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They Bled Blue: Fernandomania, Strike-Season Mayhem, and the Weirdest Championship Baseball Had Ever Seen: The 1981 Los Angeles Dodgers
The wildly entertaining narrative of the outrageous 1981 Dodgers from the award-winning author of Dynastic, Fantastic, Bombastic and The Baseball Codes
In the Halberstam tradition of capturing a season through its unforgettable figures, They Bled Blue is a sprawling, mad tale of excess and exuberance, the likes of which could only have occurred in that place, at that time. That it culminated in an unlikely World Series win—during a campaign split by the longest player strike in baseball history—is not even the most interesting thing about this team. The Dodgers were led by the garrulous Tommy Lasorda—part manager, part cheerleader—who unyieldingly proclaimed devotion to the franchise through monologues about bleeding Dodger blue and worshiping the “Big Dodger in the Sky,” and whose office hosted a regular stream of Hollywood celebrities. Steve Garvey, the All-American, All-Star first baseman, had anchored the most durable infield in major league history, and, along with Davey Lopes, Bill Russell, and Ron Cey, was glaringly aware that 1981 would represent the end of their run together. The season’s real story, however, was one that nobody expected at the a chubby lefthander nearly straight out of Mexico, twenty years old with a wild delivery and a screwball as his flippin’ out pitch. The Dodgers had been trying for decades to find a Hispanic star to activate the local Mexican population; Fernando Valenzuela was the first to succeed, and it didn’t take long for Fernandomania to sweep far beyond the boundaries of Chavez Ravine.
They Bled Blue is the rollicking yarn of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ crazy 1981 season.
In the Halberstam tradition of capturing a season through its unforgettable figures, They Bled Blue is a sprawling, mad tale of excess and exuberance, the likes of which could only have occurred in that place, at that time. That it culminated in an unlikely World Series win—during a campaign split by the longest player strike in baseball history—is not even the most interesting thing about this team. The Dodgers were led by the garrulous Tommy Lasorda—part manager, part cheerleader—who unyieldingly proclaimed devotion to the franchise through monologues about bleeding Dodger blue and worshiping the “Big Dodger in the Sky,” and whose office hosted a regular stream of Hollywood celebrities. Steve Garvey, the All-American, All-Star first baseman, had anchored the most durable infield in major league history, and, along with Davey Lopes, Bill Russell, and Ron Cey, was glaringly aware that 1981 would represent the end of their run together. The season’s real story, however, was one that nobody expected at the a chubby lefthander nearly straight out of Mexico, twenty years old with a wild delivery and a screwball as his flippin’ out pitch. The Dodgers had been trying for decades to find a Hispanic star to activate the local Mexican population; Fernando Valenzuela was the first to succeed, and it didn’t take long for Fernandomania to sweep far beyond the boundaries of Chavez Ravine.
They Bled Blue is the rollicking yarn of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ crazy 1981 season.
384 pages, Hardcover
Published June 4, 2019
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319 people want to read
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June 28, 2019
The Dodgers. I have issues with the current version of the team because they have been a rival to my team, the Cubs, in recent years. The west coast’s swagger vs the Midwest’s grittiness. California’s star power and late arriving crowd pitted against the multi generation fans of Chicago. Ok, so I really don’t like the Dodgers of today, although I do enjoy stories of the old time Brooklyn Dodgers. This book, however, is about neither, and its author, Jason Turbow dislikes the Dodgers even more than I do because he is a Giants’ fan. I have in the past read Turbow’s book on the 1970s Oakland A’s teams and found it entertaining so I decided to get past my dislike for the current Dodgers and give They Bled Blue a try. If anything, the author and I could commiserate in our detesting the Los Angeles version of the Dodgers.
During the 1970s one could almost feel sorry for the Dodgers because they were perennial bridesmaids coming up short against the Reds’ Big Red Machine teams and then, getting past the Reds, losing to the Yankees in two consecutive World Series. It is not as though the Dodgers lacked for quality players, fielding an infield that played together for nine straight seasons. Put together by general manager Al Campanis, comprised of a mix of home grown veterans, key acquisitions, and rookie stars, the 1981 Dodgers looked primed to finally get over the hump. Led by the man who embodied the Dodgers culture more than anyone, Tommy Lasorda, the players who had been on the team the longest realized that their window to win would be ending soon, and they had the need to win now mentality. With Lasorda’s, who had been with the team in some capacity since the 1950s, word as final, the 1981 Dodgers appeared determined to win one for their skipper and for themselves.
The 1981 season, as Turbow points out, was notable for two key things. The first is that the Dodgers called up a rookie from Mexico named Fernando Valenzuela to become the ace of their staff. Although shy and having a language barrier, Valenzuela brought a poise beyond his years to the mound and started the year 8-0. Immediately, the Mexican American community near Los Angeles rallied around their new star and became Dodger fans overnight. The second event that the 1981 is known for is a mid season player strike. With free agency only five years old, players and owners were stilling ironing out details of contracts and compensation. Things came to a head in the middle of June, and the players went on strike for over a month. The two sides agreed to divide the season into two halves, with the division champions of each half meeting in an abbreviated playoff series following the season. Fernando would not be able to save the Dodgers if the team lost in a playoff series that in normal years was not part of baseball’s post season.
Because I was only a year and half during the 1981 season, the strike was lost on me. Although I watched games with my dad already by then, I did not become knowledgeable of games until three years later when the Cubs had a winning season. By 1984, free agency was an accepted part of the game. In 1981, owners still demanded compensation if one of their star players bolted for a longer, higher contract elsewhere. Although a noble idea, compensation did not last, and teams losing free agents are given extra draft picks in the name of competitive balance. How baseball continues to keep an even playing field continues to evolve. Turbow focuses on the business of baseball as he did when describing the Oakland A’s as well. As one has aspired to be a general manager for her entire life, I appreciate Turbow devoting chunks of his books to the business side of baseball. The Dodgers are a class organization and run operations better than most so it was intriguing to see how management decided which players to keep and jettison. In the end, they kept the right mix of veterans and young stars to field a championship team.
