Dodgerland
Page 54
2.“Royals Blame Umpire.”
3.Don Merry, “The Fall Guys of the Fall Are Now 1–7 in Playoffs,” Los Angeles Times, October 5, 1978; Scott Ostler, “Dodgers Are Up . . . Phillies Go Down, 9–5,” Los Angeles Times, October 5, 1978.
4.Don Merry, “Phils Become a Bunch of Carpet Beaters,” Los Angeles Times, October 6, 1978.
5.Don Merry, “That Playoff Grave Remains UnPhilled,” Los Angeles Times, October 7, 1978.
6.Don Merry, “‘I Missed It . . . It Was Right at Me’—Maddox,” Los Angeles Times, October 8, 1978.
7.Merry, “‘I Missed It.”
8.Jim Murray, “The Day Garry Maddox Dropped a Pennant,” Los Angeles Times, October 8, 1978.
9.Earl Gustkey, “Sadness amid Dodger Cheer: Jim Gilliam,” Los Angeles Times, October 8, 1978.
10.Milton Richman, “Alston: Gilliam Was THE Ideal,” Los Angeles Times, October 9, 1978.
11.Scott Ostler, “‘Never More Relaxed’—Lopes,” Los Angeles Times, October 11, 1978.
12.Jackson with Baker, Becoming Mr. October, 279; Lyle and Golenbock, Bronx Zoo, 248.
13.The next day in many papers across the country, there even appeared a poem commemorating the event—written by some nameless AP reporter who likely dare not sign his name. It was, of course, a takeoff on “Casey at the Bat.” “The outlook wasn’t brilliant for the Yankees in LA / The score stood 4–3, two out, one inning left to play” began the poem, just to give an idea of its quality.
14.Plaschke with Lasorda, I Live for This, 137.
15.Welch and Vecsey, Five O’Clock Comes Early, 102.
16.Scott Ostler, “Dodgers Lose Their Cool over the Iceman,” Los Angeles Times, October 12, 1978; John Hall, “Series Diary,” Los Angeles Times, October 12, 1978.
17.“Game Four, World Series Broadcast,” ABC TV, October 14, 1978.
18.“Game Four, World Series Broadcast.”
19.Jackson with Baker, Becoming Mr. October, 281.
29. Afterword
1.Bruce Lowitt, “Tale of Two Cities, One Overmatched,” Los Angeles Times, October 20, 1978.
2.UPI, “Steinbrenner Wants the Dodgers to Apologize,” Los Angeles Times, October 27, 1978.
3.Scott Ostler, “For Lasorda, It’s Sweet and Sour,” Los Angeles Times, October 19, 1978; Ross Newhan, “John Says He’ll Go Free Today,” Los Angeles Times, October 19, 1978.
4.Under manager Jim Marshall in 1979, the A’s would record a miserable, Major League–worst 54-108 record. Burke, meanwhile, continued to struggle against Major League pitching, batting just .213 with virtually no power in ninety-four plate appearances. In 1980, with the team’s reins in the hands of the nomadic, homophobic Billy Martin, Burke would become even more discouraged. After a half season on the A’s AAA team in Ogden, still reeling from slights and insults from Martin and his staff, Burke quit baseball for good.
5.Rautzhan would appear in three games as a reliever for the Brewers in 1979, recording a 9.00 ERA. After spending one more season pitching for Milwaukee’s AAA team in Vancouver in 1980, Rautzhan would retire at age twenty-seven and return home to Pennsylvania.
6.Having appeared in fifty-three Major League games with only middling success, Webb’s more enduring impact on the Major Leagues may have been his son, Ryan Webb, who credits his career as a professional ballplayer to his father. “He’s awesome to talk to about baseball,” said Ryan Webb. “I call him every day and tell him what I’m doing. Since high school we would go out after the games and talk baseball. He’s the reason why I’m here.” Juan C. Rodriguez, “Ex–Major Leaguer Hank Webb Still Catches Heat from Son, Ryan,” Fort Lauderdale (FL) Sun Sentinel, February 23, 2011, http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2011-02-23/sports/fl-marlins-0224-20110223_1_scott-hairston-deal-padres-major-league.
7.After committing an astounding fifty-three errors at third base in 1977, Westmoreland split time in the outfield and first base for Albuquerque in 1978, where he continued to struggle. In fifty-three games as an outfielder, for example, he committed eleven errors, for a dismal .911 fielding percentage.
8.Rhoden’s and Reuss’s careers mirrored each other’s in many ways. Having both been All-Stars as younger men, in 1979 they were deemed damaged goods by their teams. After the swap each would struggle in 1979—Reuss recording a 7-14 win-loss record for the Dodgers and Rhoden appearing in only one game for the Pirates in 1979 due to injury—but they both would eventually return to form and pitch well throughout much of the 1980s.
