th round by the Astros and 1976 in the 2nd by the Mets before signing with the Dodgers in 1977 after being picked in the 5th round of the June draft.
After signing with LA, he was sent to Class-A Clinton. The next season he spent time with both AA San Antonio and AAA Albuquerque. After hitting .371/10/93 and scoring 88 runs for the Dukes, he was called up and made his MLB debut on August 3, 1979, subbing for Ron Cey. He would be credited with an RBI after taking a bases-loaded walk in the 7th. He would get into 33 games and hit .269.
In 1980 Hatch started the season at AAA. He raked AAA pitching to the tune of .359 in 43 games. He was recalled to LA and he hit only .226 for the Dodgers. The next spring the Dodgers sent Hatcher and minor leaguers Mathew Reeves and Kelly Snider to the Twins for outfielder Kenny Landreaux.
It would turn out to be a great trade for both teams. Hatch would spend the next 6 years with the Twins, and Landreaux would patrol the outfield for the Dodgers for the next 7 seasons.
Hatcher would average around 100 games a year with the Twins, playing 3rd, 1st, the outfield, and DH for the Twins. He was a .284 hitter over those years. Not a real power threat, he was one of those players you just like having on your team and available to play where ever needed. He also was a player who had the ability to keep the bench loose and just have fun playing the game. Mickey more than anything else was a contact hitter. Over his career, he would strike out only 246 times in 3377 at-bats. The Twins though were not very good during his time there, so he did not have any post-season opportunities.
After spring training in 1987, the Twins released him. 10 days later he came home and signed with the Dodgers as a free agent. Of course, that off-season the Dodgers had landed the explosive Kirk Gibson who practically changed the entire clubhouse culture all by himself. Reacting to a prank pulled by reliever Jesse Orosco, Gibson stormed off of the field and declared I am here to win, not play pranks. That set the tone for the team.
On the other hand, Hatcher was admired for his fun-loving approach to the game. He was often featured in various presentations on the scoreboard to the theme from ” The Mickey Mouse Club”. He would run to first base when he walked. He hustled all the time ala, Pete Rose. He was the self-proclaimed leader of the Dodger reserves known as the Stuntmen. The stuntmen were comprised of Hatcher, Franklin Stubbs, Rick Dempsey, Jeff Hamilton, and Dave Anderson. Outfielder Danny Heep was also a member.
Over the course of the 1988 season, all of those guys would fill roles vital to the success of the team. Hatcher would hit .293 in the role during the year. He only managed one homer, but he drove in 25. After a tense series with the Mets where they came back from the dead in game 4 to tie the series, and finally win, Kirk Gibson went into the series on some seriously bad legs. Hatch hit only .238 in the NLCS, but it was pretty much a given that he would get more playing time in the World Series with Gibson out.
In game one, Mickey hit a first-inning homer off of Dave Stewart with Sax aboard. Joe Garagiola said he ran around the bases like he thought they were going to take it away from him. With that homer, he tied his output for the entire year. Of course, we all know about Gibson’s walk-off in that game in what would be his only plate appearance in the series.
In game two, once again replacing Gibby, Hatch went 2-4 and drove in a run in the Dodgers’ 6-0 win which put them two games up on the mighty A’s. Mickey got another hit in the game 3 loss. He was now hitting .281 in the postseason with 6 ribbies. In game 4 the Dodgers rebounded to take a 3-1 series lead with a 1 run win 4-3. Mickey again went 1-4 but he scored one of the runs. The stage was set as the team met the A’s with their ace, Orel Hershiser set to pitch game 5.
Mickey again blasted a 2-run homer in the first inning off of Storm Davis to give Hershiser a lead. He would go 2-4 in the Dodgers 4-2-win scoring 2 of the runs. The Dodgers would win the World Series for the first time since 1981. What would follow would be a drought of over 30 years before the team would win again in 2020. Hatch and his stuntmen came through for the team when needed the most. For the series, Hatch hit .368 with a double, 2 homers, and 5 RBIs.
Hatch would stay with the Dodgers through the 1990 season. He played 17 games for Albuquerque in 1991. Then he called it a career and went into coaching in 1993. He went and coached the Texas Rangers for a couple of years. Then he managed Great Falls with the Dodger system in 96 and 97. He started 98 managing the San Bernadino Stampede before becoming the Dodgers hitting coach mid-season. In 2000 he joined former teammate Mike Scioscia as the hitting coach for the Los Angeles Angels.
