Maury Wills and a cloud of Dust...
1962 LA DodgersHome Fields: Dodger Stadium
Second PlaceHit: #1 R, #4t BA
W - 102 L - 63Pitch: #3 RA, #3 ERA
Manager: Walter AlstonDef: #2 FA

1962 saw the Dodgers and Giants heated rivalry finally make the trip from NY to the West coast.  Just like in 1951 these heated rivals found themselves knotted on the final day of the season.  Before 1969 the LCS was only played in case of a end of season tie for the pennant.  The AL would only play 1 game, but the NL played a best 2 or 3 series.  In the first game of the playoffs the Giants won easily behind billy Pierce's 3 hit shoutout.  the Dodgers came from behind to take the second game 8-7, thus setting the statge for the showdown and evoking memories of the 1951 debacle.  After 8 innings the dodgers led 4-2, but the Giants crossed the plate four times in the 9th, with the winning run being walked in by Stan Williams.  Not exactly Bobby Thomson's crushing blow 11 years early...but just as devastating.

After much struggle with the city fathers of LA, Walter O'Malley finally opened his baseball emporium (Dodger Stadium) for the start of the 1962 season.  Prior to that the transplanted Brooklynites were forced to play their home games in the LA Coliseum, which was a football stadium with a chain link fence.  The Dodgers drew 2.7 million fans in their first year in their new home.  Their team was built on speed and pitching since their new ballpark was not going to be the hitter's paradise that Ebbets filed was.  Maury Wills emerged from the shadows at the advanced age of 29 and revolutionized baseball by stealing 104 bases en route to capturing league MVP honors.  A typical Dodger rally would be a Wills walk, 2 stolen bases and a sac fly run scored.  Tommy Davis led the league in hitting (.346) and Double D, Don Drysdale won 25 games.  But all the individual glory could not make up for the unfortunate incident which took place on July 17th, when emerging ace southpaw Sandy Koufax was lost for the season with a circulatory ailment in his fingers.  Reminicient of their collapse in 1951 the Dodgers won only 3 of their last 13 as the hated Giants surged to tie them.




1962 LOS ANGELES DODGERS TEAM ROSTER
Pitchers
No. Name Pos Bats Throws Height Weight Born
-- Drysdale, Don P R R 6'5" 190 7/23/1936
-- Hunter, Willard P R L 6'2" 180 3/8/1934
-- Koufax, Sandy P R L 6'2" 210 12/30/1935
-- Moeller, Joe P R R 6'5" 192 2/15/1943
-- Ortega, Phil P R R 6'2" 170 10/7/1939
-- Perranoski, Ron P L L 6'0" 180 4/1/1936
-- Podres, Johnny P L L 5'11" 170 9/30/1932
-- Richert, Pete P L L 5'11" 165 10/29/1939
-- Roebuck, Ed P R R 6'2" 185 7/3/1931
-- Sherry, Larry P R R 6'2" 180 7/25/1935
-- Smith, Jack P R R 6'0" 185 11/15/1935
-- Williams, Stan P R R 6'5" 230 9/14/1936
Catchers
No. Name Pos Bats Throws Height Weight Born
-- Camilli, Doug C R R 5'11" 195 9/22/1936
-- Roseboro, John C L R 5'11" 190 5/13/1933
-- Sherry, Norm C R R 5'11" 180 7/16/1931
Infielders
No. Name Pos Bats Throws Height Weight Born
-- Burright, Larry 2B R R 5'11" 170 7/10/1937
-- Carey, Andy 3B R R 6'1" 190 10/18/1931
-- Fairly, Ron 1B L L 5'10" 175 7/12/1938
-- Gilliam, Jim 2B B R 5'10" 175 10/17/1928
-- Harkness, Tim 1B L L 6'2" 182 12/23/1937
-- Spencer, Daryl 3B R R 6'2" 185 7/13/1929
-- Tracewski, Dick SS R R 5'11" 160 2/3/1935
-- Wills, Maury SS B R 5'11" 170 10/2/1932
Outfielders
No. Name Pos Bats Throws Height Weight Born
-- Davis, Tommy -- R R 6'2" 195 3/21/1939
-- Davis, Willie -- L L 5'11" 180 4/15/1940
-- Howard, Frank -- R R 6'7" 255 8/8/1936
-- McMullen, Ken -- R R 6'3" 190 6/1/1942
-- Moon, Wally -- L R 6'0" 169 4/3/1930
-- Snider, Duke -- L R 6'0" 179 9/19/1926
-- Walls, Lee -- R R 6'3" 205 1/6/1933

 

1962 LOS ANGELES DODGERS TEAM BATTING STATS
Player AVG G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K HBP SB CS GDP OBP SLG OPS
Davis, Tommy 0.346 163 665 120 230 27 9 27 153 33 65 2 18 6 17 0.374 0.535 0.91
Wills, Maury 0.299 165 695 130 208 13 10 6 48 51 57 2

