100 Years A Visual History of the Dodgers 1890 1990

[Music] we can and another one of these hustles in baseball [Music] this has been Scalise making Cinderella theme Dubey the dog [Applause] [Music] [Applause] it's been said that the beauty of baseball is that every spring like this season itself life begins anew for a baseball team and its followers spring brings a new season a new chance a new beginning since they joined the National League in 1890 the Dodgers of both Brooklyn and Los Angeles have been a part of that wonderful cycle for the past 100 springs as each season a wolf so too did the hope and passion of the Dodgers and their fans over the past century it's been that hopes and passion that has helped tie generations of Dodger fans together passions for greats like Babe Herman and the boys of summer and the men of 88 passion for coming out to spend a summers day rooting for their team in a tiny ballpark in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn or a spacious one in Los Angeles passion for listening to a couple of redheads by the name of barber and Scully paint a picture of words when they couldn't be their passion for the winners and yes even passion for the losers or as we read in the boys of summer you make glory in a team triumphant but you fall in love with a team in defeat that's the way it's been for the Dodgers and their fans a 100-year romance that's held up through the good times and the bad in the beginning they came from across the sea knowing little or nothing about our culture from places like prole MO and Oslo and Dublin they came to start a new life soon these immigrants became Americans and like most Americans they came to love baseball especially in Brooklyn then later on in Los Angeles - for them the Dodgers were a unifying force 100 years is a long time a lot has happened since 1890 and in many ways the Dodgers have even been a mirror of the time it is in fact hard to imagine what baseball would have been like without the Dodgers a team whose folklore has been celebrated in song and film and art and literature more than twice as much as any any of it through the decades the Dodgers rich history and tradition has provided a backbone for our national pastime and a fascinating story for and of our time history tells us that story actually began in 18-49 when baseball was first played in Brooklyn the early clubs were amateurs but their very existence eventually led to the formation of Brooklyn's first professional team the Brooklyn Dodgers came about in the early 1880s two men by the name of Byrne and Doyle with the owners in 1883 they hired a young man to sell peanuts and score cards his name was Charlie habits and they played an American Association until the final year 1889 when they won the pennant and then the following year 1890 they joined the National League and they won the pennant in 1890 and that's the only time in baseball history that one ball club went to pennants in two different leagues as they did it back to back the name Dodgers came from a shortened version of trolley Dodgers a disparaging term and hatta Knights used to describe the people of Brooklyn although they would also sometimes be called the bridegroom's the superb ah's and the Robbins Dodgers was the name that's stuck what didn't stick however was the team's first manager Bill McGonagall who was fired after winning the pennant in 1890 soon after the winning would not come as easy but that didn't discourage the fans who by decades end regularly filled Washington Park a wooden stadium which had become the team's home in 1898 the arrival of Ned Hamlin from Baltimore in 1899 saw the Brookes fortunes mirror their steady rise in popularity led by Joe Kelly and and several of hanlin's other X Baltimore stars like hall-of-famer Wee Willie Keeler Brooklyn won two pennants in Hamlin's first two seasons but soon Hanlon would lose his magic and Brooke would go on to struggle for the next decade and a half there were however some bright spots like having the national league's Most Valuable Player Jake Daubert who won the Chalmers award in 1912 but the biggest news came on April 9th 1913 when Charlie Ebbets who by now had gained control of the club unveiled a 25,000 see concrete stadium he modestly named Abbott's field a year later Abbot's hired manager Wilbert Robinson and uncle Robbie as he was affectionately known would go on to manage the Dodgers for 16 seasons Robby's career overlapped those of several Dodger greats it's like pitching nap Rucker and Hall of Famer Zach wheat who Branch Rickey would later claim was the best outfielder the Dodgers ever had but as good as wheat was Dodger fans still favored a fiery outfielder by the name of Casey Stengel led by wheats talent and stinkles hard robbie's Dodgers made it to their first World Series in 1916 were they lost to future Babe Ruth and the Red Sox in five games four years later in 1920 the Dodgers made it back to the series this time despite the legendary spit ball of Burley Grimes the Dodgers lost to the Cleveland Indians in his series which is now remembered for the Dodgers Clarence Mitchell hitting into the only unassisted triple play in series history [Music] the rest of the Roaring Twenties were anything but for the Dodgers what the people of Brooklyn were out enjoying their newfound prosperity in places like Coney Island the Dodgers suffered through the darkest years yet the low point came in the middle of the decade with the sudden death of Evans a week later after catching a cold at Ebbets funeral co-owner at McKeever would die too leaving the club to his brother Steve under Steve McKeever's leadership the Dodgers did have a few stars like pitcher da zhi vams who some say was the Sandy Koufax of his day but the rest of the team however was made up of players like Harry rook Honda rube wrestler stats and Johnny Gooch these were not exactly household names because we were a 7th and 8th place Club in 27 and 28 outside of our pitching our plays were not what you might call stars they were all players who hit between 250 and 50 in 280 outside of paint Hyman who was a genuinely good 330 340 hero babe Herrmann really was the exception yet he still became better known for a supposed bonehead plays than his hitting ability in actuality Herman's undeserved reputation was just a product of the time and he the unwilling symbol of a team which had come to be known as the Daffy eNOS boys in those days you've got to realize that the Dodgers were the poor Club of New York they had the Giants with mcgraw lair and the Yankees which Babe Ruth in those guys so we were naturally that the poor Club in New York and they made fun of us with good reason in the early part of the 1930s the Dodgers sailed along in the second division with a record that was about as poor as the rest of the country uncle Robbie had left after the 31 season and into 1934 the team hired casey stengel to manage in pretty good shape pleasure maybe but success not exactly and even when someone like ban Lingle