Player Profile: Mike Scioscia

Mike Scioscia. Many images come to mind, and moments also. Like when he took Dwight Gooden deep late in game 4 to tie the Mets. Gibby would eventually win the contest with a homer of his own in the 8th. The other would be the number of bone-jarring collisions at home plate he was involved with. To this day, I still think he was the best they had at blocking the plate.

Michael Lorri Scioscia was born in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, on November 27, 1958. He played baseball, football, and basketball in high school. He was named Delaware County’s baseball player of the year in 1975 and 1976. He was recruited to Clemson University and was ready to full fill his mother’s dream of going to college and getting a degree. But the Dodgers had selected him in the first round of the 1976 amateur draft. On June 6th, the phone in his family’s home rang. It was Tommy Lasorda.

He told Scioscia that he wanted him to come to work out with the Dodgers, who were in Philadelphia for a series with the Phillies. He left his parents a note and jumped in the car with his brother Eddie. When Lasorda showed up. Lasorda said, “I told him what it meant to be a Dodger. You need to sign with the Dodgers. Our scout saw something in you, and we spent our first-round pick on you. This is your only opportunity to sign with the Dodgers. I believe in you, and you need to believe too.”

Scioscia went home and told his parents he wanted to sign with the Dodgers. For his mother, Florence, it was a moment that made her start crying. A schoolteacher, she wanted him to go to college. His father, Fred, was happy but could not show it because his wife was not. So Scioscia passed up a full-ride scholarship to Clemson to play pro ball. His mother never really forgave him for passing that up. The day after he signed, Mike was on a plane to Walla Walla Washington to play pro ball.

He was assigned to Bellingham of the Class A (short season) Northwest League, where he hit .278 with an OBP of .418. The next year he went to Clinton of the Class A Midwest League. He played 121 games, 5 at first base. He improved his defense and was a patient hitter. His OBP was .385. Next stop was San Antonio in 1978, the Dodgers AA affiliate. In an injury-plagued year, he hit .299 in 58 games; half of his appearances were as a pinch hitter.

1979 found Scioscia at AAA Albuquerque. He hit an eye-popping .336 with an OBP of .432 and an OPS of .861. He was elected to the PCL All-Star team. One of four catchers on the Dodgers roster, he expected to spend some if not all of the 1980 season at Albuquerque.

Had he not been injured with a dislocated ring finger, he would have undoubtedly been called up in the first week when the Dodgers ran into catching problems. He was not eligible until June 20th. So with Johnny Oates released and Yeager and Ferguson going on the DL, he was called up and immediately inserted into the lineup. In his first major league at-bat, he doubled and scored a run. I remember it well; I was there! He played in 54 games as a rookie for the Dodgers, starting 44 of them. He threw out 20 of 68 runners trying to steal and had two errors and two passed balls. When asked to evaluate his strength, he replied, ” I am really good at putting on my gear after I make an out; I have been timed at 3.8 seconds.“

With a .254 BA, one homer, and 8 RBI, his career started. In 1981 he broke camp with the Dodgers and would remain with them for the next 12 years. Lasorda ran the same players out in the first 14 games, except at C, where Yeager and Scioscia platooned. Scioscia against RHP, Yeager against the lefties. On May 4 in Montreal, Scioscia was involved in three home plate collisions. The first was when Cromartie slammed into him, trying to score from second on a single. He sent Mike flying, but he held on to the ball, and he was out. Popping to his feet, Mike caught Chris Spier in a rundown between 2nd and 1st as Rowland Office, who had gone from first to third on the play, edged down the line at 3rd. Finally, he broke for the plate and got there about the same time as the ball. He sent Scioscia sprawling, and this time the runner was safe.

Later in the game, Mike was rocked again when Andre Dawson tried to score on an infield single. ” I know that is the most times I have been rocked on one play.” he later said. Al Campanis, Dodgers GM at the time, ” He is the best I have ever seen at blocking the plate,” Dick Williams, the Expos manager, praised him too. Mike also had some savvy behind the plate. He caught 5 of Fernando’s shutouts that year. Don Sutton said after Fernando shut out the Astros for the second time, “ He does not get enough credit. He called an outstanding game against us both times.” Scioscia had caught a shutout thrown by Sutton in 1980.