9.Don Sutton, for instance, recorded his first losing season in a decade in 1979, and his ERA of 3.82 was above the league average.
10.“Compared with their immediate predecessors of the Postwar Age,” wrote one commenter, “the mod new breed differed in many ways. In social background, looks, dress, language, personality modes, attitudes, aspirations, affluence, playing style and performances, the new breed stood apart from past generations of players.” David Q. Voigt, “A New Breed of Baseball Players,” Baseball Research Journal, SABR online (undated), http://research.sabr.org/journals/new-breed-of-baseball-players.
11.Voigt, “New Breed of Baseball Players.”
12.Lasorda with Fisher, The Artful Dodger, 266.
13.Wayne was well aware of how polarizing he could be and later acknowledged that much of his image—the swagger, the manner of speech, the way he held himself on camera—was a conscious creation. “When I started, I knew I was no actor and I went to work on this Wayne thing,” he recalled. “It was as deliberate a projection as you’ll ever see. I figured I needed a gimmick, so I dreamed up the drawl, the squint and a way of moving meant to suggest that I wasn’t looking for trouble but would just as soon throw a bottle at your head as not.” Richard Shephard, “‘Duke,’ an American Hero,” New York Times, June 12, 1979.
14.Shephard, “‘Duke,’ an American Hero.”
15.Lasorda with Fisher, The Artful Dodger, 269.
16.Sax would be named to the All-Star team in 1982, win the Rookie of the Year Award, and play fourteen years in the big leagues.
17.In 1982 Brock had hit forty-four home runs at Albuquerque, while batting .310 and recording an outstanding on-base percentage of .432; he wouldn’t come close to matching these numbers in the Major Leagues.
18.Only one only other player, Zack Wheat, would play in more games as a Dodger, in Brooklyn; Russell’s mark would be the most games played by a Dodger in Los Angeles.
19.Interestingly, the second of these titles also almost never happened. According to a story told by Fred Claire, a few years after his World Series triumph in 1981 Lasorda, frustrated at the money he was earning, decided to issue an ultimatum. “It was just after the conclusion of the 1983 season,” wrote Claire years later. “The Dodgers had reached the playoffs only to be eliminated in the National League Championship Series by the Philadelphia Phillies, who knocked them out by winning the best-of-five series in four games.” Lasorda, realizing that he was one of the most popular sports figures in Los Angeles, and the country, wanted to be rewarded for that. “He was appreciative of the opportunity to manage a high-profile team,” Claire continued, “but business was business and he felt he was making a large contribution to the Dodger business.” When negotiations reached an impasse, Lasorda, in essence, walked away from the job. (Rumors were rampant that the New York Yankees had dangled a five-year contract to Lasorda.) Peter O’Malley, the team’s president and owner, asked his management staff for recommendations for a replacement, and, eventually, one name rose to the top. “I had given some thought to the subject,” said Claire, “because I knew it was a possibility for discussion, so I wasted no time in offering my candidate—Joe Morgan.” Morgan had just completed his twenty-first year in the Majors with the Philadelphia Phillies and was known to be considering retirement. “I received a second on my suggestion of Morgan . . . and approval from Peter. Al went along.” A call was made (to the Phillies’ owner) to get permission to speak to Joe,
and the team was one step away from making a move when, fatefully, Tommy Lasorda called back to announce he had reconsidered and would accept the team’s final offer if it still stood. “Tommy came upstairs, signed the contract and remained the Dodger manager for another 13 seasons.” Claire with Springer, My Thirty Years in Dodger Blue, 82–86.
Index
All page numbers in the index refer to the print edition.
