100 Things Dodgers Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die (33 page)

99. World Series Drought, Part 2

It gets worse before it gets better.

Shortly after the Dodgers' new owners went over Fred Claire's head to make the Mike Piazza trade in 1998, they replaced Claire with Tommy Lasorda as Dodgers general manager on an interim basis. (At the same time, Glenn Hoffman replaced Bill Russell as manager). Then, during the off-season, the search for a permanent general manager led to Montreal Expos GM Kevin Malone. As shocking as the Piazza trade had been, nothing shattered the dignity with which the Dodgers had been known to operate more than Malone proclaiming upon his arrival, “There's a new sheriff in town.” Malone brought in Davey Johnson, who had averaged 93 victories a year (during full seasons) in more than a decade of managing, to replace Hoffman before the 1999 season, but still Malone's team went 77–85.

Though the Dodgers won 85 games or more from 2000 through 2003, they could not break the grass ceiling, extending their streak without a postseason appearance to seven years. Dave Wallace and then Dan Evans replaced Malone, who put the finishing touches on his embattled tenure by getting in a fight with a Padres fan in San Diego. Jim Tracy, a Dodgers coach under Johnson, replaced his boss. But the team that once seemed a player away from winning the World Series became the team that was a man short of simply making the playoffs.

Amid 15 years of frustration and another ownership change, the Dodgers added even more tempest to their teapot by hiring Paul DePodesta as Dodgers' general manager shortly before the 2004 season. DePodesta was a bright, softspoken, 32-year-old ex-Harvard football player who had worked his way up baseball's front office ladder, but he arrived in a climate filled with suspicion. Not only was the Dodgers' new owner, Frank McCourt, struggling to convince Los Angeles that his intentions with the franchise were sincere, but DePodesta was a prominent figure in a recent book by Michael Lewis,
Moneyball
, that had caused a major stir in baseball circles by ostensibly promoting statistical analysis at the expense of scouting. At least, that's what the book was about if you talked to people like broadcaster Joe Morgan, the Hall of Famer who critiqued the book without even reading it. In truth, the main point of
Moneyball
was to suggest that it was a fine idea to look for undervalued players—a contention it would be difficult for anyone to find fault with—and that more accurate stats were one way to help achieve that, because traditional baseball methods could sometimes be deceiving. But so defensive was the baseball establishment, including the media, about its Old School values, that anyone associated with
Moneyball
was considered a rebel with a nefarious cause. DePodesta was on the defensive, particularly with widely read
Los Angeles Times
columnists Bill Plaschke and T.J. Simers, from the moment he arrived.

The Dodgers won the 2004 NL West title, thanks in no small part to DePodesta acquisitions like Jeff Weaver, Milton Bradley, and Steve Finley that built upon the core Evans left behind, but along the way, DePodesta gambled what little peace he had in Los Angeles on the very thing everyone had seemed to want—a deal that would push the Dodgers past mere division-title status into the World Series elite. He sent starting catcher Paul Lo Duca, a beloved figure in Los Angeles for his late-blooming rise to success, to Florida with outfielder Juan Encarnacion and reliever Guillermo Mota, in exchange for starting pitcher Brad Penny, first baseman Hee Seop Choi, and minor leaguer Bill Murphy.

The outcry was like nothing Los Angeles had seen since the Piazza trade six years earlier. Most Dodgers fans were livid, and only a minority saw the trade for what it was—the exchange of three players entering the downside of their careers for three on the upside. When the 26-year-old Penny, a potential difference maker in a playoff series, was injured in his second start with the Dodgers, DePodesta was pushed further out onto the plank. The only thing that could save him in Los Angeles was victory.