Turbow points out that the team came down to its manager and the key decisions he made in spite of the players’ strong personalities. A testament to his legacy is that four players on the team became managers including Dusty Baker and Mike Soiscia, who led the crosstown Angels for nearly twenty years. Somehow, the Dodgers motley cast of characters prevailed in 1981. They beat an Astros team led by Nolan Ryan, an Expos team featuring three future Hall of famers, and their rival Yankees to capture their elusive championship. Within the next two years, their iconic team was jettisoned for younger, flashier players. Turbow made the World Series seem exciting even though I already knew the outcome, as I am reminded by my husband the Yankees fan who detests the Dodgers. I can relate. Like Jason Turbow, I really don’t like the Dodgers other than Sandy Koufax or Jackie Robinson. In writing a book about a team he grew up detesting, Jason Turbow gave baseball fans insight into the Dodger organization and gave us a glimpse of how their quality management team works.
4 stars
During the 1970s one could almost feel sorry for the Dodgers because they were perennial bridesmaids coming up short against the Reds’ Big Red Machine teams and then, getting past the Reds, losing to the Yankees in two consecutive World Series. It is not as though the Dodgers lacked for quality players, fielding an infield that played together for nine straight seasons. Put together by general manager Al Campanis, comprised of a mix of home grown veterans, key acquisitions, and rookie stars, the 1981 Dodgers looked primed to finally get over the hump. Led by the man who embodied the Dodgers culture more than anyone, Tommy Lasorda, the players who had been on the team the longest realized that their window to win would be ending soon, and they had the need to win now mentality. With Lasorda’s, who had been with the team in some capacity since the 1950s, word as final, the 1981 Dodgers appeared determined to win one for their skipper and for themselves.
The 1981 season, as Turbow points out, was notable for two key things. The first is that the Dodgers called up a rookie from Mexico named Fernando Valenzuela to become the ace of their staff. Although shy and having a language barrier, Valenzuela brought a poise beyond his years to the mound and started the year 8-0. Immediately, the Mexican American community near Los Angeles rallied around their new star and became Dodger fans overnight. The second event that the 1981 is known for is a mid season player strike. With free agency only five years old, players and owners were stilling ironing out details of contracts and compensation. Things came to a head in the middle of June, and the players went on strike for over a month. The two sides agreed to divide the season into two halves, with the division champions of each half meeting in an abbreviated playoff series following the season. Fernando would not be able to save the Dodgers if the team lost in a playoff series that in normal years was not part of baseball’s post season.
Because I was only a year and half during the 1981 season, the strike was lost on me. Although I watched games with my dad already by then, I did not become knowledgeable of games until three years later when the Cubs had a winning season. By 1984, free agency was an accepted part of the game. In 1981, owners still demanded compensation if one of their star players bolted for a longer, higher contract elsewhere. Although a noble idea, compensation did not last, and teams losing free agents are given extra draft picks in the name of competitive balance. How baseball continues to keep an even playing field continues to evolve. Turbow focuses on the business of baseball as he did when describing the Oakland A’s as well. As one has aspired to be a general manager for her entire life, I appreciate Turbow devoting chunks of his books to the business side of baseball. The Dodgers are a class organization and run operations better than most so it was intriguing to see how management decided which players to keep and jettison. In the end, they kept the right mix of veterans and young stars to field a championship team.
Turbow points out that the team came down to its manager and the key decisions he made in spite of the players’ strong personalities. A testament to his legacy is that four players on the team became managers including Dusty Baker and Mike Soiscia, who led the crosstown Angels for nearly twenty years. Somehow, the Dodgers motley cast of characters prevailed in 1981. They beat an Astros team led by Nolan Ryan, an Expos team featuring three future Hall of famers, and their rival Yankees to capture their elusive championship. Within the next two years, their iconic team was jettisoned for younger, flashier players. Turbow made the World Series seem exciting even though I already knew the outcome, as I am reminded by my husband the Yankees fan who detests the Dodgers. I can relate. Like Jason Turbow, I really don’t like the Dodgers other than Sandy Koufax or Jackie Robinson. In writing a book about a team he grew up detesting, Jason Turbow gave baseball fans insight into the Dodger organization and gave us a glimpse of how their quality management team works.
4 stars
July 18, 2019
The Dodgers were nearing the end of their time together. The heralded infield had been together for 9 years, losing the World Series 3 times in the 70's including back to back losses to the Yankees in 1977 and 1978. The last couple of seasons looked like their better days were behind them. Then 2 things happened in 1981, Fernando Valenzuela put on a Dodgers uniform for the first time fueling Fernandomania and the players struck for over a month in the middle of the season, creating two halves to the season. Without this, the Dodgers wouldn't have won the division finishing with a worse overall record than the Reds. But because of the strike a unique 5 game playoff was created with the first place teams from before and after battling each other for the Division title. Eeking out playoffs wins, the dodgers get their chance at revenge against the Yankees.
Turbow, a self-proclaimed Giants fan has created a book worth reading for all baseball fans. I bleed Cubbie blue and I still loved it. It's filled with hilarious anecdotes, larger than life personalities and thrilling ballgames. The Dodgers featured from real pranksters in Jay Johnstone and Jerry Reuss. Turbow includes their antics in full glory. Not to mention one of the most bombastic managers in baseball history in Tommy Lasorda. Highly recommended to all fans of the great game of baseball.
Turbow, a self-proclaimed Giants fan has created a book worth reading for all baseball fans. I bleed Cubbie blue and I still loved it. It's filled with hilarious anecdotes, larger than life personalities and thrilling ballgames. The Dodgers featured from real pranksters in Jay Johnstone and Jerry Reuss. Turbow includes their antics in full glory. Not to mention one of the most bombastic managers in baseball history in Tommy Lasorda. Highly recommended to all fans of the great game of baseball.
