Top 50 Los Angeles Dodgers
One of the most celebrated franchises in all sports, the Los Angeles Dodgers were initially the Brooklyn Grays in 1883, but it was a long time before they found an identity.
The organization changed its name multiple times since its origin, the Atlantics (1884), back to the Grays (1885-87), then the Bridegrooms (1888-90), the Grooms (1991-95), the Bridegrooms again (1895-98, the Superbas (1899-1910), the Trolley Dodgers (1911-12), then the Dodgers (1913), the Robins (1914-1931), before settling on the Dodgers again in 1932.
The Brooklyn Dodgers would sign Jackie Robinson to integrate baseball, and in 1955, on their eighth attempt, they finally won their first World Series.
The fans of Brooklyn were not rewarded for their loyalty and patience, and like the crosstown New York Giants, westward the Dodgers went in 1957, where they remain to this day.
In Los Angeles, the Dodgers won three World Series Titles in their first ten years in the new environment, capturing it all in 1959, 1963, and 1965. The 1970s saw them competitive at the decade's end, and they won two more Championships in the 1980s (1981 and 1988).
In recent years, the Dodgers have been a top team, with their last World Series win coming in 2020, giving them seven in total.
This list is up to the end of the 2023 regular season.
Note: Baseball lists are based on an amalgamation of tenure, traditional statistics, advanced statistics, playoff statistics, and post-season accolades.
William “Brickyard” Kennedy played for Brooklyn in the first ten (1892-1901) of his 12 years in the Majors, where he won a lot of Games, though he would not dazzle with other statistics. A four-time 20-Game winner, Kennedy had a very good record for Brooklyn of 177 and 148, but his ERA for the team was 3.98, including a 5.05 year where he still had a 19-12 record. Still, Kennedy did enough to keep his team in games, and Brooklyn batters had enough confidence that he could keep them competitive. He also helped his cause with his offense, batting .256 with 306…
Jimmy Sheckard played for Brooklyn on three different occasions; though this was in a tight vacuum, you could argue that his first MLB half was indeed with Brooklyn. Sheckard first appeared for Brooklyn in 1897, becoming a starting Outfield as a sophomore, but he was assigned to the first version of the Baltimore Orioles in 1899, only to be re-assigned back in 1900. He had a very good 1901, putting up career-highs in Hits (196), Triples (19), and the Slash Line (.354/.409/.534), with his total in Triples and Slugging league-leading. The year after was a little strange, as Sheckard again joined…
Claude Osteen was a popular southpaw who played most of his career with the Los Angeles Dodgers, though that was his third MLB team after playing for Cincinnati and Washington. Osteen was traded to the Dodgers after his first solid year with the Senators (1964), and he was more than competent over the next ten years. A three-time All-Star for the Dodgers, Osteen helped Los Angeles win the 1965 World Series, and though he hemorrhaged hits, he always found a way to get more Ws than Ls. Osteen never had a year in L.A. where he won less than 12 Games,…
An All-Star with the Pirates in 1945, Elwin “Preacher” Roe made the most of his belated opportunity with the depleted World War II roster, but when the Majors were replenished, the next two years saw his ERA balloon over five, though likely this was the result of the after-effects of a fractured skull he suffered from a fight while refereeing a high school basketball game. Now over 30, it appeared that Roe’s run in the Majors would end shortly, but Dodgers GM, Branch Rickey, had other ideas. Now a Dodger, healthy, and using an illegal spitball, Roe became a star in…
Burt Hooton cut his teeth with the Chicago Cubs, making their parent club in 1971, but the struggles in Wrigley saw the hurler traded to L.A. early in the 1975 Season. If you are to go by traditional statistics, this was the most fantastic year of Hooton's career, as he went 18 and 9, the best Winning Percentage in the National League. Hooton remained a Starting Rotation fixture for Los Angeles for years, which included a spectacular year in 1978 where he was the Cy Young runner-up with a career-best in Wins (19), along with a strong ERA of 2.71. Helping the…
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Mookie Betts was a star with the Boston Red Sox and a lot of heads were scratched in New England when they traded him to the Los Angeles Dodgers. They will remain befuddled to the end of time. Betts’ first year in L.A. was the COVID-shortened year where he led his new team to a World Series Championship. Finishing second in MVP voting, Betts also won his first National League Gold Glove and Silver Slugger that year. An All-Star in 2021, Betts lost some time due to injury but was healthier again in 2022, where he belted 35 Home Runs,…
Mike Griffin was already playing in top baseball leagues for four years, last playing a season in the short-lived Player's League for Philadelphia. The Outfielder joined Brooklyn in 1891 of the National League, the final team he would play for. Griffin had a great start with the Bridegrooms, leading the NL in Doubles (36) with 65 Stolen Bases. Swiping at least 30 Bases each of the next three years, Griffin began a five-year streak in 1894 where he batted at least .300, which concluded in 1898. To his surprise, Brooklyn merged with Baltimore, and he refused to sign a contract under the new…
When you win over 100 Games for the Dodgers, you would think you would be held in higher regard, but Ramon Martinez's long Dodgers tenure did not see a lot of playoff action. Signed as an amateur Free Agent in 1984, the native of the Dominican Republic was the youngest player in the Majors when he debuted four years later for L.A.. The Dodgers won the World Series that year, though Martinez was not on the roster. He bounced back and forth between the Majors and Minors in 1989 but was a Major League player to stay in 1990, a year that…
"Pistol" Pete Reiser might be one of the biggest "what could have been" in Dodger history, as very few players on the diamond lost greatness so quickly due to injuries. Reiser was pegged to be a star by St. Louis Cardinals management, and they were dismayed when he was one of the Minor League players that Commissioner, Kennesaw Mountain Landis, deemed free agents. Cardinals GM, Branch Rickey, had an agreement with the Dodgers, who signed Reiser to trade him back to St. Louis, but Brooklyn Kept Reiser, and Rickey, himself, would join Brooklyn in 1943. Reiser made it to the parent…
Mike Scioscia played his entire career with the Los Angeles Dodgers, showing cerebral prowess, the ability to manage a pitching staff, and good enough hitting for a team as celebrated as the Los Angeles Dodgers kept him for well over a decade and the entirety of his MLB career. Catchers are expected to be cerebral, but Scioscia took that to another level by learning Spanish to best communicate with the Dodgers ace, Fernando Valenzuela. A two-time All-Star, Scioscia was considered one of the best in his era in handling a pitching staff, and he did compile 1,131 Hits offensively for Los…
The narrative of Kevin Brown in Los Angeles is not a good one, as he was signed to the then-richest deal in MLB, and due to injuries, it was not justified, but the right-hander still provided some solid work as a Dodger. Brown signed that contract after the 1998 Season, and he finished sixth in Cy Young voting in his first two seasons, winning the ERA Title (2.58) in 2000. He won 31 Games against 15 Losses in the timeframe above and fanned at least 200 batters both years, so he was productive, but the expectation was that Brown would win…
The first six seasons (1926-31) of Babe Herman’s career were an impressive blend of Batting Average and power, leading to high popularity among the Robins fans. Herman debuted in 1926, becoming an everyday player as a rookie, and he was a good batter with a .319, 35 Doubles, and 11 Home Runs. Dropping to .272, Herman went on a three-year streak where he batted at least .340. As good as he became as a hitter, he was also known for his eccentric behavior and basepath blunders; he twice stopped to watch Home Runs go over the wall and was passed on the…