The Lip
The 27th of July was the birthday of one of the most successful Dodger managers. Leo the Lip Durocher. Leo Ernest Durocher was born on July 27th, 1905 in West Springfield Massachusetts. His parents had immigrated to the US from Quebec Canada. His mother was a hotel maid and his father worked as a railroad engineer. He died not long after Durocher was born. His family only spoke French, so
The 27th of July was the birthday of one of the most successful Dodger managers. Leo the Lip Durocher. Leo Ernest Durocher was born on July 27th, 1905 in West Springfield Massachusetts. His parents had immigrated to the US from Quebec Canada. His mother was a hotel maid and his father worked as a railroad engineer. He died not long after Durocher was born. His family only spoke French, so when Leo started school, he did not know how to speak English. The Durocher family lived two blocks from Rabbit Maranville. He taught Durocher the game of baseball and gave him a glove.
Durocher became a good athlete in high school and was offered a scholarship to Holy Cross. But he was suspended from school for hitting a teacher, and never returned. Leo became a prominent semi-pro player with many Springfield area company’s competing to have him play on their company teams.
After being scouted by the Yankees, Leo broke in to pro ball with the Hartford Senators of the Eastern League in 1925. He was called up for two games, and then spent 26 and 27 in the minors playing for the Atlanta Crackers of the Southern Association, and then the St. Paul Saints of the American Association.
He was called up to the Yankees in 1928. A regular player, he was nicknamed “The All American Out” by team mate, Babe Ruth. Leo was a favorite of Yanks manager, Miller Huggins, who immediately identified him as manager material because of his passion, ego, competitiveness and his capacity to remember situations. But his outspokenness did not endear him to Yankee management, and his habit of passing bad checks to finance his expensive tastes in clothes and nightlife annoyed General Manager, Ed Barrow.
Leo helped the Yanks win their second consecutive title in 1928 and then demanded a raise. He was sold to the Reds on the 5th of February, 1930. Leo played 3 seasons for the Reds, and was traded mid season in 1933 to the St Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals were more Leo’s cup of tea. His fiery style fit right in with the Gas House Gang. He was given #2 and wore that number for the rest of his career. He supposedly inspired the Gas House Gang moniker and helped the Cards win the 34 series. He was a vicious bench jockey and rode his opponents constantly. He was the captain of the team and stayed with the Cardinals through the 1937 season and then was traded to the Dodgers. The Cardinals received Joe Stripp, Roy Henshaw, Johnny Cooney and Jim Bucher for Leo. Durocher was never a great hitter. His career BA is .247 and he hit only 24 HR’s. But he was a leader on the field. In 38 and 39 he was the regular SS for Brooklyn. In 1938 , his first year with the Dodgers, he was named player-manager by team president Larry McPhail. They were a combustible combination, and like Steinbrenner with Martin, McPhail hired and fired Durocher a few times. McPhail was pretty open to spending and trading for stars. He added Dolph Camilli, Kirbe Higby, Billy Herman and he bought a young SS from the Red Sox, Pee Wee Reese. By the end of the 1941 season, Reese had impressed Leo so much at SS that he gave up his regular job so Pee Wee could play. Pee Wee would spend 18 years as a Dodger. McPhail picked up some pretty good pieces for Leo, and they went to the World Series in 1941. First time in 21 years. One of those pickups was free agent OF, Pete Reiser. Reiser was ruled a free agent by MLB because of some mess up by Cardinals president Branch Rickey.
It was during his first year as manager that Durocher came into his own. The most iconic image of Leo is him going toe to toe with an umpire until he was eventually thrown out of the game. He valued this kind of fire in his players, and it was during this time he coined the phrase, ” Nice Guys Finish Last” He honestly believed that. Leo was also notorious for ordering his pitchers to hit opposing batters. If he wanted a batter hit, he would simply yell, ” Stick it in his ear”. Durocher’s relationship with McPhail was tempestuous. McPhail was a heavy drinker, and he and Leo would argue and he would fire him, and then rehire him in the morning. McPhail’s leadership of the Dodgers ended when he joined the Army during WWII. His replacement was Branch Rickey. Rickey retained Durocher and the Dodgers engaged the Cardinals in the first playoff in NL history. Durocher also regularly clashed with commissioner, Happy Chandler. Chandler had taken over in 1945 and warned Durocher to stay away from some of his old friends who were gamblers, bookmakers, and had mob connections. All of these people Leo allowed a free rein at Ebbets Field. Leo was very close to actor George Raft with whom he shared a house in Los Angeles. He also admitted to a nodding acquaintance with mobster Bugsy Seigel. He encouraged card schools in the club house and was something of a pool shark.
