The Other Guys

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 and is that guy who wants that starting job. Some make it, some do not.  I thought it would be kind of interesting to look back at some of the players who made a run at a championship with the Dodgers.

But to keep it simple we will start in 59 and go no further than 88. Too much disappointment after that. And some of the names will be easily recognized for older fans. Some not so much.

In 1959, some of the starters were the aging Brooklyn guys. Duke Snider, Gil Hodges, Charlie Neal, Carl Furillo was injured and a bench player most of the year. But Reese had retired, Carl Erskine was also injured and not nearly as good as he was in Brooklyn. Don Newcombe was traded to the Reds. Gino Cimoli went to the Cardinals for Wally Moon who became the regular left fielder.

But Don Zimmer, who replaced Reese got off to a terrible start. He hit .165 and had his worst year as a Dodger. He was replaced by Maury Wills. Wills injected some speed into the lineup, and played pretty decent defense.

Norm Larker spelled Hodges at first and played some outfield also. He had 8 homers, 49 RBI’s, hit .289, and had a .344 OBP. Furillo only played in 49 games, but hit .290, with a 333 OBP. It was his last full season as a Dodger. His biggest hit came against the Braves in the 2nd playoff game, and drove in Hodges with the pennant winning run.

Stan Williams made 15 spot starts, and won 5. Roger Craig was 11-5 and had an ERA of 2.09. Larry Sherry won 7 out of the pen and saved 3. Clem Labine led the team with 9 saves. Danny McDevitt, Johnny Klippstein, Art Fowler, and Chuck Churn who won 3 games, all made contributions down the stretch. Craig was very important as he won all 11 games after his call up in June.

1962 – The year of heartbreak. Tommy Davis won the batting title. The only starters who were hold overs from Brooklyn days were Jim Gilliam and John Roseboro. The Davis boys and Howard made up the outfield, with Ron Fairly, Gilliam, Maury Wills, and former Giant Daryl Spencer as the 3rd baseman.

Wally Moon and Snider got some time. Duke hit 5 homers in his last season as a Dodger and had an OBP of .418. Larry Burright, a light hitting 2nd baseman got into 115 games. The most of any bench player. Johnny Podres, Sandy Koufax and Stan Williams all hit homers that year. But Koufax’s circulation problem that limited him to 28 games really hurt the Dodgers down the stretch. He still managed to pitch 2 shut outs and had 11 complete games and his first no hitter on the 30th of June against the Mets.

Pete Richert stepped in and won 5 games as a starter. Ron Perranoski had 19 saves, but Ed Roebuck was the unsung hero out of the pen with 10-2 record, and 9 saves.  He was the pitcher Walter Alston replaced with Williams in the 3rd game of the playoff. Williams blew a 2 run lead, and the pennant went out the window with it.

1963 – A magical year. Koufax was the star of the team, winning the Cy Young, that Big D had won the year before. 25-5 record, 1.88 ERA, 306 K’s. Awesome year.

Moon had 8 homers and 48 RBI’s off of the bench, and a .335 OBP. Lee Walls had 3 homers, and a OBP of 349. Perranoski was 16-3 with a 1.67 ERA and 21 saves. The rookie, Dick Calmus went 3-1. and never pitched at the major league level for the Dodgers again. Dick Nen had one of the biggest hits of the year. A pinch hit homer against the Cards in St Louis that helped the Dodgers sweep the Cards, and increase their lead to 4.5 games. His only homer in a Dodger uni.

1965 – Another magical year for Koufax. 26-8 2.04 ERA, 382 K’s. Drysdale added 23 wins. Newcomer Claude Osteen went 15-15. Podres won 7 in his last year in the rotation. Ron Perranoski, Bob Miller and Howie Reed carried the load in the pen. And rookie John Purdin won 2 games.

The season was only 17 games old when star outfielder Tommy Davis broke his ankle on a slide into second. The Dodgers then purchased the contract of Lou Johnson, a journeyman outfielder who had last played for the Braves in 1962.

Johnson was the spark the team needed. He played with a joy seldom seen by many, and did a pretty good job replacing Davis. He hit .259 with 12 homers and 58 RBI’s, and a OBP of .315. Drysdale was the only Dodger who had a .300 BA that year, and he added 7 homers, and 19 RBI’s.

Jeff Torborg led the scrubs with 3 homers. Jeff also was the catcher when Sandy pitched his perfect game.  But none of the other players had more than 1. The team itself showed little power, only hitting 78 homers. Pitching was the key.