Aaron, Hank, 351, 417n6
Adams, Charles “Red,” 29, 40, 53, 120, 204
Adler, Lou, 290
adult film industry. See pornography
Alexander, Doyle, 25, 87
Allen, Dick, 9, 20–21, 404n12
All-Star Game 1977, 142, 145–46
All-Star Game 1978, 321–22
All That Glitters (TV show), 114, 413n9
Alston, Walt: 1976 baseball season, 30–32, 117; Al Campanis on, 255; Allan Malamud on, 30; background of, 28–29; and Branch Rickey, 404n9; on Dodgers in late 1960s and early 1970s, 21–22, 26; on Jim Gilliam, 379; Manager of the Year 1974, 28; on Manny Mota, 238; Mike Marshall on, 433–34n19; and Old-Timers Game 1978, 323; personality and management style of, 29–31, 36–39; retirement of, 33–39, 41; as special consultant to Dodgers, 76; and Steve Garvey, 146; and Tom Lasorda, 36–39
Alva, Tony, 165
American League Champion Series 1977, 187
American League Champion Series 1978, 374–76
Anderson, Dave, 383
Anderson, Sparky: 1977 baseball season, 115, 117, 135, 166, 359–61; 1978 baseball season, 253, 255, 359–61; on Branch Rickey, 404n9; on core changes to baseball, 86, 88; on Dodgers, 125; on spring training and exhibition season 1977, 51; on Steve Garvey, 418n18; and Tom Lasorda, 261, 264; and Walt Alston, 29, 31, 41
Andujar, Joaquin, 126
Angell, Roger, 225, 383, 387
anti-tax movement, 300–310
Argue, John, 247
Armstrong, Neil, 7
astronauts, 169–71, 217–19, 355–57, 396, 419n1, 424n15
Atlanta Braves, 76, 95, 116–18, 138, 153, 175, 251, 254, 257–60, 320, 351–52, 362, 405n8, 405n16, 427n7, 433–34n19
Auerbach, Rick, 54
Autry, Gene, 96
Baker, Johnnie “Dusty”: 1977 baseball season, 108–10, 118, 134, 174–75; 1977 National League Champion Series, 185–86; 1977 spring training and exhibition season, 50–51, 80, 82, 84, 95; 1977 World Series, 203, 205, 207–8; 1978 baseball season, 260; 1978 National League Champion Series, 377–78; 1978 spring training and exhibition season, 237, 252; 1978 summer slump, 316, 318, 324; 1978 World Series, 381; divorce and remarriage of, 431n21; and Don Rickles, 185; and Glenn Burke, 277, 280; and high five, 429n18; and Old-Timers Game 1978, 324; Pete Rose on, 426n4; on Reggie Smith, 274–75; sexual misbehavior of, 295; and Tom Lasorda, 40, 71, 109–10; traded from Atlanta Braves, 405n8
Ball Four (Bouton), 140, 192, 294, 350, 436n1
Baltimore Orioles, 84, 86–87, 137, 193, 200, 254, 365–66
baseball: Al Gallagher on, 140; amateur draft, Major League, 24–25; Bill Veeck on, 139; changing player attitudes, 9–11; and collective bargaining, 91–93, 411n20; compared to other activities, 169; continuing evolution and survival of, 400–401; core changes to, 85–90; drug use by players, 10; and free agency, 86–95, 193–94, 206, 226–27, 295, 391, 393, 399–400, 410n7, 423n7; integration of, 18–19; Jackie Robinson on, 169; Jim Bouton on, 140; Joe Garagiola on, 169; John Updike on, 139–40; length of season, 139–40; new ball by Rawlings, 116; nostalgia for, 14–22; Philip Roth on, 169; players’ discontent with, 82–96, 410n12; player strike of 1981, 399; popularity of, 3–12, 225–27, 424nn3–4; product endorsements by players, 15–16, 113, 148; and reserve clause, 89–95, 410n7, 410n10, 410n12; rule changes in, 11, 403n12; slumps in, 156–57; as small town sport, 28–29; specialization of players, 393; technological, structural, and cultural changes in, 393–94; Ty Cobb on, 169; uniform redesign issues, 11, 155; Walter O’Malley on, 169; Wes Westrum on, 169
Baseball Hall of Fame, 16, 34, 119, 145, 167, 296, 400, 404n9, 406n9, 410n2
Baseball is a Funny Game (Garagiola), 169
Basgall, Monty, vii, 110, 119
Bauer, Hank, 197, 422n2
Bavasi, Buzzie, 24, 41, 86, 91–92
Bayless, Skip, 261
Baylor, Don, 108
Bean, Billy, 126, 414–15n5
Beattie, Jim, 374, 380, 388
Belinsky, Bo, 294
Bell, Cool Papa, 16
Belushi, John, 290
Bench, Johnny, 126, 156, 167, 178
Berkowitz, Edward, 286–87
Berlioux, Monique, 248
Bernardi, Ernani, 299, 307
Berra, Yogi, 15, 157, 374, 381, 423n9
Bianchi, Kenneth, 395
Big League Chew, 437n18
Biskind, Peter, 135
Black, Joe, 19, 379
Blair, Paul, 200, 382, 423n8
Blanchard, Johnny, 190
Blue, Vida, 231
Blyleven, Bert, 231, 264, 276, 427n7