Mungo excelled fans just made fun of the pitches name instead all the while Brooklyn persevered if those Manhattan Knights across the river insisted on ridiculing their team then why shouldn't dodge your fans have some fun with them too at least that's what cartoonist Willard Mullen had in mind when he created the Brooklyn bomb through the years Mullins bum became the team's endearing and long-lasting symbol of futility and wound up tugging at the heartstrings of an entire nation [Music] fans however will only take so much losing and as the 30s neared an end the Dodgers were nearly bankrupt James though would come with the arrival of general manager Larry MacPhail macphails job would ultimately be to revamp the club on the field but at first he wasn't above bringing in an aging Babe Ruth as a coach to help sell tickets MacPhail really understood the value of promotion and to that end he also hired the first voice of the Dodgers red barber but first and foremost MacPhail knew his baseball and his smartest move came in 1939 when he named Leo Durocher as the Dodgers manager although the two didn't always see eye to eye you were in trouble with MacPhail every day he fired me 60 times told my feel I got a guy come play shortstop balls are going by me this far I can't get to him anymore I said but I got a kid here it looks like he's 12 years old but if I polish him up he's a diamond in the rough and he is some player he says you play him and you're fired well I said I'm gonna play him you're fired next day I came up with the uniform on put recent in the lineup the lineup ever since that was how the Dodgers began their first decade of excellence in quite some time in 1941 their lineup also included the league's MVP Dolph camilli and Pete Reiser who would win the batting title once again the team's popularity was growing and with the people's church Dixie Walker leading the way the Dodgers won a hundred games for the first time in their history and nationally pennant that sent Brooklyn into a frenzy conquering heroes returning to Brooklyn with the first National League Championship the Flatbush the scene in 21 years and what may have been an orderly and elaborately planned reception soon crashes all parade lines when enthusiasm goes out of bounds and Brooklyn takes over her beloved Dodgers and the Quixote becomes bedlam yes sir the Brooks are in and after one of the bitterest and most spectacular pennant struggles the old pastime has ever known and regardless of what may happen in that four out of seven World Series fight Brooklyn's Dodgers out here today are the men of the hour and the salt of the earth then lots of fun winning and I hope that we'll win the World Series and satisfied these rabid Brooklyn fans it's a great fight I got a great bunch of fellas and they showed me that they had the right stuff to play the way they did all summer long summer however always turns to fall and for the Dodgers fall meant the New York Yankees the 1941 series was the first meeting between the two bitter rivals and is best remembered for catcher Mickey Owens famous pass ball with two out in the ninth inning of Game four the Dodgers would lose the series and although no one really could have sensed it Owens error would only be the first of many tortuous moments Dodger fans would suffer at the hands of the Yankees the next year the Dodgers were eager to repeat and although they won a hundred and four games they still fell short of the Cardinals after the season the Dodgers surprisingly made a change in the front office despite the team's outstanding record the two previous years Larry MacPhail was forced to resign passing on the job of general manager to Branch Rickey right from the start Rickey did an exceptional job his head was filled with revolutionary ideas in addition under his watchful eye the Dodgers quietly stockpiled an enormous amount of talent during the war years although from the product they put on the thumb of field he wouldn't have known now look you haven't got a a pink with you on third base you know you've got to get the paintbrush out of your hand do your best now this is for the movies when the war ended the Dodgers unleashed some of that stockpile talent and in 1946 they lost to the Cardinals in the first playoff in national league history that year would also be the beginning of the end for Durocher who would be suspended from baseball for allegedly associating with gamblers at the beginning of the forty-seven season baseball in Brooklyn really began to define itself during the late 40s the war was over and the fans streamed into Ebbets Field in written record numbers there they didn't just cheer for the Dodgers they also lived loved and died for the Dodgers the players were in a way the adopted children of an immigrant filled borough with an ethnic makeup so diversified that baseball especially Dodger baseball came to be the one thing all Brooklyn Heights could agree on the people of Brooklyn certainly had other ways to occupy their time but to them nothing could compare with a day that was spent watching or listening to the Dodgers the Dodgers were Brooklyn's team and no other was ever idolized by their fans as deeply and fervently as they were [Applause] thank you see what happened yesterday we was playing st. Louis and it's free all going into the toilet in when they feed Dixie walk up fast on the inside 400 feet thick six he hit that 100 and the Empire calls it a foul ball hemisphere is the most intimate ballpark in the big leagues it was extremely small when you sat in the box Edith habits field you could hear the players debate the preparation on their faces you were right then and there will it they did right on top of you in that little field you know and man we were their heroes fans used to talk to us in and out of the dugout on the field you'd hear the fans behind the dugout and in the closed box seats the talk wasn't always complimentary if you're having a bad day and the fans would like a love affair you know you can say some pretty strong things to somebody you love that you would say to just a stranger the smallness of Ebbets Field and the intensity of the Brooklyn fans made it possible for a certain weapon rooters to stand out we had held a Chester who was a level and woman who became a badge affair late in life and she sat in the bleachers in center field which in those days of beaches was the upper deck in centerfield and Hilda had leather lungs I mean you could he held it in the bag up and she to you and she'd do that to everybody and she'd gaze she was clintus she was fun you had the Brooklyn Dodgers in pony I named of their Symphony they couldn't play a note they couldn't read a note they think that they have more than anything else was their bass drum and they were used to wait for the opposition then someone struck out or made it out and started walking back it got to be a little game so they got that burnt thought them and they'd wait and the fellows start walking around he'd go to sit down nope