Dodger Thoughts

Jon Weisman's outlet for dealing psychologically with the Los Angeles Dodgers, baseball and life

Tag: Pete Reiser

Jansen, Kershaw, Seager named to NL All-Star team

All-Stars

By Jon Weisman

The wait is over for Kenley Jansen, and it never began for Corey Seager.

The Dodgers’ veteran closer and rookie shortstop have each been named to their first National League All-Star team, where they are joined at least in spirit by Clayton Kershaw — who despite his current back injury earned his sixth consecutive All-Star spot.

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Remembering ’65: Memorial Day time capsule

remembering-65-wide-v1-grass

By Jon Weisman

The 1965 Dodgers spent the last 28 days of May in first place — including Memorial Day, May 31, when 50,997 at Dodger Stadium saw the Dodgers and Reds split a doubleheader — but it was hardly an uneventful month. Here’s a word album of what was happening 50 years ago …

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Remembering ’65: Tommy Davis goes down, ‘Sweet Lou’ comes up

remembering-65-wide-v1-grass

By Jon Weisman

By May 1965, the Dodgers had already survived one major injury scare with Sandy Koufax, who came back to pitch 29 innings in the first month of the season with a 2.17 ERA and 29 strikeouts.

With outfielder Tommy Davis, they would not be nearly so fortunate.

tommy_davisDavis, who had 574 hits and a 132 OPS+ over the previous three seasons, started slowly in ’65 — 9 for 49 with one double and two walks through April 28 — but he had begun to come out of it by going 6 for 10 with a triple and a steal in his next three games.

Then came May 1. May Day.

Wrote Frank Finch in the Times:

The Dodgers beat the Giants for the third straight time Saturday night, 4-2, but they may have lost the pennant.

Cleanup hitter Tommy Davis, major league batting champion in 1962-63, broke and dislocated his right ankle on an ill-fated slide into second base in the fourth inning.

Dr. Robert Kerlan said the big bopper will be out of action for at least three months and, possibly, the rest of the season.

Tommy, who’d made six safeties in his last nine trips, beat out an infield hit and on Ron Fairly’s bouncer to Orlando Cepeda he took off for second base.

Davis hit the ground prematurely, his spikes caught in the dirt, and he never reached the bag. … Trainer Wayne Anderson sprinted over to take care of Tommy.

“When I got there, the bone was sticking out at a right angle, and I popped it back into place,” said Andy.

Carted off the field on a stretcher, the 26-year-old slugger said ruefully, “I don’t know what happened. I thought there was going to be a play on me and I came in with a new kind of slide. When I looked down, I thought my ankle was in rightfield.”

Three days later, the Dodgers brought up Lou Johnson from Spokane. Johnson was 30 but hadn’t been in the Majors since 1962 and in his entire big-league career had played only 96 games with 47 hits.

johnson_head“I thought Peter O’Malley was kidding when he telephoned me Monday and told me I’d been purchased by the Dodgers,” Johnson told the Times.

Said Pete Reiser, who began the season as Spokane’s manager: “Lou’s a good hitter and outfielder, but you’ve got to play him day in and day out.”

In fact, Johnson came off the bench in five games before making his first Dodger start on May 10, singling and scoring the winning run in the 10th inning of a 3-2 victory over Houston. By May 19, when he went 4 for 6 with two doubles and a game-tying eighth-inning single in what would be a 14-inning Dodger victory over the Astros, “Sweet Lou” was a fixture in the Dodger lineup — and of course, a future World Series hero.

Coincidentally, the Dodgers moved into a tie for first place in the National League the day Johnson arrived, took over sole possession the night of his first game and didn’t give up the lead for more than two months.

In case you missed it: Bat left, throw left, hold baby right

Baby

For more photos from Thursday, visit LA Photog Blog.

DM WF 070By Jon Weisman

It was hard not to be a little skeptical about Thursday’s Will Ferrell stunt across Major League Baseball, but it helped knowing that it was for a good cause, and pretty quickly it became clear how much fun it was going to be.

It helped that Ferrell, while engaging in all the hijinx, displayed such a sincere love for the game himself. And he looked pretty good out there — for a 47-year-old. (I’m particularly sympathetic to that demographic.)

I’m sure it had to be a distraction on some level, but the memories seem to have been worth it.

But now, it’s back to the real players  …

  • A scout told J.P. Hoornstra of the Daily News that he was “particularly impressed by Sergio Santos, who touched 94 on the gun.”
  • Julio Urias is the No. 2 pitching prospect in baseball, according to John Sickels’ Minor League Ball, behind local boy Lucas Giolito of the Nationals.  Grant Holmes is 41st. On the hitting side, Corey Seager is sixth, Joc Pederson 10th and Alex Verdugo 50th.
  • You know all the big names by now, but David Hood of True Blue L.A. offers his favorites to watch among the next generation of Dodger prospects.
  • A classic W.C. Heinz profile of the inimitable Pete Reiser is on display, courtesy of The Stacks.
  • Former Dodger Chuck Connors, aka “The Rifleman,” made David Schoenfield’s all-celebrity baseball team at ESPN.com’s Sweet Spot.
  • James Harris, one of my heroes growing up here in the 1970s, gets a nice tribute from Samuel G. Freedman at the New Yorker. It’s a worthwhile history lesson.

Video: ‘Dodgers Roadshow’ highlights rare goodies

Dodgers Roadshow

By Jon Weisman

The centerpiece of the May issue of Dodger Insider magazine is our Dodgers Roadshow (excerpted above, click to enlarge). Team historian Mark Langill discussed the history behind 20 pieces of Dodger memorabilia, few if any of which you’ve ever seen before.

In the videos that follow, Langill devotes even more time to these strange and wonderful artifacts. Enjoy!

[mlbvideo id=”33008893″ width=”550″ height=”308″ /]

[mlbvideo id=”33008913″ width=”550″ height=”308″ /]

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