October 17, 2023
As a baseball fan, 1981 is really ground zero for me. Though I vaguely recall the 1980 World Series, 1981 is really where my fandom began.
It is also a weird year for baseball. I will get to that in a minute, but I want to start with Fernando mania.
Fernando Valenzuela is one of the most memorable moments of baseball in my lifetime. He came from literally nowhere to become the most dominant pitcher in baseball for a time. He didn’t particularly look like an athlete. His upbringing made him an atypical interview. His eyes-to-the-sky delivery was so memorable that it is still the way I picture a wind-up though most pitchers don’t use a style like that these days.
The excitement around Valenzuela is rivaled by a rare few.
It was also the year of Baseball’s labor outage split season. Because of that, Major League baseball did a one time playoff system that pitted the first half winner versus the second half of the season winner.
It’s not particularly a good idea if you are a Cardinals fan (they won more games than everyone else but couldn’t play in the playoffs due to their two second place finishes) but at least they won in 1982
I think it’s a particularly interesting idea for baseball to consider as they continually rethink their system (though unlikely this alternative would ever be chosen)
The 1981 Dodgers are memorable to me. They were largely the same group that lost the World Series in 1974, 1977 and 1978
In fact, there’s so much written on those 77 and 78 games with the Yankees, that this group are overshadowed
The Dodgers infield though are baseball icons. The true definition of the whole being better than the sum of the parts. And the opposite of what a kid like I would assume - not particularly fond of each other.
The book is Dodger centric as it should be. But there are some all time interesting personalities- Tommy Lasorda, Steve Garvey, Jay Johnstone, Valenzuela and more.
I even remember the Big Blue Wrecking Crew - the four Dodgers who sang “We are the Champions” on Solid Gold and the talk shows (a good four years before the Super Bowl Shuffle). I thought signing baseball players were cool. You can go search on YouTube and see how wrong I was.
The Dodgers surprisingly didn’t stick together and given the amazing farm system fell to diminishing returns in the 80s which makes for a weird coda.
This is is one of the top baseball books I read. There is a lot of trivia in it too. To the point, that it does get a bit dense. I know that’s small criticism as this is a pretty fun book.
It is also a weird year for baseball. I will get to that in a minute, but I want to start with Fernando mania.
Fernando Valenzuela is one of the most memorable moments of baseball in my lifetime. He came from literally nowhere to become the most dominant pitcher in baseball for a time. He didn’t particularly look like an athlete. His upbringing made him an atypical interview. His eyes-to-the-sky delivery was so memorable that it is still the way I picture a wind-up though most pitchers don’t use a style like that these days.
The excitement around Valenzuela is rivaled by a rare few.
It was also the year of Baseball’s labor outage split season. Because of that, Major League baseball did a one time playoff system that pitted the first half winner versus the second half of the season winner.
It’s not particularly a good idea if you are a Cardinals fan (they won more games than everyone else but couldn’t play in the playoffs due to their two second place finishes) but at least they won in 1982
I think it’s a particularly interesting idea for baseball to consider as they continually rethink their system (though unlikely this alternative would ever be chosen)
The 1981 Dodgers are memorable to me. They were largely the same group that lost the World Series in 1974, 1977 and 1978
In fact, there’s so much written on those 77 and 78 games with the Yankees, that this group are overshadowed
The Dodgers infield though are baseball icons. The true definition of the whole being better than the sum of the parts. And the opposite of what a kid like I would assume - not particularly fond of each other.
The book is Dodger centric as it should be. But there are some all time interesting personalities- Tommy Lasorda, Steve Garvey, Jay Johnstone, Valenzuela and more.
I even remember the Big Blue Wrecking Crew - the four Dodgers who sang “We are the Champions” on Solid Gold and the talk shows (a good four years before the Super Bowl Shuffle). I thought signing baseball players were cool. You can go search on YouTube and see how wrong I was.
The Dodgers surprisingly didn’t stick together and given the amazing farm system fell to diminishing returns in the 80s which makes for a weird coda.
This is is one of the top baseball books I read. There is a lot of trivia in it too. To the point, that it does get a bit dense. I know that’s small criticism as this is a pretty fun book.
May 22, 2019
1981 has been remembered as one of the strangest baseball seasons in the history of the game. The season was split in two due to a player’s strike and the division winners in each half made the postseason, even though that meant the two best overall teams in the National League missed the playoffs. A rookie pitcher who had a body that was closer to resembling a keg than a six pack took baseball by storm. Four infielders who had played together for nearly eight years were on their last quest together. The link for the last two points was the Los Angeles Dodgers, who ended up as the champions in three exciting postseason series. Their quest to the championship is documented in this breezy, fun-to-read book by Jason Turbow.
While the book reports on the 1981 Dodgers season in chronological order, it is not the typical “this happened, then that happened” type of season recap. It actually starts in 1978 when the New York Yankees defeated the Dodgers in that year’s World Series, winning the last four games after Los Angeles won the first two. That plays as motivation for many of the players who were on that team, including the four infielders who had been on the team and playing nearly every game since 1973. Along the way the reader will learn a lot about all four of them – first baseman Steve Garvey, second baseman Davey Lopes, shortstop Bill Russell and third baseman Ron Cey.
However, the best personal story in the book was also the best baseball story of that year. Turbow does an excellent job of bringing the reader into the world of Fernando Valenzuela, a 20 year old rookie pitcher with a portly body, a lack of ability to speak English and a devastating screwball. He won his first eight decisions with an ERA under one and took the baseball world by storm. Being of Mexican heritage, he became a hero to the Mexican population in Los Angeles, which makes up a significant portion of the city’s residents. How he handled this fame, especially when he was a guest of President Ronald Reagan at the White House, was the best reading in the book, along with stories about manager Tommy Lasorda.
