Tag Archives: Jackie Robinson

Jul 23

Opening Day, 2020

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It’s the first game of this bizarre 60-game season, in which each win and each loss has much more weight than in most seasons. Lose ten straight in a 162-game season and you’ve got a chance to make it up; do so in a 60-game season and you’re probably dead. If last year had been a 60-game season, the World Series Champion Nationals would not have made the playoffs. They were 27-33 in their first 60 games.

Giants at Dodgers, 7:00 PM PDT. TV: ESPN

The Dodgers send LHP Clayton Kershaw to the mound for his ninth Opening Day start in ten years. The 32-year-old was 16-5 last season with the highest ERA of his career, a whopping 3.03. He’ll face the Giants’ RHP Johnny Cueto, who was 1-2 with a 5.06 ERA last year in four September starts after undergoing Tommy John surgery in August of 2018.

Here’s the Dodgers’ official 30-man roster to start the season:

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1939 Using yellow dyed balls, the Cardinals beat the Dodgers 5-2 at Sportsman’s Park. The experimenting with the use of the colored sphere, which is designed to make the ball easier to see for the players and the fans, started in Brooklyn last week and will be tested once more, in a September game played at Wrigley Field.
  • 1962 Jackie Robinson becomes the first black player inducted into the Hall of Fame. Joining the Dodger infielder in the Cooperstown ceremony are fireballer Bob Feller, veteran manager Bill McKechnie, and outfielder Edd Roush.

  • 1965 Dick Stuart homers in the first inning in the Phillies’ 5-1 win over New York at Shea Stadium. ‘Dr. Strangeglove’, who played in Boston for the previous two seasons, becomes the first player to have gone deep in each of the 19 major league ballparks now in use. (Ed. note – Nineteen ballparks because both Los Angeles teams, the Angels and Dodgers, share the ballpark in Chavez Ravine. – LP)
  • 1974 At Three Rivers Stadium, Dodger first baseman Steve Garvey, a write-in All-Star starter, singles and doubles to help the National League beat the Junior circuit, 7-2. Mike Schmidt, also a write-in, plays in his first Midsummer Classic thanks to radio intern Howard Eskin’s on-air campaign which urged Phillies fans to stuff the ballot box for their young third baseman.

Also, Nomah! In 2002 Nomar Garciaparra establishes the record for consecutive home runs in the shortest time in terms of innings. In a 22-4 rout of the Devil Rays at Fenway Park, the Red Sox shortstop homers three times in two frames – two two-run homers in the second and a grand slam in the third.

Lineup when available.

Kershaw is a late scratch due to back pain and has been replaced as the Dodgers’ starting pitcher by Dustin May, the first rookie to start an Opening Day game for the team since Fernando Valenzuela in 1981.

Sep 12

Game 148, 2019

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Dodgers at Orioles, 4:15 PM PDT, TV: MASN, SPNLA

The Dodgers send LHP Rich Hill (4-1, 2.55 ERA) to the mound for the first of four expected starts before the playoffs begin. He hasn’t pitched in the big leagues since June 19 when he strained a flexor tendon, and he’s not expected to go more than a couple of innings. His opponent will be RHP Dylan Bundy (6-13, 5.06 ERA), who’s had an odd schedule: before 18 of his 27 starts he’s had an extra day of rest and has had one before today’s start, which has seemed to be beneficial. When he’s had that extra day he’s cut his ERA a full run from what it had been entering the game.

The Dodgers held a lead in yesterday’s game, believe it or not:

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1930 The last major league bounced home run is hit by Dodger catcher Al Lopez at Ebbets Field as the NL joins the American League, which had enacted the rule change in 1929. The player who hits the ball over the wall on a bounce will now be awarded a ground-rule double.
  • 1932 In the bottom of the ninth, Johnny Frederick hits his major league record-setting sixth pinch-homer of the season, giving the Dodgers a 4-3 victory over the Cubs. The Brooklyn outfielder’s major league mark will not be broken for 68 years until another Dodger, Dave Hansen, strokes seven round-trippers coming off the bench in 2000.
  • 1953 The Dodgers clinch a pennant at the earliest date ever in baseball history with a 5-2 victory over the Braves at County Stadium. Carl Erskine gets the win when Brooklyn, who clinches consecutive titles for the first time in franchise history, goes up 13 games up on Milwaukee with 12 left to play.
  • 1962 One game behind the front running Dodgers, the Giants lose Willie Mays, their All-Star center fielder, when he is hospitalized for nervous exhaustion. The ‘City by the Bay’ will drop six games in a row, but will recover along with ‘Say Hey Kid’ in time to beat Los Angeles in a playoff to win the National league pennant.
  • 1963

    “I look up into the stands, and it looks like Ebbets Field. The Mets are wonderful, but you can’t take the Dodger out of Brooklyn” – DUKE SNIDER, – addressing the Mets fans on his special night at the Polo Grounds.

