Title/Author:
“The Last Innocents:
The Collision of the Turbulent Sixties and the Los Angeles Dodgers” by Michael
Leahy
Tags:
Baseball, professional,
championship, Dodgers
Publish date:
May 10, 2016
Length:
501 pages
Rating:
5 of 5 stars (outstanding)
Review:
The Los Angeles Dodgers were a very successful
franchise in the early and mid 1960’s, winning two World Series and three National
League pennants during that time frame and drew millions of fans to the new
Dodger Stadium, christened in 1962. How
that team not only became so good on the field but also became a symbol of the
city during that decade is captured in this excellent book by Michael Leahy.
The book centers around a few key players
for those Dodger teams – Maury Wills, Sandy Koufax, Wes Parker, Jeff Torborg,
Dick Tracewski and Tommy Davis. The stories of these men – white and black,
Jewish and Christian, upper class and middle class – are intertwined both as
teammates on a very successful baseball team but also as young men going
through the changes taking place in the city and in the nation.
The stories for these men are not
just about their baseball skills but also their personal struggles as well. The
anguish of Wes Parker’s lack of self-confidence despite his family wealth was
one of the best personal stories and it was never far from his mind, even when
after begging to be allowed to sign with the team, he became one of the best defensive
first basement in the game at that time.
There are also riveting passages
about how Wills, Davis and other black players on the team such as Lou Johnson
(who would picture the ball pitched at him as a white person when he would hit
it – a great statement in the context of the book) was dealing with prejudice
in not only Los Angeles, but in Vero Beach, Florida.; the town where the team
held spring training. Of course, their stories also include the Watts riots and
how they were affected. The meshing of the societal and political changes with
the lives of these men shows the superb writing in this book.
The baseball passages reflect the
same outstanding quality, especially in the coverage of three important games
that Sandy Koufax pitched – his victory over the Yankees in the 1963 World
Series (many baseball historians believe that game was the beginning of the end
of the Yankee dynasty of the early 1960’s), his perfect game in 1965 against
the Cubs, and his game 7 victory in the 1965 World Series over the Minnesota
Twins. As an aside, the tale of when Koufax first mentioned to anyone that he
was going to retire after the 1966 World Series (Dodgers were swept by the
Baltimore Orioles) was another excellent passage that in just a few words, the
reader will get an excellent look into the psyche of the man. That was the case
for all of the players portrayed, not just Koufax.
Lastly, if there is a villain in
this baseball book that almost reads like a novel, it would be the combination
of owner Walter O’Malley and general manager Buzzie Bavasi. Readers will learn the harsh contract negotiations
each player encountered with Bavasi every off-season. This was during the time
of the reserve clause when players were bound to a team unless they were traded
or released, so the owners had all the leverage. The stories of these sessions
in which Wills was trying to become one of the better paid players on the team are
especially interesting, as is the well-known story of Koufax and Don Drysdale
holding out together before the 1966 season in order to obtain better contracts.
O’Malley comes across as a iron-clad
ruler with very few exceptions that are not consistent. How he treated Parker and Wills when neither
wanted to play in a goodwill tour of Japan after the 1966 season is a case in
point. Parker asked to be left behind before the tour started and was granted
that status, but Wills’ similar request was not, even though he was nursing a
sore knee. When Wills injured that knee in Japan and left for treatment, O’Malley
was so upset at this case of insubordination that he traded Wills to the
Pittsburgh Pirates. This made for another
section of excellent, entertaining reading.
Any fan of baseball during that time
frame, whether a Dodgers fan or not, is advised to pick up this book and enjoy
it immensely.
Book Format Read:
E-book (Kindle)
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