Don Drysdale

Don Drysdale

Drysdale in 1959
Pitcher
Born: July 23, 1936
Van Nuys, California
Died: July 3, 1993 (aged 56)
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Batted: Right Threw: Right
MLB debut
April 17, 1956 for the Brooklyn Dodgers
Last MLB appearance
August 5, 1969 for the Los Angeles Dodgers
Career statistics
Win–loss record 209–166
Earned run average 2.95
Strikeouts 2,486
Teams
Career highlights and awards
Induction 1984
Vote 78.41% (tenth ballot)

Donald Scott "Don" Drysdale (July 23, 1936 – July 3, 1993) was a Major League Baseball player and Hall of Fame right-handed pitcher with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Drysdale was one of the most dominant pitchers of the late 1950s and early to mid 1960s. He became a radio and television broadcaster after his playing career ended.

Early life

Drysdale was born in Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California and attended Van Nuys High School, where one of his classmates was actor Robert Redford.[1]

Playing career

Donald Drysdale's number 53 was retired by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1984.

Pitching for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers, he teamed with Sandy Koufax during the late 1950s and early-middle 1960s to form one of the most dominating pitching duos in history. The hurler (nicknamed "Big D" by fans) used brushback pitches and a sidearm fastball to intimidate batters, similar to his fierce fellow Hall of Famer Bob Gibson. His 154 hit batsmen remains a modern National League record.

Drysdale was also considered a good hitter for a pitcher. In a total of 14 seasons, he had 218 hits, including 29 home runs, and was occasionally used as a pinch-hitter.

The ball thrown for the final out of Drysdale's consecutive scoreless innings streak in 1968.

In 1962, Drysdale won 25 games and the Cy Young Award. In 1968, he set Major League records with six consecutive shutouts and 58 consecutive scoreless innings; the latter record was broken by fellow Dodger Orel Hershiser 20 years later. In 1963, he struck out 251 batters and won World Series Game 3 at Los Angeles' Dodger Stadium over the Yankees, 1–0. In 1965, he was the Dodgers' only .300 hitter and tied his own National League record for pitchers with seven home runs. That year he won 23 games and helped the Dodgers to their third World Championship in Los Angeles. He ended his career with 209 wins, 2,486 strikeouts, 167 complete games and 49 shutouts. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1984, and had his number 53 officially retired at Dodger Stadium on July 1, 1984. (He was the last player on the Dodgers who had played for Brooklyn.)

He won three NL Player of the Month awards: June 1959 (6-0, 1.71 ERA, 51 SO), July 1960 (6-0, 2.00 ERA, 48 SO), and May 1968 (5-1, 0.53 ERA, 45 SO; he also pitched consecutive 5 shutouts, beginning his scoreless inning streak, which we carried into June).

Drysdale took part in a famous salary holdout in the spring of 1966 along with Koufax, with both finally signing contracts just before the season opened. This holdout was the beginning of what would eventually become collective bargaining.

In 1965, Sandy Koufax refused to pitch in Game One of the World Series because it was Yom Kippur, a Jewish holy day. Instead of Koufax, Don Drysdale pitched for the Los Angeles Dodgers giving up seven runs in 2 2/3 innings. When Walter Alston, the manager, came to pull him from the game, Drysdale said: "I bet right now you wish I was Jewish, too." The Dodgers lost to the Minnesota Twins, 8-2.

Broadcasting career

A chronically sore shoulder forced Drysdale to retire during the 1969 season. The next year he started a broadcasting career that would continue through the rest of his life: first for the Montreal Expos (1970–1971), then the Texas Rangers (1972), California Angels (1973–1979, 1981), Chicago White Sox (1982–1987), NBC (1977), ABC (1978[2]–1986), and finally back in Los Angeles with the Dodgers (from 1988 until his death in 1993). He also worked with his Angels' partner Dick Enberg on Los Angeles Rams football broadcasts from 1973–1976.

While at ABC Sports, Drysdale not only did baseball telecasts, but also Superstars and Wide World of Sports. In 1979, Drysdale covered the World Series Trophy presentation ceremonies for ABC. On October 11, 1980, Keith Jackson called an Oklahoma-Texas college football game for ABC in the afternoon, then flew to Houston to call Game 4 of the NLCS between the Houston Astros and Philadelphia Phillies. In the meantime, Drysdale filled-in for Jackson on play-by-play for the early innings.

In 1984, Drysdale did play-by-play (alongside Reggie Jackson and Earl Weaver) for the National League Championship Series between the San Diego Padres and Chicago Cubs. On October 6, 1984 at San Diego's Jack Murphy Stadium, Game 4 of the NLCS ended when Padres first baseman Steve Garvey hit a two run home run off Lee Smith. Drysdale on the call:

“ Deep right field, way back. Cotto going back to the wall...it's gone! Home run Garvey! And there will be tomorrow! ”

The Padres, who rallied from a 2–0 deficit in the best-of-five series against the Cubs won the decisive Game 5 the next day (thus, winning their first ever National League pennant).

In his last ever ABC assignment, Drysdale interviewed the winners in the Boston Red Sox' clubhouse following Game 7 of the 1986 American League Championship Series against the California Angels.

