Photo of Ken Gurnick by Jon SooHoo
During my time working for the Dodgers, covering the team from the inside out, I marveled at the ease with which Ken Gurnick navigated the clubhouse.
Even though the same employer signed the players’ paychecks and my own, I often felt like an intruder. In contrast, Gurnick was part of the fabric. I recall how the longtime Dodger beat writer chatted as easily with a short-lived Dodger like Mike Bolsinger as with franchise icon Clayton Kershaw.
Quietly, Ron Cey thought he was a great baseball player. Why wouldn’t he?
By the time he retired from the major leagues in 1987 after a 16-year career, Cey hit 316 home runs and 328 doubles. He drove in 1,139 runs. He scored nearly 1,000. If he wanted to get crazy, he could note that he walked more than 1,000 times and had an on-base percentage (you know, that elitist statistic) of .354.
Cey played in six All-Star games. He shared an MVP award for a World Series where his heroics were plain for anyone to see.
Arguably the best third baseman of all-time, Mike Schmidt, played in the same era as Cey. Another no-doubt Hall of Famer, George Brett, was the American League’s bellwether. After that pair, it would have been no crime for Cey to see himself in the hot corner’s highest echelon.
“Mike Schmidt was unquestionably the dominant NL third baseman from the mid-70s to the late ’80s, but Cey would have to be the No. 2,” wrote pioneering analyst Bill James.
Years later, fellow Dodger alum Tim Wallach introduced Cey to baseball’s statistical revolution, and it more than validated his inner beliefs. It exceeded them.
“Timmy came up to me one day when I was at the park,” Cey recalled in an interview. “He said, ‘I want to tell you that you are so much more valuable in our era of baseball than you were in your own.'”
Based upon wins above replacement, Cey is the No. 6 Dodger position player of all time, behind four Hall of Famers from Brooklyn (Pee Wee Reese, Duke Snider, Jackie Robinson and Zack Wheat) and the Californian who remains the franchise’s all-time hits leader (Willie Davis). Cey has the highest WAR of any Dodger position player of the past 50 years.
From 1970 through 1990, Cey’s WAR ranks 28th among all major-leaguers. Of the 27 ahead of Cey, 17 are in the Hall of Fame.
Of the 27 ahead of Cey, six are third basemen: Schmidt, Brett, Graig Nettles, Buddy Bell, Wade Boggs and Darrell Evans.
Of the 27 ahead of Cey, only two were Dodgers, both of them longtime American Leaguers: Eddie Murray and Willie Randolph.
The title of Cey’s new memoir, written with longtime Dodger beat reporter Ken Gurnick, is Penguin Power. You can find the inspiration for that title in any number of chapters — not the least being an appreciation of a great nickname — but without a doubt, one of those inspirations is for contemporary fans to understand Cey’s powerful place in Dodger history.
“Just like I think that Dodger era didn’t get the credit it deserved for the things it accomplished, I don’t think Ron did either,” Gurnick said in an interview. “I think Ron’s right that he’s not in the top 1 percent of third basemen, but he’s probably right behind it. If you look at what he achieved through the prism of analytics … he did what they wanted him to do, and he did it really well in all phases of the game, and the numbers back that up.”
Perhaps more importantly, Penguin Power shares the stories behind that career in a breezy, invigorating style: not only Cey’s journey to greatness, but the incredible experiences he had along the way.
It’s not that Clayton Kershaw is Mikhail Baryshnikov.
It’s that Baryshnikov was Kershaw.
Look at that image above. Look at that competitor. It’s April 18 of a lethargic Dodger season, and the fire in the Dodger legend is a red-hot 200 degrees.
One degree for each career win.
On a night where history could be made, Kershaw brought history to life, delivering a performance for which “vintage” is utterly insufficient.
Attacking the strike zone and baffling the New York Mets, Kershaw threw seven dominant shutout innings — with 81 of his 105 pitches for strikes — in a 5-0 Dodger victory, the 200th of his brilliant career.
Gentlewomen and gentlemen, Clayton Kershaw makes the 400th start of his Hall of Fame career tonight at Arizona. As you know, each start commands a feature-length film of epic stature. While we have not succeeded every time, the producers and I have poured our hearts into this 15-year-old project. We hope you have found some joy, some laughs — maybe even some tears — in coming along this journey with us.
Please join in as we reminisce about what we believe to be the most important movie series in baseball history.
Kershaw CCCXCIX: Kersho Pioneers!