Things finally came to a head when his affair with married actress Laraine Day came to light. This drew criticism from the Influential Brooklyn Catholic Youth Organization. In spring of 1947, Leo got into trouble again. He and George Raft supposedly rigged a crap game that Dizzy Trout was in and took Dizzy Trout for a lot of money. Chandler suspended him for association with known gamblers, and the Dodgers had to have Burt Shotton replace him for the 1947 season, which was of course, Jackie Robinson’s rookie year. Leo played an influential part in assimilating Jackie onto the team. He let it be known that he would not tolerate the dissent of players on the Dodgers who were opposed to Jackie’s playing with the Dodgers. He said he did not care what color a player was, if he could help the Dodgers win the pennant, he wanted him on his team. There was a petition going around the clubhouse against having Robinson play. Some of the players who signed that petition were eventually traded by Branch Rickey, most notably, Dixie Walker and Kirbe Higby who were sent to Pittsburgh. In 1948, Leo returned to the Dodgers, but his personality and bad results caused a riff with Rickey and on July 16th, 1948, Durocher and Giant owner Horace Stoneham negotiated a deal that allowed Durocher to manage the Giants.
Leo enjoyed a lot of success with the Giants, exacting some revenge when his 51 team beat Brooklyn in the playoffs. He won his only World Championship in 1954 when the Giants beat the Indians. As Dodger manager Leo went 738-565. close to .570 winning pct. He was 637-523 with the Giants who he managed until 1955. Then in 1966 he was managing the Chicago Cubs after a stint as a coach for Walter Alston’s Dodgers 61to 64, getting another ring in 63. He went 535-526 with the Cubs over a seven year run. In 1972 he managed the last 31 games for the Astros and then the entire 1973 season. He went 82-80. and 98-95 over all and then he retired. Leo’s over all total is 2008-1709. At the time of his retirement he was 5th over all in MLB history.
Leo worked a lot in television. He was a commentator on NBC for the game of the week for a while, he also hosted NBC’s Comedy Hour and Jackpot bowling. He played himself in the Red Skelton movie, “Whistling in Brooklyn”. He also appeared in episodes of The Beverly Hillbillies and The Munster’s. I remember that episode well. Herman wrecks the ball field. One of his line drives knocks the scoreboard down. The last scene in the show, Leo is walking with Crazy Legs Hirsch and a football comes flying into his hands. He asks Leo where the nearest park is, and Leo reply’s, don’t ask.
Leo was the first manager to win 500 plus games with three teams. He died on October 7, 1991 in Palm Springs. He was married 4 times. He is buried in Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills Cemetery. He was posthumously inducted into the Hall in 1994.
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Discussion (235)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Freakin Gallen can’t pitch against anybody else. Looks like Cy young against us!!
Jeff – Get well soon and stay away from the LAD medical staff…
Great assessment and I firmly believe in our team…
Let the race begin… Go Blue…
Looks like Jacob deGrom is shut down for at least two weeks. The Mets are looking at a September return to the rotation. The Dodgers will face the Mets 7 games over the next three weeks, and will not have to face deGrom.
The Nats currently have 24 on their roster. It would appear that maybe both JoJo Gray and Keibert Ruiz could join the roster for the remainder of 2021 to get that ML experience. Good luck to both.
It was fun reading all of the anxiety displayed on Twitter because MLB had not announced the Scherzer/Taylor trade. All of the sports journalists kept saying it was a done deal, and that it will get finalized. You just know that the hang up was Scott Boras trying to get everything he could for Scherzer to waive his no-trade clause. I don’t blame him. Maximize your assets.
I certainly understand the Adam Frazier and Daniel Hudson additions for the Pads. I am not sure I understand Jake Marisnick. I guess it is for emergency for if Trent Grisham gets injured. I would have thought he would have been a better fit for Houston who now desperately need a CF.
Kris Bryant is a good addition got SF. I am assuming he will replace Jason Vosler, and that improves them. The cost for Bryant was inconsequential. Greg Amzinger on MLB proved why you should never believe what you read on Twitter. He announced on TV that Joey Bart and LaMonte Wade Jr. were the return for Bryant. Harold Reynolds just destroyed him for that one.
Am I now allowed to say what a failure Jerry Dipoto was this trade deadline? I was told to be patient because Dipoto had a lot of other moves to counteract the idiocy of trading Kendall Graveman. Abraham Toro, Diego Castillo, and Tyler Anderson does not make up for the loss of Graveman THIS YEAR. Oakland improved their team for this year, and NYY and Toronto should very soon bypass the M’s trying to catch the A’s for the second WC team. I feel for their fans.