Koufax did not pitch the opener of the series due to Yom Kippur. So Big D started and lost. Koufax lost game 2, and they were down to the Twins. Osteen won game 3 in LA, Big D won game 4, Koufax game 5. Back in Minnesota, the Twins beat Osteen. And with the title on the line, Alston opted for Sandy on two days rest with Big D out in the pen if needed. He wasn’t. Koufax pitched a 2-0 shutout, and the title was theirs. Second time in 3 years.

1966 – Sandy’s last season. He again won the Cy Young with a 27-9 performance. As he had in 65, he completed 27 games and struck out 312, the third time he passed that number. Plus his ERA was 1.73. Drysdale had a losing record at 13-16. But Claude Osteen went 17-14, and a kid named Don Sutton went 12-12 in his rookie year. Certainly not expected. Phil Regan won 14 out of the pen with a single loss. 21 saves and sub 2 ERA earning him the nickname, Vulture. Miller, Perranoski and Jim Brewer backed him up.

Davis coming back from injury hit .313 with 3 homers and 27 RBI’s off of the bench. Al Ferrara had 5 homers as a part time player. Gilliam was instrumental in the field coming back from coaching to being active at 37 years old. He played stellar defense, but did not add much at the plate. Dick Stuart, the famed Dr. Strangeglove from the Pirates added 3 homers in 9 ribbies in limited play his last year in the majors.

They lost in 4 games to a very powerful Orioles team that had excellent pitching, and a vacuum cleaner at 3rd in Brooks Robinson. Koufax lost his only start in the series, and retired after the season was over at 30 years old.

For the next 8 years the team did not play very well. Big D retired in 69 because of injury. Sutton became the team’s ace. They got Maury Wills back in a trade after he spent 3 seasons with the Pirates and the Expos.

With draft picks, and some trades they finally made it back in 74. After 3 straight second place finishes. They won 102 games, matching the 62 team’s high in LA. They beat Pittsburgh in the playoffs, and then faced the A’s. The A’s were seeking their 3rd straight championship. And they would get it, winning 4 games to 1. The oddity was that all of the games save game 4 were won by the same score, 3-2.

1974 – The year of the Toy Cannon, Jimmy Wynn. He was the elder statesman on a team of upcoming stars that included the infield of Cey, Lopes, Garvey, and Russell. He was flanked in the outfield by Bill Buckner and Willie Crawford.

The biggest contributor off of the bench was Joe Ferguson, who while sharing the catching duties with Yeager, blasted 16 homers with 57 RBI’s and a .252 avg with a .380 OBP. No other bench player had more than 3 homers. Andy Messersmith led the pitchers with 1 homer and 11 ribbies.

All of the starters except Al Downing had winning records, but the bullpen was anchored by Mike Marshall. Marshall was in 105 games with a 15-12 record and 21 saves. He was backed up by Charlie Hough who won 9. Geoff Zahn, Brewer, and Rick Rhoden all added wins.

1977 – Back to the promised land again, with a new manager, Lasorda, at the helm. The infield was intact, but the outfield was completely changed with Dusty Baker, Rick Monday, and Reggie Smith. All 3 picked up in trades. Dusty Baker for Wynn, Monday for Buckner, and Smith for Joe Ferguson. 4 players hit 30 homers or more. Garvey and Cey drove in 100 plus runs.

They got decent production from bench players, Lee Lacy, Glenn Burke, Johnny Oates, and Vic Davalillo. Oates and Jerry Grote were the backup catchers. And they got veteran Boog Powell from the Orioles and he played in 53 games.

They got 20 wins from John, and all of the staff had winning records and double digit wins. Hough was the workhorse in the pen, winning 6, but losing 12. He did save 22. Mike Garman added 12 saves with 4 wins. And they lost to the Yankees and Jackson 4-2.

1978 – Back to back pennants. They beat the Phillies in the playoffs. This time, no player hit 30 homers. Garvey led the team with a .316 average and 113 RBI’s. Monday, now a platoon player, and Lee Lacy led a strong bench corps, which included Joe Ferguson who was traded back to the team. Davalillo managed to hit over .300 in 75 games. Mostly as a PH.

As we all know, for the next couple of seasons, they fell short. Including a painful 1 game playoff in 1980 to those Astro guys. Some kid named Valenzuela made his MLB debut late that year. He managed to get into 10 games. He won 2 and saved 1.

1981 – Strike year. After 57 games the players went on strike, and the Dodgers at the time were in first place with a 36-21 record. When the strike was settled, it was decided that there would be a second half champion like they do in the minors. So, the Dodgers finished 4th in the second half with a 27-26 record. Now the fun begins because the team that had the best record over all, the Reds, did not get into the playoffs. And the team in the east with the best winning percentage, the Cardinals, did not get in either. It was Expos-Phillies, and Dodgers-Astros for the NLDS.