he wouldn't sit down and go take a drink of water go back to sit down no he wouldn't sit that opponent they never missed him when he did finally sit on the dugout bang a she sat him down when you walk down the street in Brooklyn you didn't need a read it because everybody had the game turned on and was looking the red barber choice this afternoon and another one of these tough hustles in baseball the bitterest rivalry the New York Giants over at Ebbets Field and of course you could go any place in Brooklyn that you couldn't get out of the sound of a ballgame the beach at Coney Island sure you could not get out of the sound of the lepton broadcast and it's swung on and missed for strike three and it's another k in the school just one more run that's all they needed [Music] they can still win the next one they got a win thank God winning without the suspended Derosier would prove to be routine for Ricky's Dodgers in 47 that spring he hired Burt Shotton to replace Leo and despite his unusual way of dressing shot and kept the Dodgers on a winning track of course the arrival of Jackie Robinson helped a great deal as the major leagues first black ball player of the modern era Jackie had come to the Dodgers at the beginning of the forty-seven season and brought with him an aggressive brand of play that saw him win baseball's first Rookie of the Year award Brooklyn fans embrace Robinson for what he stood for and the manner in which he went about showing it his determination and skill helped the Dodgers to win their first pennant since 41 and that led to another chance in the World Series and another crack at the New York Yankees the 47 series would be the first of six times the Yanks and Dodgers would face each other over the next ten years it went the full seven games and to this day is best remembered for - two plays that both went the Dodgers way the first came in the fourth game when Yankee pitcher Bill bevens attempt at the first ever series no-hitter fell apart with two out on the bottom of the ninth the result of cookie lavagetto is remarkable pinch him the pitch swung on there's a drive not for the right-field corner Henrik is going back he can the second game in Game six a Nalgene freedo made one of the most famous catches in series history [Music] despite the twin heroics the Dodgers still lost the series Falling 5-2 in the finale 1947 history tells us that in the 100 years have Dodger baseball 1947 had the most profound impact on not only the game but America as well it was the year Jackie Robinson became a Brooklyn Dodger overcoming and overlooking a tremendous amount of ugly discrimination and persecution along the way I do not recall an occasion when Jack said to me or I said to him let's give it up it's too much it's taking too much out of us we're paying too high a price we were in this for others as well as for ourselves I mean we just we were just instruments and we couldn't afford to give up [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] yes yes Jackie hit that ball the Brooklyn fan is eternally hopeful he wants this ball friend to do well so the Dodgers can do well and if Robinson could do well that was just fine and once Robinson demonstrated his ability and once he started dancing down off first basemen my goodness never failed what Wow he was drawing into baseball fans buying up millions I mean spring training if we played any club I can guarantee that we had to have ground rules because the fans would be overflowing into the outfield Sam Jones threw at him and hit e it got on first base and he told Sam Jo I must steal second he did totally musical steal third and it did and he stole home and beat he won he won Jackie Robinson's ten-year Dodger career was marked with awards and accolades and because he was so spectacular on the field and so much at gentlemen offered his legacy lives on to this day it went well beyond baseball they saw him in a baseball arena but they really appreciated who he was beyond baseball but I got a chance to come here man it was like God this was Jackie's home I'm in his house now I'm sitting at his table and I got to live up to some expectations he has made some plans for us he has walked and he's done things for us and I'm gonna respect that no matter what and that's what Jackie meant to me I am very proud that I played with Jackie Rob's [Music] along with the arrival of Robins in the late 40s and early 50s so a change come in other ways too in 1948 the Dodgers turned to Naval Air Station in Vero Beach Florida into Dodger town which to this day remains the organization's model spring training home around the same time television also played a role in the changing face of Brooklyn Dodger baseball by the beginning of the decade the Dodgers were New York's number one attraction over the airway so much so that even a TV star could become as well known as the Dodger players is not whole gang direct from Everett Field in Brooklyn we bring in the kids to meet the stars of the baseball diamond they're heroes they come in a metamer try it out with touch on that's going out there run out in the outfield I'll tell you what we do a knock a couple on the ground to them will you do please and build the bolo Staten Island well ok New Dorp high school thank you thank Duke thank the rest of them here all right Thank You boys let's get them today huh Thank You Tommy Thank You Duke fine how's your man waiting for you down here I think the reason he picked gene hermanski to talk to is because he's from Jersey is that right explain to me about that John uniform what's the idea like this we don't get our pick over everything we just get a uniform thing they haven't got no Dodgers on uniform at all they just got the card the Cubs in the game Oh what do you want to be hope you enjoy it in the meantime I'll be seeing you pretty good anytime you want something right try a baby really good bye now on the field the Virgin led Dodgers found themselves well on their way towards becoming the National League's most dominant team in 1949 Brooklyn outlasted the rival st. Louis NAL's by a single game although the Dodgers happiness would soon end in a five-game World Series loss to the Yankees 49 would turn out to be the first of three straight seasons with down-to-the-wire pennant races the Dodgers were playing exciting baseball led by several new stars like Roy Campanella would become the team's starting capture in 1948 campanella's arrival also enabled the Dodgers to move Gil Hodges out from behind the plate to first base Hodges turned out to be a pillar of strength at his new position knocking in more than a hundred runs seven seasons in a row beginning in 1949 campy and Hodges were joined by the Scoones Carl Furillo slick fielding third baseman Billy Cox veteran outfielder Andy Pafko and a young but talented Duke Snider to form the most powerful lineup in the league by 1951 that lineup was managed by Charlie Dressen who had replaced chaton shortly after Walter O'Malley had gained control of the team from