Chapter 4: 1981, a split decision but a victory
Fernandomania and a season I have enjoyed more than any other
Most people don’t look back at the 1981 season with a lot of fondness. But I do. And for a very simple reason. It was the first time the Dodgers won the World Series in my lifetime. And it was a weird wild ride. And there was Fernando Valenzuela too.
The story of the first half of the Dodgers season was their rookie lefty starter Fernando Valenzuela. After a surprise Opening Day shutout, Valenzuela kept it going that year with a 13-7 record and eight shutouts in just 25 starts.
Valenzuela made just 25 starts as the season stopped in June because of a players strike, with the main issue being team compensation for the signing of free agents.1 When the music stopped in June, the Dodgers had a 1/2 game lead in the NL West over the Reds.
That 1/2 game, the result of the Dodgers playing one more game than the Reds, would be enough to guarantee the Dodgers a playoff spot. When the season resumed in August, the owners and players agreed to a split season set up and the next set of games were an entirely different season.
Since the Dodgers were already in the playoffs, Tommy Lasorda experimented with his lineup and pitchers. Several minor leaguers (those seasons kept on going) were brought up to help out, such as relievers Tom Niedenfuer and Alejandro Pena. Steve Sax got some playing time at second base, a warning that the long time infield of Garvey-Lopes-Russell-Cey was likely playing a farewell tour.
The 1980 division champion Astros won the second half. 2 They would face the Dodgers in a five game series with the first two in Houston and the last three (if necessary) in Los Angeles.
The Astros won the first two games on a walkoff homer from Alan Ashby in Game 1 and then eked out a 1-0 win in 11 innings in the second game. The Dodgers easily won Game 3 and edged the Astros 2-1 in Game 4. This set up a big Game 5 on a Sunday afternoon with Dodgers lefty Jerry Reuss taking on the formidable Nolan Ryan.
Reuss and Ryan matched zeros until the bottom of the sixth when the Dodgers bunched three hits, a walk, and a critical error by Denny Walling to score three times. That was more than enough as Reuss finished up with a 4-0 shutout win. The final out was a strikeout of Astro pinch hitter Dave Roberts3, who didn’t notice that strike three went to the backstop and was thrown out at first.4
The Dodgers then came back from a 2-1 series deficit against Montreal to go to the World Series, where they would avenge 1978 by losing the first two games to the Yankees before coming back to win four straight and win their first World Series in my lifetime.
The feeling of the Dodgers first championship was an odd one. This was a team full of players whom I felt I had grown up with. But, I knew that a lot of them would be on their way out in a year or two. Lopes left in 1982 and Cey in 1983 and Garvey and Baker in 1984. Times were changing. Valenzuela would be the new star and one of the three MVPs of the World Series, Pedro Guerrero (3 for 5 with a triple, homer and five RBI in the clinching game), would become the team’s best hitter.
Probably the best feeling was knowing that the Dodgers had beaten the Yankees and their amazingly assholish owner George Steinbrenner, who may have been at the pinnacle of his jerkiness in 1981, claiming to get into a fight at a hotel with Dodgers fans in a story that had many many many holes.5
Baseball was not normal in 1981. That is not to say it was not fun to watch. I enjoyed it, but my team won the World Series. Not that it was easy. I’m not sure how I celebrated. Except that I had to go to high school the next day. And life went back to normal.
Not much ever came out of this compensation plan except that Tom Seaver somehow ended up on the White Sox.
The Reds finished with a better combined record than the Dodgers or Astros (or anyone else in the majors), but missed the playoffs. Were the Reds upset about this? Yes, yes they were.
A different Dave Roberts. The current Dodgers manager was 9 years old when this game was played.
There was a lot of garbage on the field that day. I forget why, but I assume it was windy.
Steinbrenner’s two alleged assailants have never been identified. Probably because they did not exist.
I've never been able to find an answer to this (I was only 8 at the time) but what was the plan if any team had won the division in both halves?
I was about to say what John said but he beat me to it.