Of course the winner of the week was LAD. Not just because of the great trade for Scherzer and Taylor, but Seags is back tonight, Mookie will be back Sunday, Knebel probably next week, and Kershaw not far behind. Don’t sleep on Danny Duffy as a LHRP for September and perhaps the post season.
I know Mark and BandP are not worried about the bullpen, but that just reeks of homerism to me. The bullpen is:
Tied for 1st in blown saves with 23 (5 more than SF and SD).
9th in ERA
12th in WHIP
7th in BA
17th most Ks
17th most BBs
And they did this with having the 22nd least IP for a bullpen. AF was never in on Kimbrel. KJ has been and will continue to be the closer. Maybe for the playoffs, AF will direct Doc in another direction. If LAD had the same number of blown saves as did SF and SD, they would be 2 games ahead of SF and 7.5 ahead of SD. 23 blown saves for a championship caliber bullpen???
They have 7 walk off losses. They have a 1-10 record in extra inning games, and are 13-18 in one run games. That just screams the bullpen is a weak link or the management of the bullpen is. Or maybe both. Band P listed a slew of potential relievers. Out of that list, which ones can be counted on in back to back games in a high leverage situation during the playoffs. There was a funny little comment on Twitter. Trea Turner doubles, steals 3rd, and scores on a sac fly. Max Scherzer throws 8 shutout innings. 1-0 in the 9th and the gate opens and out comes KJ. Oh No!
The bullpen is mediocre at best. It is not a strength. The offense is going to need to score a lot of runs to make the bullpen inconsequential.
Are they the best team in MLB? Absolutely!! I truly believe they are, and that they will overcome the bullpen deficiencies. I just do not believe hiding my head in the sand and say that they have a great bullpen when every metric for analyzing a bullpen reads mediocre. I hope KJ saves every critical game from tonight to a WS championship, and I have to eat crow. But I think it is more likely that someone like Julio Urias will have to come in and shut them down. I still believe that VGon has plantar fasciitis, and needs more time on the IL.
I am laid up for the next 4-6 weeks with achilles tendonitis and a bad high ankle sprain. I generally walk 6-8 miles per day, but not now. So I will have a lot of time for reading and writing.
I root for the White Sox in the AL because they share Camelback Ranch and I can see games there as well as LA. And because they drafted and brought up Nick Madrigal who I followed throughout his college days at OSU. He’s a nice young player with plus bat to ball skills. I think if he is healthy off his hamstring injury, he could have competed to lead the AL in hitting someday. Now that can’t happen. I was sad to see him traded along with Codi Heuer, who I like as well, for the Sox to make a big splash with Kimbrel. I hope it works out for both teams but I hate to see “Nicky Twostrikes” moved. And a fan should never get too attached to a player.
Taylor 2B
Muncy 1B
Turner 3B
Seager SS
Smith C
Pollock LF
Bellinger CF
McKinney RF
Gonsolin P
Welcome back Corey, no pressure, go bat cleanup. Pretend like we didn’t just trade for your replacement. You have a spot on this team if you want it.
Tonight’s winning Lineup vs the Snakes:
HITTERS H-AB RBI HRSB AVG
C. Taylor2B 97-347 55 16 9 .280
M. Muncy1B 82-297 61 22 1 .276
J. Turner3B 103-350 59 18 0 .294
C. SeagerSS 39-147 22 4 1 .265
W. SmithC 69-265 48 14 2 .260
A. PollockLF 72-246 37 13 4 .293
C. BellingerCF 26-162 21 5 2 .160
B. McKinneyRF 43-204 21 8 2 .211
T. GonsolinP 2-11 0 0 0 .182
I would have liked to see the Dodgers get a bona fide closer at the deadline and there really was just one elite closer and the White Sox paid a premium in Nick Madrigal to get him and they also gave up a useful bullpen piece. That’s a huge haul!
Daniel Hudson was in the next tier and the Padres got him. He’s not really a closer anyways, but has thrived as a setup guy. Richard Rodriguez is solid, but he’s not a 99 flame thrower. More of a ground ball pitcher.
Scherzer is going to push a guy from the rotation back into the bullpen (Gonsolin?) and Danny Duffy is effectively a bullpen add.
Let’s look at what this staff would look like in the postseason
After the rotation of Scherzer, Bueller, Kershaw and Urias we can pick our bullpen out of…
Jansen
Knebel
Treinen
Kelly
Nelson
Duffy
Gonsolin
Price
Graterol
V-Gone
Bickford
And that’s without even considering Vesia, Alexander, Cleavinger, White, Sherfy and Nunez.