For a while, that's what he got, as the Dodgers (behind Jose Lima) finally managed to win a playoff game for the first time since Orel Hershiser was shutting down the A's. But the following season, a series of injuries crippled a team that DePodesta was trying to rebuild on the fly (in a manner that manager Tracy was openly rebelling against), and the Dodgers lost 91 games, their most since 1992. Adding further anger to the angst was a clubhouse clash between Bradley and Jeff Kent that led DePodesta's antagonists to conclude he had lost control of the organization. In October 2005, barely 20 months into his tenure, DePodesta was fired, accused (ironically, if you like) of undervaluing the things that matter, things like chemistry and character, even though Dodgers teams before and after him had notoriously struggled in those very areas.

The PR-conscious McCourt replaced DePodesta with a former PR man, San Francisco assistant general manager Ned Colletti, who brought a more traditional approach to general management. In the 2006–2007 seasons, Colletti was handed an increased payroll and the best set of Dodgers prospects in three decades, but the pattern remained the same as it ever was: quick playoff exits alternating with an absence from the playoffs entirely. Witness to a sequence of trades and signings fraught with bad luck and/or foresight (Jason Schmidt, Juan Pierre, and Esteban Loaiza form just part of the list), numerous Dodgers fans continued tearing their hair out through their team caps.

From the 1903 debut of the World Series through 1946, the Dodgers won NL pennants all of three times, none of them followed by a victory in the Fall Classic. In the next 42 seasons, they won 15 NL pennants and six World Series. The team has known famine as well as feast, and with the expansion of major league baseball to 30 teams, it shouldn't surprise anyone that the race up Everest only became harsher. Yet when you consider that a team with the Dodgers' resources won fewer postseason games from 1989–2007 than all but Montreal/Washington, Texas, Tampa Bay, Kansas City, and Milwaukee, it also shouldn't surprise anyone that Dodgers fans entered 2008 very much on edge.

Though the Dodgers paraded through the NLCS for the 2008 and 2009 seasons with Manny Ramirez, the team fell back to also-ran status from 2010 through 2012, frustrating fans by posting the most wins in that period (248) of any NL team that didn't make the playoffs. From July 7, 2011, through July 6, 2012, Los Angeles went 92–66, yet played poorly enough in those seasons' other months that the brilliance of Clayton Kershaw and Matt Kemp went for naught. In 2013, as the Dodgers prepared to celebrate the 25
th
anniversary of Kirk Gibson, Orel Hershiser, and 1988, they also desperately hoped to end their wandering through the desert.

 

 

Foul, Foul, Foul, Foul, Foul, Foul, Foul, Foul, Foul, Foul, Foul, Foul, Foul, Foul

On the night of May 12, 2004, they started counting foul balls on the Dodger Stadium left-field scoreboard, because shortstop Alex Cora couldn't stop hitting them. Batting in the bottom of the seventh against Chicago Cubs righty Matt Clement with a runner on and the Dodgers leading by a slim 2–0 margin, Cora took the first three pitches, two for balls.

He then proceeded to foul off the next 14 Clement pitches, sending the Dodger Stadium crowd into increasingly rapturous states of bliss, even though no tangible baseball play had transpired. Cheers of “Let's go, Cora” rose from all parts of the ballpark.

It was nothing, and it was epic.

“It was tough,” Cora told The Associated Press. “He was throwing good pitches. When they put it on the scoreboard, that put me under a little bit of pressure. I had to stand back and regroup.”

Finally, on the 18
th
pitch of the at-bat …a fair ball, a long fly ball, going to right field...going...gone!

It wasn't October, it wasn't the ninth inning, but it was beyond unbelievable—unscripted genius.

100. Read Old First-Hand Stories

Let me tell you something that I've learned while writing this book—that is, something I already knew that was reawakened in me. You can read all the Dodgers books in the world; you can collect the DVDs and search for highlights on the Internet. But there hasn't been a time in researching an event in Dodgers history that I haven't experienced sheer pleasure in reading a first-hand account in the archives of a newspaper or magazine.

It's not just being taken back to the moment in time, though that's a big part of it. It's that invariably, little jewels emerge that otherwise are lost to history and memory. On-point descriptions of the circumstances leading up to the big moment. Great postgame quotes, fleshing out what happened, that went straight into journalist tape recorders or notebooks. And then there's the pleasure of seeing—more often than you might think—a journalist rise to the occasion and spin a phrase that makes you feel more a part of the action than a film or video clip ever could.