    In a pregame ceremony with his former Dodgers teammates, Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella, Don Newcombe, and Ralph Branca in attendance, Duke Snider is honored by the Mets with a special ‘night’ at the Polo Grounds, which coincidentally marks the last time the Giants, now located in San Francisco, will ever play in their once long-time home in Harlem. The ‘Silver Fox’, obtained by the last-place expansion team in April, has recently requested to be traded to a contender.

  • 1995 During a WGN pre-game radio broadcast at Wrigley Field, Cubs announcer Harry Caray remarks to the team’s skipper Jim Riggleman, “Well, my eyes are slanty enough, how ’bout yours?”, referring to Hideo Nomo, the Japanese rookie hurler scheduled to start for the Dodgers. The veteran announcer, known for not backing off for his on-the-air off-handed comments, does issue an apology, calling the incident “unfortunate.”
  • 2000 On the same date the mark was established 68 years ago, Dave Hansen breaks Johnny Frederick’s 1932 record for pinch-hit home runs in a single season with his seventh round-tripper coming off the bench. The Dodger pinch-hitter’s historic homer, a seventh-inning three-run blast off Diamondback right-hander Curt Schilling, isn’t enough to prevent the team’s 5-4 loss to Arizona at Bank One Ballpark.

Lineup:

Aug 29

Game 136, 2019

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Dodgers at Diamondbacks, 6:40 PM PDT, TV: FS-A, SPNLA

LHP Hyun-Jin Ryu (12-4, 2.00 ERA) pitches for the Dodgers against RHP Merrill Kelly (9-13, 4.86 ERA) of the D=Backs. Ryu has faltered in his last two starts, giving up 5 home runs and lasting just 4 1/3 innings in his latest one. The Dodgers might have him on a shorter leash just to reduce fatigue. Kelly pitched credibly against the Dodgers in July, giving up three runs in six innings. He’s won two of his last three starts after losing the previous six.

Kiké scores the go-ahead run in the 10th inning on a throwing error by the Padres’ shortstop:

On this day in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1939 Wheaties sponsors the first telecast of a baseball game when their ads are aired during the Ebbets Field contest between the Reds and the Dodgers. The commercial broadcast is available only in New York City, where an estimated 500 people own television sets.
  • 1948 Jackie Robinson hits for the backward cycle when he homers in the first inning, triples in the fourth, doubles in the sixth, and completes the rare event with a single in the eighth. In addition to his ten total bases, the Dodger second baseman drives in two runs, scores three times, and steals a base, helping Brooklyn beat the Cardinals at Sportsman’s Park, 12-7.
  • 1951 With his second home run of the game, the sixth time he has accomplished the feat this year, Gil Hodges hits his 36th round-tripper to establish a new franchise record for homers in a season. The Dodger first baseman’s seventh-inning three-run blast in the team’s 13-1 rout of Cincinnati at Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field surpasses the mark of 35 set by Babe Herman in 1930.
  • 1989 Giving up just three singles, recently acquired Mets southpaw Frank Viola outduels Orel Hershiser and beats the Dodgers, 1-0. The classic contest between two aces marked the first time in baseball history that the reigning winners of the Cy Young Award have faced one another in the regular season.

Cultural history note: On this date in 1966: On a typically cool night, the Beatles play their final concert at Candlestick Park, the home of the San Francisco Giants. The “Fab Four’s” performance on a five-foot stage, which is located just behind second base surrounded by a six-foot high wire fence, is less than stellar due the ballpark’s inadequate lighting, poor acoustics, and the group’s growing disdain of doing live shows.

Lineup when available.

Aug 28

Game 135, 2019

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Dodgers at Padres, 6:10 PM PDT, TV: FSSD, SPNLA

RHP Kenta Maeda (8-8, 4.13 ERA) goes for the Dodgers while San Diego uses its bullpen, starting with RHP Trey Wingenter (1-3, 4.60 ERA). Maeda has been prone to the gopher ball this season, but if he attacks the strike zone rather than nibbling around the edges he’s successful. This is Wingenter’s first big league start.