He would win another ring with the Angels in 2002 and coached until he was fired in 2012. He joined the Dodgers as a special assistant to the GM, but the position was not renewed in 2013. Mickey continues to be enthusiastic about baseball and visits both teams on occasion.
Discussion (9)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Dealt with depression just once in my life. It sucks. But I came out of it a better person. Thank you for all the kudos guys.
I just read the coaching staff for the 60 game ACL Dodgers. Jealously.
You don’t know how much I would have liked the advantages and opportunities afforded prospects by organizations these days; especially the Dodgers.
The coaching staff is as follows:
Manager – Jair Fernandez
Coach – Johan Garcia
Coach – Fumi Ishibashi
Pitching Coach – Bobby Cuellar
Pitching Coach – Sean Coyne
Hitting Coach – Danny Dorn
Hitting Coach Ronny Paulino
Hitting Coach – Blake Gaillen
You might notice 2 pitching and 3 hitting coaches in addition to the skipper and 2 bench coaches. This in addition to training staff, nutrition folks. Cleveland, KC and the Rangers have on site dorm style housing and meals and a performance center.
My first year in A ball we had a Manager who was actually a soccer guy. He was a neighbor or the owner and it was like a summer job for him. Dude couldn’t even throw any quality BP. I learned absolutely nothing from this guy.
The only other coach was a local D-3 college coach and a great guy. In addition to being an instructor, he was the first base coach, he performed as the trainer, (apply cold-spray to everything) psychologist, and drove the team bus. No kidding. He drove the bus. (the bus had no bathroom on it. In the middle of nowhere 25 guys pissing on the side of the road)
That’s it. The players coached each other up mostly. We occasionally had traveling organization guys come through from whom you could get some real coaching. But that was limited to the time they were at that location.
I would have killed to get the kind of instruction and treatment these kids now get.
Thanks WD. I am getting better. Now walking without the walker or cane. Getting better every day.
Tom thought much the same.
Some great Baseball knowledge and experience here.I always feel like I’m learning.
Shout to Phil Jones – always read with interest your informative posts.
Hope the recovery is going well.
And the Wordsmith that is Patch. Always a good read.
Shame about Rick – I enjoyed his alternate view.
Eric – love your take on Pitching – made me look at things a little differently..
Keep posting – wishing you the best.
That brings me onto today’s post from Michael. Another masterpiece.
I actually saw Hatcher play so we are now definitely getting into my era.
Thanks for all the effort Michael.
So, as DodgerRam stated – it will take a good team to oust the Mets in the NL.
The bar has been set.
Good stuff Bear. As always.
Some thoughts on yesterday:
* The “No Sh*t Sherlock” Award yesterday goes to Jerry Hairston who said during his little studio spot going into bottom 8, offered as his only comment – “The Dodgers need to find a way to fight back”.
They actually pay him handsomely to provide such insight. Can we package him up with Kirsten and send them packing for a reporter to me named later?
* Well the game has certainly changed. I didn’t appreciate Edwin Diaz throwing dangerously up and in to Mookie and Trea Turner. in the 8th. I understand the need to pitch “IN” but those were way too close to the head for me. Moving them off the plate is one thing but Mookie especially could have gotten hit in the face.
Orel said it wasn’t intentional and I don’t give a shit. A Major League veteran shouldn’t be incompetent enough to toss 2 potential bean-balls in an inning. The first one could have been an accident. The second one was bullshit.
I’m old school. In a 2 run game, I wouldn’t retaliate until the time was right, but you can bet your boots that with 2 outs and nobody on, Alonzo would have been knocked on his ass.
* John Bacon, the HPU, did a service to the Mets totally missing a strike, top 10, to J.D. Davis. Bacon had a big wide strike zone all day but in a critical at bat, he missed an obvious strike from Kimbrel.
I typically don’t bitch about 1 call but that miss was critical. A 1&1 count instead of 2&0 is very different in that situation. Ahead in the count, Davis hit the double scoring what became the winning run.
Love your stuff BP. I just try and use the eye test myself. What I saw was a bunch of missed chances and some pitches in some really bad locations. Yesterday one of the posters contradicted me about my comment that Lux should have bunted Alvarez over and got him in scoring position. I was talking about the 5th inning, not later in the game when he drove in the run. Alvarez lead off with a single. Lux and Betts made outs and he did not move over. Freeman then singled him to third. Had he been on second, he would have scored easily and they would have been up 3-1.
