After winning the 1981 World Series and raising the expectations of management and fans, the Los Angeles Dodgers followed up with six years of disappointing finishes. By the time they ended the 1987 season 17 games behind the hated Giants, general manager Fred Claire had seen enough. Over the winter Claire radically restructured the team, bringing in fiery players like outfielder Kirk Gibson, closer Jay Howell and shortstop Alfredo Griffin to spark the team out of complacency.
Led by Gibson and pitcher Orel Hershiser, the upstart Dodgers outlasted Houston in a race for the NL West title and edged a star-studded Mets team in the league championship series. But their best, most dramatic moments came in the World Series, when the Dodgers shocked everyone by bashing the A’s of McGwire and Canseco in five games. In the first book-length history of the 1988 Dodgers, author Bill McNeil covers the story from all angles.

William F. McNeil is a longtime baseball historian and the author of numerous books on the game. A member of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), he is the recipient of five Robert Peterson awards for increasing the public’s awareness of the Negro Leagues. He lives in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

William F. McNeil
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 216
Bibliographic Info: 37 photos, appendix, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2008
pISBN: 978-0-7864-3501-2
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      vii
Introduction      1

1. View from the Top      3
2. Peaks and Valleys—1982 to 1985      21
3. Hitting Rock Bottom      45
4. In the Spring…      66
5. A Fast Start      83
6. Houston Closes In      104
7. The Month of the Bulldog      122
8. Facing Their New York Mets Nemesis      140
9. The World Series      160
10. Afterward      184

Appendix: Los Angeles Dodgers Selected Players Statistics, 1981–1988      191
Chapter Notes      193
Bibliography      197
Index      199

“an exciting, in-depth, and intimate account”—DodgerDugout.com; “McNeil’s is the best and most accurate, that I’ve ever read…it was a miracle season and McNeil brings it back to life”—www.sportsbyline.com.