Los Angeles Dodgers - The Viet Nam War Years (1960-1969)

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1960

Decade

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102

Titles:

Top Dodgers Players of the Sixties

World Champs 1963 (beat Yankees)

World Champs 1965 (beat Twins)

Pitchers:

NL Champs 1966 (lost to Orioles)

Don Drysdale (44.8) - 105

Sandy Koufax (48) - 94

BallPark:

Claude Osteen (16.2) - 53

The Coliseum (1960-1961)

Ron Perranoski (14.9) - 36

Chavez Ravine (1962-1969)

Johnny Podres (12.5) - 35

Bill Singer (12.2) - 30

Team Name:

Don Sutton (9.82) - 29

Dodgers

Stan Williams (8.65) - 24

Larry Sherry (3.03) - 15

Owner:

Phil Regan (6.09) - 14

Walter O'Malley

Jim Brewer (7.97) - 14

Bob Miller (5.44) - 11

General Manager:

Buzzy Bavasi (1960-1968)

Catchers:

Fresco Thompson (1968)

John Roseboro (19.54) - 62

Al Campanis (1969)

Tom Haller (6.84) - 15

Managers:

First Basemen:

Walter Alston

Ron Fairley (13.63) - 34

Wes Parker (13.4) - 31

No Hitters:

Norm Larker (2.75) - 9

Sandy Koufax (1962)

Sandy Koufax (1963)

Second Base:

Sandy Koufax (1964)

Junior Gilliam (19.06) - 50

Sandy Koufax (1965)

Ted Sizemore (4.16) - 4

Hall of Famers:

ShortStop:

Don Sutton

Maury Wills (29) - 103

Maury Wills (Pending)

Don Drysdale

Third Base:

Sandy Koufax

Jim Lefebvre (15.41) - 20

Pee Wee Reese

Bill Sudakis (3.12) - 4

Duke Snider

Outfield:

Rookie of the Year

Willie Davis (34.57) - 107

Frank Howard (1960)

Tommy Davis (16.22) - 52

Jim Lefebvre (1965)

Frank Howard (10.86) - 28

Ted Sizemore (1969)

Wally Moon (7.17) - 22

Lou Johnson (6.63) - 22

MVP

Duke Snider (5.08) - 8

Maury Wills (1962)

Willie Crawford (3.84) - 7

Sandy Koufax (1963)

Notable Events:

Cy Young

Don Drysdale (1962)

1964 - Righthander Bill Singer, 20, is a rookie. He was signed three

Sandy Koufax (1963)

years earlier.

Sandy Koufax (1965)

Sandy Koufax (1966)

1964 - Lefty reliever Jim Brewer, 26, is stolen from the Cubs for Dick Scott.

You would think that the Cubs would have learned something after the

Notable Events:

Perranoski deal. The Dodgers had been fleecing the Cubs for decades.

1960 - LA comes into the Sixties on the heels of a World Series victory over

1965 - Lefthander Claude Osteen, 25. is obtained in a huge deal with

the White Sox in 1959. This is a very different team than the Brooklyn squad

Washington. At first, the general consensus was that the Dodgers

that dominated the National League in the Fifties. GM Buzzy Bavasi didn't have

were out of their minds to make this deal. They gave up slugger

time to do much of a re-tooling job. LA was fortunate, that at this point of time,

Frank Howard (who altho' he was very talented was completely

the whole league was in transition, particularly Milwaukee, and that there were

opposite of the type of player needed in Chavez Ravine), excellent

no dominant clubs to challenge at the moment. It allowed the Pirates to sneak

young third baseman Ken McMullen and two top young pitching

in as champs in 1960, the Reds in 1961, and the Giants in 1962 before the

prospects in lefty Pete Richert and righthander Phil Ortega.

Dodgers would restore order with a completely re-tooled team by 1963.

It turns out that Bavasi knew exactly what he was doing as Osteen

The 1959 team had a runs scored/given up ratio that would have only

would be a valuable member of the Dodger rotation for years

predicted a mundane 80-74 mark. Superior relief pitching from Larry

to come as he turned the Dodges big two into a big three.

Sherry, 22, Roger Craig, 29, Stan Williams, 22, Clem Labine, 32, and

Danny McDevitt, 26, allowed the Dodgers to win an inordinate share of

1965 - The Dodgers win the World Series beating the Twins

the close ones. That staff was led by three young and talented starters:

Johnny Podres, 26, Don Drysdale, 22, and Sandy Koufax, 23.

1966 - Future Hall of Fame righthander Don Sutton, 21, is a rookie.

Craig, Labine, Podres and Drysdale had been big contributors in Brooklyn,

He was signed in '64 out of USC.

everybody else was new.

