If you disagree with a selection, that's fine, but remember that they were a contributing Dodger at one time, and were probably great to at least a portion of the fanbase, if not to yourself.
As always, thanks for taking the time to read. Hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane. Enjoy our content? Join our newsletter to get the latest in sports news delivered straight to your inbox! Your sports. Osteen pitched a five-hit shutout in a victory. He won 20 games twice with the team and made the All-Star team three times. That made Claude Osteen the winning pitcher.
Wes Parker ,. He won six Gold Gloves and in was voted the best defensive first baseman since the Gold Glove award was established in He drove in runs in despite hitting only 10 homers. He led the league that season with 47 doubles and also hit. Parker has been criminally underrated by many because of the era he played in and the fact he retired young, quitting after the seasons when he was only Ron Perranoski , , 2.
He finished fourth in MVP voting in after going with a 1. He later served as Dodgers pitching coach from Jeff Pfeffer , , 2. His best season was , when he went with a 1. Almost every season, he held out for more money, causing Dodgers management to get frustrated with him and eventually deal him to St.
Louis in Babe Phelps ,. As a defender, well, Phelps was a heck of a hitter. He finished second that year to Paul Waner of Pittsburgh, who hit. Phelps was always considered a bit of a hypochondriac and in , he refused to go on a road trip because he was worried about his heart, feeling it was skipping beats and that he might have a heart attack. The Dodgers suspended him and tried to trade him, but there were no takers.
A couple of months later, the team was in a pennant race and not thrilled with the job Mickey Owen was doing as the catcher. Landis met with Phelps and refused to reinstate him. Mike Piazza ,. His best season was , when he hit. Johnny Podres , , , 3. He was often overlooked on the team, overshadowed by Koufax or Newcombe or Drysdale, but he was a key pitcher for the team for 12 years.
Pee Wee Reese , ,. He received MVP votes for 11 straight seasons from and was one of the first Dodgers to welcome Jackie Robinson and try to make him feel part of the team, famously putting his arm around him in front of fans before a game. Reese died in When Pee Wee reached out to Jackie, all of us in the Negro League smiled and said it was the first time that a white guy had accepted us.
When you touched Jackie, you touched all of us. Jackie Robinson ,. The man was a great baseball player. He was great defensively at every position he played. He was rookie of the year. He never had a bad season.
John Roseboro ,. He was the starting catcher on three World Series title teams and when people mention the great Dodgers pitching staffs of the s, they seldom mention who was catcher for all those great pitchers.
It was Roseboro. Bill Russell ,. But he went out there every day and rarely cost his team a game, and also was known among fans as the best clutch hitter on the team.
He replaced Tommy Lasorda as manager of the team in and was fired in during the infamous Fox era. Mike Scioscia ,. You never had to worry about the position when Scioscia was there, and he hit one of the most important home runs in Dodgers history when he connected off Dwight Gooden in Game 4 of the NLCS. Reggie Smith ,.
That season, he hit. Smith left the majors after the season and played two years in Japan. He worked for the Dodgers as a coach, was the hitting coach for the gold-medal winning U. Duke Snider ,.
He also led the league in homers in with 43 and in RBIs in with He hit 40 or more homers in four consecutive seasons and it can be argued that he is the greatest player in Dodgers history. He also hit four home runs in the World Series and 11 World Series homers overall. When the Dodgers moved to L. Snider hit only 15 homers in and 23 in He then became a part-time player, but is the first Dodger to get a hit in Dodger Stadium.
Don Sutton , , , 3. You knew he was going to make 30 to 35 starts every season and win 15 to 20 games. Sutton did. Fernando Valenzuela , , 3. There may not be a more loved player in Dodgers history, and he brought in a legion of Latino fans to the stadium, fans who remain dedicated to the team to this day.
I was attending Carnegie Junior High in Carson when he first started pitching, and every student there, no matter what race they were, was talking about him and several of us would cut school during the playoffs to listen to the Dodgers on the radio. Dazzy Vance , , 3. He led the league in wins twice, in ERA three times and in strikeouts seven consecutive seasons. Zack Wheat ,. Wheat was just relentless at the plate, hitting over. He was beloved in Brooklyn and served as a mentor for several young Dodgers, including future manager Casey Stengel.
Maury Wills , ,. Wills led the league in steals six consecutive seasons, including a then-record in with only 13 times caught stealing. He won the MVP award that year and finished third in , when he stole 94 bases. Was he just an average hitter? Was he a defensive whiz? Not a whiz, but he did win two Gold Gloves. And, if you will allow me to get on my soapbox for a moment I understand why modern analytics tell us that the stolen base is often not worth the risk.
But speaking from a fan standpoint: There are few things more exciting in baseball than having a guy on first who you know can steal second. Wills made the game exciting, and in the haste to make everything about the game analytical, some of that excitement is being stripped from the game.
Walter Alston , 2,, W-L record, 4 World Series titles : Tommy Lasorda is far more famous, but you can make a solid case that Walter Alston is the greatest manager in Dodgers history. Alston began managing the Dodgers in when they were still in Brooklyn, and remained manager until , winning seven NL pennants , , , , , , and four World Series titles, , , , , three of them in Los Angeles.
Alston was named NL manager of the year six times before retiring. His folksy style and catchphrases made him one of the most famous announcers in the U. Leo Durocher , , : Durocher was a fiery presence, always willing to pick a fight to spur his team to action. In , some Dodgers players circulated a petition asking management not to put Jackie Robinson on the team. The team was training in Cuba when Durocher found out about the petition around midnight.
He immediately called a team meeting and told the players what they could do with their petition. The format for the World Series. Rickey had just spent 23 years as GM of the St.
Rickey searched for the right man, with the right temperament, to do this job, and he settled on Jackie Robinson. And it proved to be a wise choice. Wilbert Robinson , 1,, : Robinson managed the Dodgers to two NL pennants and the team was so identified with him at the time that they were called the Brooklyn Robins for a while in his honor.
The Dodgers saw a chance to get in on this publicity and asked her if she would drop a baseball from her plane to a player down below, who would catch the ball. She said sure, but no player would volunteer to do it. So, she dropped that instead. Robinson got the grapefruit, which exploded the moment it hit his mitt. Robinson was convinced the pulp covering him was his innards and that he was seriously injured.
Hodges took over as manager of the New York Mets in , the season after they lost games. Two years later, they won and the World Series. Tommy John. Resume: John changed the course of baseball history after pitching mostly at an above-average level after undergoing an experimental surgery in where Dr.
Frank Jobe replaced the torn ulnar-collateral ligament in his left elbow. He pitched 26 seasons and won games with a 3. He had three top five Cy Young Award finishes. John also had a 2. Don Newcombe. Resume: Newcombe was the first black star pitcher in the Major Leagues.
In his first three seasons, he was Rookie of the Year , a three-time All-Star and had a Then he missed and due to military service. He played 10 total seasons and had a Reggie Smith. Resume: Smith played 17 big league seasons, but his period between —80 jump off the page. He hit. Among outfielders with the same qualification, he ranks 22nd. He won a Gold Glove in He finished his career with a Highest vote total: 0.
Fernando Valenzuela. Born in Navojoa, Sonora, Mexico, the left-hander became an icon for his people and is not only largely credited for bringing the Mexican-American community to Dodger Stadium en masse during his rise in the early s, but making a lasting impression that has spread to generations of fans.
Between and , Valenzuela was the best left-handed pitcher in baseball. Among starting pitchers who competed all those years, his 2. In those five seasons, he logged 1, innings, also tops in baseball. He also had 26 shutouts in that span, and he allowed one run or less in 60 of his starts.
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