Who s On First

I got to thinking about this the other day when I was discussing Steve Garvey and why I did not think he belonged in the hall with a friend of mine. He is a Dodger fan who lives in San Diego and Garv was one of his favorite Dodgers ever.

I thought it would be interesting to go back in time and check out all of the players who have been the primary first baseman for the Dodgers going back to when they first became a professional team.

Some of the names are familiar to me, and some I have never heard of. Some had more than just a couple of years on the job, and some were just wisp’s of wind on the baseball scene.

Brooklyn joined the league in 1890. But in 1884, they were part of the American Association, and were known as the Brooklyn Atlantics. They remained in the association through 1889. In 1890, the Brooklyn Bridegrooms joined the National League and won their first title with a 85-43 record.

Their first baseman was Dave Foutz. Foutz was in his 3rd season with the team. He hit .303 with 5 homers, and 98 RBI’s. Not much power was displayed in those days, and the team leader in HR’s was Oyster Burns who had 13. Foutz ended up playing in Brooklyn for 9 years. He also pitched some and played the outfield. His nickname was Scissors.

George LaChance came to Brooklyn in 1893, but was a part timer until 1895. His best year was 1895 when he hit .314, with 8 HR’s and 111 RBI’s. Both were career highs. He left the team after the 1898 season. His nickname was Candy.

Over the next several years they had numerous players at 1st, and none were really distinguished. Then in 1910 a player named Jake Daubert became the 1st baseman. For the next 9 years he was the man. Jake’s high water mark as a hitter was a .350 average in 1913. Jake never hit more than 8 homers as a Dodger, and he only drove in 415 runs as a Dodger. He did however have 1387 hits.

Jack Fournier came to Brooklyn in a trade in 1923 from the Cardinals for Hi Myers, and another player. He was with the Dodgers for 4 seasons, but only 3 as the starter. His first 3 years he hit .351, 334, and .350. He also hit 71 HR’s over those 3 seasons. May not sound like much, but he was 33 when he was traded to the Dodgers.

In 1926 and 27, Babe Herman was the primary first baseman. Babe was a great hitter, but not much with the glove and those were his first 2 seasons in Brooklyn. He still holds the Dodger record for the highest BA in a season at .393.

In 1928, Del Bisonette took over the job. Del was a good hitter and played for only 5 seasons in a career cut short by injury and illness. His best season was 1930 when he hit .336 with 16 HR’s and 113 RBI’s.

Over the next 7 seasons 3 different players were used. No one really took the job and ran with it, then in 1938, Dolph Camilli took over. He was 31 when he came to Brooklyn from the Phillies for Eddie Morgan and $45,000.

For the next 6 years he was the man. He was a .270 hitter over those years, but he hit 139 of his career 239 homers with the Dodgers and drove in 572 runs. He also led the league in HR’s in 1941 with 34. Not many Dodgers have accomplished that at all.

Through the war years, a couple of different players were used there. In 1947, his rookie year, the primary 1st baseman was Jackie Robinson. It was the only position where there was an opening, and Rickey wanted to get Jackie in the majors.

Then in 1948, a player took over the position, and would be there for the next 14 years. Gil Hodges. Hodges was a catcher by trade, but the Dodgers were loaded at the position with Bruce Edwards, and Bobby Bragan. And they had Campy in the pipeline. So Gil grabbed the mitt.

He became, in my mind at least, the best first baseman in the majors. He had soft hands, and he could hit with power. He hit 361 HR’s as a Dodger. Was a rock in the infield, and saved a lot of bad throws with his glove. He won 3 gold gloves, but had they been handed out before 1955, he probably would have won more.

He scored the winning run in the 1959 second playoff game against the Braves and played on the 55 and 59 title teams. He went on to manage the Miracle Mets, and the Senators. Dying of a heart attack on a golf course during spring training in 1972. He was 47 years old.

Gil left in the expansion draft after the 61 season, and played 2 more years for the Mets. Norm Larker played there for one season as the starter, 1960, and almost won a batting title. Finishing second to Dick Groat of the Pirates. Then in 1962, Ron Fairly took over for 3 years. In 1965, Wes Parker became the primary 1st baseman.

Wes was a wizard with a glove, and won 6 straight gold gloves from 67-72. He was never much of a hitter, but in 1970, Wes hit .319. He only hit 10 HR’s that year, but he drove in 111. He also led the league in games played, and doubles.

Bill Buckner played there in 73 most of the time, but was moved to the outfield to make way for Steve Garvey. Garvey would play there for the next 9 years. And except for 1981 when he only played 110 games, he played almost every game for 6 years straight.

Garvey won 4 gold gloves. He was a clutch hitter and part of the 4 players who hit 30 homers or more in 1977. First time that had ever been done in the majors. Garvey, as we all know, left as a free agent after the 82 season.

Over the next 6 seasons, Greg Brock (4), and Franklin Stubbs (2) were the guys. Brock, who had torn up AAA pitching, did not reach the same level of success in the bigs, and he was eventually traded to the Brewers. Stubbs had some power,  but never hit for much average. So they moved on after 1989.

Hall of Famer Eddie Murray came over in 1989, and was the primary player for the next 3 seasons. Eddie was 33 when traded to LA. He did not have a great 89, but in 90 he hit .330 with 26 HR’s and 95 RBI’s.

He was followed by a player who would be there for the next 11 years, Eric Karros. Karros was a steady player for LA. He won the ROY in 1992. And he holds the LA Dodger record for HR’s with 270. He was an average fielder, and he never won a gold glove. But he was part of the 5 consecutive ROY’s the Dodgers had in the 90’s. Karros, Piazza, Mondesi, Nomo, and Todd Hollandsworth.

From 2003 to 2006, 4 different players were the 1st basemen. Fred McGriff, Shawn Green, Hee-seop Choi, and Garciaparra. In 2007, James Loney took over and would be there for the next 6 years.

Loney was a good hitter without much power. And that seemed to be the big beef about the guy. But he did drive in 9 runs in a game against the Rockies in 2007. The outburst tied Gil Hodges team record. Dodgers won the game 19-11 at Coors field.

 Loney was traded as we all know in ” The Trade” that brought Adrian Gonzalez to LA. Adrian was the butter and egg man as Vinny would say for the next 4 seasons.

He won a gold glove in 2014 and drove in 100 plus runs twice. His injury in 2017 allowed the Dodgers to call up Cody Bellinger, who would win the ROY that season and help the Dodgers win the pennant.

Gonzo was traded to the Braves in the deal that brought Matt Kemp back to LA. Bellinger played 1st base for most of 2018, although he was spelled by Muncy a few times.  And Muncy became the primary guy in 2019.

With Doc managing the Dodgers, there really is no set lineup anymore. 9 different players played 1st base in 2019, and 4 have done so this year, so it is truly, who’s on first?

I remember many other players getting a shot there. They traded for Todd Benzinger in 1992. Doug Mientkiewicz was here for a while in 2009.  Len Matuzek spent some time in LA in the 80’s.

Murray is in the hall, Hodges should be. Most of the players the Dodgers have had there that played for any length of time, were good players. Just not hall of famers.

There are Garvey fans out there who feel strongly that Garv should be in the hall. I will say this, that if he were to get in and Hodges did not, it would be a travesty.