1981 was the strike year, and it came at a bad time for Scioscia. He was hitting. 299 at the time and was not on the All-Star ballot. But he was the Dodgers’ #1 catcher. When play resumed, MLB decided there would be first and second-half champs. Dodgers won the first half by half a game. The oddity was that the team in the NL that ended up with the best overall record, the Reds, did not make the playoffs. LA faced Houston in the first round. They lost the first two games. They then won the next three, helped in a game five 4-0 win by a Scioscia single off of Astros ace, Nolan Ryan. They then had to beat Montreal in Montreal in the NLCS and went to NY to face the Yankees.

Mike only had six plate appearances in the series. His backup, Steve Yeager, was one of the Tri-MVP winners for the series, along with Pedro Guerrero and Ron Cey. The infield finally had their series win. They would be broken up after the season when Davey Lopes was traded.

Except for 1983, when he only played in 13 games, Mike was the #1 catcher until 1992. He was solid, but nothing spectacular with the bat. Defensively, he had a career .998 fielding pct. He threw out 34% of the runners who tried to steal on him. He had some good moments as a hitter, most memorable being the homer off of Gooden in the 1988 playoffs.

He caught two no-hitters, Valenzuela and Kevin Gross, and was on the losing end of Nolan Ryan’s no-no. He caught 1,335 games as a Dodger. Almost 200 more than the #2 on the list, Steve Yeager. After the Dodgers released him in 1992, he went to spring training with the Padres but was released later in the year. His injuries kept him out. During the 1994 season, he tried to hook on with the Texas Rangers, but injuries again derailed the attempt.

Over his career, Scioscia had blocked at least 125 runners at the plate. # 125 being Deion Sanders in 1992. “It was the first time I have ever blocked a football player,” he said. In October of1994, he rejoined the Dodgers as a catching instructor. He immediately went to the Arizona Fall League. In 1996 there was speculation that Lasorda was going to retire and who would get the job when he did. When Tommy did retire due to a heart attack, Bill Russell got the job.

Mike joined the Dodger coaching staff in 1997 as the Dodgers bench coach. When Russell was fired in June of 1998, the interim job went to Glenn Hoffman instead of Scioscia, the Dodgers bench coach. In 1999, Mike was the manager of the Dodgers AAA team in Albuquerque. They limped to an 11th-place finish. The Dodgers, meanwhile, had gone out of the organization for a manager for the first time since O’Malley hired Charlie Dressen in 1950. I still believe to this day that Davey Johnson was a huge mistake. They should have hired Scioscia even though he had no experience.

So in November of 1999, Mike Scioscia became manager of the team down the I-5 freeway, the Angels. Part of the reason for his departure was the total turmoil in the ownership and management of the Dodgers. Mike had a huge task ahead of him. He inherited players who had forced out manager Terry Collins, and GM Bill Bavasi. He had to restore harmony in a dysfunctional clubhouse, restore discipline in the clubhouse and get the maximum production out of a shaky rotation. The Angels finished third that year in 2000.

His job was much harder in 2001, with injuries and slumps forcing him to juggle his lineup constantly. The Angels finished below .500, but in third place once again. In 2002, they started off horribly. They were 6-14 due to a shaky bullpen and rotation. With Scioscia’s leadership, they began to turn things around. By early September, they were second in the AL West. They finished the year 99-63 record and were the wild card team in the playoffs. They had overcome a 10 1/2 game deficit. They did it playing an NL-style game. Taking the extra base, stealing, and hit-and-run plays.

They defeated the Yanks in the division series 3-1. They then beat Minnesota in the ALCS and went on to face Barry Bonds and the Giants in the World Series. It was a hard-fought 7-game set, but the Halos won and had their first, and thus far only title. Scioscia was named manager of the year.

Mike remained the Angel manager until 2018. He won 6 AL West division titles in that time. But the Angels never made it back to the World Series. And all those years were not without their problems. He had a running feud with GM Jerry DiPoto after He fired friend and hitting coach Mickey Hatcher in 2012. Owner Artie Moreno was no help when he forced the two to patch up their differences; after three consecutive losing seasons, he left the Angels. It was his choice.