Mickey Hatcher is one of my favorite Dodgers. I was lucky enough to meet him a couple of times and he is in person, just what you think he’s like after watching him over the years. He’s a light hearted joker, but is also a serious athlete. I have a hat somewhere around with his signature on it.
Well, we stumbled to the end of the 31 games in 30 days stretch, but we did also go 19-12 in that span. That’s a good, but not other worldly winning percentage during that span. To put that into perspective, just one more win would have yielded a .645 winning percentage which is very close to our overall record. I can’t complain too much with this outcome.
The rest of the month is kind of a mixed bag playing a bunch of teams hovering right around .500. We’ll have 4 off days, with the first starting today. We’ll go on the road for most of month with 15 away games scheduled and just 6 home games. White Sox (.481), Giants (.547) on the road. The Angels (.491) and Indians (.490) at home. The back on the road Reds (.340), Braves (.509), Rockies (.426) and one game at home against the Padres (.611).
The pitching will get some rest, but the bullpen will have to cover some shorts starts for Heaney and Kershaw coming off the IL. It might make some sense to keep Heaney down a little longer while Kershaw is built up to a normal workload. I’m not sure if a 6 man rotation makes sense with the upcoming off days in June and the All-Star break in July.
We’re exactly 1/3 through the season so far and like last year, it just doesn’t seem like we’re running on all cylinders. Running on all cylinders is tough to do when no less than 7 pitchers on the IL (Duffy, V-Gone, Heaney, Kahnle, May, Nelson, Treinen) and joining them are some position players in (Muncy, Rios and Pillar). It’s starting to feel a whole lot like last year.
33% of the season is a pretty large sample size and it doesn’t look good for many players. Mookie is outstanding and we can only hope he keeps up his current pace for the rest of the season. T Turner is having a solid year, but is performing a little less than his career averages as is Freddie Freeman, especially in the long ball department. CT3 is right around his career norms and Will Smith, Cody Bellinger, Justin Turner are all playing less than what we should expect from them. Gavin Lux is a nice surprise that looks like he’s starting to settle in and Max Muncy is the train wreck that Belli was last year.
Somehow, their offense is still best in the league in the run scoring department and OPS. Their pitching took a hit, now second in the league in ERA and WHIP and third in Ave Against. Overall, this amounts to the top spot in run differential and are tied with the Astros with the 3rd best winning percentage in the league, behind the Yankees and the Mets.
There’s been a lot of noise about needing more pitching. But, with 7 pitchers on the IL and plenty of arms on their way from the minors, I would think pitching, which is already very good, will get a lot better when some health and better performances from Bueller and Urias with the latter just turning in a short, but solid start yesterday against one of the best teams in the league.
Trade capital might be better spent by getting a reliable bat. While Cody is a great asset in the field, it sure seems like MVP Belli is no longer a thing. With warmer weather, I believe his overall numbers will improve, but he sure looks a lot like he’ll finish the season as a 220 hitter with some pop in the 20 ish HR and 30-40 2B range. If we’re really lucky, he may finish with an OPS around .750 or vintage Kike Hernandez or Joc Pederson. Slightly worse than Belli is JT who falls under the category of “Better to get rid of someone a year too early, than a year too late. Even worse is Muncy and with the “re-injury” of that elbow, I don’t see how this is going look good at the end of the year.
Since you can’t replace everyone, maybe just focus on a bat that can play either LF or 3B. If you look to AAA to fill one of these voids, no one appears to breaking the proverbial door down. We’re seeing Eddie Alvarez right now, who has a little pop to his bat, but those 4 triples are pushing that OPS up. He might translate into a solid CT3 type hitter right now, but that isn’t really a difference maker. There’s guys with comparable AAA stats, so again, no one is going to come up this year from AAA and be a difference maker on the major league roster. If you’re thinking Miguel Vargas, his glove is still pretty bad and I would think he’s probably an option after the trade deadline passes.
Nice Article Old Bear, I enjoyed it. Hatcher’s contributions to the 88 World Series championship often go overlooked and forgotten by Gibson’s Walk Off HR and Hershiser’s pitching dominance. You need scrappy guys like him that can fill in and produce when needed.
Great story !
But wasn´t game 5 in Oakland ?
Tough loss yesterday. ONce again Dodgers did not do the litle things right like moving the runners over and bringing them in from 3rd with less than two out.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!