High Fives book excerpt

8/2/2019 High Fives book excerpt

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HigH Fives,Pennant Drives,

anD FernanDomania

A Fans History of the

Los Angeles Dodgers Glory Years19771981

Paul HaDDaD


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ContentsForeworD byJon Weisman. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4introDuCtion Leading Off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

1st inning April June 1978. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

2nD inning July October 1978. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

3rD inning April September 1979 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

4tH inning February July 1980. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

5tH inning August 1980 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

6tH inning SeptemberOctober 1980 . . . . . . . . . . . 159

7tH inning February May 1981 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

8tH inning May October 1981 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

9tH inning October 1981. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261

aFterworD Extra Innings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312

Appx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320

Rf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324

Akw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336


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ForeworD

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ForeworD 5

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Jon Weisman

Dodger Thoughtsb h f100 Things Dodger Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die


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introDuCtionLeading Off

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8 HigH Fives, Pennant Drives, anD FernanDomania

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Me and my pet parakeet, Tweety, at the breakfast table, scouring the L.A.Timessports page for preseason baseball stats, February 1979.


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1st inningApril June 1978

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Crowd favorite Steve Garvey.


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1st inning: aPril-june 1978 17

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Davey Lopes stole 47 out of51 bases (a 92 percent suc-cess rate) in 1985 for theChicago Cubs in his age 40season. This shattered theMost Steals by a 40-Year-OldDude single-season record of27 stolen bases, set by someguy with the unfortunate nick-name of William DummyHoy back in 1901.

Who Knew?


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The Magic of 11There must be somethingabout the age of 11 being sig-nificant when it comes to kidsrecognizing Vin Scullys bril-liance. When I set out to writethis book, I came across a let-ter to the editor of the Los An-

geles Times sports page, dat-ed November 14, 2009. A manfrom Culver City wrote that his11-year-old son was request-ing 100 blank DVDs for theholidays so that the boy couldrecord for posterity every tele-vised game that Vin Scully hadcalled for the 2010 season (inlater years, Vin stopped doingtelevision and radio for roadgames east of Colorado). Theboys father added that whenhe was 11, he too became en-amored with the Dodgers Hallof Fame broadcaster. Vin is oneof those rare voices whose in-

fluence regularly spans threegenerationsgrandparents,parents, and kids (at least,those turning 11).

Bullpen Session


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Dj Vu All Over Again

Stunningly, this was not thefirst time Dave Kingman hada three-home-run, eight-RBIgame against L.A. at DodgerStadium. The first came on

June 4, 1976, when he wasa member of the New YorkMets. That game was decid-edly more one-sided; the Metswon, 110. While Tommy wasnot the manager then (WaltAlston was), he did witnessKingmans one-man disman-tling from the dugout as thethird base coach. No recordsexist for what Tommy thoughtof that particular performance,

but Im sure it was fresh on hismind two years later when hewas asked about Kingmansencore.

Bullpen Session


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31/48


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Tommy John got nicked for another run in the second in-ning, and it looked like his recent funk was going to continue.But he wiggled his way out of further damage, and it remained31, Mets, going into the bottom of the sixth inning. After alead-off triple by Lopes and a run-scoring groundout by Russellto make it 32, Garvey stepped up to face Koosman again.

Just to make it clear that he wasnt going to let Steve go deepon him again in this situation, the old-school Jerry unleashed apurpose pitch up near Garveys face, prompting a chorus of boosamongst the Dodger Stadium faithful. Garvey got up and me-

thodically collected himself, as he always did. They say Garveywas hyper-aware of his statistics as a player, a knock that seems tosuggest he was always about himself first. But when you put upnumbers like Garvey did year after year, its not hard to see howthe team benefitted. Even in knockdown situations, Garvey kepthis own running tallyand, as usual, the stats were impressive. In1989, he told Rick Reilly ofSports Illustratedthat he remembered

being knocked down six times as a player in 1980. On all six oc-casions, he got back up and got a base hit. I dont have records forhow many times he was knocked down in 1978. But as Vin cantell you, in that same at-bat, he was at least 1-for-1:

Koosman back with a fastball and a hiiigh driveinto deep left field. Back goes Henderson, a-waaaaaaay back . . . its gone! And now Garveysent Koosman a message!

