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1970 Los Angeles Dodgers season

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1970 Los Angeles Dodgers
LeagueNational League
DivisionWest
BallparkDodger Stadium
CityLos Angeles
OwnersWalter O'Malley, James Mulvey
PresidentPeter O'Malley
General managersAl Campanis
ManagersWalter Alston
TelevisionKTTV (11)
RadioKFI
Vin Scully, Jerry Doggett
KWKW
Jose Garcia, Jaime Jarrín
← 1969 Seasons 1971 →

In 1970, Los Angeles Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley stepped down as team president, turning the reins over to his son Peter, while remaining as the team's chairman. The Dodgers remained competitive, finishing the season in second place, 14+12 games behind the NL Champion Cincinnati Reds in the National League West.

Regular season

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Season standings

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NL West
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Cincinnati Reds 102 60 .630 57‍–‍24 45‍–‍36
Los Angeles Dodgers 87 74 .540 14½ 39‍–‍42 48‍–‍32
San Francisco Giants 86 76 .531 16 48‍–‍33 38‍–‍43
Houston Astros 79 83 .488 23 44‍–‍37 35‍–‍46
Atlanta Braves 76 86 .469 26 42‍–‍39 34‍–‍47
San Diego Padres 63 99 .389 39 31‍–‍50 32‍–‍49

Record vs. opponents

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Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
Team ATL CHC CIN HOU LAD MON NYM PHI PIT SD SF STL
Atlanta 8–4 5–13 9–9 6–12 6–6 6–6 7–5 6–6 9–9 7–11 7–5
Chicago 4–8 7–5 7–5 6–6 13–5 7–11 9–9 8–10 9–3 7–5 7–11
Cincinnati 13–5 5–7 15–3 13–5 7–5 8–4 7–5 8–4 8–10 9–9 9–3
Houston 9–9 5–7 3–15 8–10 8–4 6–6 4–8 6–6 14–4 10–8 6–6
Los Angeles 12–6 6–6 5–13 10–8 8–4 7–5 6–5 6–6 11–7 9–9 7–5
Montreal 6–6 5–13 5–7 4–8 4–8 10–8 11–7 9–9 6–6 6–6 7–11
New York 6–6 11–7 4–8 6–6 5–7 8–10 13–5 6–12 6–6 6–6 12–6
Philadelphia 5-7 9–9 5–7 8–4 5–6 7–11 5–13 4–14 9–3 8–4 8–10
Pittsburgh 6–6 10–8 4–8 6–6 6–6 9–9 12–6 14–4 6–6 4–8 12–6
San Diego 9–9 3–9 10–8 4–14 7–11 6–6 6–6 3–9 6–6 5–13 4–8
San Francisco 11–7 5–7 9–9 8–10 9–9 6–6 6–6 4–8 8–4 13–5 7–5
St. Louis 5–7 11–7 3–9 6–6 5–7 11–7 6–12 10–8 6–12 8–4 5–7


Opening Day lineup

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Opening Day starters
Name Position
Maury Wills Shortstop
Bill Buckner Left fielder
Willie Davis Center fielder
Willie Crawford Right fielder
Wes Parker First baseman
Steve Garvey Third baseman
Tom Haller Catcher
Ted Sizemore Second baseman
Claude Osteen Starting pitcher

Notable transactions

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Roster

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1970 Los Angeles Dodgers
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

Coaches

First major league foul ball injury death

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On May 16, the Dodgers were playing a home game against the Giants when, during the third inning, Mota fouled off a Gaylord Perry pitch into the stands near first base. It struck Alan Fish, 14, attending the game with other boys from his nearby recreational baseball team and their coach. Fish was unconscious for a minute, and spoke incoherently when he reawakened and, while his speech had recovered, needed assistance walking to the Dodger Stadium's first-aid center.[4]

There, he seemed to have recovered completely. The stadium doctor did not ask whether he had lost consciousness or check his blood pressure, and released him after giving him two aspirin for the lingering pain. He returned to his seat and watched the rest of the game normally, even trying to get autographs from the Dodgers afterwards. However, on his return home he began experiencing dizziness, shaking and crying, and his parents decided to take him to a hospital.[4]

Two hospitals were unable to take the boy immediately, even as his condition deteriorated, and he was not admitted until early the next morning. His condition at first improved, but then became even worse, and a neurosurgeon discovered a large mass at the site of the injury. Before he could operate, however, Fish suffered a convulsion that left him brain dead, and three days later he died after being taken off life support.[4]