The Los Angeles Public Library offers free computer access to the
Los Angeles Times
historical archives—with some years available on your home computer at lapl.org—and microfilm of other local papers, such as the
Los Angeles Herald-Examiner
and the
Los Angeles Daily News
in its various incarnations. You can even check out the
San Diego Union
, which
covered the Dodgers regularly for the franchise's first 10 years. From your home, you can also find juicy pieces from the archives of
Sports Illustrated
(si.com/vault) and
The Sporting News
(paperofrecord.com).

For newspaper stories covering the Brooklyn days, the
New York Times
website offers free access to articles that are at least 75 years old, with
NYT
subscribers able to get any article in the archives for free, up to 100 per month. And for the old, old stuff, the Brooklyn Public Library (BrooklynPublicLibrary.org/eagle)
is a gateway to the archives of the
Brooklyn Eagle
from the late 1800s up to 1902—with possibly more to come in the future. Other magazines, such as
The New Yorker
, have tremendous stories in their archives worth pursuing and perusing, though these can come at a cost.

The point is, a book like this is only the beginning. If there's something to know about the Dodgers, it's never been easier or more rewarding to go exploring.

 

Acknowledgments

I came to this project knowing a lot about the Dodgers, but I knew I also had a lot more to learn. Without a safety net, I wouldn't have dreamed of writing a book about even one thing Dodgers fans should know and do. Alex Belth, Eric Enders, and Bob Timmermann, each exceptional baseball writers in their own right, reviewed drafts and offered important corrections and suggestions, not to mention much valued encouragement. The same is true of longtime Dodgers insiders Brent Shyer and Robert Schweppe. Also, if ever I had a question, Fred Claire, Carl Erskine, Mark Langill, Rich Lederer, and Josh Rawitch did not hesitate to help me. You could say the same for Peter O'Malley, who of course deserves special mention for honoring me with his foreword.

By the time I finished work on this second edition of the book, I had celebrated my 10
th
anniversary of writing Dodger Thoughts—before then embarking upon a hiatus. There was much evolution in the online world between the first and second editions, but at the site's height, the readers of Dodger Thoughts formed, quite simply, an unsurpassed online community. Funny, thoughtful, insightful—occasionally brazen, but basically a dream group of people. Many members had suggestions for this book and particularly valuable support for me. Though I can't mention them all, there are a few I would like to single out: David Ambrose, Molly Knight, Martin Leadman, Craig Minami, Stan Opdyke, Sam Sokol, and Eric Stephen, who himself became a Dodger blogger par excellence for True Blue L.A.

On a research level, Baseball-Reference.com and Baseball Prospectus were invaluable, as were the various archives I consulted. There are a lot of people behind the scenes involved in maintaining those resources, and I just want them to know I appreciate them.

For making it possible for me to write this book in the first place, I'd like to thank Michael Emmerich and Adam Motin of Triumph Books, as well as Jeff Gerecke and Ed Stackler, who provided critical guidance. But also, I'd like to acknowledge those who helped raise my profile as a baseball writer through the years, from my many friends and colleagues when I started out as a professional sportswriter, to those who had faith in me years later when I resumed writing about baseball as an amateur. In particular, I want to express appreciation to Jacob Luft, who hired me to write for SportsIllustrated.com.

Finally, to my friends, who not only have been supportive of my efforts but understanding about how bad I've been at staying touch with them while being hunkered down in front of the computer—thanks. And my family—I'd mention you in every chapter if I could. Of course, I'd tell the kids 100 things to know and do if I thought they'd listen.

Thanks, finally, to the Dodgers, who provided me with the thrills and memories to inspire this book. If I couldn't be Vin Scully, writing about the Dodgers is the next best thing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bibliography

Books

Allen, Maury. Brooklyn Remembered: The 1955 Days of the Dodgers. Champaign: Sports Publishing 2005.