Eighteen seconds of crowd noise. In the background, I amaudibly whooping.


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Just how bad were the NewYork Mets in the late 70s?Jerry Ko osman led the NL

with 20 losses in 1977 enroute to an 8-20 record. HisERA, however, was a nothing-to-be-ashamed-of 3.49al-most a half-run better thanthe league average (3.91). Asof 2011, there were 45 pitch-ers who lost a league-leading

20 games or more in a singleseason since World War II.Only two of them had an ERAlower than KoosmansWil-bur Wood in 1973 and PhilNiekro in 1979. Despite their20 losses, each pitcher, amaz-ingly, had winning records in

those years. So technically,that leaves Jerry Koosman asthe most successful losersince 1945.

Who Knew?

Boy, can there be anything sweeter in this game

of baseball than for a hitter to come up, take afastball closeto the head, get back up there, and hitone in the seats?

Vin, somewhat uncharacteristically, I thought, seemed toderive special satisfaction out of emphasizing Garveys paybackduring this call. Who could blame him? It wasimmensely satis-fying. Garveys in-your-face heroics seemed to wake everybodyup. If they were going to win another pennant that season, the

team would need their IronMan to deliver more clutchmoments like that one. Andhe would, finishing secondin the MVP voting to the Pi-rates Dave Parker, while go-

ing on to win the MVP tro-phy in the National LeagueChampionship Series. Thisgame, more than any other,made me a believer in SteveGarvey, the player. I was al-ready sold on him as an ideal.

Joe Torre didnt messaround with Garvey in hisnext at-bat. Down 53 inthe seventh inning, with arunner on second baseandtwo outs, no lessTorre hadKoosman intentionally walk

Steve in the ultimate sign ofrespect in order to pitch toRon Cey, who struck out.Despite scattering 12 hits in


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8 innings, Tommy John held on for the win.

An ironic footnote: The Dodgers made up no ground in thestandings during their seven-game winning streak. Thats becausethe first-place San Francisco Giants were busy reeling off sevenstraight wins of their own. The Dodgers would have plenty ofchances to take care of business against their rivals in the comingmonths.

tHe Case For garvey

Like many kids in the 1970s, I was a fan of the ABC Saturdaymorning cartoon series Super Friends, in which Superman, Won-der Woman, Batman, Aquaman, and other DC Comics icons ral-lied together as a sort of United Nations of Superheroes. ThoughI admired the unique talents each superhero brought to the table,

they all had limitations. I mean, was Aquaman really any morethreatening than me when he was out of the water? How manycrimes actually took place deep in the ocean? (More than onemight think, apparently.) Barring his nagging weakness againstkryptonite, Superman was the only superhero whose powers weretruly super, possessing all of his friends talents and then some.Superman ruled. Or so I thought.

Steve Garvey was not Superman, but we could be forgiven forthinking he was, because he was one heck of an understudy. At25 years old, Steve enjoyed a breakout season in 1974, when he

won the National Leagues Most Valuable Player award and wasthe write-in starting first baseman for the All-Star Game (andrewarded his fans faith in him by claiming that MVP trophy as

well). The Garvey Mystique is legendary. He was already bleedingDodger blue as a child, when he was a bat boy for the BrooklynDodgers in spring training, where his father was a bus driver hiredby the team. To this day, nobody has ever looked better in theDodgers home whites. Garveys chiseled face and Brylcreemedblock of jet-black hair were truly the sort of things that could only


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spring from the pen of a comic book artist. His body was defined

by Popeye-esque forearms and muscular thighs, with movementsthat were purposeful, smooth, and deliberate. Just as there wasnever a hair out of place when he hit, ran, or fielded, there seemedto be never a movement out of place, either. He was a modelof consistency and durability, almost machine-like, developingthe nickname Iron Man. Iron or steel, when you added up the

whole impossible package,thatwas Steve Garvey, whose sum to-

tal truly seemed like Clark Kents doppelganger.As an impressionable youngster looking for heroes, I fell hard

under the spell of the Garvey Mystique. I was not alone. He wasalso the favorite player of my brother, Michael, and most boys Iknew. I never bothered getting his autograph before games be-cause the crowd was always too big. By 1977, Garveys clean-cutimage had elevated him to mega-role model status, resulting in

a junior high school named after him in Lindsay, California. In1978, he was the first player to rack up more than four millionvotes for the All-Star Game. Garvey repaid the fans by winningthat All-Star MVP Award, too. He popped up in Aqua Colognecommercials and on Fantasy Island. He was crowned with a newnicknameSenatora nod to the promising political careerthat no doubt loomed in his future. In 1981, he was included in

a coffee-table book that I still have to this day: The 100 GreatestBaseball Players of All Time.But behind the scenes, Garvey was dealing with his own kryp-

toniteteammates resentful of his popularity, troubles at homewith his wife, Cyndy, and later, paternity suits brought againsthim after his own marriage dissolved.

Theres an old adage in baseball: Youre only as good as yourlast at-bat. The publics lasting impression of Garvey was not theday he walked off the field as a San Diego Padre in May of 1987,but his admission that he fathered two children out of wedlockto two separate women in 1989. That same year, Cyndy, then hisex-wife, published a scathing tell-all book that exposed the alleged


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dark side of Steve Garvey.

I cannot overemphasize the repercussions all this had on Gar-veys legacy at that time. Overnight, he became a national punchline. (Anyone remember those Steve Garvey Is Not My Padrebumper stickers?) Garveys first year of eligibility for the Hall ofFame was in 1993. Needing 75 percent of the votes by the Base-ball Writers Association of America for induction, Steve garnered

just 41.6 percent. In 2007, his last year of eligibility, his vote

count had shriveled to a paltry 21 percent.So how did this future Hall of Famer, as he was so often

referred to in his playing days, lose his Get Into Hall Free card?Its a question many have pondered. I believe there are three mainreasons why the Baseball Writers shut Garvey out of the Hall. Al-low me to present . . .

exHibit aI recall that, early on in Garveys eligibility, there seemed to bea lot of emphasis put on his sexual indiscretions from just a fewyears earlier. After all, we were told, character counts, too. Butlets face itnowadays, the idea of an entertainment figure get-ting slapped with a paternity suit is so commonplace, it has be-come almost quaint. So why was Garvey held to a higher stan-

dard than others? Countless other Hall of Famers had checkeredpastssome were connected to drug use (Paul Molitor, FergusonJenkins), others were ejected from games for allegedly doctoringbaseballs (Don Sutton, Gaylord Perry)and they still got votedin. One popular theory is that Steve had helped fashion his Mr.Clean image, so when it turned out that he wasnt so wholesomeafter all, it was considered the height of hypocrisy and left a badtaste in the voters mouths. This seemed to perpetuate more pil-ing on: he was a fake, a selfish player only concerned about hisstats and his consecutive-games streak. I can still recall one sportstalk radio host harrumphing that Garvey leading the league inGrounded-into-Double-Plays two different years was proof that


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he cared only for himself. Im sure someone, somewhere, is blam-

ing him for the 2008 financial meltdown and the endangermentof the Northern Spotted Owl.

As baseball progressed into the Steroid Era of the late 90s,chatter about Garveys post-baseball dalliances began to recede.However, another troubling sign began to emerge whenever Gar-veys name came up for consideration every year. Rather thancreeping upward, his vote totals starting trending downward.

Two of Garveys contemporariescatcher Gary Carter and out-fielder Andre Dawsonreceived about the same number of votesas Garvey their first years on the ballot. But while Garvey wouldnever get more than 42.6 percent of the votes, Carter and Daw-son eventually got enshrined. Another recent Hall of Famer fromGarveys era is Jim Rice. The Red Sox leftfielder received only29.8 percent of the votes in his first year of eligibility28 percent

lower than Garveys first-year total. Fifteen years later, in his lastyear of eligibility, Rice surpassed the 75 percent threshold neededto enter the Hall.

So while Rices percentage of total votes rose 150 percent fromhis first year of eligibility to his last, Garveys droppedby 50 per-cent. Once again, what gives? I present Exhibit B for why SteveGarvey is not in the Hallthe one area where Garvey always

seemed like a shoo-in during his era: his stats.

exHibit b

During the fifteen years that Steve Garvey was eligible for Coo-perstown, from 1993 to 2007, baseball culture underwent a seachange in the way writers and executives evaluated players. Theconventional ways of rating a player of Garveys caliberbattingaverage, home runs, extra-base hits, and runs batted inhadstood the test of time for close to a century. Then came the rise ofsabermetrics, which uses objective evidence to analyze the game.Suddenly, we had access to a whole new set of statistics to mea-sure a players actual worth. Jim Rices numbers stacked up nicely


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under this new math; Garveys, not so much. For the uniniti-

ated, some of the more famed sabermetric advocates include BillyBean, General Manager of the Oakland As (featured in the bookand movieMoneyball); Theo Epstein, former GM of the BostonRed Sox (who also hired the granddaddy of sabermetrics, Bill

James, as an adviser); and ESPN baseball writers Buster Olneyand Jayson Stark, Hall-voting members who have gone on recordstating that they didnt vote for Garvey. Stark went so far as to call

Garvey one of the most overrated first basemen in the history ofbaseball in his bookThe Stark Truth. One of his arguments wasthat Garveys six 200-hit seasons did not produce any seasons in

which he scored more than 100 runs. In Starks view, Garvey islargely to blame for this due to his lack of plate discipline.

In the sabermetric universe, one of the most important statis-tics is on-base percentage. A walk, its rightly argued, is about as

good as a hit. Players with high OBPs tend to create more runsfor their teams. Garvey exceeded 40 walks only one time in hiscareer. So while he did indeed hit .300 seven times, many con-sider it an empty .300 because of his low walk total and runsscored. Garveys career on-base percentage hovered just above theleague average: 329. (You know that phrase 40 is the new 30?In sabermetrics, a .400 OBP is the new .300 AVG.) Still, a .329

OBP could almost be forgivable for a power-hitting position likefirst base if ones slugging average exceeded .500 in some seasons.Steves never did (though he came within a hair in 1977 and1978). Even Garveys four Gold Gloves are considered illusionaryto many sabermetric followers, citing multiple defensive metrics.The reason he made so few errors every year, they posit, is becausehis range was so poor, it minimized his number of chances. Healso had a subpar throwing arm, which made him hesitant to startdouble plays at second base and take risks.

These are just snapshots of some of the arguments againstGarveys inclusion in the Hall. There are, of course, a myriadother metrics that many readers are likely already familiar with,


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including Win Shares, Runs Created, and Total Player Ratings,

which present a mixed bag of Garveys real worth. There is even aHall of Fame Monitor, created by Bill James, which breaks downa players stats to decipher how likely that player is to get into theHall of Fame. A score of 100 equals a good possibility, while a130 means a virtual cinch. Garveys score? 130. Another saber-metric advocate, economics professor Cy Morong, of the blogCybermetrics, created a logit model that placed Garveys odds

of reaching the Hall at 94.7 percent probability. These analyseswould seem to contradict all the other nontraditional data putforth by some Hall of Fame voters.

As a lover of stats, I am actually a huge fan of sabermetrics,but it should not be the end-all, be-all resource to evaluate a play-ers talent. Analyzing Garveys career strictly through the prismof empirical analysis at the expense of more traditional stats does

not give a complete picture of what Garvey accomplished on thefield. It also discounts other intangible contributions he made tothe sport that no metrics can ever measure. On July 28, 2011,ESPN Radios Colin Cowherd brought up Garvey as a victim ofthe Halls over-reliance on stats. Jeff Kent is going to be a Hall ofFamer, he said. Steve Garveys not. Thats just weird.

exHibit C

This final piece of evidence has some merit. Steve Garveys careerwas never the same after the 1981 baseball players strike. Priorto the 1981 season, Garvey was a virtual yearly lock for 100-200-300: 100 RBIs, 200 hits, and a .300 batting average, as well as atleast 20 home runs. When the players shut it down on June 12,1981, he was batting .279. No worries, he had often started slowbut always worked his average up by the end of the year. But thisseason was different. Garvey struggled after the long, 50-day lay-off, finishing at .283, his lowest batting average since 1972, whenhe was still a part-time player. He would never hit .300 again, andnever came close to 200 hits or 100 RBIs, either. At the age of 32,


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Garveys best years were already behind him.