Mike coached the 2020 USA silver medal baseball team. He and his wife, Anne, reside in Westlake Village. They have two children. His son, Mathew, played baseball at Notre Dame and was drafted in the 45th round of the 2011 draft. He signed on June 20 and was assigned to the AZL Angels. In March of 2014, he was traded to the Chicago Cubs for Trevor Gretzky, the son of Wayne. He was released on June 14th by the Windy City Thunderbolts. In his career, Scioscia spent his off-seasons working towards the degree his mom always wanted him to have at Penn State.

Future Dodgers Down on the Farm by MT

• OKC was beaten by Round Rock 8-5.
  • Edwin Rios was 3-5.
  • Mike Busch was 2-4
  • Miguel Vargas was 2-5.
  • Dustin May started and went five innings, allowing 3 Hits and 1 ER. He walked one and struck out 8.
  • Dellin Betances was rocked right out of his socks! No use explaining it!
  • Ryan Noda (fringe prospect) was 3-3. The Dodgers have a lot of these guys: Drew Avans, Jacob Amaya, Rylan Bannon, and Jason Martin.
  • Marshall Kasowski pitched a clean inning, striking out 2. His ERA sits at 2.14, and his WHIP is 1.29, thanks to 28 BB in 42 IP. It’s hard to find anyone who thinks he can pitch at the next level.
• Tulsa lost 7-3 to Midland.
  • Andy Pages hit his 20th HR.
  • Bobby Miller went six innings, allowed 5 Hits, 3 ER, and did not walk a batter while striking out 11. Impressive… and depressing!
• Great Lakes was beaten by Peoria 7-1.
  • Jorbit Vivas was 2-4
  • Diego Cartaya was 1-3.
  • Emmet Sheehan went five innings and allowed 2 Hits and 0 ER. He walked three and struck out 9.
• Rancho Cucamonga lost to Lake Elsinore 5-4, so all the Top 4 Teams lost.
  • Dalton Rushing was 1-4
  • Chris Alleyne was 1-4 with a triple and BB, and RBI
  • Yunior Garcia was 2-4 with an RBI
  • C Yenier Fernandez was 1-4 with his 7th HR.

It was a bad day all around! Never speak of this again!

The Dodgers Win Again… Yawn! (MT)

• We are so spoiled! We bitch about not trading for Juan Soto as the Dodgers sport, the best record in baseball while having what is arguably the best farm system in all of baseball. Dodger fans are never happy. Give one a million dollars, and he would complain about the denominations. There has never been a better time in the Dodgers’ History to be a fan. Enjoy the ride… it won’t last forever. Why I say that: At some point in time, some team will lure Andrew Friedman away from the Dodgers with the promise of ownership or just big piles of money (it might be San Diego), and he will go to prove that he can do it again. Enjoy the ride… it might be ten years, five years, or 1 year.
• Prediction: Max Muncy will break .200 in a week or two and hopefully finish with 20-25 HR. That would bode well for the Dodgers. If the “shift” is outlawed next year, think how much that will help Bellinger, Muncy, and possibly Gallo!
• Ryan Pepiot will probably start tonight against Sonny Gray. At some point this season, I’d like to see the Dodgers give Gonsolin, Urias, Anderson, and Heaney each about 10-12 days of rest (obviously not at the same time).
• Did Moreno and the Angelos Group make another Dope-Fiend Move in letting Jahmai Jones get away to the Dodgers? Time will tell…
• Do you remember a few weeks ago that I told you the Yankees would fade in the second half? They are the oldest team in baseball and are having injuries, and their pitching is not deep. It has started! A few weeks ago, the Yankees had scored about 40 more runs than the Dodgers… now it’s down to 7!
• The Dodgers have given up the fewest runs in baseball (348) and soon will have scored the most runs. That is a winning recipe if I ever saw one.
• The Dodgers are #3 in team BA (.261) behind the Blue Jays (.265) and the Rockies (.264). The Yankees are #14!
• The Dodgers are #1 in OPS (.784).
• Dodger fans (me included) have ragged on RVS and Company, but the cream rose to the top, and we have to shut up already!
• Of course, the Dodgers are #1 in Pitching ERA (2.87) and up to #4 in Bullpen ERA (3.17). Realistically, they will finish the season #2.
• #1 in Starter ERA (2.68) – that is incredible!
• Tatis, Jr. was 2-2 last night with 2 BB – His two hits were a double and triple. He’s coming… SOON!