The Dodgers split the first 4 games and headed into game 5 with Jerry Ruess making the start against Nolan Ryan. Ruess pitched a 5 hit shutout and the Dodgers went on to face Montreal.  In game 5, Valenzuela started against Burris, who had shut LA out in game two. Montreal got the jump, but the Dodgers tied it at one in the 5th when Monday scored on a ground out. Burris left after the 8th inning, and the Expos brought in their ace, Steve Rogers, to pitch the 9th. With 2 outs on a 3-1 pitch, Monday homered to give LA the lead. The Expos got two walks with 2 out in the bottom of the 9th, but Welch came out of the pen, and got the last out.

They finally beat the Yankees 4-2, after losing the first 2 games in Yankee Stadium to win their first title since 65. Monday, Derrel Thomas, Yeager, and Jay Johnstone were all big contributors off of the bench. Thomas driving Lasorda nuts with his basket catches in the outfield, and Johnstone keeping the clubhouse loose with his antics. He was spotted at the concession stand in full uniform, buying hot dogs during a game. And one time, he and Jerry Ruess donned the groundskeepers shirts and dragged the infield. Funny story about that is Lasorda spotted them and decided to turn the tables, so he started yelling at Johnstone to grab a bat and pinch hit. Jay was still tucking in his shirt as he grabbed a bat and headed to the plate. He proceeded to hit a homer. As he came into the dugout and passed Tommy, he was speechless.

As we all know, Fernando had an outstanding rookie season, winning the Cy Young and the ROY. No one had done that before, and no one has done it since. Steve Howe made big contributions out of the pen, as did Bobby (Babo) Castillo and Dave Stewart. It was one for the books.  Another aside on the last 2 seasons of Koufax. He had WAR’s of 9.9, and 9.7 those last two seasons.

1988 – That year the Dodgers relied on pitching again, since only 3 of the hitters had 10 or more homers. And due to injury, they relied a lot on the bench players. In this case, they were called the Stunt Men, led by the effervescent Mickey Hatcher. The team had signed Kirk Gibson in the off season as a free agent, traded for Jay Howell, Alfredo Griffin, and Jesse Orosco.

The tone for the season was set during spring, and sparked by 3 separate incidents. During BP, Griffin was pitching and tossing cookies up there, and Gibson yelled, why are we taking BP if we are getting nothing out of it? Then came the one we all know about. Orosco placing eyeblack in Gibson’s cap. Gibson told Lasorda he had better find out who did it as he stormed off the field. He also threatened to quote, “Tear the guy’s head off”. Orosco later tried to apologize, but it was a no go. The Dodgers used to play a game called Flinch. They would fake throwing a punch at another player, and if he flinched, they could punch them for real. In probably a move he regretted the rest of his life, Hershiser tried that on Gibson, who promptly responded by forearming him in the chest and declaring, I don’t play flinch!

The team played well, and had the Stunt Men to fall back on. Dave Anderson, Hatcher, Danny Heep, Pedro Guerrero, before he was traded to the Cardinals for John Tudor, Mike Sharperson, and Rick Dempsey, all made solid contributions to the team. Hershiser was the star of the team on the pitching side. Gibson won the MVP with a very good offensive campaign. Lost in all of that is the fact that he also stole 31 bases, and Steve Sax added 42. The team had 4 players with 10 or more, Shelby and Stubbs added to that total.

The starters had 3 in double figures, Orel Hershiser, Tim Leary, and Tim Belcher. Fernando was plagued by injury and only won 5 while losing 8 with a plus 4 ERA. Sutton went 3-6 before being released. Tudor got 9 starts and went 4-3. Shawn Hillegas started 11 games and had a 3-4 record. Pena and Howell were solid out of the pen with 12 and 21 saves respectively. And then they met the powerful A’s in the series after dispatching the Mets 4-3, after being beaten 11 of 12 games during the season. Mike Scioscia, the starting catcher, hit a 2 run homer off of Doc Gooden in the 9th inning to send the game 4 to extras. And in the 12th, shades of things to come, Gibson hit a homer that won it.

Pitching won the World Series for them. Hershiser and friends shut down the powerful A’s offense. The Stunt Men filled in for the injured regulars, notably Hatcher, who hit . 368 and had more homers, 2 than he hit during the regular season. Mike Davis, who had a terrible year, but walked prior to Gibby’s game winner in game 1, also managed to add a homer to the cause. Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire were 2 for 36 combined with both hits homers.

Well, there you have it. Some of the unsung heroes who made impacts on good teams. I am just hoping some of those guys on this team can do the same.