What accounted for this sudden drop-off at a relatively earlyage? Some speculate that his refusal to take days off ultimately

wore him down. Garvey even admitted to hiding a hand injurythat plagued him in 81, and you can be sure he played throughlots of pain at other times. Whatever the case was, his skills weredeteriorating. I can still remember the frustration I experiencedseeing Steve bat in the early to mid-80s. Pitchers started throw-

ing him more outside pitchesballs he used to slap into rightfield, he was now grounding weakly to shortstop. For his finalfive full seasons (1982 to 1986, with 83 cut short by a dislocatedthumb), Garvey averaged .279, with 15 home runs and 79 RBIs.He broke down for good in 1987, retiring after 76 at-bats anda .211 average. What we were left with was a player who hadseven consecutive very good seasons (1974 to 1980), while the

rest were, at best, ordinary with flashes of postseason brilliance.Had Garvey been able to maintain his level of excellence for

even two more seasonssay, pushing his 200-hit season totalfrom six to eight, and maybe knocking in 100 runs a couple moretimesI think his numbers would simply be too good for theHall of Fame electorate to ignore. (Look no further than Hallof Famer Tony Perez to see how a players longevity can help his

cause.) Put another way, if Garvey had simply averaged a pedes-trian 170 hits a year from ages 32 to 39roughly a .280 averagefor himincluding the 50 hits he minimally lost as a result ofthe 1981 strike (hey, Im dealing in fantasy, so I can do that!),he would have eclipsed 3,000 career hits. This is a benchmarkthat, so far, has resulted in automatic inclusion into the Hall ofFameat least, it has been for players not dogged by steroid al-legations (or gambling).

Its ironic that, in an era before, ahem, supplements couldprolong a players career well into his early forties, perhaps Mr.Cleans biggest problem was that he really was too clean after all.


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Closing arguments

Steve Garvey was my favorite player as a kid, and I maintain a softspot for him as an adult. I admit to owning an email address thatincludes his name in it. When Garvey gamely lent his appearanceto the grand opening of a pet food store alongside a skateboard-ing bulldog on a gray, rainy day in Burbank in 2009 (god, did Iever think I would write thatsentence about Senator as a child?),I was one of the first in line to shake his hand. Am I biased in my

opinion about Steve Garvey being Hall-worthy? Yes. But Im alsoa pragmatist who prides himself on being open-minded and nota slave to sentimental judgments. With that disclaimer out of the

way, let me close out my argument with cold, hard, old-schoolfacts. The evidence is irrefutable. Steve Garvey is guilty of great-ness. I submit that he:

Had 200 or more hits in six seasons

Finished with a .294 career average

Batted over .300 seven times

Had over 100 RBIs five times

Set a National League record for durability by playing in

1,207 v

Finished with 2,599 career hits

Finished in the top six in MVP voting five different

Won the National League Most Valuable Player Award

1974

Won the Roberto Clemente Award in 1981 (given toh p wh b -f php wh


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Won the Lou Gehrig Memorial Award in 1984 (truth-f, I kw wh h h, b f hGh , kw h b )

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He was a 10-time All-Star.

In those 10 All-Star Games (in which the NL went 10-0), he hit .393 with an .821 slugging percentage.

Twice he was named the MVP of the Mid-SummerClassic.

When he retired, he held the National League Champi-onship Series record for most career home runs (eight)and RBIs (21) in a mere 22 games.

He was named the MVP of the NLCS in 1978 and

1984.

His walk-off home run in the ninth inning of Game 4of the NLCS against the Cubs helped propel the Padresinto their first World Series. The Padres retired Garveys#6 uniform largely because of this momentous blast andhis five RBIs that game.

He hit .368 in the Divisional Series in 1981 (the year ofthe strike).

He hit .319 in five World Series appearances, including


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.417 with a .920 OPS for the 1981 World Series, the

Dodgers only title during his era. (Only his lack of RBIsprobably cost him a share of the MVP Award that wentto Steve Yeager, Pedro Guerrero, and Ron Cey. Couldthere have been a quad-MVP?)

