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Before They Wore Dodger Blue: Tommy Lasorda and the Greatest Draft Class in Baseball History
The Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers were always groundbreakers on the player-development front, and when MLB instituted an amateur player draft in 1965, the Dodgers quickly adapted. Within three years, the disciplined front office and shrewd scouting department put together what is still considered today as the greatest draft class in pro baseball history.
That year, the Dodgers drafted six future All-Stars—Doyle Alexander, Bill Buckner, Ron Cey, Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes, and Tom Paciorek, who would be selected for a combined 23 All-Star games—plus Joe Ferguson, Bobby Valentine, and Geoff Zahn. Most of these draftees—joined at various stops by Tommy Hutton, Charlie Hough, and Bill Russell—came up together in
the minor leagues and formed the core of the Dodgers’ next great era. It's widely regarded as the best draft class ever, and the 1970 Spokane Indians—featuring most of that draft class, led by Tommy Lasorda—one of the greatest minor-league clubs ever.
How the Dodgers put together that legendary draft class and how they were developed by Lasorda is told in Before They Wore Dodger Tommy Lasorda and the Greatest Draft Class in Baseball History, Eric Vickrey's exhaustively researched history of the development of the 1968 Los Angeles Dodgers draft class. Key to the development of this draft Lasorda, who worked his way through the minors as the manager of virtually all these draftees at stops in Pocatello, Ogden, Albuquerque, and Spokane, culminating in his appointment as Walt Alston's replacement as Dodger manager near the end of the 1976 season.
Cey, Russell, Lopes, and Garvey proceeded to form an All-Star infield that would play together for an unprecedented eight and a half consecutive seasons. That foursome, along with other homegrown stars and pieces acquired through trades involving the ’68 draft class, carried the Dodgers to three National League pennants in the 1970s and a World Series title in 1981 under Lasorda.
“[Tommy] Lasorda developed into a master,” said Bobby Valentine, the leading light in the draft class before injuries cut his career short, in an interview with the author. “His baseball acumen, his ability to manage a game is always overshadowed by his persona. He was a spectacular in-game manager. He knew when to put on a hit-and-run. When a guy was in a slump, he’d give him a high-five when he came into the dugout. That would boost the guy’s confidence for the next at-bat. He knew when to take a pitcher out, when to leave him in, when to challenge him, when to take a kid out for a private dinner, and when to scold a kid in front of the entire team.”
“In the early days of the MLB draft, and before the advent of free agency, the core of four pennant-winning teams came up together, along with their manager, through the Dodger farm system. The last chapter before big-league glory played out in Spokane, where Tommy Lasorda’s squad of future Dodger stars won the Pacific Coast League championship. This is a significant piece of baseball history, and a story brimming with figures soon to become boldface names.”— Bob Costas, 2018 Ford C. Frick Award winner and longtime MLB broadcaster
That year, the Dodgers drafted six future All-Stars—Doyle Alexander, Bill Buckner, Ron Cey, Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes, and Tom Paciorek, who would be selected for a combined 23 All-Star games—plus Joe Ferguson, Bobby Valentine, and Geoff Zahn. Most of these draftees—joined at various stops by Tommy Hutton, Charlie Hough, and Bill Russell—came up together in
the minor leagues and formed the core of the Dodgers’ next great era. It's widely regarded as the best draft class ever, and the 1970 Spokane Indians—featuring most of that draft class, led by Tommy Lasorda—one of the greatest minor-league clubs ever.
How the Dodgers put together that legendary draft class and how they were developed by Lasorda is told in Before They Wore Dodger Tommy Lasorda and the Greatest Draft Class in Baseball History, Eric Vickrey's exhaustively researched history of the development of the 1968 Los Angeles Dodgers draft class. Key to the development of this draft Lasorda, who worked his way through the minors as the manager of virtually all these draftees at stops in Pocatello, Ogden, Albuquerque, and Spokane, culminating in his appointment as Walt Alston's replacement as Dodger manager near the end of the 1976 season.
Cey, Russell, Lopes, and Garvey proceeded to form an All-Star infield that would play together for an unprecedented eight and a half consecutive seasons. That foursome, along with other homegrown stars and pieces acquired through trades involving the ’68 draft class, carried the Dodgers to three National League pennants in the 1970s and a World Series title in 1981 under Lasorda.
“[Tommy] Lasorda developed into a master,” said Bobby Valentine, the leading light in the draft class before injuries cut his career short, in an interview with the author. “His baseball acumen, his ability to manage a game is always overshadowed by his persona. He was a spectacular in-game manager. He knew when to put on a hit-and-run. When a guy was in a slump, he’d give him a high-five when he came into the dugout. That would boost the guy’s confidence for the next at-bat. He knew when to take a pitcher out, when to leave him in, when to challenge him, when to take a kid out for a private dinner, and when to scold a kid in front of the entire team.”