Branch Rickey hiring dressin turned out to be a brilliant move at least at first with Charlie at the helm the Dodgers raced out to a big lead in August over the second-place Giants then everything fell apart the Giants came from way back to force the legendary playoff of 1951 Regained which can now be whittled down to five immortal words by Russ Hodges a single swing of the bat by Bobby Thompson and one Ralph Branca pitch people forget that Ralph Branca not only relieved on Sunday he also relieves Saturday relieves Sunday pitched two innings pitch Monday and when eight innings had Tuesday off and I was back in a bullpen to pitch on Wednesday [Music] his call also made offense [Applause] [Applause] it's still only a game and it's still only one day of your life it's one year of your life and we should have won a pen and then we did [Applause] given the shock of 1951 the Dodgers might just have faded away but players like Roy Campanella would never have let that happen Camby was a sweet man but put him on a baseball field and nobody played with more intensity or received as much respect from his teammates he won his first MVP award in 51 followed that with two more in 53 and 55 as much a result of his play behind the plate then at it all I tried to do was think what's Campanella thinking when he'd give me a pitch I I just say well what is he calling for this pitch for a and he's got something in mind you know I just tried to think with over--oh and sometimes he'd call for pitching Frank you scared me today that's Trustee right okay here goes I didn't have to shake my head Leroy I shook more three times as I recall my career in the the three times I did they were home runs home runs for the Dodgers usually came from Duke Snider he had a beautiful powerful swing and he played baseball with a reckless abandon that showed a true love for the game and his teammates to be a part of that team was just a wonderful gift to me because we had a phenomenal bunch of men playing on that team and I used the word team and I mean the word team because everybody just signed their contract went to spring training and got in shape to beat somebody and most the time we did except when the Dodgers played the Yankees the corporate Yankees the well-to-do Yankees every Brooklyn fan hated them for what they were and what they stood for in both 52 and 53 the Dodgers made it to the series again but lost to the Yanks for the fifth time since 1941 it was torture after the two consecutive series disappointments O'Malley decided to replace dressin with Walter Alston as a rookie manager taking over a veteran club Alston's position was tenuous especially when the Dodgers struggled in 54 but the next year was different Alston began to win over the Dodgers trust and the team responded by getting off to a great start as usual one of the reasons was the steady and reliable play of peewee reefs the Dodger captain had been with the team since 1940 and now in the twilight of his career he was still the glue which kept the boys of summer together another was the pitching of Don Newcombe who had joined the team a year before in 1954 Newcombe won 20 games in 55 and gave the Dodgers something they would need in October another strong arm to challenge the Yanks but 55 started out looking like any other series with the Yanks winning the first two at home back at Ebbets Field the Dodgers won all three for the third time since 1947 they will one win away the Yankees however set up a seventh game and for the finale Alston selected rookie pitcher Johnny Padres it was a gamble but the Dodgers responded by taking a 2 to nothing lead then Alston inserted sandy Amoros in left field just before the bottom of the 6th at the time the move went virtually unnoticed but when Yogi Berra came up with the tying runs on 1st and 2nd it saved the game when Berra hit the ball I'm in trouble I see the flight of the ball and it kept slicing I say is he going to get to it and when sandy stuck his hand out I see the ball we went his glogg and he made it great really throw to peewee and he saw the baserunners all running and never hesitated and threw a perfect strike to Gill the Dodgers had finally gotten the break they needed and Padres for one wasn't going to let the opportunity get away it seemed like everybody in the yankee stadium was just standing up and giving me an ovation and I said to myself boy I can't let this game get away from you now for Brooklyn fans waiting for the last nine out seemed endless it wasn't a matter of how it would go wrong but when only this time it didn't the Brooklyn Dodgers were world champion I didn't go jump on anybody's back or anything that I went my straight into the clubhouse I just sat there a lot of the guys sat in their lockers Robinson sat down in front of his locker and in Hodges and I think it was a time just to contemplate what a fantastic feeling after all those frustrating years and I think we all sort of looked at each other and says hey we finally did it and once it once it sunk in that we were world's champions well then we just let it go Johnny brought the crowd to Ebbets Field at last no wait till next year next year KC's mighty men struck out you could hear all Brooklyn shout Johnny Padres has a halo these were the best of times for the boys of summer they had reached the pinnacle throughout the mid-50s the Dodgers really were one big happy family and like most other families they too took home movies in this case courtesy of Carl Erskine [Music] hi this is the original clubhouse at bro beach at Dodger town of Captain leads us off for our morning practice Jackie had a little weight problem in the spring that's why he's wearing that heavy jacket Rallo sprints breaks and leads and the speed always big at the Dodger camp well can't be always had a little weight problem - and this was dressen's as I exercise to take the what can't be said it was muscle off around his middle well we worked hard in training but we still had lots of fun - we had a bunch of great guys you know I don't think I ever saw Labine use this in the game there's my roomie the Duke boy what a great guy Jackie and Pee Wee classic DoublePlay combination practiced over and over and over again that's rocky bridges setting on the bag diamond number two at Dodger town Dottie Pee Wee and little Barbie beautiful family first the wives always added a great deal at Dodger town around the pool and can't be on his boat the princess named after his daughter this was at the peak of Roy's career I tell you he had everything in the world going for him a fantastic man [Applause] well we had a lot of great times and this is sort of my look back on those great Dodger years success has a way of spoiling things but not in Brooklyn at least not in 1956 the Dodgers followed their first World Championship with another pennant and another trip to the World Series this time however the Yankees beat them in yet another seven-game series by now many of the boys of summer were in the autumn of their careers