The Penguin and Johnie B. “Dusty” Baker. Two ot the bigger reasons this childhood Giants fan became a Dodger Fan.
Growing up in the 60’s, I was an all-out San Francisco Giant fan. My father grew up in California before there were any teams in California. He was a Giant fan, so I became one as a kid. Willie Mays is still by far my favorite sports person or celebrity.
But after the Giants traded Willie, I started becoming a Pirate fan. Great uniforms, and I liked using them in my Strat-o-Matic game. I am still as much a Pirate fan as a Dodger fan. But I have definitely become a bigger Dodger fan and do not like the Giants nowadays. Although for fun I like to say I am a Giant and a Dodger fan, it gets some great reactions. My favorite reaction came while I was waiting in a food place. I was wearing a Dodger shirt, and they had played the Giants the night before.
A man said something about not liking the Giants winning the World Series. Which was funny because I did like the Giants winning in 2010, because they had never won a Series in my lifetime. Also being a fourth-generation Californian, I root for all California teams, except the Padres.
And that comes from their petty jealousy because they usually are not a good team, and their thought that they are the Dodgers’ rival. Hate to break the news, but the Giants are the Dodgers’ rival. Also, I love Baseball more than any team. In Hockey and Basketball, it’s Kings and Lakers and nobody else, but in Baseball, I just love the whole game.
Back to the food place. When he commented, I told him. “I am a Giant and a Dodger fan”.
He said, “How do you sleep at night?” Hilarious. I was on my way to my weekly poker game, and when I told them, they all laughed.
Becoming A Dodger Fan
How did I become a Dodger fan? There are many reasons. I was born in Los Angeles, so they are my hometown team. The 1970’s Dodger team was also hard to root against when you lived here. And I picked The Penguin as my favorite.
The players, like the Infield including The Penguin, were so classy and here so long. Aso has an adult who was working, you really appreciated how Great of an Owner Peter O’Malley was. The organization just had such a class, and a fantastic community feel. And The Penguin was a big part of that.
I am not a person who likes to go to a game and root against my friends I am there with. So, I started to root with them. Then there were the 3 World Series against the Yankees. An easy team to root against. Los Angeles and New York have a natural rivalry as the two big boys on the block.
Of course, having the Greatest announcer of all time Vin Scully did not hurt. Not just baseball in my opinion simply the best live announcer of everything. Most people announce a game Vin Scully descripted one. But with all the great players Garvey, Sutton, Lope and Bill Russell my favorited were Dusty Baker and Ron Cey, The Penguin.
I remember the Penguin coming up to the big team and taking over third base. The Dodgers at the time had a famous problem at third base. They had not found a regular third baseman since Junior Gilliam got older. Ron Cey came in and just solidified the position. Since I played a lot of third base, I liked the Penguin right away. He, of course, got the name from his body’s build, and he had a kind of flat-footed hitting style.
The Penguin was not a great defensive third baseman, but he solved the Dodgers’ third base problem. As time went on, he became a solid third baseman who made the outs that were there. He also became sure-handed and did not make many errors. Cey usually had fewer than 20 Errors in a season. Hall-of-fame players Darrell Evans and Mike Schmidt had over 20 every year. Of course, Cey’s range was not so great, but he was solid. But The Penguin could hit.
Career Numbers for The Penguin
In his first season as the everyday third baseman, The Penguin hit 15 HR’s and 80 RBI. Solid numbers and with only 15 HR’s and over 80 RBI, he showed the beginning of what he would become. The Penguin was probably the biggest clutch hitter on the 70’s Dodgers.
In 1980, the Dodgers won three straight games on the last weekend to force a playoff with the Houston Astros. Which they did lose. But I was at the third game of the Final Series on Sunday of the final series against the Astros.
Well, with the Dodgers losing in the eighth inning. First, the great pinch hitter Manny Mota came out of the third base coaching box to single to left. Then The Penguin came to bat.
The Penguin fouled a pitch off his foot, walked around for minutes from the pain, stepped up, and hit a homer to give the Dodgers the victory. See, the Penguin was clutch. And to top off one of the best days I had at Dodger Stadium, the long time starting pitcher for the Dodgers. Came in and got the last out.
In his Dodger career, The Penguin usually batted right behind and “protected” Steve Garvey. He hit more than 20 HR’s 6 years in a row and 7-7 years with the strike shortened yaer of 1981, keeping him from probably reaching a total of 11 years in a row. Because he hit over 20 in the first years he played for the Chicago Cubs, starting in 1983. His season high was 32 in 1978.
More about that later, The Penguin had career totals of 316, which is not that far behind Hall of Fame third baseman Ron Santo. Maybe he is not quite a Hall-of-Fame, although I would vote for him; he is just one step below. Which still shows The Penguin had a great career.
As a clutch hitter batting behind Garvey, he also had 7 years in a row with more than 80 RBI’s. He finished with a total of 8 years with more than 80. He had 2 100+ RBI years with a high of 110. To finish his stats, he was also a 6-time All-Star.
Johnnie B. Baker
Dusty Baker already had some solid years for the Atlanta Braves. This despite the pressure of being “The next Henry Aaron”. It is always added pressure when a kid is supposed to be the “Next”. Though he was not a pure Home Run hitter, he already had 77 Home Runs in his 4 complete seasons in Atlanta. He also had 111 doubles, which is more in line with the type of hitter he was. He also hit .321 in 1972 with Atlanta.
But Dusty really had his best years as a Dodger. He hit 144 hrs with a high of 30 in 1977. More on that later. He had 568 RbI’s and 179 2B’s. In 4 National League Championship Seasons, he hit .371 with 13 RBI’s. He had career stats of 242 HR’s and 1013 RBI.s.
The first great thing for Dusty as a Dodger was 1977. In 1977, the Dodgers became the first team to ever have 4 Players hit 30 HRs in one season. Steve Garvey, Reggie Smith, and Ron Cey already have 30 HR’s. Then on the last day of the season, Dusty hit his 30th Home Run to make history. And in 1981, Dusty and Ron Cey were part of the team that beat the hated New York Yankees in the World Series.
The real story of Dusty as a Dodger is he was a fan favorite. The best example is the Bubble Gum tradition. Dusty was a great bubble blower durin games. As time went on there developed a pre-game ritual for the fans every game.
When Dusty took the field, the fans would throw packs of gum onto the field around Dusty. There were so many stadium workers who had to come out to pick them up. Then the public address announcer would say. “Please do not throw objects on the field of play”. This, of course, was all part of the ritual, and the stadium would cheer. Dusty was a fan favorite,
Manager Dusty Baker
Dusty Baker also had a second career as a Major League Manager. Dusty Baker managed five different teams. The San Francisco Giants, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, Washington Nationals, and Houston Astros. Three-time Manager of the Year and 2183 wins. Most of his teams were not the most talented teams.
Dusty specialized in getting teams to play above their talent level. When he managed top teams, he took the Washington Nationals to 2 Division championships and the Astros to 3 division and 1 World Series Championships.
I have to admit that, although I hated to see the cheating Astros, who should have had their 2017 Championship stripped. I was happy that Dusty Baker got his World Series victory as a manager. He deserved it even if the team did not! Many of the cheating weasels, who should be banned for life, were still on the team!!! Good for Dusty!! And Pete Rose is not in the Hall of Fame. Just might be the saddest joke in MLB history.