Baseball History Analysis: Players from the 5 Worst Dodger Teams in Brooklyn and Los Angeles

Imagine the players of the 5 worst Brooklyn Dodger and Los Angeles Dodger teams since 1943. If you could magically hand pick just the players you wanted from those 5 horrible teams, and put them together at Ebbets Field or Dodger Stadium, could you build a winning team? You won't have current Dodger star, Manny Ramirez, but you will have many great Dodger players.

I have accepted the challenge in the 5 Bad Seasons League at the online baseball simulation game, Diamond Mind Online at Imaginesports.com.

I had to search through the baseballreference.com franchise encyclopedia to find the worst Dodger teams. The league rules required that I find 5 Dodger seasons since 1943 with a winning percentage below .480. The Dodgers have only had 9 teams that were that horrible. Here are the 5 bad teams I chose:

1944 Dodgers 63-91

Managed by Leo Durocher, top player Dixie Walker, .357, 13 HR, 91 RBI. Four pitchers finished with double digits in the loss column. The Dodgers had been an excellent team from 1940-1943, but lost several top players to World War II: Pee Wee Reese, Dolph Camilli, Billy Herman, and Pete Reiser.

1958 Dodgers 71-83

Managed by Walt Alston. Top Players: Duke Snider hit .312 .371 .505 with 15 HR in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, not a friendly place for a left-handed batter. Gil Hodges and Charlie Neal each hit 22 HR. The Dodgers had finished in third place in 1957, their final year in Brooklyn after a great run of success in the 50's, including the 1955 World Championship. In the offseason before the move to Los Angeles, Hall of Fame catcher, Roy Campanella, was paralyzed in an automobile accident. Boys of Summer Gil Hodges, Pee Wee Reese, and Carl Furillo were in their late thirties and starting to fade. Snider, who had hit 40 homers the year before in Ebbets Field, was only 31, but saw his power numbers drop significantly with the move to the Coliseum. Sandy Koufax had not yet mastered the art of getting ball over the plate: He was 11-11, 5.58 with 6.0 walks per nine innings.

1967 Los Angeles Dodgers, 73-89

Managed by Walt Alston. Top players: Lou Johnson, .748 OPS, Al Ferrara, .812 OPS. The Dodgers had been World Champs in 1963 and 1965, and lost to Baltimore in the 1966 World Series, so how did the get so bad in 1967? Sandy Koufax retired. That was the main issue. They also traded shortstop Maury Wills to Pittsburgh and his two replacements were incredibly bad at the plate: Gene Michael: .202 .246 .224, and Dick Schofield: .216 .307 .293.

1968 Los Angeles Dodgers 76-86

Managed again by Walt Alston. Top player: Len Gabrielson led the team with 10 (yes, ten) homers. The club tried to bring in some new blood through trades: 2B Paul Popovich (.232), SS Zoilo Versalles (.196), 3B Bob Bailey (.227), and RF Rocky Colavito (.204, 3 HR) were abysmal.

1986 Los Angeles Dodgers, 73-89

Managed by Tommy Lasorda. Top player: 2B Steve Sax .332 .390 .441 with 40 SB and 91 runs scored. The team had fared well in 1985, winning 95 games and finishing first in the NL West behind great seasons by Pedro Guerrero (320 .422 .577 33 HR), Mike Marshall (.293 .342 .515, 28 HR), and Orel Hershisher (19-3, 2.03). In 1986, Guerrero was injured and only played in 31 games. Marshall hit .233, Greg Brock .234, and Franklin Stubbs .226. Aging veterans Enos Cabell, Bill Madlock, and Cesar Cedeno were embarrassing to watch. Meanwhile, Hershisher (14-14, 3.85) decided to have an off year and Jerry Reuss ran out of gas at age 37 (2-6, 5.84).

Could the likes of those 5 Dodger stinkers make a winning team?

Well, here is what I salvaged. In Diamond Mind Online at Imaginesports.com, the players are coded to perform as they did throughout their career, not just in one particular season. That is very helpful for this project! I found several excellent players to build around, trying to pick a strong defense behind great pitching.

From 1944 Brooklyn Dodgers bad team:

2B Eddie Stanky, an OBP machine.
LF Paul Waner, a great hitter

Poached from the 1958 Los Angeles Dodgers bad team:

Starting pitchers Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale and Johnny Podres.
SS Pee Wee Reese
RF Duke Snider

From 1967-1968 Los Angeles Dodgers bad teams:

1B Wes Parker who I picked over Gil Hodges due to his excellent defense
3B Jim Lefebvre, a good value in this game where his salary is low
CF Willie Davis, a tremendous defensive center fielder
DH platoon: Len Gabrielson and Lou Johnson
#4 and 5 starting pitchers Jack Billingham and Alan Foster
Closer Bob Lee

We'll see how they perform in a 162 game simulated baseball season. It's amazing what you can cobble together from 5 bad seasons.

The Opposition

My opponents include the Giants who will have Barry Bonds, Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Gaylord Perry and Juan Marichal from their 5 bad seasons. The Twins look pretty good with Rod Carew, Harmon Killebrew, Tony Oliva, Bert Blyleven, and Jim Kaat. The Yankees will have Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Rickey Henderson, Goose Gossage, and Tommy John. However, the most talent might come from 5 years of Houston Astros history: Cesar Cedeno, Jimmy Wynn, Joe Morgan, Eddie Mathews, Robin Roberts, and even Curt Schilling who played from them as a 24 year old in 1991.

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