including Jackie Robinson who chose to retire rather than accept a trade to the Giants just before the 57 season if Robinson's departure signaled the unraveling of an era what happened a season later would mark its end for a few years now there had been rumblings about the Dodgers leaving Brooklyn or at least in Ebbets Field that everyone acknowledged was becoming too small and antiquated then to Brooklyn itself was going through rough times with both businesses and people leaving the borough in 1958 it all came to a head I think in some ways that the problem was the area around Ebbets Field was holding constant it wasn't changing while everything else was the people were going to Long Island they were moving to Westchester in Connecticut and they were moving to New Jersey and of course after the Second World War with the construction of highways and the building of suburbs and such many many more people own cars and relied on that for transportation and this old neighborhood ballpark in this old part of Brooklyn simply wasn't able to accommodate that kind of of traffic that kind of market that's precisely why this site at Atlantic and Flatbush did have appeal you can practice at a new site we'd rather to invest over five million that if Walter O'Malley had gotten his way that stadium at Atlantic and Flatbush would have been a domed stadium that Buckminster Fuller had designed that goes over the top which gives it the protection that it should have in other words people could see football games baseball games prize fights and go to conventions and any kind of weather because they would be protected O'Malley's visionary idea would later become the model for the Astrodome it would not however become the Dodgers new home ultimately the team would leave Brooklyn and ahead West for the 58 [Music] seasonally not everyone in Los Angeles was so nice to the Dodgers even after they agreed to come a referendum was voted upon as to whether the team should be allowed to purchase land at Chavez Ravine and build their own 50,000 seat stadium it was a difficult fight it was a controversial period and we had to win our battles and anything that's goods worth fighting for eventually the battle was won the referendum was passed Walter O'Malley would get to fulfill his dream and build a stadium that would soon become a showcase for all of baseball I've been waiting to hear it's wonderful Los Angeles is major-league in every sense of the word I'm certain that our citizens join me in expressing appreciation to Walter O'Malley for his show of confidence in Los Angeles and its future Turner hall hey everybody welcome to the Southlands first showing of lepra Dodgers this is your program so that you may better know the great major-league ballplayers that this season will be sporting a Los Angeles uniform you'll find out that the Los Angeles Dodgers are people much like yourself in your neighborhood folks you can be proud to call neighbors for the first time in Southern California I'd like to introduce you to one of the stars of the Los Angeles Dodgers infielder outfielder junior Gilliam junior I called you an infielder outfielder now just what are you well I'm a second baseman but I I will play your I'll feel it and feel any place that uh I think will win but before the Dodgers would play a game in Los Angeles tragedy would strike the team when Roy Campanella was paralyzed in a car accident although campy would never play again he would remain with the team as a consultant and a constant source of inspiration the spring of 58 was strange for the Dodgers when it ended they would head west instead of north and the be on top of their caps would be replaced by an LA campanella's injury made it even more difficult it would be tough to replace his ability and leadership but the job would eventually go to Johnny Roseboro and he would be asked to Shepherd and improved pitching staff led by Don Drysdale the biggest change of all however would come off the field for most of the Dodgers Los Angeles was so different from Brooklyn it might just as well have been in another country then there were the west coast fans they were sure different than the ones back east but I've never seen being in a Duggar looking at one time seeing two gentlemen and they were different parts of the state of they were barbecuing I mean was picnic to them and I remember that well that wasn't that wasn't that bad you know over here but their backs were to the game good afternoon everybody this has been Scully's speaking to you from the Los Angeles Coliseum as opening day has finally come to Southern Californians Carly was probably as influential as anybody in setting the tone for the popularity of the Dodgers and for the knowledge of the baseball fans here I think VIN was the the oil in the in the gears he kept everything going he brought the people in to treat our people baseball whether the fans came to see or be seen at least they came more than 78,000 showed up on opening day and the numbers continued to grow even as the Dodgers slipped in the standings the move west was cited as one reason for the team's demise but another might have been the Coliseum itself built for the Olympics in 1932 the layout wasn't all that conducive to baseball the left-field fence at the Coliseum was 250 feet and I didn't care for that and it was a funny year most everybody that was with the Dodgers and had been with him and was with him after that through those years they just kind of like to forget but 59 that was a different story it sure was one thing the Dodgers got used to the oddities the Coliseum presented wally moon for instance was the first to take advantage of the short left field wall with high slicing flies that were quickly dubbed moonshots as the dodgers got off to a surprisingly good start in 59 that however took a backseat on the night of May 7 when Roy Campanella was honored in an emotional and stirring ceremony at the Coliseum before 93 thousand points of light dramatic moment in the history boy let there be a and wherever you are maybe you in silent tribute to Campanella can also say a prayer for his well-being it would have been a lot to expect the rest of the 59 season to be as dramatic as camp ease night but in the end it was with the dodges sweeping a two-game playoff with the Braves to win the pennant in just his second year in Los Angeles Walter O'Malley had a winner [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] the 59 World Series bought even more change for the Dodgers their opponents with the Chicago White Sox not their perennial fall nemesis the Yankees but this time the Dodgers led by the relief pitching of Larry sherry were able to engineer one of the most dramatic turnarounds in baseball history the year before they had finished seventh now they would capture their first West Coast World Championship by beating the White Sox in six games [Music] [Applause] it would be the only championship for the Dodgers in the Coliseum the unusual ballpark had served its purpose