Dodger Thoughts

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

Month: December 2018

My favorite Dodger Thoughts stories of 2018

By

On December 31, 2018

In Blogging, Dodgers, Life

Hi everyone. I didn’t have a regular posting schedule on Dodger Thoughts this year, so I thought I might recap my highlights from the year. Thanks for reading!

The Thirty Years War (January 24)

Baseball Toaster: A quick but fond remembrance (February 2)

***NEW BOOK ALERT***
Brothers in Arms: Koufax, Kershaw, and the Dodgers’ Extraordinary Pitching Tradition (February 5)

Bringing back the Miracle
on Ice — and on VCRs (February 11)

So, what am I doing? (February 14)

Lindsey Jacobellis: ‘I could be upset, but where is that going to get me?’ (February 16)

Why I stand proudly against the serial comma (February 17)

No … just, no … (February 27)

Andre Ethier waits at the gate (February 27)

Dodgers’ division dominance comes with plenty of drama (March 8)

Best kids shows of the 2000s: A semi-comprehensive list (March 13)

The real tragedy of the Dodgers’ 1951 collapse (March 22)

Hyun-Jin Ryu’s comeback unique in Dodger history (April 17)

What Seager’s lost season signifies for the 2018 Dodgers (April 30)

Presenting the heart-stopping, game-dropping, low-flying, win-defying, mental-lapsing, season-collapsing, legendary 2005 Los Angeles Dodgers (May 14)

Eying trades, the 2018 Dodgers are at once NL favorites and World Series underdogs (July 14)

The better angels of our Twitter (July 16)

Baseball has its day in the son (July 21)

After wielding attire iron at Dodgers, it’s Joe Simpson who should be embarrassed (July 28)

The worst play in baseball: The walkoff balk (August 4)

Street cleaning seems bogus, right? (August 7)

Would you have fired Tommy Lasorda before the 1981 season? (August 23)

Why baseball defies your expectations (September 3)

Clayton Kershaw and the value beyond a World Series (September 20)

Thoughts about John Smoltz, in five parts (October 24)

The Dodgers, Dave Roberts and the human element (November 7)

The Hall of Fame, the Dodgers and the Harold Baines effect (December 12)

Yasiel Puig leaves behind Dodger memories like none before him (December 21)

A writer’s happy journey sideways in 2018 (December 31)

Wishing you the best for 2019 …

A writer’s happy journey sideways in 2018

By

On December 31, 2018

In Books, Dodgers, Life, Thinking out loud, Writing

My favorite piece that I wrote this year was “Baseball has its day in the son,” the story of how my 10-year-old developed a new interest in following baseball in unlikely circumstances.

“A modest thing, but thine own,” as Vin Scully liked to say. I felt I adapted a uniquely personal moment into a story that could be meaningful to total strangers, while keeping the true feeling intact.

Aside from the happy memories of the moment itself, it was a story that energized me, making me believe that a non-fiction, non-baseball book I had been sketching, one that I alluded to 10 months ago, could actually work, not in the sense of being any kind of bestseller, but simply in the hopes of being something to someone.

As much as the Dodgers are part of my soul, they have never been the only part. Amid all the pleasure I enjoyed from the publication of Brothers in Arms: Koufax, Kershaw and the Dodgers’ Extraordinary Pitching Tradition, I have been wanting to stretch myself as a writer. The piece about my son, along with several others like it in my history at Dodger Thoughts that revolved around life more than baseball, convinced me that I wasn’t crazy to write a sustained narrative devoted to what was right in front of me.

Less than a month later, those plans were on the shelf.

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Yasiel Puig leaves behind Dodger memories like none before him

By

On December 21, 2018

In Dodgers

Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers

Was there a more entertaining Dodger than Yasiel Puig?

There are many plots and subplots to today’s trade news, some with vital implications for the future of the team, that I will leave to others, because I find all I can think about right now is the Wild Horse’s final gallop in Los Angeles.

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Interview: The true no-spin zone with knuckleballer Charlie Hough

By

On December 17, 2018

In Books, Brothers in Arms, Dodgers, History, Pitching, Podcast

Hey, guess what — the third installment of the Word to the Weisman podcast is already up! Following in the footsteps of Carl Erskine and Burt Hooton is my interview of Charlie Hough, the knuckleballing great who pitched professionally from 1966 to 1994.