Given the score at the time (8-0), this was not a game-changer, but I imagine Bellinger was annoyed by Margot’s robbery:

This day in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1945 A moment in American history takes place in Brooklyn as Branch Rickey meets with Jackie Robinson to share his plans to integrate the major leagues. During the three hour meeting, the Dodgers’ president will shout racial epithets to ‘test’ the 26 year-old ballplayer’s mettle to withstand the abuse which will come with being the first player to cross the color line this century.
  • 1951 The Giants’ 16-game winning streak comes to end when Howie Pollet six-hits the team in the Pirates’ 2-0 victory at the Polo Grounds. The consecutive victories enable Leo Durocher and his club to narrow the Dodgers’ lead from 13.5 to six games.
  • 1967 Giants hurler Gaylord Perry begins the longest consecutive inning scoreless streak in franchise history when he shuts out the Dodgers at Candlestick Park, 7-0. The right-hander will not give up another run over a span of 40 innings, a feat the son of a tenant farmer from North Carolina will repeat three seasons later.
  • 1977 Steve Garvey collects five extra-base hits in one game when he bashes three doubles and two homers, including a grand slam, in the Dodgers’ 11-0 rout over St. Louis at Chavez Ravine. The LA first baseman becomes just the fourth major leaguer to accomplish the feat, joining Lou Boudreau (1946 Indians – HR, four 2B), Joe Adcock (1954 Braves – four HR, 2B), and Willie Stargell (1970 Pirates – two HR, three 2B).
  • 2003 Eric Gagne earns his 44th straight save in the Dodgers’ 6-3 victory over the Astros at Minute Maid Park. The Los Angeles reliever’s effort establishes a new major league record, surpassing Tom Gordon, who had saved 43 in a row to begin a season with the Red Sox in 1998.
  • 2008 In the 11-2 victory over the Dodgers, Cristian Guzman becomes the second player in Nationals history to hit for the cycle, joining Brad Wilkerson, who accomplished the feat in 2005, the team’s first year in Washington, D.C. The 30 year-old shortstop completes his cycle with an eighth inning triple.
  • 2015 “Vin will be back for one more year (at least). God bless us, everyone” – JIMMY KIMMEL’s cue card message to the crowd.

    Team executive Magic Johnson, appearing on the Dodger Stadium video board, introduces Jimmy Kimmel to report “big, breaking news.” The ABC late-night television host, who waves to the fans without saying a word, displays a succession of cue cards, informing the Chavez Ravine crowd the 87 year-old Vin Scully will be returning to broadcast Dodgers games in 2016 for his 67th season.

Lineup when available.

Aug 02

Game 112, 2019

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Padres at Dodgers, 7:10 PM PDT, TV: FSSD, SPNLA

LHP Eric Lauer, (5-8, 4.52 ERA) will face the Dodgers’ highest-ranked pitching prospect, RHP Dustin May (0-0, 0.00 ERA). Lauer has been slumping; he’s 1-4 since June 3. The 21-year-old Mr. May was just called up by the Dodgers from OKC yesterday. It may be the Dodgers are looking at this as an audition for a September call-up. They may wonder how he’ll do against big league competition in case they want to use him in relief in the post-season, or maybe they’re thinking of adding him to the rotation and moving Maeda to the bullpen for the playoffs, where he’s had success. Feel free to speculate.

Here’s young Mr. Smith’s grand slam in Thursday’s game:

On this date in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1938 Bright yellow baseballs designed by Frederick Rah, who believes the visibility of the dandelion-hue sphere will help players avoid getting hit by a pitch, are used in the first game of a doubleheader. The one-game experiment draws mixed reactions and the Dodgers complete their sweep of the twin bill from the Cardinals, 6-2 and 9-3, using the traditional white ball in the nightcap.
  • 1982 During a ceremony held in Cooperstown, NY, the United States Postal Service unveils a 20-cent stamp commemorating baseball great Jackie Robinson as part of its annual Black Heritage series. The Dodger infielder becomes the first individual baseball player to be depicted on a U.S postage stamp.

  • 2002 Reds general manager Jim Bowden is fined by commissioner Bud Selig for the comments he made to reporters prior to yesterday’s game against the Dodgers comparing a baseball strike with the terrorist attacks of September 11th. Quickly realizing the use of such analogy was inappropriate and insensitive, the Cincinnati GM issues an immediate apology after the game.
  • 2008 In the first game after the Manny Ramirez trade to the Dodgers, the Fenway Faithful enthusiastically welcome Jason Bay, the player replacing the Boston icon. The former Pirates outfielder doesn’t disappoint, tripling and scoring the winning run in the 12th inning of the Red Sox’s 2-1 victory over the A’s.
  • 2017 The Dodgers lost to the Braves, ending their nine-game winning streak. Had they won it would have been the third time that season they’d have won ten straight. The bullpen gave up the go-ahead runs in the eighth inning at Sun Trust Park in Atlanta.