“In the early days of the MLB draft, and before the advent of free agency, the core of four pennant-winning teams came up together, along with their manager, through the Dodger farm system. The last chapter before big-league glory played out in Spokane, where Tommy Lasorda’s squad of future Dodger stars won the Pacific Coast League championship. This is a significant piece of baseball history, and a story brimming with figures soon to become boldface names.”— Bob Costas, 2018 Ford C. Frick Award winner and longtime MLB broadcaster
- GenresBaseball
437 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 7, 2025
About the author
Eric Vickrey
5 books11 followersEric Vickrey is the author of three nonfiction baseball books: Runnin' Redbirds: The World Champion 1982 St. Louis Cardinals (McFarland, 2023), Season of Shattered Dreams: Postwar Baseball, the Spokane Indians, and a Tragic Bus Crash that Changed Everything (Rowman & Littlefield, 2024), and Before They Wore Dodger Blue: Tommy Lasorda and the Greatest Draft Class in Baseball History (August Publications, 2025). He lives in Washington state.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 6, 2026
The Los Angeles Dodgers have long been considered one of the better baseball organizations in developing players whom they have drafted or signed into good major league players. In 1970, their AAA farm club, the Spokane Indians, had one of the best crops of players drafted by the Dodgers. This book by Eric Vickery not only describes that season in good detail but also provides interesting stories and facts about most of these players and the manager, Tommy Lasorda.
What strikes me as one of the best aspects of this book is that Vickery doesn’t limit the discussion to the best players on that team. While many baseball fans know at least parts of the stories about future All-Stars like Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes and Ron Cey, the other players who may not have been stars or even play much in Major League Baseball get plenty of mentions in the book. This includes players like pitcher Bob O’Brien, infielder Bart Shirley and pitcher John Purdin. No worries if a reader has not heard of these and other players that weren’t stars – the reader will learn about that player and get a complete picture of what part of the Indians’ success they played.
Of course, the players I mentioned that made up the long-lasting Dodger infield (along with Bill Russell) get plenty of material written about them as well. Other stars get their fair share of text in the book as well. The admiration Lasorda had for Bobby Valentine as an up-and-coming star is well documented and it sparked plenty of material for this book, both directly involving those two and the rest of the team’s reaction.
There is also an excellent section on Lasorda and his penchant for public speaking. Even events that seem ho-hum, such as an injury to a player, can be fun to read. An example of this is when Bill Buckner had a broken jaw and it was wired shut. Teammates made many comments about his bad breath. This was presented in a manner that made me laugh out loud.
For reasons unbeknownst to me, I find books about the Los Angeles Dodgers to be great ones to read, and this one is no exception. One doesn’t have to be a Dodgers fan to enjoy reading about one of the greatest draft classes in the history of the game – at least since the draft started in 1965.
I wish to thank Mr. Vickrey for providing a copy of the book. The opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
What strikes me as one of the best aspects of this book is that Vickery doesn’t limit the discussion to the best players on that team. While many baseball fans know at least parts of the stories about future All-Stars like Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes and Ron Cey, the other players who may not have been stars or even play much in Major League Baseball get plenty of mentions in the book. This includes players like pitcher Bob O’Brien, infielder Bart Shirley and pitcher John Purdin. No worries if a reader has not heard of these and other players that weren’t stars – the reader will learn about that player and get a complete picture of what part of the Indians’ success they played.
Of course, the players I mentioned that made up the long-lasting Dodger infield (along with Bill Russell) get plenty of material written about them as well. Other stars get their fair share of text in the book as well. The admiration Lasorda had for Bobby Valentine as an up-and-coming star is well documented and it sparked plenty of material for this book, both directly involving those two and the rest of the team’s reaction.
There is also an excellent section on Lasorda and his penchant for public speaking. Even events that seem ho-hum, such as an injury to a player, can be fun to read. An example of this is when Bill Buckner had a broken jaw and it was wired shut. Teammates made many comments about his bad breath. This was presented in a manner that made me laugh out loud.
For reasons unbeknownst to me, I find books about the Los Angeles Dodgers to be great ones to read, and this one is no exception. One doesn’t have to be a Dodgers fan to enjoy reading about one of the greatest draft classes in the history of the game – at least since the draft started in 1965.
I wish to thank Mr. Vickrey for providing a copy of the book. The opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
January 30, 2026
As a lifelong Dodgers fan going back to the mid-70s, the names in this book represent my childhood. I often saw Spokane on the backs of their baseball cards. Eric Vickrey adeptly explains the significance of that geographic stop as a catalyst for the Dodgers teams that reached four World Series in eight years. Vickrey’s account of the 1968 draft class is filled with wonderful and entertaining stories. This was a a fun read.
February 6, 2026
Eric Vickrey’s Before They Wore Dodger Blue: Tommy Lasorda and the Greatest Draft Class in Baseball History echoes the spirit of the classic Boys of Summer, documenting the 1953 Brooklyn Dodgers, while also serving as a compelling baseball biography of Tommy Lasorda, the enigmatic and dazzling manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Vickrey explores the “greatest draft class” in baseball history by examining the future great Dodgers selected in 1968 and tracing their ascent from the low minors, to championships in the Pacific Coast League in places like Spokane and Albuquerque, to a decade-plus of dominance in Los Angeles. Greats like Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes, Ron Cey, Bill Buckner, and sparkplug Bobby Valentine shine in this well-told baseball book, showing that the rise of the Hollywood glitz of Dodger Stadium didn’t start with the arrival of Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts, but was built by a charismatic baseball lifer and some of the best players to ever wear Dodger Blue.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews