42 Years of Excellence

Leaders are born and not made. Two such leaders are former Dodger managers Walt Alston and Tommy Lasorda. Both were longtime minor league players whose dreams fell just a little short of their big league aspirations. Walt striking out in his only at bat as a first baseman for the St Louis Cardinals in 1936 and Tommy wrapped two short seasons, for the Brooklyn Dodgers and one for the Kansas City A's, between 15 years of a successful minor league career. In fact, Tommy was the International Leagues MVP in 1958 with the Dodgers Montreal Royals.

Both men realized that baseball was in their blood and that to remain in the game they would have to do so in another capacity. Walt went into coaching, first as a minor league player-coach and then as a minor league manager. Tommy took a position as a scout for the Dodgers in 1961 and remained in that capacity for 4 seasons when he became the manager of the Pocatello Chiefs the Dodgers Rookie League club.

Alston was named manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, replacing Charlie Dressen, and Tommy followed Walt in 1976 after serving as his third base coach for three years. Both men took to managing the Dodgers like they were born to it. For those 42 consecutive years they blazed a path of winning baseball that will long be remembered by fans, of both the Dodgers and baseball, for generations to come.

Walter Emmons Alston managed the Dodgers to seven National League Pennants and four World Series Championships, (including the only World Championship the borough of Brooklyn was to ever savour). He won 2,040 National League games and had a remarkable 23 post season victories in an era when almost all of those wins were garnered in the World Series. Another legendary feat was his winning 7 All Star games for the National League in all seven of his All Star appearances. Walt had his number 24 retired by the Dodgers and was then inducted to Baseballs Hall of Fame in 1983 the year before his death.

Thomas Charles Lasorda managed the Los Angeles Dodgers to eight Western Division titles, four National League Pennants and two World Series Championships. He won 1,599 National League games and managed an astounding 61 post season games. His managing career was sadly cut short after he suffered a heart attack in June of 1996. Tommy did, however, come out of retirement to manage the United States Olympic team to a Gold Medal over the heavily favored Cuban team in 2000. Tommy had his number 2 retired by the Dodgers before his induction into Cooperstown.

Which was better? It really is anyone's call. Walt and Tommy were both incredible in their own way. Alston with his quiet tactical approach and Lasorda with his brash outspoken cheerleader persona. I'll just withhold my opinion for now with the knowledge that the Dodgers, as an organization, where so incredibly lucky to to have had them both.

Ramon Spelled Backward By Any Other Name 8-31-1996/ 3-10-2010

Yep, even before he was born he was one of a kind. I would have loved to be there when his parents combined each of their last names to give him his. Then Ramon wasn't exactly what they wanted for their son so they decided on spelling it backward. That was how Nomar Garciapara entered this life. I doubt anyone back then had the slightest idea just how great that life would become.
The first time I knew anything about Nomar was back in the early 1990's when I was treated to watching a young phenom at shortstop playing in the College World Series for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. They lost that World Series Championship game to the Miami Hurricanes but no one made a bigger impression. Soon after he was drafted #1 in baseballs 1994 draft by the Boston Red Sox and blossomed quickly in their minor leagues until the Sox realized he was too talented to not be on the Major League scene. They brought him up in the summer of 1996 but the Boston starting shortstop was John Valentin who's play the previous year was so good he was in the MVP conversation. Still, playing sparingly, as a defensive replacement he saw enough time to force the Sox to move Valentine to 2'nd base and begin his tenure as Boston's starting shortstop. It proved to be a smart move as Garciapara won the 1997 American League Rookie of the Year award by a unanimous vote and was selected to his first of 5 American League All Star teams.
I became a huge Nomar fan during those years and loved to watch him redefine the Shortstop position. The horrible wrist injury he suffered in 2001 was only the first of many aches and pains that would plague him for the rest of his career but watching him was still a delight. His intensity and fire was so evident with every quirky adjustment to those batting gloves or kick of the dirt on the infield.
After being traded from the Red Sox to the Cubs in 2004 Garciapara's former teamates went on to win the World Series in a 4 game sweep of the Cardinals. Anyone who wonders what kind of a teamate Nomar was need not wonder anymore. Those former Red Sox teamates voted Nomar Garciapara a full winners share of the World Series bonus!
It was a big thrill for me when Garciapara was traded from the Cubs to the Dodgers in 2006 so I could see one of my favorite players playing on my favorite team. It was a miraculous year! Nomar made his first National League All Star team and was a league leader in hitting. He won the National Leagues Comeback Player of the Year and provided the Dodgers with a proven player to lead them in the pennant chase all summer. The day I will never forget, that season, was a home game against the Padres in late September. San Diego got off to a fast start and led the Dodgers by 4 runs in the 9'th inning of the game. The Dodgers set a team record with 4 solo home runs hit by 4 different players consecutively to tie the game. Seems like everyone remembers that but few, it seems, remember the Padres taking a 1 run lead right back in the 10'th. The Dodgers appeared to have blown the chance to win a comeback game for the ages when with one man on in the bottom of the 10'th Nomar slugged a two run walk off home run to win that game in grand style. If that wasn't enough less than a week later Gaciapara broke a 1-1 tie against Arizona with a Grand Slam walk of HR. His clutch performances continued the last two weeks of the season and he led Los Angeles to the Playoffs.
In 2007 injuries jumped up and bit him again and plagued him for the rest of his career.
Last year my sister and I went to Arizona for Spring Training to see the Dodgers but took a day to drive over to Phoenix Municipal Stadium to watch Nomar play 3'rd base for the Oakland A's in a game against the Cubs. He did not disappoint us as he smacked two base knocks and a pair of RBI's while playing a perfect defensive game. I also took my son to Oakland to see him a few times because I knew the end was near.
Well, yesterday Nomar Garciapara signed a 1 day contract with the Boston Red Sox and announced his retirement back with the team it all started with. It was a sad day for baseball and a sad day for me and millions of other fans.
Good luck at ESPN Nomar and thanks for the memories!

