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1958 Los Angeles Dodgers season

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1958 Los Angeles Dodgers
Home opener at the Coliseum on April 18 and Downtown Parade welcoming the Dodgers
Home opener at the Coliseum on April 18 and Downtown Parade welcoming the Dodgers
LeagueNational League
BallparkLos Angeles Memorial Coliseum
CityLos Angeles
OwnersWalter O'Malley, James & Dearie Mulvey
PresidentWalter O'Malley
General managersBuzzie Bavasi
ManagersWalter Alston
TelevisionKTTV (11)
RadioKMPC
Vin Scully, Jerry Doggett
KWKW
René Cárdenas, Miguel Alonzo, Milt Nava
← 1957 Seasons 1959 →

The Los Angeles Dodgers took the field before 78,672 fans at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on April 18, 1958, to usher in the beginning of the team's new home in Los Angeles. It was a rough season, as the Dodgers finished 21 games in back of the pennant-winning Milwaukee Braves in the National League standings, but it was the beginning of the second phase for the team. Vin Scully and company moved to KTTV (television) and KMPC (radio) from that year onward, and the Dodgers became one of the first teams that commenced Spanish language radio broadcasts for Latinos, with KWKW as the first station to offer a Spanish-language service.

Offseason

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Spring training

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The Dodgers played their first exhibition game as the Los Angeles Dodgers on March 8, 1958. The team faced the Philadelphia Phillies at Miami Stadium. Ron Negray started for the Dodgers and gave up four runs in a 7 to 4 Dodgers loss. The New York Times noted that as much as the game was a historic milestone for the franchise, it was a chance for manager Walter Alston to evaluate players under game conditions, especially catchers, following Roy Campanella's offseason auto accident that ended his career before he could ever play for Los Angeles.[1]

Regular season

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  • April 15–20, 1958: The Dodgers and Giants played their first six official National League games as representatives of their new cities on the West Coast with back-to-back three-game series, first at Seals Stadium, San Francisco, then at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The Giants won four of those six games. In the season opener April 15, San Francisco blanked Los Angeles, 8–0, behind Rubén Gómez' complete game, six-hit shutout. Don Drysdale took the loss, and Charlie Neal notched Los Angeles' first hit, a single, in the second inning.[2] In their home opener April 18 in Los Angeles, the Dodgers built a 5–2 lead behind starting pitcher Carl Erskine, and held on to win 6–5. A throng of 78,762 witnessed the event at the Coliseum. Dick Gray, who hit the first home run in Los Angeles Dodger history April 16 in the second game of the 1958 season, also hit the first four-bagger before their home crowd in the seventh inning, giving Los Angeles an insurance run. The Giants nearly tied the game in the ninth inning, but Jim Davenport was ruled out for failing to touch third base after apparently scoring on a triple by San Francisco's Willie Kirkland.[3]
Opening Day starters
Name Position
Gino Cimoli Center fielder
Pee Wee Reese Shortstop
Duke Snider Left fielder
Gil Hodges First baseman
Charlie Neal Second baseman
Dick Gray Third baseman
Carl Furillo Right fielder
Rube Walker Catcher
Don Drysdale Starting pitcher
Home opener starters
Name Position
Jim Gilliam Left fielder
Pee Wee Reese Shortstop
Duke Snider Right fielder
Gil Hodges First baseman
Charlie Neal Second baseman
Dick Gray Third baseman
Gino Cimoli Center fielder
John Roseboro Catcher
Carl Erskine Starting pitcher

Season standings

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National League
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Milwaukee Braves 92 62 .597 48‍–‍29 44‍–‍33
Pittsburgh Pirates 84 70 .545 8 49‍–‍28 35‍–‍42
San Francisco Giants 80 74 .519 12 44‍–‍33 36‍–‍41
Cincinnati Redlegs 76 78 .494 16 40‍–‍37 36‍–‍41
Chicago Cubs 72 82 .468 20 35‍–‍42 37‍–‍40
St. Louis Cardinals 72 82 .468 20 39‍–‍38 33‍–‍44
Los Angeles Dodgers 71 83 .461 21 39‍–‍38 32‍–‍45
Philadelphia Phillies 69 85 .448 23 35‍–‍42 34‍–‍43

Record vs. opponents

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Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team CHC CIN LAD MIL PHI PIT SFG STL
Chicago 10–12 11–11 10–12 13–9 9–13 12–10 7–15
Cincinnati 12–10 11–11 5–17 15–7 10–12 11–11 12–10
Los Angeles 11–11 11–11 14–8 10–12 8–14 6–16 11–11
Milwaukee 12–10 17–5 8–14 13–9 11–11 16–6 15–7
Philadelphia 9–13 7–15 12–10 9–13 12–10 8–14 12–10
Pittsburgh 13–9 12–10 14–8 11–11 10–12 12–10 12–10
San Francisco 10–12 11–11 16–6 6–16 14–8 10–12 13–9
St. Louis 15–7 10–12 11–11 7–15 10–12 10–12 9–13


Notable transactions

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Roster

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1958 Los Angeles Dodgers
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats

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Batting

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Starters by position

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Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
C John Roseboro 114 384 104 .271 14 43
1B Gil Hodges 141 475 123 .259 22 64
2B Charlie Neal 140 473 120 .254 22 65
SS Don Zimmer 127 455 119 .262 17 60
3B Dick Gray 58 197 49 .249 9 30
LF Jim Gilliam 147 555 145 .261 2 43
CF Duke Snider 106 327 102 .312 15 58
RF Carl Furillo 122 411 119 .290 18 83

Other batters

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Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Gino Cimoli 109 325 80 .246 9 27
Norm Larker 99 253 70 .277 4 29
Pee Wee Reese 59 147 33 .224 4 17
Joe Pignatano 63 142 31 .218 9 17
Don Demeter 43 106 20 .189 5 8
Elmer Valo 65 101 25 .248 1 14
Steve Bilko 47 101 21 .208 7 18
Bob Lillis 20 69 27 .391 1 5
Randy Jackson 35 65 12 .185 1 4
Ron Fairly 15 53 15 .283 2 8
Rube Walker 25 44 5 .114 1 7
Jim Gentile 12 30 4 .133 0 4
Frank Howard 8 29 7 .241 1 2
Don Miles 8 22 4 .182 0 0
Earl Robinson 8 15 3 .200 0 0
Bob Wilson 3 5 1 .200 0 0

Pitching

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Starting pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Johnny Podres 39 210.1 13 15 3.72 143
Stan Williams 27 119.0 9 7 4.01 80
Danny McDevitt 13 48.1 2 6 7.45 26
Bob Giallombardo 6 26.1 1 1 3.76 14

Other pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Don Drysdale 44 211.2 12 13 4.17 131
Sandy Koufax 40 158.2 11 11 4.48 131
Fred Kipp 40 102.1 6 6 5.01 58
Carl Erskine 31 98.1 4 4 5.13 54
Don Newcombe 11 34.1 0 6 7.86 16
Roger Craig 9 32.0 2 1 4.50 16
Ralph Mauriello 3 11.2 1 1 4.63 11

Relief pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Clem Labine 52 6 6 14 4.15 43
Johnny Klippstein 45 3 5 9 3.80 73
Ed Roebuck 32 0 1 5 3.48 26
Don Bessent 19 1 0 0 3.33 13
Babe Birrer 16 0 0 1 4.50 16
Larry Sherry 5 0 0 0 12.46 2
Ron Negray 4 0 0 0 7.15 2
Jackie Collum 2 0 0 0 8.10 0

Awards and honors

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All-stars

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Farm system

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Level Team League Manager
AAA Montreal Royals International League Clay Bryant
AAA St. Paul Saints American Association Max Macon
AA Victoria Rosebuds Texas League Lou Rochelli
A Macon Dodgers South Atlantic League Danny Ozark
A Pueblo Dodgers Western League Ray Mueller
B Green Bay Bluejays Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League Pete Reiser
C Great Falls Electrics Pioneer League Stan Wasiak
C Reno Silver Sox California League Ray Perry
D Columbus Foxes Alabama–Florida League Brandy Davis
D Kokomo Dodgers Midwest League Edward Serrano
D Thomasville Dodgers Georgia–Florida League Rudy Rufer
Sam Suplizio

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Montreal

Notes

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  1. ^ Gordon S. White Jr. (March 9, 1958). "Phillies Triumph Over Dodgers, 7–4". New York Times. p. S1.
  2. ^ Retrosheet box score: 1958-04-15
  3. ^ Retrosheet box score: 1958-04-18
  4. ^ "Duke Snider | the BASEBALL Page". www.thebaseballpage.com. Archived from the original on March 4, 2006. Retrieved June 6, 2022.
  5. ^ Don Newcombe at Baseball-Reference
  6. ^ Randy Jackson at Baseball-Reference
  7. ^ Ramón Conde at Baseball-Reference

References

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