Rivalries Around the League: The Los Angeles Dodgers

(bumped from fanposts. --eric)

I have a little time before the Spring semester starts, so I decided it'd be fun to look back over some of the rivalries that we've had over the years. I figure, if I have the time, I'll make a bunch of these. So, without further ado, part I:

When you think of rival teams, the Dodgers aren’t necessarily one of the ones that first pop up. Sure, the cities of Los Angeles and New York have been engaged in “friendly competition” for years now, each one claiming to be the “best” city in the United States (New York, of course *is*, but let those drama queens in L.A. think whatever they want), but as far as baseball goes, you never hear much about any kind of rivalry between these two teams. But, from a certain perspective, the Dodgers were the Mets’ very first rivals.

A quick history lesson is necessary, for those whose baseball knowledge doesn’t reach back that far, or for those who need a quick primer. The Dodgers used to play in Brooklyn. In 1950, Walter O’Malley was able to buy the majority share of control of the team away from Branch Rickey, of Jackie Robinson fame. For various reasons that I won’t bother getting into, attendance at Ebbets Field, the then-home of the Dodgers, began dwindling, even after they captured Brooklyn’s first- and only- world championship, in 1955. O’Malley proposed to Mayor Wagner that a domed stadium be built on the site of the Atlantic Yards- the very same site which, in a few years, will be home to the Nets. "Construction Coordinator” guru Robert Moses- who wielded a vast amount of political power at the time- did not like O’Malley’s proposal (for various reasons, some legitimate- such as the stadium causing subway transit problems- and some mired in his own hubris), and as such, lobbied to have it rejected, which it was, in favor of a plan that would build a new stadium in Flushing Meadows, Queens. Spurned, O’Malley was contacted by the City of Los Angeles in 1957, which was desperate to bring in a professional sports team.

With a deal that was very favorable to him, O’Malley agreed to move the Dodgers out west- and in doing so, convinced Horace Stoneham, the frequently drunk and weak-minded owner of the Giants, to move west with him. At the end of the 1957 season, Walter O’Malley abandoned Brooklyn and selfishly moved out west to Los Angeles, ripping the heart out of the hundreds of thousands of fans in the borough, and taking away National League baseball from a city that has always been, unabashedly, a National League town. Their alternatives were to “switch allegiances”, so to speak, and follow the rival Yankees- as my own grandmother did- or to sit back and read watch the team from afar in the newspapers. All of that changed in 1962, however, when the New York Mets were born, of which the earlier teams consisted of a motley assortment of cast-offs from other clubs, players who would be Minor Leaguers elsewhere, and washed-up veterans, many of them former Dodgers (and Giants) themselves.

While the fledgling Mets had no trouble drawing crowds- they often outsold the Yankees, playing the horrible, horrible ball that the early Mets are known for- the games that had the most hustle-and-bustle were those games against the Dodgers, now of Los Angeles fame. That terrible, terrible man, Walter O’Malley dared to return, and the people of New York were going to stick it to him, and let him know how they felt about him! To make matters worse, many of the ‘Boys of Summer’ had moved on, either into retirement, or to other teams (many wound up on the Mets for some period of time). The Dodgers that were returning to New York were not the Dem Bums, but rather, a shell of what the Dodgers used to be. Only a few “friendly faces” remained, such as Don Drysdale, or Sandy Koufax.

Now, it’s important to keep in mind that the Dodgers of the early-to-mid 1960s were a powerhouse of a team. From 1960 to 1966, the fewest games the Dodgers won were 80, and the team had two World Series Championships in three appearances to show for their efforts. In 1962, the Mets lost 16 of their 18 games against the Dodgers, with Sandy Koufax tossing a no-hitter against the Mets on June 30th, the first of four he would throw in his career, including a perfect game against the Cubs in September 9th, 1965. The trend continued in 1963, when the Mets lost, again, 16 out of 18 to the Dodgers, 1964, 1965, 1966, and 1967. Finally, in 1968, the Mets would win 11 games out of the 18 played against the Dodgers.

Two very important things were happening during this time. Firstly, as the adage goes, “time heals all wounds”. As more and more time passed, people began feeling less pain over the loss of the Dodgers, and as such, Mets-Dodgers games began meaning less and less. Secondly, the Mets began developing into a team. Under the leadership of Gil Hodges, the Mets would eventually become a “real” team, and capture pennant and become World Series Champions in 1969. With a “real” team to follow, and more time behind them, the connection New York fans had with the Dodgers diluted even more, and a passionate rivalry fell into dormancy.

The Mets-Dodgers rivalry would once more rear its head in 1988, when both the Mets and Dodgers made it to the playoffs. The 1988 NLCS pitted the Dodgers against the Mets Dynasty-that-never-was. And, improbably, in a series that came down to the wire, the Dodgers won the series, crushing Mets playoff hopes. In Game 7, Orel Hershiser pitched a complete game shutout, limiting the Mets to only five hits.

As the 1990s approached, both teams fell into mediocrity, though in the mid-90s, the Dodgers would return to the playoffs, and in the late-90s, the Mets would return to the playoffs. The two would not meet again in meaningful October baseball until 2006, when the Mets and Dodgers played in the NLDS- a series that included a memorable gaffe as Paul Lo Duca recorded a double play at the plate. During this time, another controversy of sorts, another rivalry, in a manner of speech, would develop. This one would have nothing to do with records, however. It would center over a specific player.

On May 22nd, Mike Piazza was traded from the Florida Marlins to the Mets, after having played there for a week, having been acquired by the Marlins from the Dodgers. In Los Angeles, Mike Piazza was the 1993 Rookie of the Year, and had a great deal of ‘hardware’ to show for his seven years of work- six All-Star Selections, five Silver Slugger Awards, and numerous MVP votes, including two second place votes in 1996 and 1997. As such, many Los Angeles Dodger fans claimed him as their own, now and forever.

Many Mets fans, however, take offense to the claim- and rightly so. Though Mike Piazza put up better individual seasons on the Dodgers, his career statistics with the Mets outshine his career statistics with the Dodgers in most categories. Piazza logged more games played, plate appearances, at-bats, runs scored, hits, doubles, home runs, RBI, and walks than he did in Los Angeles. Piazza played with the Mets for eight years, including a missed playoff run in 1998, and the playoff teams of 1999 and 2000, where many cite Piazza as being the driving influence for the team reaching the playoffs. And, of course, Mike Piazza’s dramatic home run on September 21st, 2001.

via farm1.static.flickr.com

The Mets-Dodgers rivalry has been very on-again, off-again in nature. It only came about to begin with because of certain specific circumstances, and continues to exist because of certain specific circumstances. With both teams being relatively successful of late, and both having a storied, intertwined, and interdependent history, it will be interesting to see how this rivalry plays out in the future.