Tag: Brooklyn Dodgers

OCT 23: Durocher Recognized

OCTOBER 23, 1951 | NEW YORK, NEW YORK – The Brooklyn Dodgers were comfortably in first place for most of the 1951 season. They had a 13-game lead on August 11th. That’s when everything changed. The New York Giants, lead by manager Leo Durocher, caught fire. made a dramatic comeback to win the National League pennant, and on this date in 1951 Durocher was voted Manager of the Year.

Leo Durocher was credited with patiently guiding the Giants through a horrible first half which included an 11-game losing streak. Durocher was also in charge when the Giants won 37 of their last 45 games. They tied the Dodgers on the last day of the season, forcing a 3-game playoff . The Giants’ Bobby Thomson settled the matter with the “shot heard ’round the world,” a stunning 3-run home run to win the pennant.

* * *

Leo Durocher was flamboyant, combative and a solid shortstop during a 20-year playing career. He won over 2,000 games in a 26=year managerial career. As exhilarating as the 1951 season was, he felt the opposite emotion managing the collapse of the 1969 Chicago Cubs, a team that seemed headed for the World Series.

Leo Durocher was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1994.

Contributing Sources:
Leo Durocher-Stats
1951 game-by-game results/standings
Misc – Wikipedia

AUG 27: A star is born

AUGUST  27, 1955 | BROOKLYN, NEW YORK • On this date, Sandy Koufax, a young, raw, Brooklyn-born, former basketball star from the University of Cincinnati, 

got his second major league start for the Brooklyn Dodgers. He two-hit the Cincinnati Reds 7-0. The 19-year old struck out 14.

It took a while for Koufax to be polished into a gem. As a kid, Koufax showed more promise in basketball. So much so that he got a scholarship to the University of Cincinnati. In an odd twist of fate, the freshman basketball coach, Ed Jucker, was the varsity baseball coach. When baseball season came along, Koufax pitched a few games for the Bearcat baseball team. He was raw. In 31 innings, he walked 30, but struck out 51. A Dodger scout saw the potential. Koufax was offered a bonus to leave the University of Cincinnati and the basketball team for baseball, which he did.

Once he put it all together, Koufax dominated. He was 129-47 from 1961 to 1966. He won the Cy Young award in 1963, 1965 and 1966 by unanimous votes. All three seasons he led the majors in wins, strikeouts and ERA – the pitching Triple Crown – and was MVP of the World Series in ’63 and ‘65. Koufax threw 4 no-hitters and 1 perfect game.

Unfortunately for him, and baseball fans who marveled at his ability, Koufax’s career ended early. He retired at 31 when arthritis in his throwing elbow threatened permanent disability.

Contributing sources: 
“Sandy Koufax: A Lefty’s Legacy,” by Jane Leavy, Harper Collins, 2002  
Koufax Reunites with Coach Jucker,” UC Magazine, University of Cincinnati   
Sandy Koufax

August 31- Hodges unloads

AUGUST 31, 1950 • BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS • Gil Hodges of the Brooklyn Dodgers (today’s Los Angeles Dodgers) became the 4th player in major league history to hit 4 home runs in a game* on this date in baseball history (1950). The slugging first baseman’s four round-trippers and a single helped the Dodgers beat the Boston Braves (now in Atlanta) 19-3. Hodges had 17 total bases that day.

Hodges had at least 25 home runs nine times in his career. He had 100 RBI or more seven times. He finished with a .273 lifetime average and 370 home runs – at the time, the most by a right-handed hitter. Gil Hodges was a pillar of the Brooklyn Dodgers of the 1950’s, the decade they finally came through, after 66 years in the National League, and won a World Series in 1955. Hodges had 27 home runs and 102 RBIs that year.

Hodges finished his playing career with the New York Mets in 1963, and then became manager of the Washington Senators (today’s Texas Rangers). The Mets came calling again in 1968 for Hodges to manage them. He helped turn the perennial last place team into the Amaz’in Mets who shocked the sports world in 1969 by winning the World Series.

*Chuck Klein of the Philadelphia Phillies and Pat Seerey of the Chicago White Sox each hit four home runs in one game prior to Hodges, but they needed extra innings to do it.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCE:
The New York Times, Boston, Massachusetts, September 1, 1950

NOV 27: Winning all the trophies

NOVEMBER 27, 1956 | NEW YORK, NY – When Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Don Newcombe won the Cy Young award on this date in 1956 he became the only player in major league baseball history to win all 3 major post-season awards: Rookie of the Year (1949), Cy Young Award (1956), Most Valuable Player (also in 1956).

Newcombe was among a handful of Black Negro League stars finally invited to the “White” majors after Jackie Robinson broke the “color barrier” in 1947. According to SABR (the Society for American baseball research), Newcombe was the third black pitcher to appear in a major league game after Dan Bankhead and Satchel Paige.

Contributing Sources:
Don Newcombe bio
Dan Bankhead career stats
Satchel Paige career stats 
Jackie Robinson’s Legacy 

AUGUST 8: Dodgers score 12 after 2

AUGUST 8, 1954 | BROOKLYN, NEW YORK – There are rallies and then there are rallies. How about one the Brooklyn Dodgers had on this date in 1954? The Dodgers scored 12 runs after two outs in the eighth inning. They scored 13 total and went on to pound the Cincinnati Reds 20-7 at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn.

The game also provided a couple good examples of why the official scoring for earned run average (ERA)  should be changed.

Amazingly, only one of the 13 runs given up in the eighth was earned, despite four Reds pitchers giving up seven hits and seven walks. Neither Cincinnati pitchers Jackie Collum nor Frank Smith got anybody out, but their ERAs did not go up a lick (there’s something not right about that type of scoring) because twelve of the runs scored after an error by Reds third baseman Chuck Harmon, long before Collum or Smith got in the game.

Here’s another example of what’s wrong with ERA scoring; a relief pitcher can be called into a game because the starter is showing some weakness. He could give up a bases clearing triple. None of those runs are charged to him. I get that. But here’s what’s crazy. Despite giving up a bases clearing triple, if he gets the next batter out his ERA goes down.

Contributing Source:
August 8, 1954 box score