The autopsy found that Fish had died due to an intracerebral hemorrhage after the hairline fracture caused by the foul ball had pushed a piece of his skull into his brain. Had he been required to rest and hospitalized immediately afterward, the neurosurgeon believed he could have recovered completely. The Fishes sued the Dodgers, the stadium physician and the two hospitals that had not been able to treat their son for negligence and medical malpractice; at trial, after dropping the other hospitals, the jury found for the team and doctor.[4] However, an appeals court reversed that verdict three years later due to a jury instruction that should have been given but was not.[5]

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 Tom Haller 112 325 93 .286 10 47
1B Wes Parker 161 614 196 .319 10 111
2B Ted Sizemore 96 340 104 .306 1 34
SS Maury Wills 132 522 141 .270 0 34
3B Billy Grabarkewitz 156 529 153 .289 17 84
LF Manny Mota 124 417 127 .305 3 37
CF Willie Davis 146 593 181 .305 8 93
RF Willie Crawford 109 299 70 .234 8 40

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
Jim Lefebvre 109 314 79 .252 4 44
Bill Russell 81 278 72 .259 0 28
Bill Sudakis 94 269 71 .264 14 44
Andy Kosco 74 224 51 .228 8 27
Jeff Torborg 64 134 31 .231 1 17
Von Joshua 72 109 29 .266 1 8
Steve Garvey 34 93 25 .269 1 6
Bill Buckner 28 68 13 .191 0 4
Len Gabrielson 43 42 8 .190 0 6
Gary Moore 7 16 3 .188 0 0
Tom Paciorek 8 9 2 .222 0 0
Joe Ferguson 5 4 1 .250 0 1
Bob Stinson 4 3 0 .000 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
Don Sutton 38 260.1 15 13 4.08 201
Claude Osteen 37 258.2 16 14 3.83 114
Alan Foster 33 198.2 10 13 4.26 83
Sandy Vance 20 115.0 7 7 3.13 45
Bill Singer 16 106.1 8 5 3.13 93

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
Joe Moeller 31 135.1 7 9 3.92 63

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
Jim Brewer 58 7 6 24 3.13 91
Ray Lamb 35 6 1 0 3.79 32
Pete Mikkelsen 33 4 2 6 2.76 47
Fred Norman 30 2 0 1 5.23 27
José Peña 29 4 3 4 4.42 31
Camilo Pascual 10 0 0 0 2.57 8
Charlie Hough 8 0 0 2 5.29 8
Mike Strahler 6 1 1 1 1.45 11
Jerry Stephenson 3 0 0 0 9.45 6
Al McBean 1 0 0 0 0.00 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 Spokane Indians Pacific Coast League Tommy Lasorda
AA Albuquerque Dodgers Texas League Del Crandall
A Bakersfield Dodgers California League Don LeJohn
A Daytona Beach Dodgers Florida State League Stan Wasiak
A Medford Dodgers Northwest League Bill Berrier
Rookie Ogden Dodgers Pioneer League Buddy Hollowell

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Albuquerque, Bakersfield

1970 Major League Baseball Draft

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This was the sixth year of a Major League Baseball Draft. The Dodgers drafted 45 players in the June draft and 9 in the January draft.

The most notable pick in this years draft was pitcher Doug Rau, who was selected with the 1st pick in the June Secondary draft out of Texas A&M University. Rau would play for the Dodgers from 1972 to 1979 and made 184 starts for the team, with an 80–58 record and 3.30 ERA before spending his final season with the California Angels in 1981.

The first pick in the regular June draft was pitcher Jim Haller from Creighton Prep High School. Haller was 18–18 in 123 minor league games over six seasons, with a 3.65 ERA.

Notes

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  1. ^ Jerry Royster page at Baseball Reference
  2. ^ Sergio Ferrer page at Baseball Reference[permanent dead link]
  3. ^ Fred Norman page at Baseball Reference
  4. ^ a b c d Weeks, David; Gorman, Robert (2015). "15: Fans". Death at the Ballpark: More Than 2,000 Game-Related Fatalities of Players, Other Personnel and Spectators in Amateur and Professional Baseball, 1862–2014 (2nd ed.). McFarland. p. 153. ISBN 9780786479320. Retrieved March 15, 2019.
  5. ^ Fish v. Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Club, 56 Cal.App.3d 620, 640 (Cal.App. 1976).
  6. ^ 1970 Los Angeles Dodgers Picks in the MLB January Draft-Regular Phase
  7. ^ 1970 Los Angeles Dodgers Picks in the MLB January Draft-Secondary Phase
  8. ^ 1970 Los Angeles Dodgers Picks in the MLB June Amateur Draft
  9. ^ 1970 Los Angeles Dodgers Picks in the MLB June Draft-Secondary Phase

References

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