Bobinger, Mitch, 54
Bonda, Ted, 5
Bostock, Lyman, 85
Boston Red Sox, 41, 76–77, 86–87, 137, 365–66, 368–72, 380, 423n8
Boston Strangler, 249
Boswell, Thomas, 328–30, 332
Bottomley, Jim, 16
Bouton, Jim, 140, 192–93, 350–52, 359–61, 436n1, 437n18
Bowa, Larry, 181, 186, 364
Boyer, Cletus, 28
Boyer, Ken, 28
The Boys of Summer (Kahn), 16, 404n5
Bradley, Phyllis, 106, 413n20
Bradley, Tom: 1978 World Series, xi–xii; background of, 65–68; and crime in Los Angeles, 106, 244–50; and economic slump of 1977, 159–60, 162; elected mayor of Los Angeles 1973, 68; elected mayor of Los Angeles 1977, 105–6, 413n19; and LA city issues of 1977, 219–20; and Manson family murders, 244–46; mayoral run 1969, 67; and Old-Timers Game 1978, 323; and Operation HEAVY, 246; proposed renaming of Stadium Way, 177; and racism, 65–66; runs for governor, 398; at Steve Yeager’s wedding, 168; on Tom Yorty, 408n17; at UCLA, 408n16; at Walt Alston’s retirement dinner, 41. See also Olympic Games
Bradley effect, 398
Brando, Sal, 210
Braunsberg, Andrew, 243–44
Breslin, Jimmy, 192
Brett, George, 365
Brewer, Jim, 27
Brock, Greg, 400, 440n17
Brock, Lou, 167
Bronstein, Lynne, 336
Brooklyn Dodgers, ix, 16–19, 38, 59, 118, 147, 191–92, 347, 404n6
Browne, Jackson, 189
Brusstar, Warren, 370
Buckner, Bill, 25, 27, 34, 43–45, 53, 69, 133–34, 146, 190, 262–63, 406n1, 427n3
Buff, Paul, 339, 435n3
Buhler, Bill, 168
Buono, Angelo, 395
Burke, Glenn: 1977 baseball season, 133, 140–41, 409n7; 1977 spring training and exhibition season, 69, 73; 1977 World Series, 199; 1978 baseball season, 276–84, 428n11; 1978 spring training and exhibition season, 232, 238–39, 252, 256; and Al Campanis, 239, 278, 429n20; attitude of, 52–53; and Bill Buckner, 53; and Billy Martin, 439n4; death of, 283–84; and high five, 278, 429n18; homosexuality of, 276–84, 429n20, 429n22; joins Dodgers 1977, 52; Lasorda on, 238–39; popularity of, 277–78; quits baseball, 439n4; returns to Albuquerque, 85; and Rick Monday, 53; and Spunky Lasorda, 282–84; traded to Oakland A’s, 276–84, 392
Burleson, Rick, 368, 370
Burns, Arthur, 8
Burroughs, Jeff, 4
California (Davie), 240
California Angels, 27, 87, 96, 108–9, 137, 176, 255–56, 392
California Dream, 97–107, 240–50, 411n1, 412nn4–5, 412nn10–11
Calleia, Anton, 247, 268–69, 298–99, 345
Campanella, Roy, 19, 21, 111, 147, 157, 255, 323–24, 406n9
Campanis, Al: 1977 baseball season, 118; 1977 spring training and exhibition season, 84; 1977 World Series, 207; 1978 spring training and exhibition season, 231, 239, 2
55; and amateur draft, 24; and Bill Buckner, 133; on Bob Welch, 316–17; and Branch Rickey, 37; and Dave Klingman, 84; on Dodgers prospects 1978, 255; and Don Sutton, 77; and Ed Goodson, 239; and Glenn Burke, 239, 278, 429n20; and Grapple in the Apple, 331; and Reggie Jackson, 213; and Rick Monday, 48–49, 207; and Steve Garvey, 146; on Tom Lasorda, 255; and Tom Sutton near-trade incident, 77; at Walt Alston’s retirement dinner, 41; at winter meetings in Honolulu, 231
Carew, Rod, 28
Carlton, Steve, 180–81, 420n4
Carpenter, Scott, 218
Carter, Gary, 131
Carter, Jimmy, xi, 13–14, 104–5, 160–62, 196, 337
Carter, Lillian, 184, 390
Castillo, Bobby, 178, 239, 259
catcher’s throat protector, 169
Cey, Ron: 1974 baseball season, 26; 1977 baseball season, 110–11, 116–18, 120–23, 141–42, 145, 149–50, 154, 175; 1977 National League Champion Series, 182, 184; 1977 spring training and exhibition season, 50; 1977 summer slump, 154; 1977 World Series, 200, 204–7, 214–15; 1978 divisional playoffs, 363; 1978 National League Champion Series, 377–78; 1978 spring training and exhibition season, 236–37, 252, 258; 1978 summer slump, 313–14, 316, 321, 328; 1978 World Series, 382; background and personality of, 120–21; in Dodger’s farm system, 25; on Dodgers’ winning attitude, 228, 424n9; on Don Sutton, 328; featured in Family Circle, 113; as magazine celebrity, 113; playing style of, 121–22; as spokesman for Dodgers, 111; as spokesman for Wheaties, 113; on Steve Garvey, 150; and Tom Lasorda, 38, 72; traded to Chicago Cubs, 400
Chambliss, Chris, 208–9, 380