Returning to the Promised Land

Just a quick note to give a little nudge of good luck to Jason Schmidt who will return to the mound tonight against the Cincinnati Reds. We are pulling for you Jason!
As soon as the game is over it is off to bed for me. Early rise tomorrow and on the road to Dodger Stadium where my sister, friends and myself will attend the next two nights of Dodger Baseball. The Giants are lurking so my successful streak at the Stadium needs to come through!
Promised land, HERE I COME!

Sacred Skin

At 54 years of age I believe I am well past the usual demographic recieving a FIRST tattoo. I was always afraid that I would outlive the relevance of the art. My seven year old and I were talking a few weeks ago about a temporary tattoo he had when he asked about real tattoos. I told him that what is important today may not be so important to you tomorrow. He looked at me, as serious as he could be, and said, "What about a DODGER tattoo"? Well that hit me right between the eyes, and I knew he was right.

I was an Oakland Raider fan for 21 years when the franchise was taken away, from Oakland fans, to Los Angeles so I knew very well that there was no permanency in the geographic location of my Dodgers. So I completely eliminated any reference to Los Angeles or the LA logo. Instead I chose, simply, the two things I love the most, the Dodgers and a Baseball.

I know in my heart that for as long as I live I will love them and there can be no reason that could ever change in my lifetime.

I make my home in Northern California so finding an artist capable, (and willing), to commision a Dodger tat may be a task more difficult than one might first expect but I found him. His name is Mike and he is an extremely talented young artist and owner / operator of the Sacred Skin Tattoo in Valley Springs. I am more than happy with the artwork he provided me and I am refering anyone of you to his place of business for that simple reason. If you'd like to contact him his number is (209) 772-1412 and his myspace site is: http://www.myspace.com/mikechavezochoa if you'd like to see some of his other work.

Have a great 4'th of July and GO Dodgers!

Fathers Day 2009

June 21'st was a great day this year. My family
and I returned from a cruise to Vancouver and
met with more family and friends for the Dodgers versus Angels game in Anaheim. It was a wonderful Fathers Day event I enjoyed surrounded by my son Casey, my father Don, my sister Lise', my wife Dannielle and friends. We watched a masterful performance turned in by Clayton Kershaw and the run scoring antics we have come to expect from the Dodgers including a two run homer by James Loney.
That home run is the reason I decided to write this entry. After the umpire ran into right field and signaled Loney to touch them all, play was halted after he had rounded the bases and returned to the dugout. It was anounced on the public address system that the "play was under revue". Instantly I thought I had been struck over the head and had just awakened at an NFL game. Well, first I realized that the Rams now reside in St Louis and there was no pro football anywhere near Anaheim. After about 5 minutes in this surreal atmosphere the home run was pronounced real as the original call stood the scrutiny of video replay. I have to say the impact of that pause left it's mark. There can be no place in our pastime for video revue. The game of baseball is a product of it's own calm flow and cadence only to be broken by an intense exhilaration and excitement brought on by the building tension the games own circumstance brings. When that moment happens, and the crowds emotion bursts forth, the very last thing needed at that moment is for a dull, dead pan announcement "The play is under revue". For well over 100 years we have intrusted umpires to make those calls. The fact that on occasion those calls are wrong only inhance the experience and the never ending conversation / argument that sometimes goes on long after that original call was made. Ok that was just my two cents on the subject.
All in all it was a great day watching the Dodgers win another inter-league game! Inter-league baseball? Sorry but if I start on THAT topic I may not have time for dinner tonight!
I hope you all had as great a Father's Day as I did.

Is there no justice?

It recently came to my attention, while watching a FOX baseball broadcast, that Maury Wills has not yet been inducted to Baseball's Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. At first this simply struck me as odd. Then, like a constant drip to my forehead during a dose of Chinese water torture, it began to eat away at me. Maury freakin Wills isn't in the Hall??? How can this be? I asked this question over and over again. In the bat of an eye I could think of one player after another that couldn't possibly have more credentials qualifying them for induction than he.
Take a moment to consider that this is a guy who appeared in 7 All Star games and was voted MVP of the game in 1962. That same year was voted Co-Player of the Year in Major League Baseball, (With Don Drysdale...and oh by the way is inducted into Cooperstown already) and voted the National Leagues Most Valuable Player ahead of Hall of Fame inductees Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Drysdale, Stan Musial, Orlando Cepeda, Frank Robinson and Sandy Koufax amongst others. On top of these honors he was a two time winner of the National League's Gold Glove among shortstops and led the league 5 times in stolen bases. He was baseballs first player to top 100 stolen bases in a single season when he stole a then record 104 in 1962. He appeared in 4 World Series and won 3 of them. All of this as impressive as it seems on the surface pales when you consider what he really did. He changed the way the game is played. Without him I really question whether we would have ever seen Lou Brock or Ricky Henderson blossom into the performers they were. Pitchers and defenses have not been the same since. All because Maury Wills changed the way we looked at baseball. He was a constant threat and the Dodger teams he starred on showed what a team with great pitching and very little power could accomplish. Put simply, World Championships. Because a walk becomes a double, a double becomes a triple and a flyball turnes into a run.
I'm not sure who it is that needs a wake up call but I am positive that whoever they are they need to rectify this situation while Maury is still with us to share in the honor!