The book was capped off by providing an excellent account of the Dodgers’ postseason run. In the Division Series (only made possible by the split season) they fell behind the Houston Astros two games to none in the best of five series, only to win three straight to capture the series. Then, in another best of five series, they defeated the Montreal Expos in thrilling fashion with Rick Monday hitting a homer to win the game for Los Angeles in the ninth inning of game five. Then the Dodgers made the three year wait to face the Yankees again worth it, defeating them in six games in the same manner as New York won in 1978 – lost the first two games, won the next four. The description of the games, the players’ emotions and the joy of the entire city was well written.
Dodger fans will want to add this book to their collection as it is very likely the best source of information on that crazy championship season for them. Baseball fans and historians who are interested in that team should pick it up as well.
I wish to thank Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
While the book reports on the 1981 Dodgers season in chronological order, it is not the typical “this happened, then that happened” type of season recap. It actually starts in 1978 when the New York Yankees defeated the Dodgers in that year’s World Series, winning the last four games after Los Angeles won the first two. That plays as motivation for many of the players who were on that team, including the four infielders who had been on the team and playing nearly every game since 1973. Along the way the reader will learn a lot about all four of them – first baseman Steve Garvey, second baseman Davey Lopes, shortstop Bill Russell and third baseman Ron Cey.
However, the best personal story in the book was also the best baseball story of that year. Turbow does an excellent job of bringing the reader into the world of Fernando Valenzuela, a 20 year old rookie pitcher with a portly body, a lack of ability to speak English and a devastating screwball. He won his first eight decisions with an ERA under one and took the baseball world by storm. Being of Mexican heritage, he became a hero to the Mexican population in Los Angeles, which makes up a significant portion of the city’s residents. How he handled this fame, especially when he was a guest of President Ronald Reagan at the White House, was the best reading in the book, along with stories about manager Tommy Lasorda.
The book was capped off by providing an excellent account of the Dodgers’ postseason run. In the Division Series (only made possible by the split season) they fell behind the Houston Astros two games to none in the best of five series, only to win three straight to capture the series. Then, in another best of five series, they defeated the Montreal Expos in thrilling fashion with Rick Monday hitting a homer to win the game for Los Angeles in the ninth inning of game five. Then the Dodgers made the three year wait to face the Yankees again worth it, defeating them in six games in the same manner as New York won in 1978 – lost the first two games, won the next four. The description of the games, the players’ emotions and the joy of the entire city was well written.
Dodger fans will want to add this book to their collection as it is very likely the best source of information on that crazy championship season for them. Baseball fans and historians who are interested in that team should pick it up as well.
I wish to thank Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
June 23, 2019
First, it would be unfair not to admit growing up this reader was a huge LA Dodger fan during the era written about in this book.
Reading They Bled Blue by Jason Turbow, that primarily deals with the 1981 baseball season of the LA Dodgers of the strike-shortened season, was like taking a pleasurable trip down nostalgia lane. The book describes the 1981 season, how the Dodgers arrived at where they found their team and culminates in the World Series victory by the Dodgers over their number one World Series nemesis, the New York Yankees.
Turbow, oddly a self-admitted San Francisco Giants fan, offers just the right amounts of history, baseball detail and coverage of the season to deliver an enjoyable baseball book. He also provides detailed background on the most instrumental characters, not all of them being LA Dodgers.
Recommended for baseball fans and especially those fans of the LA Dodgers.
Reading They Bled Blue by Jason Turbow, that primarily deals with the 1981 baseball season of the LA Dodgers of the strike-shortened season, was like taking a pleasurable trip down nostalgia lane. The book describes the 1981 season, how the Dodgers arrived at where they found their team and culminates in the World Series victory by the Dodgers over their number one World Series nemesis, the New York Yankees.
Turbow, oddly a self-admitted San Francisco Giants fan, offers just the right amounts of history, baseball detail and coverage of the season to deliver an enjoyable baseball book. He also provides detailed background on the most instrumental characters, not all of them being LA Dodgers.
Recommended for baseball fans and especially those fans of the LA Dodgers.
January 26, 2019
(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)
They Bled Blue is the rollicking yarn of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ crazy 1981 season, a watershed campaign that cemented the team’s place and reputation as fitting thoroughly within the surrounding LA culture. That it culminated in an unlikely World Series win — during a split season demarcated by a strike, no less — is not even the most interesting thing about this team. The Dodgers were led by the garrulous Tommy Lasorda, as much cheerleader as manager, whose office hosted a regular stream of Hollywood royalty. They had Steve Garvey, the first baseman with the movie-star good looks, whose seemingly impenetrable All-American façade was in the first stages of what would soon be total implosion. Garvey was teamed with Ron Cey, Davey Lopes, and Bill Russell in the most durable infield in major league history, with 1981 presenting their final chance to win a championship as a unit. The difference maker was entirely unexpected, a chubby kid, twenty years old and nearly straight out of Mexico, with a wild delivery and a screwball as his flippin’ out pitch. Fernando Valenzuela didn’t speak much English, but his baseball ability broke down cultural barriers and helped fill Dodger Stadium to the brim with a Southern California Latino population that had been thirsting for just such a success story.
The 1981 season saw the rise of Fernandomania, high drama surrounding the strike, and, as was the culture in Los Angeles at the time, lots of cocaine. In the Halberstam tradition of capturing a season through its unforgettable figures, They Bled Blue is a sprawling, mad tale of excess and exuberance, the likes of which could only have taken place at that time, and in that place.
I have recently become a fan of baseball - as an Australian, it isn't a sport I grew up with so I am reading through a lot of books about the sport. And I think this is the best one I have read so far.
Focusing on the 1981 season, this book chronicles the year of the Los Angeles Dodgers, a group of aging champions and up and coming players. A good mix of sporting history; biographies of key players; the players strike; an examination of the culture of the sport itself; and the story of a manager who was so exuberant, so in-your-face, it was hard to not like him.
