Another solid Dodgers team that won the NL West division. In a rematch from both the 1977 and 1978 post seasons, the Phillies faced the Dodgers in the playoffs. Unfortunately for these Dodgers, unlike in '77 and '78, the Phillies won the NLCS. This was sort of a season in transition for the Dodgers as the long time infield of the '70s was gone, with the exception of Bill Russell at shortstop, as Steve Garvey left in '83 to go play for the Padres and Ron Cey left for the Cubs. A pitching staff was coming together that would lead them through the rest of the '80s.
Best player: Pedro Guerrero
Best pitcher: Bob Welch
All-Stars: Pedro Guerrero, Steve Sax, Fernando Valenzuela
Rookie Card of the Year: Candy Maldonado
Other rookie cards: Greg Brock, Alejandro Pena, Ricky Wright
First Dodger cards (other than rookies): Rafael Landestoy, Pat Zachry
Most interesting non-Topps card: Candy Maldonado
I also called this one the rookie card of the year for the Dodgers. It was either this card or Alejandro Pena's card in the Topps traded set. Both played until 1995 (Pena pitched in four games in 1996), neither one was ever an all-star, but both played very solid careers. Maldonado's rookie card was in both the regular Fleer and Donruss set for 1983. He would go on to play for the Giants, Indians, Blue Jays, Cubs, and Rangers before calling it a career, with his 1990 season with the Indians probably being his best season.
Other notes: Ron Roenicke was cut by the Dodgers in mid-July and was picked up by the Mariners after his release. He then finished out the season with the Mariners. He played in more games with the Dodgers, but had more plate appearances with the Mariners. Since I use plate appearances as the tie breaker in these cases, I will put Ron Roenicke's Topps card showing him as a Dodger in the Mariners checklist.
Starters
| __ | TO | 555 | C | Steve Yeager | LAD |
| __ | TT | 14 | 1B | Greg Brock | LAD |
| __ | TO | 245 | 2B | Steve Sax | LAD |
| __ | TO | 661 | SS | Bill Russell | LAD |
| __ | TO | 425 | 3B | Pedro Guerrero | LAD |
| __ | TO | 220 | LF | Dusty Baker | LAD |
| __ | TO | 376 | CF | Ken Landreaux | LAD |
| __ | TO | 324 | RF | Mike Marshall | LAD |
Starting Pitchers
| __ | TO | 40 | SP | Fernando Valenzuela | LAD |
| __ | TO | 454 | SP | Bob Welch | LAD |
| __ | TO | 90 | SP | Jerry Reuss | LAD |
| __ | TT | 83 | SP | Alejandro Pena | LAD |
| __ | TO | 775 | SP | Burt Hooton | LAD |
Relief Pitchers
| __ | TO | 170 | CL | Steve Howe | LAD |
| __ | TO | 477 | RP | Tom Niedenfuer | LAD |
| __ | TO | 532 | RP | Dave Stewart | LAD |
| __ | TT | 131 | RP | Pat Zachry | LAD |
| __ | FL | 202 | RP | Joe Beckwith | LAD |
Other Players
| __ | TO | 748 | CF | Derrel Thomas | LAD |
| __ | TO | 63 | RF | Rick Monday | LAD |
| __ | C | Jack Fimple | |||
| __ | OF | Ron Roenicke | |||
| __ | SS | Dave Anderson | |||
| __ | FL | 212 | OF | Candy Maldonado | LAD |
| __ | TT | 59 | UT | Rafael Landestoy | LAD |
| __ | OF | R.J. Reynolds | |||
| __ | TT | 75 | 1B | Jose Morales | LAD |
| __ | TO | 352 | C | Mike Scioscia | LAD |
| __ | C | Gil Reyes | |||
| __ | 3B | German Rivera | |||
| __ | SP | Sid Fernandez | |||
| __ | 1B | Sid Bream | |||
| __ | CF | Cecil Espy | |||
| __ | C | Dave Sax | |||
| __ | IF | Alex Taveras | |||
| __ | SP | Rick Honeycutt | |||
| __ | RP | Orel Hershiser | |||
| __ | RP | Larry White | |||
| __ | FL | 226 | RP | Ricky Wright | LAD |
| __ | RP | Rich Rodas |
Manager
| __ | TO | 306 | MG | Tom Lasorda | LAD |
Always loved the Pedro Guerrero card. He was elite back then.
ReplyDeletethis team really tore me apart. no cey or garvey for the first time in my lifetime, yet they made the playoffs. i at least wanted the dodgers to miss those guys for a year or so.
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