While broadcasting for the White Sox, Drysdale generated some controversy while covering a heated argument between an umpire and Sox manager Tony LaRussa. LaRussa pulled up the third base bag and hurled it into the outfield, to the approval of the Comiskey Park crowd, and ensuring his ejection. Drysdale remarked, "Go get 'em, Dago!"

For the Sox, Drysdale broadcast the 300th victory of Tom Seaver, against the host New York Yankees in 1985. His post-game interview with Seaver was carried live by both the Sox' network and the Yankees' longtime flagship television station WPIX.

1987

Drysdale hosted a nationally syndicated radio show called Radio Baseball Cards. 162 episodes were produced with stories and anecdotes told by current and former Major League Baseball players. The highlight of the series were numerous episodes dedicated to the memory and impact of Jackie Robinson as told by teammates, opponents and admirers. Radio Baseball Cards aired on 38 stations, including WNBC New York, KSFO San Francisco and WEEI Boston, as a pre-game show. A collector's edition of the program was re-released in 2007 as a podcast.[3]

1988

Drysdale conducted all of the National League player interviews for the Baseball Talk series in 1988 (Joe Torre did the same for the American League).

On September 28, 1988, fellow Dodger Orel Hershiser surpassed Drysdale when Hershiser finished the season with a record 59 consecutive scoreless innings pitched. In his final start of the year, Hershiser needed to pitch 10 shutout innings to set the mark – meaning not only that he would have to prevent the San Diego Padres from scoring, but that his own team would also need to fail to score in order to ensure extra innings. The Dodgers' anemic offense was obliging, however, and Hershiser pitched the first 10 innings of a scoreless tie, with the Padres eventually prevailing 2–1 in 16 innings. Hershiser almost did not pitch in the 10th inning, in deference to Drysdale, but was convinced to take the mound and try to break the record. When Hershiser broke Drysdale's record, Drysdale went to hug him, and said, "Oh, I'll tell ya, congratulations... And at least you kept it in the family."

Drysdale also called Kirk Gibson's walk-off home run in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series[4] for the Dodgers Radio Network:

“ Well, the crowd is on its feet and if there was ever a preface to Casey at the Bat it would have to be the ninth inning. Two out. The tying run aboard, the winning run at the plate, and Kirk Gibson, standing at the plate. Eckersley working out of the stretch, here's the three-two pitch...and a drive hit to right field (losing voice) WAY BACK! IT'S GONE! IT'S GONE! (After 2 minutes of crowd noise) This crowd will not stop! They can't believe the ending! And this time, Mighty Casey did NOT strike out!!!! ”

Personal life

Drysdale married Ginger Dubberly in 1958, with whom he had a daughter, Kelly. They divorced in 1982. On November 1, 1986, he married basketball player Ann Meyers, who took the name Ann Meyers-Drysdale and survived him in death. Drysdale and Meyers had three children together: Don Junior ("DJ") (son), Darren (son), and Drew (daughter). In 1990, Drysdale published his autobiography, Once a Bum, Always a Dodger.

Death

Drysdale was 56 when he died of a heart attack in room 2518 of Le Centre Sheraton in Montreal, Quebec, on July 3, 1993.[5] Radio station employees were sent to look for him when he failed to make the bus for Olympic Stadium where the Dodgers were to play the Montreal Expos. Hotel staff entered his room and found him face down, near his bed. The coroner estimated that he had been dead for 18 hours.

Drysdale's broadcasting colleague Vin Scully, who was instructed not to say anything on the air until Drysdale's family was notified, announced the news of his death by saying "Never have I been asked to make an announcement that hurts me as much as this one. And I say it to you as best I can with a broken heart." Fellow broadcaster Ross Porter told his radio audience, "I just don't believe it, folks." Drysdale was replaced by Rick Monday in the broadcast booth.

Among the personal belongings found in Drysdale's hotel room was a cassette tape of Robert F. Kennedy's victory speech after the 1968 California Democratic presidential primary, a speech given only moments before Senator Kennedy's assassination. In the speech, Kennedy had noted, to the cheers of the crowd, that Drysdale had pitched his sixth straight shutout that evening. Drysdale had apparently carried the tape with him wherever he went since Kennedy's murder.[6]

Drysdale's body was cremated at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.

Media

Television

Drysdale was a popular guest star in several television programs:

Film

The number "53" used for Disney's Herbie the Love Bug was inspired by Drysdale.[11]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Henson, Steve (July 12, 1993). "He Never Left Van Nuys High". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 28, 2011.
  2. ↑ "History of #1 analyst demotions". Classic Sports TV and Media. February 18, 2013. Retrieved April 13, 2013.
  3. ↑ Smarter Podcasts – Home
  4. ↑ Don Drysdale's call of Gibson home run on YouTube
  5. ↑ http://articles.latimes.com/1997/aug/08/sports/sp-20491
  6. ↑ Dodgers treated to screening of 'Bobby'
  7. ↑ The Greatest American Hero: The Two-Hundred-Mile-an-Hour Fastball – TV.com
  8. ↑ TV.com
  9. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4OPrgXfSoc&list=PLiysj-EKbPPqnbL63xLO5G27jkP0_Cr3P&index=29
  10. ↑
  11. ↑ Herbie The Love Bug Clip from Disney docummentary Age of Believing Dean Jones Walt Disney on YouTube

External links