now the Dodgers were ready for their new home the date of Dodger Stadium is formal christening was April attempt 1962 and the city celebrated the opening of its new baseball palace with appropriate Flair Walter O'Malley had good reason to be excited to his dream Stadium was finally a reality the most gorgeous place to play baseball I'd ever been in and I used to come to the ballpark at 3 o'clock and sit on the very top and you're looking straight down at the ball field and you got all that beautiful scenery out there I just loved it I thought it was great a great stadium should have a great team and by 1962 that's what general manager buzzie Bavasi had assembled unlike Dodger teams in the past this group didn't have to beat you with the long ball they could win games with speed and steady defense and a pitching staff that had no equal 62 would be the first of Sandy Koufax's five straight superhuman years but even he couldn't match Don Drysdale that year Drysdale won the league siyoung award by winning 25 games living up to his well-deserved reputation as one of the toughest pitchers in baseball Dreiser was intimidated Drysdale gave you a very hard over for Koufax gave you a comfortable over four guys there would come up under your chin come out here he threw from the side he wouldn't shave on days he was pitching and he was made in 1962 the Dodgers had more than great pitching Tommy Davis had an exceptional year leading the major leagues with 230 base hits and a Dodger record 153 RBIs that number should tell you something about the amount of times people like Maury wills got on base wills was the consummate leadoff hitter especially in the early 60s was to win ballgames I had a lot of responsibility so I had to get on base steal the base score Lin somehow and then we get one and come in and test and the okay there's your run and we win the game one to nothing Will's not only stole games he also set a major league record for stealing bases in 62 with a hundred and four yet almost incredibly with wills Davis and Drysdale all having career years the Dodgers still lost the pennant to the Giants in a three-game playoff the next year though Koufax won 25 games and with the best pitcher in baseball on the mound for the entire year the Dodgers won the pennant going away mr. Koufax was outstanding mr. Drysdale was outstanding mr. Pasha's and mr. perranoski was outstanding and mr. Koufax came back nobody could stop us that year and by time we hit the Yankees were at our peak everything was going well that might be a bit of an understatement undaunted in the den of their ancestors darkest days the Los Angeles Dodgers walked all over the Yankees leashing their phenomenal pitching staff on a disbelieving bunch of New Yorkers to sweep the World Series in four games they ran across probably for the finest pitch ball games in the history of World Series play guys they'll probably finish the outstanding game in a series when he beat him one to nothing the third game then sandy come back and beat whitey Ford to the one in the fourth game we got the base at the right time and we made the everyday routine play in the field but to sweep him be almost unheard of in sweeping the Yanks the Dodgers had in one way exacting revenge for their Brooklyn brethren and an another established their own identity by now some of the players were even taking advantage of the Hollywood surroundings although they were smart enough to keep their day jobs [Music] what was that what was that are you kidding perranoski another big one gang couldn't finish we'll shine for me their bum label now a thing of the past the Dodgers of the mid-60s were well on their way towards establishing themselves as the class of baseball 64 might not have gone their way but led by Willie Davis a year later the Dodgers were back on top again Colfax won the second of his three Sai Young Awards by winning 26 games and striking out a record 382 batters it was another dandy year for Sandy there were spots were believe it or not the other team would start to hit him get some guys on and start to threaten to take the game away from us he'd shake himself a little bit and just start blowing people away he would go to a new level I remember a southern thinning or so he was complaining about his arm his I wasn't feeling good at all especially on the curveball and I said well Sam what do you think we ought to do and he said well let's just go with the heat babe and he proceeded to in and out up and down in and out up and down with the fastball from the next three innings and he blew him away he struck out the last six hitters he faced when he pitched his perfect game and and with all fastballs to be that strong at the end of seven innings of pitching and they kick it through to the end of a perfect game is almost beyond belief that perfect game came late in the 65 season against the Cubs the fourth straight year that sandy had thrown a no-hitter 946 p.m. two and two to Harvey Cain one strike away sandy into his wind-up here's the pitch the perfect end to Koufax season came in the World Series against the Minnesota Twins when sandy would come back to pitch the seventh game with only two days rest it was a game that would remain scoreless until the sixth inning when Lou Johnson came to that to tell you honestly deep down I knew I was gonna do something big in Abruzzi I really did the morning before I hit the hormone I called my mom I said mom I'm gonna do something today honest I called a shot Johnson's Homer gave the Dodgers their first run of the inning and with Koufax on the mound that was enough sandy gave up only three hits and the Dodgers were world champions again the Dodgers did get to the series again the next year but the Baltimore Orioles swept them in four games and after the season Dodger fortunes went from bad to worse Sandy Koufax decided that pitching in constant pain was too much to take so he abruptly called an end to his brilliant career to colfax departure spell trouble for the Dodgers and they knew it I didn't know Koufax was gonna retire at the end of that year I didn't know that Tommy Davis would be traded I didn't know Maury wills was gonna be traded so I thought that we could come back in 67 do it again but men and I heard Koufax retired I knew we weren't gonna win the pen at the next season in fact the Dodgers wouldn't win another pennant until 1970 for their longest dry spell since 1941 there was however a terrific individual performance during that span Don Drysdales record-setting 58 consecutive scoreless inning streak in 1968 the one-two pitch to Pena swung on a ground ball wide a third it's boy has the chance he's done it a year later Drysdale would retire and soon the last links to the great teams of the 60s would follow first baseman Wes Parker hung up his 8th time Gold Glove in 1972 and 14-year Dodger Willie Davis would leave in 73 the holder of numerous LA team hitting records off the field there was changed to Walter O'Malley had run the Dodgers since 1950 and in 