I think we’re in pretty good shape. Could you imagine if Tommy Kahnle appears in September when rosters expand? I’m not starting any rumors, but I’m not counting him out yet. (Probably more of a dream than rooted in reality).
Neftali Feliz struck out the side in his last AAA outing on just 11 pitches. He’s making a comeback folks!
Any Brandon Morrow sightings?
Dammit Andrew, why haven’t you figured out how to get 8 closers in your pen at the same time!?
The Dodgers activated IF Corey Seager from the 60-day injured list.
@FabianArdaya
The Dodgers claimed Chad Wallach off waivers from the Marlins. Catcher depth for their 40-man after trading Keibert Ruiz.
Giant fans all pumped about Bryant coming to SF, The Dodgers have totally shut him down this season. He is hitting .115 against LA with 1 HR. Only has 3 hits in 26 at bats. He struck out 11 of those at bats.
Keith Law implies that Cartaya has/had passed Ruiz as a prospect.
I found that interesting.
AV Forte – I live in the suburbs of London, 15!minutes into the heart of the City by train, in Watford, in the County of Hertfordshire.
So good to hear of your relationship with your in laws. It doesn’t surprise me at all. My in Laws are great people and likewise, don’t get involved in our stuff.
I think it is the English way – quite reserved, and not wanting to cause offence. We are a very tolerant nation compared to our neighbours in Europe.
Hope you’ve managed to convert your wife to Baseball.
I took mine to Chavez Ravine, and she thoroughly enjoyed it.
Nice to have you onboard – where are you from?
In Jansen we trust! Right?
Well pretty uneventful deadline for boys in blue ! 🙂
I m thinking the reason we didn’t trade for a closer is the plan is to have Julio Urias fill that roll when we get to the playoffs. Worked out pretty good last year!
Dodgers just welcome sherzer ant turner in team’s oficial Twitter ‘
The same questions being reiterated here today. Nothing has changed. And why Tatis? What if he did the exact same thing to her? It’s ok when a Padre does it but not ok if a Dodger does?
“I’m not going to look at stats (facts) but I’m going to offer up an opinion”. Thanks Jason. We’ve had quite enough of that for several years running. Bellinger is in a slump. He had a good month in June, I know you don’t know that, but he did, his OPS in the last 14 days is .447, but in the last 7 days it is .824. Again, those pesky stats that get in the way of making sense, but it looks to me that he’s struggling with consistency. I do exactly what Roberts is doing, keep running him out there. I bat him lower in order, but I don’t bench him. Still plenty of games left to figure it out. If he doesn’t by October, then you can bench him.
Man what a failure by the Rockies not to get something for Story. I guess they felt the comp pick was more than they were offered? Can’t see that but who knows
Bryant a good move by SF
SD has to be sitting there wondering WTF happened?
Would have liked to see the Dodgers get some bullpen help but maybe Knebel is that guy for nothing. I hope so. Or maybe there is something that isn’t announced yet. MLBTR keeps crashing so I hope that is the case. I personally don’t have any confidence in Jansen on the mound in a must win, go home game closing out a win, even with a 3 run lead.
What a hectic trade deadline. Dodgers did not trade for a reliever so maybe they feel with Knebel coming back, they will be fine. Have to wonder who gets sent down when they activate Seager and Scherzer. Dodgers have 58 games left, the Giants have 60 and the Padres have 57. It is going to be a sprint to the finish. Have to beat up on the bad teams, and be a little better than .500 against the good teams. Giants just got Tony Watson from the Angels. Late trades trickling in.
Robles to the Red Sox, Soler to the Braves from the Royals. Seager will be activated tonight and be at SS,
Lester and Happ to the Cardinals.
Soria goes to the Jays. Marisnick to the Padres. So far, Dodgers have not addressed the pen and the deadline has passed. Could be some deals submitted but not announced.
Giants get K. Bryant
Kris Bryant goes to Giants
I think that the solution to improving our bullpen may very well be right under our noses but was dismissed without any serious consideration. When TM said that his grandma could strike out Cody Bellinger I was intrigued. TM, can you provide more information?
What is her WHIP? (2021 and career, please)
Does her fastball have significant swing and miss velocity and movement ?
Would she be willing to be patted down by the umpires when coming off the mound?
Is she willing to throw at opposing players to protect her teammates, and deal with the subsequent batter who charges the mound?
How is her pickoff move?
Is Boras her agent?
Will she be able to see the catchers signals or will they often be crossed up and risk injury?
Is she capable of leaping over the third base line on the way to and from the mound?
What is the spin rate of her breaking pitches?
Can she bundt? 😉
Please provide answers TM and maybe we can take advantage of this opportunity before other organizations hear of it!