1970 Los Angeles Dodgers season

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, 14½ games behind the NL Champion Cincinnati Reds in the National League West.

1970 Los Angeles Dodgers
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s)Walter O'Malley, James Mulvey
General manager(s)Al Campanis
Manager(s)Walter Alston
Local televisionKTTV (11)
Local radioKFI
Vin Scully, Jerry Doggett
KWKW
Jose Garcia, Jaime Jarrín
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Regular season

Season standings
NL West W L Pct. GB Home Road
Cincinnati Reds 10260 0.630 — 57–24 45–36
Los Angeles Dodgers 8774 0.540 14½ 39–42 48–32
San Francisco Giants 8676 0.531 16 48–33 38–43
Houston Astros 7983 0.488 23 44–37 35–46
Atlanta Braves 7686 0.469 26 42–39 34–47
San Diego Padres 6399 0.389 39 31–50 32–49

Record vs. opponents
1970 National League Records

Sources:
Team ATL CHC CIN HOU LAD MON NYM PHI PIT SD SF STL
Atlanta —8–45–139–96–126–66–67–56–69–97–117–5
Chicago 4–8—7–57–56–613–57–119–98–109–37–57–11
Cincinnati 13–55–7—15–313–57–58–47–58–48–109–99–3
Houston 9–95–73–15—8–108–46–64–86–614–410–86–6
Los Angeles 12–66–65–1310–8—8–47–56–56–611–79–97–5
Montreal 6–65–135–74–84–8—10–811–79–96–66–67–11
New York 6–611–74–86–65–78–10—13–56–126–66–612–6
Philadelphia 5-79–95–78–45–67–115–13—4–149–38–48–10
Pittsburgh 6–610–84–86–66–69–912–614–4—6–64–812–6
San Diego 9–93–910–84–147–116–66–63–96–6—5–134–8
San Francisco 11–75–79–98–109–96–66–64–88–413–5—7–5
St. Louis 5–711–73–96–65–711–76–1210–86–128–45–7—

Opening Day lineup
Opening Day starters
NamePosition
Maury WillsShortstop
Bill BucknerLeft fielder
Willie DavisCenter fielder
Willie CrawfordRight fielder
Wes ParkerFirst baseman
Steve GarveyThird baseman
Tom HallerCatcher
Ted SizemoreSecond baseman
Claude OsteenStarting pitcher

Notable transactions

Roster
1970 Los Angeles Dodgers
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders Manager

Coaches

First major league foul ball injury death

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

Starters by position

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
CTom Haller11232593.2861047
1BWes Parker161614196.31910111
2BTed Sizemore96340104.306134
SSMaury Wills132522141.270034
3BBilly Grabarkewitz156529153.2891784
LFManny Mota124417127.305337
CFWillie Davis146593181.305893
RFWillie Crawford10929970.234840

Other batters

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 Lefebvre10931479.252444
Bill Russell8127872.259028
Bill Sudakis9426971.2641444
Andy Kosco7422451.228827
Jeff Torborg6413431.231117
Von Joshua7210929.26618
Steve Garvey349325.26916
Bill Buckner286813.19104
Len Gabrielson43428.19006
Gary Moore7163.18800
Tom Paciorek892.22200
Joe Ferguson541.25001
Bob Stinson430.00000

Starting pitchers

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 Sutton38260.115134.08201
Claude Osteen37258.216143.83114
Alan Foster33198.210134.2683
Sandy Vance20115773.1345
Bill Singer16106.1853.1393

Other pitchers

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 Moeller31135.1793.9263

Relief pitchers

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

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Jim Brewer5876243.1391
Ray Lamb356103.7932
Pete Mikkelsen334262.7647
Fred Norman302015.2327
José Peña294344.4231
Camilo Pascual100002.578
Charlie Hough80025.298
Mike Strahler61111.4511
Jerry Stephenson30009.456
Al McBean10000.000

Awards and honors

All-Stars

Farm system
See also: Minor League Baseball
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
Main article: 1970 Major League Baseball Draft

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 1972–1979 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
  1. Jerry Royster page at Baseball Reference
  2. Sergio Ferrer page at Baseball Reference
  3. Fred Norman page at Baseball Reference
  4. 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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