104

 13 7 0.347 0.373 0.72
Howard, Frank 0.296 141 493 80 146 25 6 31 119 39 108 1 1 0 18 0.346 0.56 0.906
Davis, Willie 0.285 157 600 103 171 18 10 21 85 42 72 6 32 7 14 0.334 0.453 0.787
Camilli, Doug 0.284 45 88 16 25 5 2 4 22 12 21 0 0 0 4 0.366 0.523 0.889
Fairly, Ron 0.278 147 460 80 128 15 7 14 71 75 59 3 1 1 10 0.379 0.433 0.811
Snider, Duke 0.278 80 158 28 44 11 3 5 30 36 32 2 2 0 5 0.418 0.481 0.899
McMullen, Ken 0.273 6 11 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0.273 0.273 0.545
Gilliam, Jim 0.27 160 588 83 159 24 1 4 43 93 35 2 17 7 10 0.37 0.335 0.705
Walls, Lee 0.266 60 109 9 29 3 1 0 17 10 21 0 1 0 2 0.325 0.312 0.637
Harkness, Tim 0.258 92 62 9 16 2 0 2 7 10 20 1 1 0 0 0.37 0.387 0.757
Roseboro, John 0.249 128 389 45 97 16 7 7 55 50 60 7 12 3 8 0.341 0.38 0.722
Moon, Wally 0.242 95 244 36 59 9 1 4 31 30 33 1 5 2 6 0.326 0.336 0.662
Spencer, Daryl 0.236 77 157 24 37 5 1 2 12 32 31 0 0 0 7 0.365 0.318 0.684
Carey, Andy 0.234 53 111 12 26 5 1 2 13 16 23 1 0 0 1 0.333 0.351 0.685
Roebuck, Ed 0.214 64 28 1 6 0 0 0 3 0 5 0 0 0 0 0.214 0.214 0.429
Moeller, Joe 0.212 19 33 1 7 0 0 0 0 0 17 0 0 0 0 0.212 0.212 0.424
Burright, Larry 0.205 115 249 35 51 6 5 4 30 21 67 0 4 3 5 0.264 0.317 0.581
Drysdale, Don 0.198 43 111 9 22 4 1 0 14 5 29 2 0 1 4 0.246 0.252 0.498
Sherry, Norm 0.182 35 88 7 16 2 0 3 16 6 17 1 0 0 2 0.24 0.307 0.546
Podres, Johnny 0.159 40 88 6 14 2 0 1 5 2 8 1 0 0 1 0.187 0.216 0.403
Sherry, Larry 0.118 58 17 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 5 0 0 0 1 0.167 0.118 0.284
Koufax, Sandy 0.087 28 69 1 6 0 0 1 4 2 42 0 0 0 3 0.113 0.13 0.243
Richert, Pete 0.08 19 25 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 9 0 0 0 0 0.115 0.08 0.195

 

1962 LOS ANGELES DODGERS TEAM PITCHING STATS
Player ERA W L SV G GS CG ShO  IP H R ER HR BB K RATIO BAVG
Koufax, Sandy 2.54 14 7 1 28 26 11 2 184.1 134 61 52 13 57 216 1.04 0.197
Drysdale, Don 2.83 25 9 1 43 41 19 2 314.1 272 122 99 21 78 232 1.11 0.23
Perranoski, Ron 2.85 6 6 20 70 0 0 0 107.1 103 40 34 1 36 68 1.3 0.255
Roebuck, Ed 3.09 10 2 9 64 0 0 0 119.1 102 60 41 11 54 72 1.31 0.232
Sherry, Larry 3.2 7 3 11 58 0 0 0 90 81 40 32 8 44 71 1.39 0.241
Podres, Johnny 3.81 15 13 0 40 40 8 0 255 270 121 108 20 71 178 1.34 0.272
Richert, Pete 3.87 5 4 0 19 12 1 0 81.1 77 35 35 6 45 75 1.5 0.249
Williams, Stan 4.46 14 12 1 40 28 4 1 185.2 184 104 92 16 98 108 1.52 0.253
Smith, Jack 4.5 0 0 1 8 0 0 0 10 10 6 5 0 4 7 1.4 0.263
Moeller, Joe 5.25 6 5 1 19 15 1 0 85.2 87 55 50 10 58 46 1.7 0.266
Ortega, Phil 6.88 0 2 1 24 3 0 0 53.2 60 43 41 8 39 30 1.86 0.276
Hunter, Willard 40.5 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 6 10 9 1 4 1 5 0.545
Team Totals: 3.6 102 63 46 70 165 44 5 1,488.20 1386 697 598 115 588 1104 1.33 0.25