Los Angeles Dodgers - The Clinton Years (1990-1999)

Dodgers
Home
Click
on Logo

1990

Decade

1990

Click

on Logo

Titles:

Top Dodgers Players of the Nineties

Division Champs 1995 (Lost to Reds)

Wild Card 1996 (Lost to Braves)

Pitchers:

Ramon Martinez (24.53) - 78

BallPark:

Isamael Valdez (19.64) - 38

Chavez Ravine

Todd Worrell (1.71) - 35

Tom Candiotti (14.61) - 34

Team Name:

Hideo Nomo (11.43) - 30

Dodgers

Chan Ho Park (8.1) - 29

Pedro Astacio (15.55) - 26

Owner:

Kevin Gross (9.79) - 25

Peter O'Malley (1990-1997)

Orel Hershiser (8.67) - 22

Fox (1998-1999)

Mike Morgan (6.62) - 16

Jeff Shaw (2.47) - 16

General Manager:

Darren Dreifort (4.15) - 15

Fred Claire (1990-1998)

Kevin Brown (6.2) - 13

Tom LaSorda (1998)

Bob Ojeda (4.37) - 11

Kevin Malone (1998 - 1999)

Tim Belcher (5.1) - 10

Jay Howell (5.12) - 10

Managers:

Fernando Valenzuela (0.12) - 9

Tom LaSorda (1990-1996)

Jim Gott (6.52) - 9

Bill Russell (1996 - 1998)

Roger McDowell (1.39) - 7

Glenn Hoffman (1998)

Scott Radinsky (4.37) - 6

Davey Johnson (1999)

Pedro Martinez (3.3) - 4

Antonio Osuna (4.17) - 3

No Hitters:

Fernando Valenzuela (1990)

Catchers:

Kevin Gross (1992)

Mike Piazza (31.95) - 78

Ramon Martinez (1995)

Mike Scioscia (4.49) - 24

Hideo Nomo (1996)

First Basemen:

Hall of Famers:

Eric Karros (11.22) - 51

Pedro Martinez

Eddie Murray (6.43) - 16

Mike Piazza

Eddie Murray

Second Base:

DeLino DeShields (3.21) - 18

Rookie of the Year

Mike Sharperson (5.53) - 17

Eric Karros (1992)

Eric Young (4.34) - 15

Mike Piazza (1993)

Juan Samuel (2.55) - 12

Raul Mondesi (1994)

Hideo Nomo (1995)

ShortStop:

Todd Hollandsworth (1996)

Jose Offerman (2.05) - 22

Grag Gagne (1.9) - 13

MVP

Alfredo Griffin (2.56) - 10

None

Mark Grudzielanek (2.92) - 10

Cy Young

Third Base:

None

Tim Wallach (1.45) - 15

Adrian Beltre (4.05) - 7

Notable Events:

Outfield:

1990 - A bad decade by Dodger standards. With their money, it's

Raul Mondesi (21.61) - 62

hard to envision the club ever hitting rock bottom. However, LA only

Brett Butler (15.03) - 52

wins 90 games twice and wins in the eighties four times (no bueno for a

Gary Sheffield (6.57) - 18

team of LA's pedigree). They finish first in the two strike shortened seasons,

Kal Daniels (4.84) - 13

but unimpressively. These are their only two first place finishes this decade.

Todd Hollandsworth (1.35) - 11

The Dodgers had gotten spoiled with a succession of brilliant General

Darryl Strawberry (2.87) - 11

Managers from MacPhail to Rickey to Bavasi to Campanis that spanned

Eric Davis (0.36) - 10

over forty years. Those days were now over.

Notable Events:

1990 - Orel Hershiser has shoulder surgery and he never regains his

dominant form.

1994 - Third Baseman Adrian Beltre, 15, is signed as an IFA. He will come

up to the big club four years hence and go on to a Hall of Fame callibre

1991 - The Dodgers pick up free agent outfielders Darryl Strawberry and

career spanning a number of clubs.

Brett Butler and contend for all of 1991, finishing second to the Braves.

Strawberry crashes and burns due to cocaine abuse. Butler, 34, however,

1996 - Tom LaSorda retires as Dodger manager after a heart attack.

has a productive several years in LA

1997 - Peter O'Malley sells the Dodgers to Fox. Corporate takeovers never

1992 - Eric Karros is rookie of the Year in 1992, starting a five year

amount to anything. They're anonymous, soulless and homogenized,

run of Dodger Rookies of the Year. This gives them sixteen years

Not a good environment to try to breed excellence. On top of that, in this case,

in the fifty of the award by 1996 and nine of eighteen since 1979.

Ruppert Murdoch is the owner. Murdoch acquires things to increase his

You would think that the Dodgers farm system was really churning

economic power, not because he's interested in them or their quality. The

out talent with five straight rookies of the year, but you would be

Dodgers were never going to amount to anything with these folks in charge.

wrong. Only one was a star, Mike Piazza, Three others were nothing

more than solid big leaguers- Karros, Mondesi and Nomo. And

1998 - LA unloads Mike Piazza in his Free Agent walk year for Gary

the Hollandsworth selection was a head scratcher - even at the time.

Sheffield. Not a bad trade, really, although Dodger management is villified.

□ 1992 First base Eric Karros 24 6th round pick 1988

1998 is also a year of front office turmoil as Ruppert Murdoch brings his

□ 1993 Catcher Mike Piazza 24 62nd round pick 1988

people in. This continues into the 1999 season when Davey Johnson is

□ 1994 Outfield Raul Mondesi 23 IFA 1988

hired to manage. Kevin Malone, a non-entity, becomes the GM.

□ 1995 Righthander Hideo Nomo 26 Free agent out of Japan

□ 1996 Outfielder Todd Hollandsworth 23 3rd round pick 1991

1998 - Catcher Paul LoDuca, 26, is a rookie. A quality Italian-descent

The things you think about as to why the Dodgers were so dominant

Dodger catcher who was picked in a low round (25th in 1998).

in Rookie of the year voting:

Now where have we seen that before?

□ They're in a media center - LA

□ They are one of the stronger organizations in baseball

1998 - 1B Paul Konerko, 22, is dealt to the Reds for righty closer Jeff Shaw, 31.

□ They have a policy of waiting almost too long to bring up their prospects

Quality for quality deal, but Shaw only pitches well a year and a half for

While other teams bring kids up prematurely, the Dodgers tend to wait

LA while Konerko goes on to have a productive 18 year career hitting

over four hundred home runs.

1999 - Righty relief ace Greg Gagne, 23, is a rookie. He was signed as an IFA

out of Canada in 1995. Gagne would become the top reliever in the game for a

a few years and was an exciting must-watch closer during that period.