The offense, meanwhile, was way behind where it was in Brooklyn, but

1966 - The Tigers are fleeced for ace righty reliever Phil Regan, 29.

that old Brooklyn team had set the bar impossibly high.

He is obtained for utility infielder Dick Traceowski.

Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella and Pee Wee Reese were gone.

Their replacements, Charlie Neal, 28, John Roseboro, 26, and Don

1966 - Righty Charlie Hough, 18, is an 8th round pick in the draft.

Zimmer, 28 weren't nearly as good.

He comes up in '70

Carl Furillo, 37, was no longer starting, replaced by Don Demeter, 24.

1B Gil Hodges, 35, and CF Duke Snider, 32, were showing their age.

1966 - Shortstop Bill Russell, 17, is a 9th round pick in the draft.

Only LF Wally Moon, 29, was an upgrade over the Brooklyns.

He comes up in '69

1960 - Centerfielder Willie Davis, 20, is a rookie. A vastly underrated player

1966 - Los Angeles wins the pennant on the final day of the season,

by everyone except the Dodgers, was the perfect player for Chavez Ravine.

but then gets swept by the Orioles in the World Series.

He could cover tons of space in centerfield, Willie was a force on the

basepaths, altho' overshadowed by Wills' exploits, and he was a decent

1967 - Catcher Steve Yeager, 18, is a 4th round pick in the draft.

hitter with a bit of power.

He comes up in '72

1961 - The Dodgers had a succession of outstanding relievers in the Sixties.

1967 - Sandy Koufax retires after the 1966 season with an arthritic elbow.

Most of whom they stole from other clubs in lopsided deals.

His retirement instantly marks the end of the Dodgers dominance in the

The first was Larry Sherry, who was the only home grown one.

National League.They had won ten pennants in the previous twenty years.

The next was lefthander Ron Perranoski, 25, who was pilfered from

Additionally, they had either lost the pennant on the last day of the

the Cubs in exchange for Don Zimmer.

season or lost a playoff after being tied for first place at the end of the

regular season on five more occasions.

1962 - Chavez Ravine opens. It is a ballpark where pitching, defense and

That's fifteen of twenty one seasons that the Dodgers had either won

speed rule.

the pennant or were there on the last day, By comparison, in the

American League, the Yankees also were right there fifteen times during

1962 - OF Tommy Davis, 23, emerges as a star with a 27-153-.346 line and

that same stretch - the difference being that the Yankees won the

18 SB. He wins the batting title and repeats with a .326 average in '63.

pennant all fifteen times that they were that close and the Yankees

Tommy was signed out of Boys High in Brooklyn in '56.

also won ten World Series (including five of seven against the Dodgers)

while the Dodgers "only" managed to win four World Series in that span.

1962 - The Dodgers and Giants tie for first place. It was the Dodgers'

fourth playoff in eighteen years (1946, 1951, 1959, 1962). That's a lot.

1968 - GM Buzzy Bavasi leaves a parting gift for the Dodgers before

The Giants win in three games, the third time that the Dodgers lose one

moving on to San Diego to start up the Padres franchise.

of these in that eighteen year span.

Here's some of his picks in the '68 draft:

□ #1 - first baseman Steve Garvey, 19, comes up in '69

1963 - LA wins the pennant and then sweeps the Yanks in the World Series

□ #2 - outfielder Bill Buckner, 19, comes up in '69

This obviously never would have happened if they were still in Brooklyn.

□ #2 - supplemental draft - second baseman Davey Lopes, 23,

The stars of this team were the still young pitchers Koufax, Drysdale and Podres

he came up in '72

plus relief ace Perranoski and speedsters Wills, Willie Davis and Tommy Davis.

□ #3 - third baseman Ron Cey, 20, comes up in '71

This group plus Claude Osteen and Phil Regan will be the stars of the '65 & '66

□ #5 - lefthander Geoff Zahn, 22, comes up in '73

pennant winning squads.

□ #8 - catcher Joe Ferguson, 21, comes up in '70

1964 - Outfielder Willie Crawford, 17, is signed and brought up to the

1969 - Al Campanis takes over as Dodgers GM. As good as Bavasi was,

Dodgers. Everybody thought he would be the next LA star at the

there is no dropoff in quality in the front office with Campanis at

time, but they were wrong.

the helm. Owner Walter O'Malley had a great eye for management

talent.

1964 - First baseman Wes Parker, 24, is a rookie. He was signed a year

earlier. Wes was sort of a throwback first baseman in that he wasn't

a big power guy. Not too many of those around in the Sixties and beyond.