This is the story of the 1959 Dodgers, a team that rose above its disastrous first season on the West Coast for an out-of-nowhere World Series title. One of baseball’s greatest underdog champions, the ’59 Dodgers were a rag-tag team made of long shots salvaged from the minor leagues and over-the-hill ballplayers who reached back for one final triumph. After surviving a thrilling three team pennant race, they met fellow long shots the Chicago White Sox in an underdog World Series. Here, the team’s story is recounted in detail, with game-by-game highlights, and set against the cultural backdrop of the civil rights movement, the Cold War, and the rock and roll cultural revolution.

Attorney Brian M. Endsley lives in Antioch, California.

Brian M. Endsley
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 254
Bibliographic Info: 38 photos, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2009
pISBN: 978-0-7864-3919-5
eISBN: 978-0-7864-5567-6
Imprint: McFarland

Preface      1
Introduction      3
Prologue: Los Angeles, September 29, 1959, 5:05 P.M.      5

PART I. Descent: From Brooklyn Legends to L.A. Has-Beens
1. 1955: The View from the Top of the World      9
2. 1956: Bridesmaids Revisited      15
3. 1957: The Year the Brooklyn Dodgers Died      23
4. “A Freak Ball Park”      34
5. The Dodgers Lose Campy      39
6. The 1958 Los Angeles Dodgers: Something Old, Something New      43
7. Major League Baseball Comes to California      52
8. May 1958: Welcome to the Cellar      60
9. Chavez Ravine: The Big Distraction      65
10. The Long Summer of ’58      70
11. September 1958: A Lost Season Comes to an End      80
12. Whither the Milwaukee Dynasty?      85

PART II. Ascent: From Seventh Place to World Champions
13. Restless Winter      97
14. A Voice in the Wilderness      104
15. Spring Roller Coaster: April in First, May in Despair      109
16. The Summer of ’59: Bavasi’s Miracle      120
17. September 1959: A Pennant Race for the Ages      138
18. We Go to Chicago!      153
19. The Go-Go Sox      160
20. The Underdog Series      168
21. An Analysis of the 1959 World Series      190
22. 1959: A Year of Transition      196
23. Turning the Page to the Sixties      207

Epilogue: 50 Years On      223
Chapter Notes      225
Bibliography      237
Index      239