In 55 postseason games, he batted .338 with 11 homers,31 RBIs, and 32 runs.

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He led the league in fielding percentage five times.

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In 1984, he set a record for a starting player with a field- p f 1.000.

He won four Gold Glove Awards. While not blessed with a great throwing arm, nobodyw b pk w hw f b fh . Shp B R h w p b hw f. Gv pp v h D ph ff b .

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Steve is one of only 17 players with at least six 200-hit


45/48


bb his-

tory. N Dk J IhSzk, wh w bb fv f h , w f h p- h H

f F: P R,f b bb; Sv Gv.

I realize there needs tobe more to a players valuethan just racking up 200-hitseasons, which makes myfinal point all the more spe-cial. Courtesy ofJC Baseball

Analysis, an MLB blog:

Steve Garvey is theonly player in baseballhistory to amass six 200-hit seasons, five 100-RBI sea-

sons, and four Gold Gloves.

So why is Garvey the only player to meet the above criteria?I would observe that players who get 200 hits and hit for averagetypically arent run producers who hit for much power. And GoldGloves (which have been awarded since 1957) further narrow thelist. The fact that Garveyand Garvey alonelays claim to thistri-achievement speaks to his multiple talents.

anD tHe verDiCt is . . .

So is Garvey Hall of Fame-worthy? I think he hurts his cause by

The Other SteveIn the chaos of the Dodgerscelebrating their 81 WorldSeries victory in the YankeeStadium clubhouse, I seem torecall a member of the media

saying Steve had won theMVP Award, along with Guer-rero and Cey. Garvey, jumpingup and down, was wrangledfor a live TV interview . . . onlyto find out that they had meantSteve Yeager, not Steve Gar-vey. Garv was pushed asideto accommodate the other

Steve. Somehow it seems onlyfitting that, in his one chanceto taste the fruits of victory, hewas asked to go away.

Bullpen Session


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stringing together only seven elite seasons. But he also makes up

for that with the impressive contributions, outlined above, that heaccumulated over an entire career. Even if you make a strong coun-terargument that Garvey does not belong in the Hall, he should atleast be in the company of other very good, on the cusp playersfrom his era, many of whom sneaked in toward the end of theireligibility (Gary Carter, Andre Dawson, Jim Rice, and even BertBlyleven, who amassed only17.55 percentof the vote in his first

year of eligibility in 1998 before the sabermetric revolution cata-pulted him above 75 percent in 2011). The fact that Steve neveronce got over 42.6 percent of the Baseball Writers Association of

America votesand ended with a withering 21 percent in his lastyear of eligibilityis, to me,the biggest injustice.

No, actually, I take that

back. An even bigger in-justice is the fact that DaveConcepciona lifetime.267-hitting shortstop (.322OBP) who exceeded 20 er-rors in a season seven times,but whose legacy was in-

flated by playing on the BigRed Machinegot evenmore votes than Garvey

when both were first eligibleto be voted in by the Hall ofFames Veterans Committeein December 2010. In an ar-ticle about this latest Garveyslight, the Daily NewsTomHoffarth couldnt help butpose this headline: Who

One of my first jobs in televi-sion was as a producer for E!Entertainment Television. Dur-ing my tenure, my boss had anassistant, an attractive youngwoman with the last name ofGarvey. It wasnt until I left E!that a former coworker toldme she was one of Stevesdaughters from his marriageto Cyndy. Probably just aswell; Im sure the last thingshe would have wanted wassomeone hounding her withquestions about what it waslike to be the daughter of mychildhood hero while also put-

ting up with annoying inter-office memos about why hebelonged in the Hall.

Who Knew?


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does Garvey have to sleep with to get into the Hall of Fame?

Im not sure what editor approved this boo-hiss banner, but Hof-farths point is well-taken. The Veterans Committee has certainlyvoted in players with far worse stats than the Garv (case in point:Bill Mazeroski).

In sum, Steve Garvey shouldnt have to live up to Supermanstandards to get into the Hall of Fame. Simply being Steve Garveyshould be good enough.


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High Fives book excerpt

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