1970 he turned over the team's presidency to his son Peter who has since guided the Dodgers to a remarkable record 7 division titles 5 National League pennants and 2 World Championships in just over 20 years continuity has always been a mark of the Dodgers so in the 70s began it was natural for them to look to their minor-league where Tommy Lasorda and some talented new players were about to emerge you work together you pull together you played like one ball club should you'd be number one in this lake we learned to be successful on the field by way of great teaching that we had through in a system and the winning attitude they accepted nothing but winning thanks to some of those minor-league hopefuls winning at the major league level began again in 1973 Lasorda too had made it to Los Angeles he was the team's third-base coach as the Dodgers finished a close second behind the Cincinnati Red but a year later in 1974 it would be a different story relief pitcher Mike Marshall appeared in a record 106 games and won the siyoung award while Steve Garvey matured to the point where he was named the National League's Most Valuable Player the team the general manager al campanis had assembled went on to win the National League pennant although they would eventually lose to the powerful Oakland A's in the World Series the maturing Dodgers might have expected to go even further the next couple of years but crippling injuries and playing in the same division as the Big Red Machine ultimately did the Dodgers in it was a time however when Don Sutton stood out the all-time leader in many Dodger pitching categories won 21 games in 1976 the only time in his 16 year Dodger career he would go over the 20 mark but that year also marked the end of an era as Walter Alston stepped away from a 23 year career that included four World Championships it's a pleasure for me to introduce Tommy Lasorda this is the greatest day of my life in baseball to to be selected as the manager of an organization that I love so dearly with Tommy Lasorda as their new manager the Dodgers powered their way back to the top of the national league in 1977 alone Steve Garvey led the way with 33 homers Reggie Smith followed with 32 while Ron Cey and Dusty Baker hit 30 the only time teammates had ever done that performances like that certainly kept the fans happy and in 1978 Dodger Stadium attendance went over the three million mark for the first time in baseball history looking back the 77 and 78 seasons were virtual carbon copies of each other in both the Dodgers outlasted the Reds in the West they then went on to face the Philadelphia Phillies on the playoffs and both times beat them in four games from there it was on to play the Yankees in two straight World Series at the time the two teams were clearly the class of baseball and that made for some memorable individual matchups like Bob Welch against Reggie Jackson in 1978 unfortunately for the Dodgers that was one other thing that was similar about the two series the Yanks took both in six games and while it was hard to take that work concrete reasons for the Yankee dominance I think focus I think more concentration more maturity I think 77 78 we're still relatively young as far as playing together after the first two losses we wanted to get back to the World Series one more time to face the Yankees one more time ultimately the Dodgers would get the Yankees one more time but it wouldn't come until 1981 in the interim manny mota would set the all-time major league record for pinch hits in 1979 and a year later in 1980 the Dodgers would come from three games back on the season's final weekend to force a playoff with the Houston Astros although they would eventually lose [Applause] every successful team can point to the one year it came of age and for this veteran group of Dodgers 1981 was that year ironically it took a player with much less experience to help them achieve their goal it's quite possible that in the history of baseball er has never been another debut quite like Fernando Valenzuela just two months into the season the 20-year old screw balling phenomenon from Mexico at eight wins and five shutouts he had become the most celebrated player in baseball as Fernando mania swept through LA we have a spanish-speaking population that was just waiting for somebody like that to come along I think Fernando gave a tremendous amount of pride and respect you know to Hispanics of LA because they came out every time we pitched everywhere you wanted people asked you about Fernando Valenzuela they wanted to know what he eats for dinner they wanted to know everything what times you get to the ballpark what kind of car does he drive and just being a small part of it is something that I can take with me and cherish and I know that it was is something that all ours remember as really as a terrific time of my life while one chapter in Dodger history was just beginning in 1981 another was about to come to an end although they didn't know it at the time 81 would be the last of eight straight years the team celebrated in field of say in Brussels and Lopes and Garvey would play together it had been a great run even with Fernando and the infield the 1981 Dodgers will best be remembered for their refusal to give in to the pressure of an expanded postseason in the first series against Houston we lost the first two ballgames we came back to win our division then we went against Montreal where our backs up against the wall down two games to one up there Montreal we came back and won two ballgame Dodger comebacks continued in the World Series when they rallied from two games down against the Yankees to win their fourth World Championship in Los Angeles [Applause] [Music] [Applause] the one old watching it's a high flyball the land row this is dead Landro waiting and waiting he's got it the Los Angeles Dodgers have just about done the impossible [Applause] it was the kind of team that knew when your backs were against the wall it was time to start producing and it seemed to work with all 25 players at that time who were involved that's what happened in 1981 when other teams got us down the 1981 Dodgers were able to come back Steve sax was coming up Greg Brock was getting ready to come up Mike Marshall the olders on its way out and new is coming in reality is sitting in there that was it in 1982 the most prominent of the new Dodgers was second baseman Steve sax who became the fourth Dodger in four years to win the league's Rookie of the Year award but the Dodgers would ultimately lose their chance at repeating when the San Francisco Giants beat them on the final day of the season with the help of a homerun by Joe Morgan Morgan's homer not only beat the Dodgers it also poured more fuel on baseball's most intense rivalry the emotions the Dodger giant rivalry generated were pretty much cut and dried if you love the Dodgers you hated the Giants it was simple it was deep and it went way back through the years I responded between but there was a genuine