Because there was only a couple of pages worth of space for Hough in Brothers in Arms, there are memories galore in this conversation that didn’t make it into the book, including his journey from position player to knuckleballer, comparing and contrasting Walter Alston and Tommy Lasorda, and his thoughts on several Dodger pitchers from across the decades. Hough’s career in baseball as a player, coach and instructor covers roughly 50 years, so trust me, it’s great to hear from him.

Listen below, or click here to listen on iTunes. You can also listen on Spotify. I also recommend you subscribe to the podcast, so you know the moment a new episode is available — especially helpful now, since I don’t have a set schedule.

If you enjoyed this or would like to hear other interviews from me, please let me know in the comments below, or reach out to me @jonweisman on Twitter. Thanks!

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The Hall of Fame, the Dodgers and the Harold Baines effect

By

On December 12, 2018

In Dodgers, History

So now Fernando Valenzuela has to get in. So now Gil Hodges has to get in. So now Orel Hershiser has to get in. So now Steve Garvey has to get in. So now …

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The Hall of Nearly Great: Reggie Smith

By

On December 12, 2018

In Dodgers, Hall of Fame, History


The Hall of Nearly Great, a collection of essays about memorable major-league players who weren’t considered worth of the Hall of Fame, came out in 2012. I contributed the following chapter about Reggie Smith. 

As an adult, maybe even as a teenager, you see the complete arc of a major-leaguer’s career. You’re there for the beginning – or, depending on your level of dedication, the pre-beginning: the minors, the run-up to the draft, college or high-school ball.

But when you’re a kid, you encounter ballplayers in media res. They arrive in your consciousness fully formed. Past is the opposite of prologue – past is epilogue.

Reggie Smith landed in my world in the middle of the 1976 season, the first full season that, at age 8, I became invested in the Los Angeles Dodgers as a fan. Speaking of fully formed: He joined a team that had that infield: Steve Garvey at first base, Davey Lopes at second, Bill Russell at short, Ron Cey at third. These were the people in our neighborhood.

Smith dropped in out of nowhere, by way of St. Louis. What was supposed to happen? It couldn’t have been that he would become the favorite player in the lineup for a kid fan birthed on Garvey, Lopes, Russell and Cey. That he would be the gateway to a life of challenging the conventional wisdom of who was most valuable.

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Interview: A happy chat with Burt Hooton

By

On December 6, 2018

In Books, Brothers in Arms, Dodgers, Pitching, Podcast

Slowly and unsurely, I am sharing some of the conversations I had while writing and researching Brothers in Arms: Koufax, Kershaw, and the Dodgers’ Extraordinary Pitching Tradition, on what I have christened the Word to the Weisman podcast. Having already posted my chat with Carl Erskine, we now move exorably but enthusiastically to Burt Hooton, whom I consider to be one of the two or three most underrated pitchers in Dodger history.

Whether or not you have already read about Hooton in Brothers in Arms, I think you’ll enjoy hearing him talk about his life in baseball in his own drawl. I recommend this both for older fans like myself who saw him pitch and younger fans who might not be aware of his talent, given that the way he was overshadowed in the public eye by the likes of Don Sutton and Fernando Valenzuela.

Listen below, or click here to listen on iTunes. 

If you enjoyed this or would like to hear other interviews from me, please let me know in the comments below, or reach out to me @jonweisman on Twitter. Thanks!

Listen on Google Play Music

Buy ‘The Catch: A novel’

What happens when three old friends in crisis fall into an unexpected love triangle? In The Catch, Maya, Henry and Daniel embark upon an emotional journey that forces them to confront unresolved pain, present-day traumas and powerful desires, leading them to question the very meaning of love and fulfillment. The Catch tells a tale of ordinary people seeking the extraordinary – or, if that’s asking too much, some damn peace of mind.

Click here to order The Catch in paperback.

Click here to order The Catch on Kindle.

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Attendance

1991-2013
Dodgers at home: 1,028-812 (.558695)
When Jon attended: 338-267 (.558677)*
When Jon didn’t: 695-554 (.556)
* includes road games attended

2013
Dodgers at home: 51-35 (.593)
When Jon attended: 5-2 (.714)
When Jon didn’t: 46-33 (.582)

Note: I got so busy working for the Dodgers that in 2014, I stopped keeping track, much to my regret. 

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