The thing that really made me enjoy this was style. The author didn't present this as a "This happened, then this happened..." kind of tale. It was written with the casual fan in mind, making it easy to follow who was who and what was going on, but was packed with stats and players that the well-read baseball fan would take in their stride. It told the tale of how the strike affected the players and their families. It told the tale of drug addiction within the playing group. It told the tale of a group of players who, although they didn't like each other off the field, they came together as a team and played out of their skins.
I would have given this 5 stars if the biographical details of the players didn't interrupt the flow of the season. Maybe a section at the back detailing the players careers might have been a better option.
A vastly enjoyable story. Highly recommended for baseball fans, or those who like the underdog sports teams books.
Paul
ARH
They Bled Blue is the rollicking yarn of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ crazy 1981 season, a watershed campaign that cemented the team’s place and reputation as fitting thoroughly within the surrounding LA culture. That it culminated in an unlikely World Series win — during a split season demarcated by a strike, no less — is not even the most interesting thing about this team. The Dodgers were led by the garrulous Tommy Lasorda, as much cheerleader as manager, whose office hosted a regular stream of Hollywood royalty. They had Steve Garvey, the first baseman with the movie-star good looks, whose seemingly impenetrable All-American façade was in the first stages of what would soon be total implosion. Garvey was teamed with Ron Cey, Davey Lopes, and Bill Russell in the most durable infield in major league history, with 1981 presenting their final chance to win a championship as a unit. The difference maker was entirely unexpected, a chubby kid, twenty years old and nearly straight out of Mexico, with a wild delivery and a screwball as his flippin’ out pitch. Fernando Valenzuela didn’t speak much English, but his baseball ability broke down cultural barriers and helped fill Dodger Stadium to the brim with a Southern California Latino population that had been thirsting for just such a success story.
The 1981 season saw the rise of Fernandomania, high drama surrounding the strike, and, as was the culture in Los Angeles at the time, lots of cocaine. In the Halberstam tradition of capturing a season through its unforgettable figures, They Bled Blue is a sprawling, mad tale of excess and exuberance, the likes of which could only have taken place at that time, and in that place.
I have recently become a fan of baseball - as an Australian, it isn't a sport I grew up with so I am reading through a lot of books about the sport. And I think this is the best one I have read so far.
Focusing on the 1981 season, this book chronicles the year of the Los Angeles Dodgers, a group of aging champions and up and coming players. A good mix of sporting history; biographies of key players; the players strike; an examination of the culture of the sport itself; and the story of a manager who was so exuberant, so in-your-face, it was hard to not like him.
The thing that really made me enjoy this was style. The author didn't present this as a "This happened, then this happened..." kind of tale. It was written with the casual fan in mind, making it easy to follow who was who and what was going on, but was packed with stats and players that the well-read baseball fan would take in their stride. It told the tale of how the strike affected the players and their families. It told the tale of drug addiction within the playing group. It told the tale of a group of players who, although they didn't like each other off the field, they came together as a team and played out of their skins.
I would have given this 5 stars if the biographical details of the players didn't interrupt the flow of the season. Maybe a section at the back detailing the players careers might have been a better option.
A vastly enjoyable story. Highly recommended for baseball fans, or those who like the underdog sports teams books.
Paul
ARH
January 24, 2022
Great book, but oh my God the footnotes.
This book tells the story of the 1981 World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers. The background information and the anecdotes are fun to read, but the play by play of each of the playoff games got a bit tedious. I'm a big baseball and Dodger fan but I like watching the excitement of the actual gameplay more than reading a description of it. I realized that I didn't know a lot of things about the team I idolized as a teenager. But after finishing the book, I realized that some 40 years later there's a couple of reasons my recollection is so murky. Like he mentions in the book, I confuse the 1988 World Series winning team with one from 1981. I kept expecting stories about Kirk Gibson and Orel Hershiser, without realizing they were on a totally different team. Also, I was in my first year of college and pledging a fraternity during the 1981 Championship, and there may have been a bit of alcohol involved that would confuse my memory more.
I liked this book so much I bought it twice, once when it first came out in hardback where I started reading it, and once again in Kindle form so I could take it on vacation. In either form the footnotes were maddening. You could barely get through a paragraph without having to stop the narrative to go find the footnote, and you couldn't skip them. The definition I found for footnotes say they should include statistics, background or ancillary information. But instead, most of these footnotes had crucial parts of the narrative, so much that if you had not read them, the body of the main text would not have had context or made sense. And on a Kindle the footnotes were torture. I normally read quickly and one-handedly scroll through the pages with a kind of rhythm that makes the book enjoyable. The frequent and voluminous footnotes on a Kindle force you to use two hands as you have to tap the footnote, read and scroll through it, then tap somewhere else to get back to the narrative. In almost every case the text of the footnote would have fit nicely, ever better sometimes, into the narrative. The author's dubious use of footnotes have turned this five-star review into a three-star one.
This book tells the story of the 1981 World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers. The background information and the anecdotes are fun to read, but the play by play of each of the playoff games got a bit tedious. I'm a big baseball and Dodger fan but I like watching the excitement of the actual gameplay more than reading a description of it. I realized that I didn't know a lot of things about the team I idolized as a teenager. But after finishing the book, I realized that some 40 years later there's a couple of reasons my recollection is so murky. Like he mentions in the book, I confuse the 1988 World Series winning team with one from 1981. I kept expecting stories about Kirk Gibson and Orel Hershiser, without realizing they were on a totally different team. Also, I was in my first year of college and pledging a fraternity during the 1981 Championship, and there may have been a bit of alcohol involved that would confuse my memory more.
I liked this book so much I bought it twice, once when it first came out in hardback where I started reading it, and once again in Kindle form so I could take it on vacation. In either form the footnotes were maddening. You could barely get through a paragraph without having to stop the narrative to go find the footnote, and you couldn't skip them. The definition I found for footnotes say they should include statistics, background or ancillary information. But instead, most of these footnotes had crucial parts of the narrative, so much that if you had not read them, the body of the main text would not have had context or made sense. And on a Kindle the footnotes were torture. I normally read quickly and one-handedly scroll through the pages with a kind of rhythm that makes the book enjoyable. The frequent and voluminous footnotes on a Kindle force you to use two hands as you have to tap the footnote, read and scroll through it, then tap somewhere else to get back to the narrative. In almost every case the text of the footnote would have fit nicely, ever better sometimes, into the narrative. The author's dubious use of footnotes have turned this five-star review into a three-star one.