Lineup when available.

Jul 23

Game 103, 2019

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Angels at Dodgers, 7:10 PM PDT, TV: FS-W, SPNLA

The Halos send RHP Félix Peña (7-3, 4.92 ERA) to the mound to face the Dodgers’ RHP Kenta Maeda (7-6, 3.71 ERA). Peña gave up eight runs in 4 2/3 innings his last time out, but in the start before that he threw seven innings of no-hit ball. Maeda’s last start was washed away by a lengthy rain delay; in his last 12 starts he’s got a 3.20 ERA, although he gave up five runs in 4 1/3 innings to the Angels on June 11.

It’s not the Dodgers, but here’s a round-the-horn triple play the Twins pulled off against the Yankees Monday:

Changes to Dodger Stadium in the offseason, narrated by Vin:


Here are more details of the plan with text and still photos.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1939 Using yellow dyed balls, the Cardinals beat the Dodgers 5-2 at Sportsman’s Park. The experimenting with the use of the colored sphere, which is designed to make the ball easier to see for the players and the fans, started in Brooklyn last week and will be tested once more, in a September game played at Wrigley Field.
  • 1962 Jackie Robinson becomes the first black player inducted into the Hall of Fame. Joining the Dodger infielder in the Cooperstown ceremony are fireballer Bob Feller, veteran manager Bill McKechnie, and outfielder Edd Roush.

  • 1965 Dick Stuart homers in the first inning in the Phillies’ 5-1 win over New York at Shea Stadium. ‘Dr. Strangeglove’, who played in Boston for the previous two seasons, becomes the first player to have gone deep in each of the 19 major league ballparks now in use. (Ed. note – Nineteen ballparks because both Los Angeles teams, the Angels and Dodgers, share the ballpark in Chavez Ravine. – LP)
  • 1974 At Three Rivers Stadium, Dodger first baseman Steve Garvey, a write-in All-Star starter, singles and doubles to help the National League beat the Junior circuit, 7-2. Mike Schmidt, also a write-in, plays in his first Midsummer Classic thanks to radio intern Howard Eskin’s on-air campaign which urged Phillies fans to stuff the ballot box for their young third baseman.

Also, Nomah! In 2002 Nomar Garciaparra establishes the record for consecutive home runs in the shortest time in terms of innings. In a 22-4 rout of the Devil Rays at Fenway Park, the Red Sox shortstop homers three times in two frames – two two-run homers in the second and a grand slam in the third.

Lineup when available.


Jul 18

Game 99, 2019

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Dodgers at Phillies, 9:35 AM PDT, TV: None

This seems very odd to me, but this game is not televised on cable or network. Rather, it’s live and free on YouTube.

The Dodgers send RHP Ross Stripling (4-3, 3.65 ERA) to the hill to face the Phillies’ RHP Aaron Nola (8-2, 3.63 ERA). Stripling’s last start was his best since taking the injured Rich Hill’s spot in the rotation; he went five strong innings against the Red Sox last Saturday and got the win. Nola is on a hot streak: he’s 3-1 with a 0.76 ERA in his last five starts.

Here’s Freese’s go-ahead 2-run HR inthe 7th inning of Wednesday’s game:

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1939 The Red Sox send 21 year-old farmhand Pee Wee Reese to the Dodgers for $35,000 and a player to be named later (Red Evans), along with three minor leaguers due to a less-than-enthusiastic scouting report filed by Joe Cronin, the team’s current player-manager, who deliberately downplayed the prospect’s talent to keep his own job in the Boston infield. The Louisville Colonels regular shortstop, a future Hall of Famer, will become a crowd favorite, helping Brooklyn to win seven pennants during his 16 seasons with the team.
  • 1949 Jackie Robinson testifies in front of the House Committee on Un-American Activities, reading a carefully worded statement put together with the help of Dodger GM Branch Rickey. The Brooklyn second baseman’s statement makes it clear he disagrees with singer and actor Paul Robeson’s belief that American Negroes would refuse to fight in any war against Russia due to the country’s racial discrimination toward blacks.

Lineup when available.

Jul 17

Game 98, 2019

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Dodgers at Phillies, 4:05 PM PDT, TV: NBCSP, SPNLA

Dodgers’ RHP Kenta Maeda (7-6, 3.82 ERA) takes the mound for the third game of this four-game series. He’ll face the Phillies’ RHP Nick Pivetta (4-4, 5.81 ERA). In his last start Maeda went 5 2/3 innings, giving up four hits and three runs. Unfortunately, two of those hits were solo home runs and the Dodgers only got one run themselves, so Maeda took the loss to the Red Sox. Pivetta gave up three runs in five innings to the Nats in his last start, and he’s got a 6.99 ERA in his last five starts.

