The 1984 Dodgers

The 1984 Los Angeles Dodgers showed what the game of baseball can be all about. Their pitching staff ERA was second best in the National League, they were 1st in strikeouts, 1st in complete games, 1st in starting pitching ERA and 2nd in shutouts. However, pitching is only part of the game and an anemic offense would put them in a hole even with superb starting pitching they could not fix. The bullpen was not nearly as effective and finished ninth in the N.L. in ERA. The Dodgers came out of the chute in April with an excellent 17-8 record. And despite an 11-15 record in May, they were still in first place by a 1/2 game. However, a 13-16 June left them 5 1/2 games back from first place, an 11-16 record in July left them 12 games out and they never got as close as 13 games to the first place club. The pitching was truly excellent as previously stated. Alejandro Pena led N.L. pitchers in ERA (2.48) and five Dodger pitchers won in double figures: Bob Welch with 13 wins; Fernando Valenzuela and Alejandro Pena with 12 wins, Orel Hershiser won 11 games and Rick Honeycutt had 10 wins. The newest starter to the rotation would provide the biggest highlight and a vision toward the future as Orel Hershiser made himself known. Making his first start of the season on May 26 against the Mets in New York, he pitched into the seventh inning. In Hershiser’s 20 starts, he pitched into the eighth and ninth inning 11 times. In his last 129 innings for the season, he allowed just three home runs. The offense was offensive. The Dodgers lost nine games during the season where the pitching staff allowed two runs or less. In one six-game stretch, they scored three runs and with the help of excellent pitching, managed to win two of those games. When the Dodgers scored four or more runs in a game, they were 54-21. When they scored three runs or less in a game, their record was 23-62. The club was 12th in the N.L. in batting average, slugging average, and scoring runs. The total runs scored was the fourth lowest number in Los Angeles Dodger history. Mike Marshall hit 21 home runs, Pedro Guerrero hit 16 home runs and Greg Brock hit 14 home runs. Guerrero led the club in RBI with 72 and Marshall drove in 65 runs. The single greatest highlight of the season was the impact of the acceleration of baseball worldwide at Dodger Stadium in the Games of the XXIII Olympiad in Los Angeles. Led by the efforts of Dodger President Peter O’Malley, baseball attained demonstration sports status in the Olympics, a monumental achievement in the Games in the 20th century. Baseball proved to be remarkably popular, garnering the third largest attendance for a sport in the Los Angeles Olympics behind only track and field and gymnastics. Juan Antonio Samaranch, the Chairman of the International Olympic Committee, attended the championship game in the Chairman’s Box to show his appreciation of baseball as an Olympic sport. Japan defeated the heavily favored United States team, 6-3 in the finals.  The U.S. team contained future All-Star players as Barry Larkin, Will Clark, B.J. Surhoff, and Mark McGwire, but Japan showed their formidable baseball skills. With the momentum from the eight-team exhibition tournament at Dodger Stadium, baseball earned the gold medal status it has been striving for and was included in the IOC’s official programs in 1992.