September 3, 2019
To the puzzlement of my family, my Dh, and my in-laws, I have been a long-time Dodgers fan who grew up in Giants' country. Dh and I compromise on the Mariners. Anyone who wants to know why should read this fascinating, raucous, and fast-paced history of the 1981 World Series-winning series. They captivated me then, and they captivate me now. Hope springs eternal that they may break their World Series losing streak.
April 15, 2023
RICK “SHAQ” GOLDSTEIN SAYS: FERNANDOMANIA… A LEGEND AT TWENTY-YEARS-OLD… MLB STRIKE… 1981 WORLD CHAMPS LOS ANGELES DODGERS… (DEFEATING THE HATED NEW YORK YANKEES IN THE WORLD SERIES) FOR A DODGER FAN… READING THIS BOOK… IS LIKE EATING CHOCOLATE CAKE AND ICE CREAM!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Though center stage of this… instant classic… baseball gem… is the Los Angeles Dodgers journey to the 1981 World Championship… and every highlight… and pitfall… is covered with absolute delicious quotes… from all involved… including.. the highs… the lows… the knives in the back from their own “Big-Blue” teammates… and ultimately… the quick dismantling… of almost the entire team that fought their way tooth and nail… to the penthouse of 1981 Major League Baseball.
The author… very intelligently… starts off with the 1978 World Series… which the Dodgers lost to the hated New York Yankees… this made back- to- back World Series losses to the Yankees… since they also lost the 1977 Series to the Yanks… the year before. The feeling that existed… and the reader is enveloped… with the shroud… that the window was rapidly closing on a talented… extremely well put together Dodger team… that had played together in unison… almost like no team before. As an example their starting infield of Steve Garvey… Davey Lopes… “The Penguin”… Ron Cey… and Bill Russell… had played together as a starting infield longer than any such combination in the history of baseball. Leading the team was future Hall of Fame manager…. Tommy Lasorda… and the author… in… what I will term… a stroke of genius… goes waaayy back to Lasorda’s past in great detail… when he was nothing but a waaay below run of the mill… marginal player (mostly minor league) … and followed his transition from player… to a player who on his own started to help coach and motivate his minor league teammates… while still nothing but a journeyman minor leaguer. The reader will find that years later when Lasorda would wax poetic… and try to motivate… his young players… to literally fight… and scrap… and throw “chin-music”… to their opponents… Lasorda had actually… not only truly done it that way himself… but had done it to such an extreme… he came close to killing his post playing career… before it even started.
The author… is an avowed lifetime Giants fan… who grew up booing Lasorda at Bay Area games... (I’ll get into this more later in my review)… won my untold respect not only as to his writing skills… but with his “true-fan” honesty throughout the book… especially… in the last couple of chapters… entitled “Conclusion”… and “Acknowledgements”. I had read one of Turbow’s other books “The Baseball Codes”… and loved it. His writing is not only written like a “floored” Ferrari without brakes… but his footnotes at the bottom of ninety-per-cent of the pages… are like a parent giving their child a box of candy for each good grade in school. He combines historical quotes… along with new fresh quotes from recent interviews for the book. There literally… is not… one slow.. portion… from start to finish.
Nothing is held back… it’s all here… the dislike of Steve Garvey by some teammates… some may say it was jealously… others might say they saw through his façade… and due to the extreme due-diligence by the author… both sides are clearly stated… AND I GLOWINGLY MUST ADD… THEY ARE NOT NAMELESS ASSERTATIONS…. EVERY STATEMENT HAS A NAME… FRONT AND CENTER ATTACHED TO IT! The clubhouse fight between Sutton and Garvey… comments about Garvey’s wife. The dissatisfaction with Davey Lopes’ comments during the strike. Bill Russell not diving for grounders… Lopes’ hands of stone… and record breaking errors in the World Series… “The Penguin’s” courage in coming back to play in the 1981 World Series after a frightening beaning by Goose Gossage. Drug use during this period in baseball and society… Steve Howe’s abuse… many quotes regarding Dusty Baker’s use or allegations of use…
Through it all… Lasorda… motivating and leading… even if at times it seems cornball… he worshiped the “Big Dodger In The Sky”… and led the heart of the team from the time they were teenagers… till they were grown full-blown stars. Irreverent fun is made of Lasorda’s Hollywood hob-knobbing with the likes of Sinatra and Rickles and everyone in between. And mixed in to the Dodger-Blue-Circus are screwballs like Jay Johnstone and pitcher Jerry Reuss. Reuss… upon being introduced to Frank Sinatra said to Sinatra… “SORRY… I DIDN’T GET YOUR NAME.” And it seemed a unanimous team belief… that the absolute baddest ass on the team was Reggie Smith… as denoted by Reuss in this manner: “Jerry Reuss compared Smith to Reggie Jackson “IF YOU HAVE A REGGIE BAR IN NEW YORK, YOU OPEN IT UP AND IT TELLS YOU HOW GOOD IT IS,” he said. “IF YOU HAVE A REGGIE BAR HERE (L.A.) YOU OPEN IT UP AND IT PUNCHES YOU.”
Along with the Dodgers World Championship run… the two other main storylines… are the strike… and the inner fighting between the players is dissected in great detail… and of course the other main subject is the… once –in- a- baseball -lifetime… of the player who probably affected the popularity of baseball more than any player since Babe Ruth… and that’s the one and only FERNANDO VALENZUELA… the Rookie of the Year AND CY YOUNG AWARD WINNER who started off his 1981 season going 8-0 with seven complete games and five shutouts. His ERA on the season after eight games was 0.50! His absolutely unflappable game day performances were as amazing as his screwball… as he looked up towards heaven on each pitch. His bull-like perseverance regardless of pitch count will be remembered throughout the history of baseball.
As I promised earlier… I’d like to compliment the author… not just on the overall book… but the summation he comes to… and has the INTEGRITY to share with the reader. Despite his booing the Dodgers his whole life… and admittedly wearing demeaning Dodger shirts at games… his detailed research brought him to the conclusion (that he shares) as to… how well run the organization is… and what a remarkable… job… and place in history Tommy Lasorda has played.
-------
NOTE 1: Historical and Statistical mistake: On page 148 the author in discussing Joe Ferguson states: (Ferguson) “”was an integral part of the 1973 World Series team. This is incorrect. The Dodgers were not in the 1973 World Series. They were in many World Series including the 1974 World Series… the 1977 World Series and the 1978 World Series.
NOTE 2: Historical and Statistical mistake. On page 235 the author states: “Joe Ferguson (whose 25 homers in 1973 set a Dodgers record for a catcher)” This is incorrect. I don’t know how the author came up with this… as Dodger Hall of Fame catcher Roy Campanella hit 31 home-runs in 1950… hit 33 home-runs in 1951… hit 41 home-runs in 1953… and hit 32 home-runs in 1955!
In closing… those mistakes do not take away from the quality of this book. I may not like the Mona Lisa’s smile… but I know the paintings worth a few bucks!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Though center stage of this… instant classic… baseball gem… is the Los Angeles Dodgers journey to the 1981 World Championship… and every highlight… and pitfall… is covered with absolute delicious quotes… from all involved… including.. the highs… the lows… the knives in the back from their own “Big-Blue” teammates… and ultimately… the quick dismantling… of almost the entire team that fought their way tooth and nail… to the penthouse of 1981 Major League Baseball.
The author… very intelligently… starts off with the 1978 World Series… which the Dodgers lost to the hated New York Yankees… this made back- to- back World Series losses to the Yankees… since they also lost the 1977 Series to the Yanks… the year before. The feeling that existed… and the reader is enveloped… with the shroud… that the window was rapidly closing on a talented… extremely well put together Dodger team… that had played together in unison… almost like no team before. As an example their starting infield of Steve Garvey… Davey Lopes… “The Penguin”… Ron Cey… and Bill Russell… had played together as a starting infield longer than any such combination in the history of baseball. Leading the team was future Hall of Fame manager…. Tommy Lasorda… and the author… in… what I will term… a stroke of genius… goes waaayy back to Lasorda’s past in great detail… when he was nothing but a waaay below run of the mill… marginal player (mostly minor league) … and followed his transition from player… to a player who on his own started to help coach and motivate his minor league teammates… while still nothing but a journeyman minor leaguer. The reader will find that years later when Lasorda would wax poetic… and try to motivate… his young players… to literally fight… and scrap… and throw “chin-music”… to their opponents… Lasorda had actually… not only truly done it that way himself… but had done it to such an extreme… he came close to killing his post playing career… before it even started.
The author… is an avowed lifetime Giants fan… who grew up booing Lasorda at Bay Area games... (I’ll get into this more later in my review)… won my untold respect not only as to his writing skills… but with his “true-fan” honesty throughout the book… especially… in the last couple of chapters… entitled “Conclusion”… and “Acknowledgements”. I had read one of Turbow’s other books “The Baseball Codes”… and loved it. His writing is not only written like a “floored” Ferrari without brakes… but his footnotes at the bottom of ninety-per-cent of the pages… are like a parent giving their child a box of candy for each good grade in school. He combines historical quotes… along with new fresh quotes from recent interviews for the book. There literally… is not… one slow.. portion… from start to finish.
Nothing is held back… it’s all here… the dislike of Steve Garvey by some teammates… some may say it was jealously… others might say they saw through his façade… and due to the extreme due-diligence by the author… both sides are clearly stated… AND I GLOWINGLY MUST ADD… THEY ARE NOT NAMELESS ASSERTATIONS…. EVERY STATEMENT HAS A NAME… FRONT AND CENTER ATTACHED TO IT! The clubhouse fight between Sutton and Garvey… comments about Garvey’s wife. The dissatisfaction with Davey Lopes’ comments during the strike. Bill Russell not diving for grounders… Lopes’ hands of stone… and record breaking errors in the World Series… “The Penguin’s” courage in coming back to play in the 1981 World Series after a frightening beaning by Goose Gossage. Drug use during this period in baseball and society… Steve Howe’s abuse… many quotes regarding Dusty Baker’s use or allegations of use…
Through it all… Lasorda… motivating and leading… even if at times it seems cornball… he worshiped the “Big Dodger In The Sky”… and led the heart of the team from the time they were teenagers… till they were grown full-blown stars. Irreverent fun is made of Lasorda’s Hollywood hob-knobbing with the likes of Sinatra and Rickles and everyone in between. And mixed in to the Dodger-Blue-Circus are screwballs like Jay Johnstone and pitcher Jerry Reuss. Reuss… upon being introduced to Frank Sinatra said to Sinatra… “SORRY… I DIDN’T GET YOUR NAME.” And it seemed a unanimous team belief… that the absolute baddest ass on the team was Reggie Smith… as denoted by Reuss in this manner: “Jerry Reuss compared Smith to Reggie Jackson “IF YOU HAVE A REGGIE BAR IN NEW YORK, YOU OPEN IT UP AND IT TELLS YOU HOW GOOD IT IS,” he said. “IF YOU HAVE A REGGIE BAR HERE (L.A.) YOU OPEN IT UP AND IT PUNCHES YOU.”