rivalry between the people in New York and the people in Brooklyn they didn't care for one another and showed it in any way they could the rivalry intensified in 1934 after a remark by giant manageability we had a series in Brooklyn that they beat us at the time near the end of the season and one of the one of our writers asked him about our Brooklyn Club and he said Brooklyn club are they still in the league in the 40s Leo Durocher became the central figure on both sides of the rivalry when he was fired by the Dodgers in 1948 and signed with the Giants welcomed by secretary Andy Brannock into the fold of the New York Giants and one of the most surprising moves in baseball history we did not dislike the giant players per se they did not like the Giants I didn't even like the colors orange and black because that was a giant colors in fact when Halloween comes I I'm not too happy about Halloween because that's Halloween's colors when both teams move West the rivalry continued even to the point where Danny Kaye's song about it the I say do do Dee do Dee G do D GE RS team to delay the opening of the World Series until the Badgers and the Giants decided their very personal rivalry in a playoff and we define defy the junior ji n ji NT okay [Music] we would smile at each other but we didn't mean it at all we knew we're going to go into one of the biggest battles that we ever had and then of course the Mary Shaw incident really they did Dodger giant rivalry that much more explosive if the giant Dodger rivalry isn't as intense as it once was I hate to see it when it was really intense because it's something that's always been there and believe me I think it's still going strong fighting through a period of transition the Dodgers to continued going strong in the mid-80s led by Pedro Guerrero the Dodgers won a pair of Western Division titles in 1983 and 1985 although in both championship series they would wind up losing the second time to the Cardinals in a frustrating six-game series in some ways it was remarkable that the Dodgers were able to keep on winning as their team kept on changing but a lot of that had to do with two constants Tommy Lasorda and the Dodger fans we got great fans they support the Dodgers year after year after year and they do it so beautifully and the only thing I asked of our players in return if it weren't for them there wouldn't be any people like us so look up on the stands every once in a while and say hey thank you and the only thing that you can do is give them everything that you got play your heart out for them so when they leave the ballpark whether you win or lose they'll say boy those guys really put forth all the effort that they have that's what it's all about in 1988 the Dodgers certainly paid back their fans using a mixture both recent acquisitions and reliable veterans new general manager Fred claret assembled yet another Dodger team with a never-say-die attitude leading the way was Kirk Gibson who was named the team's first National League Most Valuable Player since 1974 and sy Young award-winner Orel Hershiser who in September embarked on a successful mission to pass Don Drysdales record of eight consecutive scoreless innings Hershiser ready of the one-two pitch is swung on a flyball to right Gonzalez backs up he's got it shy he has the record the Dodgers now are gonna go all out to creative when you get into a zone like that it everything looks like it's just falling into place and it's easy but really it's an awful lot of work during the 59 scoreless innings I was working probably the hardest I have in my whole life but a lot of it surround around the team that year because we're in the middle of a pennant race and we needed to win every game the Dodgers took the Western Division and faced the heavily favored New York Mets in the championship series throughout the Dodgers showed some of that never-say-die attitude that had gotten them this far in the first place especially in Game four when trailing by two runs in the top of the ninth they tied the game on a home run by Mike Scioscia and good and ready Dwight's fast ball is hammered to right back go strawberry your way back it is and the Dodger dugout is wild in disbelief and joy ultimately the series would go seven games and that joy it would continue thanks to Orel Hershiser [Music] [Applause] the Dodgers had beaten the odds once but now appearing in the 18th World Series in franchise history they would have to do it again against the powerful Oakland A's looking back although you do need four games to win a series the Dodgers really put the A's away with a single swing of the bat trailing four three two outs bottom of the ninth of the first game an injured Kirk Gibson would engineer the single most dramatic swing in the 100-year history of the Dodgers they're afraid I was embarrassing myself but I was locked in and I was ready for the competition and I felt that I was an equal at that time I when I put myself on that field with the other people who were healthy I I said okay I'm equally you and when I got to three two I stepped out of the batter's box and made decorously step off of the rubber and I said to myself what Mel Didier I are one of our scouts said if you get him three two in a pressure game partner sure as I'm standing here breathing he's going to throw you know three two back to our signer [Applause] [Music] you look at a time like that and you see that everybody's problems are erased temporarily not one Dodger fan that one person in LA was thinking about any problems we were all happy [Applause] [Music] [Applause] 1969 [Music] [Applause] [Music] that was a team in a year that has been great for the Dodger organization it's a that's a one that everybody everybody was part of everybody should really enjoy and share it and remember it it was a team of destiny it was a team that captured the hearts of America and it's something that we'll remember for the rest of our lives [Music] it's been a long journey these 100 years from Washington Park to Ebbets Field to the Coliseum to Dodger Stadium and the names and the faces and the events come and go but the legacy remains a legacy that leaves behind a picture in the mind's eye of a whiter than white jersey with dodgers across the front in brilliant blue a legacy of Hall of Famers and most valuable players of rookies of the year and siyoung Award winners a legacy of hope and passion and endurance now the long journey continues hopefully for at least another hundred years and when it does you can be sure it will do so in the grand dodger tradition [Music] [Applause] [Music] this has been a Black Canyon production [Music]

Channel: Pizza Pizzichetti

Views: 30,207

Keywords:

Id: ZfP5-AMnQkY

Length: 76min 2sec (4562 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 28 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/william_sr]

That’s awesome. Thanks for sharing this with us!

[u/Blu_Crew]

aaaand just like that I watched the whole thing.

[u/Educational-Love-762]

Thank You