Here’s Beaty’s three-run PH home run in the 9th in Tuesday’s game. Listen all the way through and you’ll hear Hershiser say what we all thought: “It’s probably a game-winner.” Oh well.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1954 With Jim Gilliam (2b), Jackie Robinson (3b), Sandy Amoros (lf), Roy Campanella (c), and Don Newcombe (p) in the starting lineup against the Braves, the Dodgers field the first team which consists of a majority of black players. The historic five helps Brooklyn to beat Milwaukee at County Stadium, 2-1.
  • 1964 In Los Angeles, the Chavez Ravine contest becomes the first Pay-TV baseball game as Subscription Television offers the cablecast to subscribers for a fee. The Dodgers beat Chicago, 3-2, with Don Drysdale collecting 10 strikeouts.
  • 1976 Walter Alston becomes the sixth skipper to win 2,000 games when the Dodgers overcome a four-run first inning deficit and beat Chicago at Chavez Ravine, 5-4. ‘Smokey’ will leave at the end of the season, finishing his 23-year tenure in his only managerial position in the majors with a 2,040-1,613 record (.558).

Lineup when available.


Jul 13

Game 94, 2019

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Dodgers vs. Red Sox, 4:15 PM PDT, TV: Fox

RHP Ross Stripling (3-3, 3.79 ERA) makes his fourth start replacing the injured Rich Hill. He hasn’t been really successful as a starter yet this season; he’s not gotten past the fifth inning in any start and he’s given up four runs in each of the last two. He’ll face LHP Chris Sale (3-8, 4.04 ERA), who’s not been his usual ace-like self this year. In fact, he gave up five runs in each of his last two starts prior to the All Star break.

In about the only Dodger highlight of Friday’s game, Alex Verdugo curls a home run around the Pesky Pole in right field:

This has nothing to do with the Dodgers or the Red Sox, but I found it interesting: a history of the walk-up song.

Lineup when available.


Jul 05

Game 90, 2019

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Padres at Dodgers, 7:10 PM PDT, TV: FSSD, MLBN (out-of-market only), SPNLA

The Padres’ LHP Eric Lauer (5-7, 4.22 ERA) will face LHP Clayton Kershaw (7-2, 3.23 ERA) of the Dodgers. Lauer has a 1.46 ERA in four starts against the Dodgers in his career. Kershaw is 19-6 with a 2.02 ERA lifetime against the Padres, but this year he’s made two starts and given up six runs in 13 innings against them, getting one win and one no-decision.


Here’s Bellinger’s 30th HR of the season. extending his franchise record for most home runs before the All Star break:

This date in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1935 The Cuccinellos become the third pair of brothers, following the Waners (2) and Ferrells, and the first on opposing teams to homer in the same game when Al goes deep in the bottom of the ninth in the Giants’ 14-4 loss to Brooklyn at the Polo Grounds. The New York’s third baseman’s sibling, Tony, playing second base for the Dodgers, had homered in the previous inning.
  • 1952 In their final season in Boston, the Braves play in front of the largest home crowd of the season when 13,405 fans watch Brooklyn beat their team for the 12th consecutive time, a 5-3 complete-game victory by Carl Erskine. The most memorable moment of the contest occurs in the second inning when the game is delayed because a small dog has to be escorted off the field by Dodger outfielders Carl Furillo and Duke Snider.
  • 1961 Cardinals first baseman Bill White collects 14 total bases when he hits three home runs and a double. The 27 year-old infielder’s offensive output helps the Redbirds rout the Dodgers at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, 9-1.
  • 2004 At Dodger Stadium, Diamondback third baseman Chad Tracy’s ninth inning run-scoring single on an 0-2 changeup ends Eric Gagne’s record streak of 84 consecutive saves. The new mark established by the Los Angeles closer is 30 more than the prior mark set by Tom Gordon for the Red Sox in 1999.
  • 2007 At Dodger Stadium, Chipper Jones’ two solo home runs are the difference in the Braves’ 8-6 victory over Los Angeles. With his pair of round-trippers, the team’s third baseman surpasses Dale Murphy for the Atlanta team record of 372 homers.

Today is also the anniversary of the first game Larry Doby played for the Indians, integrating the American League. He ended up with 1,515 hits, only three behind Jackie Robinson. Also on this date in 1953, Robin Roberts pitched his 28th consecutive complete game, shutting out Pittsburgh at Forbes Field, 2-0. Twenty-eight straight complete games! We’ll never see that again!

Lineup when available.