https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWkz9zq9y0A
By Jon Weisman
The only broadcaster with a longer tenure in Los Angeles than Vin Scully was Stan Chambers. Chambers, who joined KTLA in December 1947, mere weeks after the station opened, was a direct connection to the origins of television in this city.
[mlbvideo id=”31372329″ width=”550″ height=”308″ /]
By Jon Weisman
A classic find of Leo Durocher at the Dodgers’ 1945 Spring Training was posted by MLB.com.
“Thinking about this year’s club for Brooklyn,” Durocher begins. “After all, how bad can we get? We finished seventh last year, and I know this club is going to be quite an improvement over last year’s club.”
And then, during drills…
“Oh ho! Now look, you haven’t got a bucket of paint with you at third base, you know! You gotta get the paint brush out of your hands! Let’s go!”
In 1945, the Dodgers trained at the Bear Mountain Inn in New York’s Hudson Valley, due to World War II. And indeed, after going 63-91 (with a tie) in 1944, the Dodgers improved to 87-67 and third place in ’45. A pennant would come two years later, with Jackie Robinson — but without the suspended Durocher.
By Jon Weisman
Ahead of Wednesday’s announcement of the National Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, some Dodger-related trivia from the past three decades …
In the past 10 years, only one man has been elected to the the Hall of Fame who played in a Dodger uniform: Rickey Henderson in 2009. Greg Maddux, Mike Piazza, Fred McGriff, Jeff Kent, Luis Gonzalez, Paul Lo Duca, Hideo Nomo and Eric Gagne are eligible to end that drought. (Joe Torre, whom the Expansion Era Committee elected to the Hall in December, will be the first Dodger manager entering the Hall since Tommy Lasorda.)
There were more ex-Dodger players entering the Hall of Fame in 2003 then the past 10 years combined: Eddie Murray and Gary Carter.
The last player to have a Dodger cap on his Hall of Fame plaque was Don Sutton, elected in 1998. You then have to go back to Don Drysdale in 1984 to find another longtime Dodger joining the Hall via election by the Baseball Writers Association of America, the same year that the Veterans Committee tapped Pee Wee Reese.
One late cup-of-coffee Dodger who made the Hall was Jim Bunning, chosen by the Veterans Committee in 1996. Bunning had a 3.36 ERA in nine games for the Dodgers in 1969 at age 37.
Hoyt Wilhelm, elected to the Hall in 1985, finished his career as a Dodger in 1972, 16 days shy of his 50th birthday. He was preceded by short-time Dodgers Juan Marichal in 1983 and Frank Robinson in 1982.
Swinging back to managers, the Veterans’ Committee put Walter Alston in the Hall in 1983, Leo Durocher in 1994, Ned Hanlon in 1996 and Lasorda in 1997. The Hall doors opened for former Dodger owner Walter O’Malley in 2008.
The results of this year’s BBWAA Hall of Fame balloting will be announced on MLB Network and MLB.com on Wednesday at 11 a.m.
Dodger Thoughts commenter Bob Hendley passed along this photo of Leo Durocher and Laraine Day with his mother-in-law in Santo Domingo during Spring Training. 1948. Very cool.
Speaking of Durocher: Variety reported Wednesday that Christopher Meloni has been cast to play Durocher in “42,” the upcoming feature film starring Chadwick Boseman as Jackie Robinson and Harrison Ford as Branch Rickey.
For more on Durocher, check out chapter 57 of 100 Things Dodgers Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die: “The Head-Spinning, Allegiance-Shifting, Authority-Defying Leo Durocher.”
Elsewhere …
Our hero is a wizened 23 …
* * *
Brewers at Dodgers, 1:05 p.m. (KCAL)
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.
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