Barber, Red. 1947—When All Hell Broke Loose in Baseball. Garden City: Doubleday 1982.

Barber, Red and Robert Creamer. Rhubarb in the Catbird Seat. Lincoln: Bison (University of Nebraska) 1997.

Claire, Fred. My 30 Years in Dodger Blue. Champaign: Sports Publishing 2004.

D'Agostino, Dennis and Bonnie Crosby. Through a Blue Lens: The Brooklyn Dodgers Photographs of Barney Stein. Chicago: Triumph 2007.

Delsohn, Steve. True Blue. New York: HarperCollins 2001.

Edwards, Bob. Fridays with Red: A Radio Friendship. New York: Simon & Schuster 1993.

Eig, Jonathan. Opening Day: The Story of Jackie Robinson's First Season. New York: Simon & Schuster 2007.

Erskine, Carl. Tales from the Dodger Dugout. Champaign: Sports Publishing 2001.

Fussman, Cal. After Jackie: Pride, Prejudice and Baseball's Forgotten Heroes. New York: ESPN Books 2007.

Garvey, Steve (Ken Gurnick, Candace Garvey contributors). My Bat Boy Days: Lessons I Learned from the Boys of Summer. New York: Scribner 2008.

Gleeman, Aaron and Dave Studenmund (ed.). The Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2006. Skokie: ACTA 2005.

Green, Daniel S. The Perfect Pitch: The Biography of Roger Owens, The Famous Peanut Man at Dodger Stadium. Tamarac: Lumina 2003

Honig, Donald. The Man in the Dugout. Chicago: Follett 1977.

James, Bill. The Bill James Baseball Abstract 1982. New York: Ballantine 1982.

James, Bill. The Bill James Baseball Abstract 1985. New York: Ballantine 1985.

James, Bill. The Bill James Baseball Abstract 1986. New York: Ballantine 1982.

James, Bill. The Bill James Guide to Baseball Managers. New York: Scribner 1997.

James, Bill. The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract. New York: Villard 1985.

James, Bill. The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract. New York: The Free Press 2001.

James, Bill. The Politics of Glory. New York: Macmillan 1994.

James, Bill and Rob Neyer. The Neyer/James Guide to Pitchers. New York: Simon and Schuster 2004.

Jareck, Joe, Josh Rawitch et al. Los Angeles Dodgers, 2008 Los Angeles Dodgers Information Guide. Los Angeles: Los Angeles Dodgers 2008.

Jordan, Pat. The Best Sports Writing of Pat Jordan. New York: Persea 2008.

Kahn, Roger. The Boys of Summer. New York: Harper & Row 1971.

Langill, Mark. Dodger Stadium. Charleston: Arcadia 2004.

Langill, Mark. Dodgertown. Charleston: Arcadia 2004.

Langill, Mark. Los Angeles Dodgers. Charleston: Arcadia 2004.

Lasorda, Tommy and David Fisher, The Artful Dodger. New York: Arbor 1985.

Leavy, Jane. Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy. New York: HarperCollins 2002.

Lowenfish, Lee. Branch Rickey: Baseball's Ferocious Gentleman. Lincoln: University of Nebraska 2007.

Maraniss, David. Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero. New York: Simon & Schuster 2006.

McNeil, William. The Dodgers Encyclopedia. Sports Publishing LLC, 2000.

Miller, Marvin. A Whole Different Ball Game. New York: Birch Lane 1991.

Neyer, Rob. Rob Neyer's Big Book of Baseball Legends. New York: Fireside 2008.

Rampersad, Arnold. Jackie Robinson: A Biography. New York: Knopf 1997.

Ruck, Rob. The Tropic of Baseball: Baseball in the Dominican Republic. Lincoln: Bison (University of Nebraska) 1999.

Shapiro, Michael. The Last Good Season: Brooklyn, the Dodgers, and Their Final Pennant Race Together. New York: Doubleday 2003.