Kershaw CCCXCVIII: Kershawllywood Squares
Kershaw CCCXCVII: Kershawrry, Wrong Number
Kershaw CCCXCVI: (production curtailed)
Kershaw CCCXCV: Kershawne to 5
Kershaw CCCXCIV: Kershalona
Kershaw CCCXCIII: The Kershaw Always Rings Twice
Kershaw CCCXCII: Kershowsse Pointe Blank
Kershaw CCCXCI: Kershawaii Five-0
Kershaw CCCXC: Kershawcan Gigolo
… It has been 45 years since the Dodgers made an exception to their policy of only retiring the jersey numbers of Hall of Famers, when in the throes of grief, they honored Jim Gilliam’s No. 19 after his sudden death during the 1978 World Series, nine days shy of his 50th birthday, In between, Gil Hodges became the 11th number retiree last summer to accompany his belated 2022 journey to Cooperstown. And now Fernando, whose prodigious workload early in his career forestalled him putting up the late-career numbers to make the Hall, will make it a dozen, joining Gilliam as an exception to the rule.
So many have hungered for this moment, and few would dispute its worthiness. On a practical level, the Dodgers haven’t given any player No. 34 since Valenzuela, so all that was missing was the official blessing.
At the same time, this opens a floodgate or two. However special the circumstances, no longer can the Dodgers hide from a clamor for other candidates. …
[Borrowed from a free post at Slayed by Voices]
Hello there. And a very pleasant half-hour program, wherever you may be.
I’ve known for some time that Vin Scully hosted a talk show in the 1970s, but I had never seen a full episode. Well, take that off the bucket list.
This half-hour edition of The Vin Scully Show, with cigar-smoking Carroll O’Connor as the special guest, was taped January 24, 1973, when Vin was 45. The 48-year-old O’Connor literally came downstairs for the interview from the studio at CBS Television City where All in the Family was taped. Not surprisingly, Vin brings out the best in him. While sitting very close to him.
In case you were in any danger of forgetting that Vin’s voice was perfection, here’s your antidote.
Like any good ballgame, there are big moments building toward a slam-bang finish.
You might think the best moment with Vin is the joke he tells in his opening monologue.
You might think the best moment with Vin is when he says to O’Connor about playing the notorious sexist racist Archie Bunker: “You are such a natural for the role.” Then Vin, realizing what he said, adds with a laugh: “And I don’t mean as a bigot.”
You might even think it’s the sketch where Vin plays a suitor for a grumbly old man’s daughter — like Archie and Gloria, but not exactly — capped by a genu-ine Old School rim shot.
But stay tuned until the very end, when Vin spins a tale about an Irish gambler in a perfect brogue. That’s a Hall of Fame moment. That’s our Vin.
As advertised, my Reddit chat on the Dodgers took place Friday. It was a lot of fun for me — I always like to hear (or see) myself talk — and we covered a lot of ground. This format brings out the best in me, since I’m better at typing than speaking extemporaneously. And I enjoyed the questions.
A few highlights:
My second post ever on Dodger Thoughts was a State of the Union dated July 22, 2002 — and boy, what a trip down memory lane that is. Let’s put it through the Excerptatron 4000.
As the 20th anniversary of Dodger Thoughts approaches (though admittedly, I haven’t been writing here this year), Eric Stephen has posted an interview with me at True Blue L.A. looking back at those two decades.
It’s always a pleasure and an hour to talk to Stephen, who in my view has set his own standard to become the definitive Dodger writer.
I do hope to write more here in regards to the anniverary on July 21, but in the meantime, I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.
Butch Lee and Magic Johnson, May 16, 1980
Update!
Can't believe I missed Keith. Adding him now!
— Jon Weisman (@jonweisman) October 22, 2021
The 20 worst Dodger playoff experiences of my lifetime, in chronological order, each embedded with a video link for your pain:
Update: Yeah, Game 7 of the 2017 World Series needs to be on here. I left it off because it was so defeating from the very first inning, and yet not as crushing to me as Game 5. But it should be here. You don’t lose a World Series Game 7 without it being a bad memory.
Ever since the 2021 Los Angeles Dodgers started the season 12-2, matching the breakout of the heart-stopping, game-dropping, low-flying, win-defying, mental-lapsing, season-collapsing, legendary 2005 Los Angeles Dodgers, I’ve been comparing these two squads on a game-by-game basis. Because really, how could I not?
At Twitter, you can find a Fun #2005dodgers fact every morning after a Dodger game the previous day.
Over the past week, I think there have been two particularly remarkable fun facts. First:
On August 23, 2018, the Dodgers were 4 1/2 games behind the Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League West with 34 games to play.
