Teaching the kids some Dodger history

OK, here’s another totally different family/baseball history note that some of you young’uns might not know. The Diamondbacks have only been around since 1998, so there is a “generation” of older kids in our family that actually DIDN’T grow up rooting for them. With Dad being raised in LA, we grew up as Dodgers fans. I don’t know if Jere and Melissa feel the same way, but one of the coolest things I remember from my school days is when our CVHS band marched on to the field at Dodger Stadium.   And while, according to our pedigree, all of us kids are half Phoenix and half LA, when the Dodgers play the D-Backs I’m always pulling for the boys in blue.

25 years ago (1988) the Dodgers won their last World Series.  The iconic moment from that series was when Kirk Gibson (yes, the current D-Backs manager) hobbled up to the plate on two bad legs with two outs in the bottom of the 9th and hit a walk-off two run homer off A’s Hall of Fame closer Dennis Eckersley (who by the way was baptized LDS, but was only active a few years in his youth) to win Game 1.  I called that home run, by the way.  We had just gotten back to the Smith’s house from a Scout hike at the Grand Canyon and with my 13 year old fan faith I just KNEW Gibson would come up and save the day.  I didn’t know he hadn’t played the whole game because of his injuries and that at-bat would be his only appearance in the Series.

With that being such a dramatic moment, people tend to use it to symbolize the ’88 championship season.  HOWEVER, the Dodgers had to get through the NY Mets in the National League Championship Series to even get to the World Series.  That NLCS series was one for the ages.  (Games 3, 4, and 5 were played at Shea Stadium in Queens, NY.  The field is now part of the Citi Field parking lot.)

Game 4 of that NLCS turned out to be pivotal in the history of both franchises.  The Mets (who were heavily favored, having won 10 of the 11 regular season meetings, most of them by decent margins) were up two games to one with their ace Dwight Gooden taking a commanding 4-2 lead into the 9th inning.  Then, from this spot 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike Scoscia hits a two run homer to tie the game.  But the heroics weren’t over yet.  In the top of the 12th inning, from this same spot, Kirk Gibson hit a two out solo shot to go up one.

But the heroics STILL weren’t over.  In the bottom of the 12th, with two outs and the bases loaded, Orel Hershiser (having started the day before on three days rest from his Game 1 start) came to this spot

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

to get Kevin McReynolds to fly out, earning the save, and tying the series at two games each.  Hershiser would later pitch a complete game shutout in Game 7 and earn NLCS MVP honors.

After that Game 4, the Dodgers would win game five, heading home with a lead in the series, eventually winning both this NLCS and the World Series.  The Mets, on the other hand, would see the end of an era.

Of course, the Mets and the Diamondbacks have both been to the Word Series since the last time the Dodgers were there.  I guess that’s why as Dodgers fans events/memories from Dodger lore are all we have to hold on to.  That, and the annual hope of not blowing yet another NL West lead heading into the All-Star break, just to be fighting for a wild card spot in the fall.