Stout, Glenn and Richard A. Johnson. The Dodgers. New York: Houghton Mifflin 2004.

Sullivan, Neil J. The Dodgers Move West. New York: Oxford 1987.

Tygiel, Jules. Past Time: Baseball as History. New York: Oxford 2001.

Wolpin, Stewart. Bums No More! The Championship Season of the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers. New York: St. Martin 1995.

 

Articles, Documents and Presentations

City of Los Angeles Resolution, May 11, 1959.

Smith, Dave. “Play By Play Analysis of the 1951 National League Pennant Race,” 2001.

Timmermann, Bob. “Presentation on the History of Dodger Stadium,” 2008.

 

Magazines

Irish America Magazine (Kelly Candaele)

Sport (Al Stump)

Sports Illustrated (Tom C. Brody, Robert W. Creamer, Gerald Holland, Larry Keith, Herman Weiskopf)

News Services

The Associated Press (Ted Smith)

United Press International (Jim Cour, Milton Richman)

 

Newspapers

Beverly Hills Times (Bill Stout)

Brooklyn Eagle

Los Angeles Daily News (Matt McHale)

Los Angeles Examiner (Vincent X. Flaherty)

Los Angeles Mirror-News

Los Angeles Times (James Bates, Dwight Chapin, Jerry Crowe, Mike DiGiovanna, Ron Fimrite, Frank Finch, Earl Gutskey, Dan Hafner, John Hall, Randy Harvey, Mark Heisler, Dylan Hernandez, Maryann Hudson, Mike Littwin, Sam McManis, Jim Murray, Ross Newhan, Bob Oates, Scott Ostler, Charles Perry, Bill Plaschke, Jeff Prugh, Howard Rosenberg, Bill Shaikin, Keith Thursby, Sid Ziff, Paul Zimmermann)

New York Daily News (Dick Young)

New York Times (Dave Anderson, Murray Chass, Rick Lyman)

San Francisco Chronicle (Ray Ratto)

The Saturday Evening Post (W.C. Heinz)

The Sporting News (Harold C. Burr, Tommy Holmes, Joe Vila)

Village Voice (Gersh Kuntzman)

Wall Street Journal (Joshua Prager)

 

Websites

19
th
Century Baseball (19cbaseball.com)

Ballparks (ballparks.com)

The Baseball Biography Project (Society of American Baseball Research: Eric Enders, John Saccoman, Stew Thornley: bioproj.sabr.org)

Baseball-Reference.com

Baseball Analysts (Rich Lederer: baseballanalysts.com)

BaseballLibrary.com

Baseball Prospectus (baseballprospectus.com)

Blue Heaven (Ernest Reyes: dodgersblueheaven.blogspot.com)

Dodger Thoughts (Jon Weisman: dodgerthoughts.com)

The Futility Infielder (Jay Jaffe: futilityinfielder.com)

The Griddle (Bob Timmermann: griddle.baseballtoaster.com)

The Hardball Times (Chris Jaffe and Steve Treder: thehardballtimes.com)

Los Angeles Dodger Adult Baseball Camp (ladabc.com)

National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum (baseballhalloffame.org)

The Official Site of the Los Angeles Dodgers (Dodgers.com)

The Official Site of Major League Baseball (Ben Platt: mlb.com)

National High Five Day (nationalhighfiveday.com)

Bob Baker's Newsthinking (newsthinking.com)

Philippe's (philippes.com)

The Sport Gallery (thesportgallery.com)

Walter O'Malley: The Official Website (Robert Schweppe, Brent Shyer: walteromalley.com)

WGUC 90.9 FM (wguc.org)

 

TV/DVD/Film

Mechner, Jordan (writer and director). Chavez Ravine: A Los Angeles Story. PBS/JAM Flicks 2004.

Los Angeles Dodgers Vintage World Series Films. Major League Baseball Productions 2006.

Johnson, Dorothy M. (short story), James Warner Bellah and Willis Goldbeck (screenplay). The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence. Paramount 1962.

Nightline (ABC)