Now, we know that in 2018 Los Angeles came back, won the division and went to the World Series. Then, we did not. Then, I dare say, more people thought the Dodgers wouldn’t come back than thought they would.
The Arizona Diamondbacks, who were in first place in the NL West on April 1, May 1, July 1, August 1 and September 1, have been eliminated.
— Jon Weisman (@jonweisman) September 23, 2018
Now, the Dodgers are five games behind the San Francisco Giants in the NL West with 47 games to play. Will the Dodgers come back? We have no idea.
This is another chapter in our great adventure, another milepost in our epic journey of suspense. And we can rue the uncertainty and curse the inanity all we want, but baseball does not exist without it.
Exciting news! For the first time since 2013, a new edition of my book, 100 Things Dodgers Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die, is about to be released. Updated to include events leading up to the Dodgers’ World Series title, the 2021 version officially publishes June 1, and you can preorder now!
Ever since the first edition came out in 2009, I have always aspired for this book to be the ideal resource for any fan of the Dodgers: young or old, casual or passionate, focused on the present or the past. And now, I can finally say the book has caught up to the most eventful decade of the past half-century in the history of the franchise.
Coming in at a record 368 pages, this new third edition captures all kinds of highlights from the past eight Dodger seasons — the many highs and the devastating lows — culminating in the wonderful catharsis of the 2020 World Series. The new 100 Things Dodgers also offers new chapters and sidebars focused on the more recent Dodger stars and personalities, including Cody Bellinger, Mookie Betts, Andre Ethier, Andrew Friedman, Kenley Jansen, Yasiel Puig, Dave Roberts, Hyun-Jin Ryu, Corey Seager, Justin Turner and Juan Uribe. I have also updated previous material on Jaime Jarrín, Eric Karros, Matt Kemp and much more, including Dodger Stadium itself. And needless to say, after 2020, Clayton Kershaw stands out as someone whose body of work called out for a new look.
Here’s a snippet, from the opening of my new introduction to the third edition, to set the stage:
Officially, Triumph Books published the second edition of 100 Things Dodgers Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die the morning of April 1, 2013.
You might say that a lot has happened in Dodger history since then.
In fact, only hours after the previous edition hit the public, Clayton Kershaw took a George Kontos fastball over the center-field wall at Dodger Stadium, breaking a scoreless tie on his way to pitching a shutout against the Giants in the first game of the season. That Opening Day was the opening salvo in an unprecedented run of Dodger history: eight straight National League West titles, including three NL pennants, leading up to the 2020 season that brought—say it with me now—the Dodgers’ first World Series title in 32 years.
I could write an entire book about those eight seasons alone (and hey, maybe I should). At the same time, that octet of excellence deserves a spot not separate from, but rather in context with, the history of a franchise whose roots date back to the 19th century.
And that’s where this new edition of 100 Things Dodgers comes in. …
While the new edition of 100 Things Dodgers officially hits the stands on June 1, but you can preorder now from such places as …
If you’ve already enjoyed previous editions of 100 Things Dodgers, I feel confident you’ll be happy to step up to this one. And if you haven’t owned a copy of the book yet, this is the perfect time to buy one, for yourself or your friends and family (especially if you need a belated Mother’s Day gift or an elated Father’s Day present).
Let me close out my pitch by returning to the book’s introduction.
… Having this much exciting material to convey is the kind of problem an author dreams of having. As I said in the introduction to the first edition, “The Dodgers aren’t the only epic story around, but they’re a pretty great one—with fantastic characters, emotions, and plot twists that are nearly impossible to abandon.” I wrote that when the franchise had won exactly one playoff series since 1988. To think what has happened since: The Dodgers are truly the gift that keeps on Dodgering.
Whether you are updating your previous edition of 100 Things Dodgers or opening these pages as a newcomer, I hope you’ll find one constant. You might know who Jackie Robinson and Vin Scully are, what 1951 and 1955 represent, how “Dodgers” itself is a unique name in sports. My mission remains to tell the story behind the story, to inform as well as reminisce, to enlighten and enliven, no matter how casual or diehard a fan you are. The years since 2013 have only made that mission more dear. No matter what brings you to this book, I hope you find memories big and small from throughout the history of the Dodgers to treasure.
And with that, I hope you buy 100 Things Dodgers Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die today!
Dodger reserve Edwin Ríos is getting a lot of attention for his struggles, magnified because they are coming at the start of the season. So far in 2021, Ríos is 4 for 44 (a nightmare Moses Malone scenario) with one extra-base hit, and he is hitless in his past 24 at-bats.
But as you can see from the above chart of longest hitless streaks by Dodger position players since 2000, a drought is hardly a death knell for a Dodger career.
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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