Along with the Dodgers World Championship run… the two other main storylines… are the strike… and the inner fighting between the players is dissected in great detail… and of course the other main subject is the… once –in- a- baseball -lifetime… of the player who probably affected the popularity of baseball more than any player since Babe Ruth… and that’s the one and only FERNANDO VALENZUELA… the Rookie of the Year AND CY YOUNG AWARD WINNER who started off his 1981 season going 8-0 with seven complete games and five shutouts. His ERA on the season after eight games was 0.50! His absolutely unflappable game day performances were as amazing as his screwball… as he looked up towards heaven on each pitch. His bull-like perseverance regardless of pitch count will be remembered throughout the history of baseball.
As I promised earlier… I’d like to compliment the author… not just on the overall book… but the summation he comes to… and has the INTEGRITY to share with the reader. Despite his booing the Dodgers his whole life… and admittedly wearing demeaning Dodger shirts at games… his detailed research brought him to the conclusion (that he shares) as to… how well run the organization is… and what a remarkable… job… and place in history Tommy Lasorda has played.
-------
NOTE 1: Historical and Statistical mistake: On page 148 the author in discussing Joe Ferguson states: (Ferguson) “”was an integral part of the 1973 World Series team. This is incorrect. The Dodgers were not in the 1973 World Series. They were in many World Series including the 1974 World Series… the 1977 World Series and the 1978 World Series.
NOTE 2: Historical and Statistical mistake. On page 235 the author states: “Joe Ferguson (whose 25 homers in 1973 set a Dodgers record for a catcher)” This is incorrect. I don’t know how the author came up with this… as Dodger Hall of Fame catcher Roy Campanella hit 31 home-runs in 1950… hit 33 home-runs in 1951… hit 41 home-runs in 1953… and hit 32 home-runs in 1955!
In closing… those mistakes do not take away from the quality of this book. I may not like the Mona Lisa’s smile… but I know the paintings worth a few bucks!
August 27, 2021
I loved this book, like Los Angeles loved their Dodgers in the 1970s. The nine year infield and over the top manager gave them personality and a home town feel in a rapidly growing city. Fernando arrived to finally bring a World Series win home, and Reggie was the perfect, fun villain, like Darth Vader before his unfortunate redemption. Reggie would’ve let the Emperor fry you, heck he’d done it himself if he was bored. The 1970s Dodgers were legitimate and won a lot of games for a long time. They played four world series in eight years. Shoulda won more of them? What’d your team do? By the way, I was single, in my twenties and living in Seal Beach, California, which was a working class town at the time. Yep. Fond memories. Sigh.
June 20, 2019
https://www.themaineedge.com/sports/r...
Perhaps more than any other sport, baseball is entangled with its history. Even as we witness magnificent feats in the present, our eyes turn ever toward the past. Whether it is through statistics or stories, baseball fans love to look back.
Author Jason Turbow has a knack for transporting us to times gone by and thoroughly revisiting players and teams from the game’s history. We’re not talking about grainy black-and-white history, however – these are teams whose memories are still vivid in the minds of fans of a certain age.
His latest is “They Bled Blue: Fernandomania, Strike-Season Mayhem, and the Weirdest Championship Baseball Had Ever Seen: The 1981 Los Angeles Dodgers.” That mouthful of a title looks back nearly 40 years, digging into the particulars of an iconic franchise during one of the strangest seasons baseball had ever seen.
Seriously – the sport had never seen anything quite like the 1981 Dodgers. From the full-on phenomenon that was Fernando Valenzuela to the era-ending turn from one of the game’s longest-serving infields, from a season split in two by labor strife to the strangest postseason set-up ever, it was a time of turmoil and triumph.
Tommy Lasorda was at the helm of that team, still in the early stages of a managerial career that would land him in the Hall of Fame. He was the most ebullient, effusive skipper in the history of the Dodgers franchise – heck, probably in the history of professional baseball. His seemingly boundless devotion to the Dodgers served as the inspiration for this book’s title – Lasorda would tell anyone who would listen (and plenty who wouldn’t) that he bled Dodger blue.
This was the man in charge going into the 1981 season. The Dodgers were in the midst of a run of almost-greatness, having won the NL pennant a couple of times in the late 1970s, only to lose both times to the hated Yankees. After a couple of down years, it was starting to look as though the championship window might be closing.
That’s because the iconic Dodgers infield of first baseman Steve Garvey, second baseman Davey Lopes, shortstop Bill Russell and third baseman Ron Cey – a group that had been together and producing at a high level for nearly a decade, was beginning to show signs of age. Guys like Dusty Baker and Reggie Smith were starting to get a little grayer as well. These men, who had given their all, were getting a little long in the tooth. If they were going to get that elusive title, the clock was ticking.
On the other side of the aging curve was a young pitcher, not even old enough to drink, whose emergence onto the scene would become one of the biggest stories of the season. Sports have always featured their phenoms, young players who appear and take the field or court or ice by storm. Every sport – at every level – has youngsters who turn up and set the imaginations of fans ablaze.
But we had never seen anything quite like Fernando Valenzuela.
The young pitcher, with just a handful of big-league innings under his belt, began 1981 with an historic run of dominance. He started 8-0, hurling five shutouts and putting up a miniscule 0.50 ERA. The left-hander threw a screwball that proved nigh-impossible for even major league hitters to handle. And while the dominance itself was story enough, the fact that he was Mexican helped the Dodgers fully tap in to the sizeable Hispanic population that had yet to truly adopt the team as their own.
And of course, in the middle of it all, the strike, the first work stoppage since 1972 and the longest the game would see until 1994. Over a third of the season was lost, with the players striking on June 12 and not returning until a delayed All-Star Game on August 9. This led to an odd split-season playoff situation, with MLB crowning first-half and second-half winners that would then face off to determine division crowns before moving on to the Championship Series.
It was a season for the ages – one that helped the Dodgers reestablish themselves as one of the top-tier organizations in baseball. And hey – weird season or not, flags fly forever.
What Turbow does so well with “They Bled Blue” is capture the spirit of the moment. The game wasn’t yet the multi-billion-dollar industry it is today, though it was on its way. Free agency was still in its infancy, with the truly massive paydays still a decade or more in the future. