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Little Known Facts:
Team Players
•The Los Angeles Dodgers has had 16 Rookie of the Year recipients, 10 MVP awards and nine Cy Young Award winners. They also led baseball’s move to the West Coast, which helped break the color barrier with Jackie Robinson.
•Chuck Connors played baseball with the Dodgers, basketball with the Boston Celtics and acted in the 1952 film Pat and Mike and the 1953 film South Sea Woman starring opposite Burt Lancaster. He also co-starred in the 1957 film Old Yeller as Burn Sanderson. Other films and TV appearances include Airplane II: The Sequel, Maniac Killer and Skinheads among others.
•The Dodgers also have been groundbreaking with their signing of players from Asia (specifically Japan, Taiwan and Korea). They were also the first baseball team to start a Japanese pitcher, Hideo Nomo, a Korean pitcher Chan Ho Park and a Taiwanese player Chin-Feng Chen.
Team Factoids
•The Dodgers had a number of different names over the course of the franchise. Those names include Brooklyn Atlantics, Brooklyn Grays, Brooklyn Grooms, Brooklyn Superbas, Brooklyn Trolley Dodgers, Brooklyn Dodgers, Brooklyn Robins and Los Angeles Dodgers. They were also known as the Trolley Dodgers from 1911-1931. Other nicknames included The Boys in Blue, the Blue Crew and The Bums.
•The Dodgers were in first place in 1994 when a players strike closed out the last eight games of the season. There was another strike in 1981 during the middle of the season. The Dodgers had the best record in the West Division, but they were declared first-half division winner. They were only four games behind Cincinnati.
Interesting Tidbits
•The Dodgers were the first baseball team to have a game televised. They also introduced the batting helmet in 1941.
•The Dodgers have a very large celebrity fan base, with over 25 celebrity fans including Shia LaBeouf, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Victoria Beckham, Jay Leno, Alyssa Milano, Freddie Prinze Jr. and Tiger Woods.
•Vin Scully has broadcasted games for the Dodgers since the 1950’s.
•The Dodgers have one of the longest rivals in baseball history with the New York Giants then based in Manhattan. Both teams originated in New York, and both teams migrated to California where they currently reside.
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Championships
The Dodgers have won six World Series titles (1955, 1959, 1963, 1965, 1981 and 1988), 21 National League Pennants (1890, 1899, 1900, 1916, 1920, 1941, 1947, 1949, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1956, 1959, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1974, 1977, 1978, 1981 and 1988), one AA Pennant (1889), nine West Division titles (1974, 1977, 1978, 1981, 1983, 1985, 1988, 1995 and 2004) and two Wild Card berths (1996 and 2006).
Famous Players
The Dodgers have 10 retired numbers: 1 Pee Wee Reese, 2 Tommy Lasorda, 4 Duke Snider, 19 Jim Gilliam, 20 Don Sutton, 24 Walter Alston, 32 Sandy Koufax, 39 Roy Campanella, 42 Jackie Robinson and 53 Don Drysdale. The team also has more than 35 baseball Hall of Famers.
Koufax, Campanella and Robinson were the first Dodgers players to have their numbers retired. They all retired in a ceremony that took place at Dodger Stadium on June 4, 1972.
Team History
The Los Angeles Dodgers are members of the West Division in the National League of professional baseball. The team was established in 1883 in Brooklyn, New York where they were initially known as the Brooklyn Dodgers. The team had more than 10 variations on their name. After the Brooklyn Dodgers, it was Brooklyn Atlantics (1884), Brooklyn Grays (1885-1887), Brooklyn Bridegrooms (1888-1890), Brooklyn Grooms (1891-1895), Brooklyn Superbas (1899-1910), Brooklyn Trolley Dodgers (1911-1912), Brooklyn Dodgers (1913), Brooklyn Robins (1914-1931), Brooklyn Dodgers (1932-1957) and finally the present-day Los Angeles Dodgers in 1958 after their move to Los Angeles.
For a majority of the first half of the 20th century, many teams did not employ African-American players. The first African-American to play for a professional baseball team was Jackie Robinson, who played his first game with the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947. General Manager Branch Rickey was a major player in this historic event, given that his advocacy of social justice and his involvement in the Methodist Church led to his moral and religious decision to bring Robinson on board. Robinson’s contributions to the team were enormous, since he was a fast runner and received the inaugural Rookie of the Year award (which has been renamed to the Jackie Robinson Award in his honor). In 1962, he was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
During the early to mid-1900’s, the Dodgers won a number of pennants, only to fall short of a World Series because of the New York Yankees. People in the area were getting in the habit of adopting the slogan “Wait ‘til next year!” because of the building excitement followed by disappointment. During the 1951 season, the Dodgers fell victim to one of the biggest upsets in pro baseball history. Brooklyn held one of the biggest leads during the season, but the Giants quickly caught up winning 37 of their last 44 games. This led the teams to a tie which meant they were forced to play a three-game playoff for the pennant. The Giants took Game 1 with a score of 3-1 and the Dodgers snatched up Game 2 at 10-0. It seemed like the Dodgers had Game 3 in hand with a score of 4-2 in the bottom of the ninth. That is, until Bobby Thomson hit a three-run walk-off homer which brought New York the National League Championship. This homerun wsa labled as the "Shot Heard ‘Round The World," becoming a defining moment in baseball history.
Finally, in 1955, the Dodgers finally got their shot at a World Series title. The Dodgers won the final game in the seven game series 2-0. They made another appearance at the World Series the following year, but fell short to the New York Yankees. Dodgers fans didn’t seem to mind, given the fact that they had won the previous year. This win was remembered in the Billy Joel single “We Didn’t Start the Fire” with the line “Brooklyn’s got a winning team.” The team currently resides in Los Angeles after real estate businessman Walter O’Malley acquired ownership of the Dodgers in 1950. Since their move they have had nine West Division titles, two Wild Card berths, 13 National League Pennants (21 total) and six World Series titles. They also achieved one AA Pennant in 1889.
The Los Angeles Dodgers have shown a steady performance in the playoffs, giving Dodgers tickets a higher value. Their last appearance in the playoffs was in 2004 when they achieved a West Division title. With recent events, Dodgers tickets are still high on the must-have list!
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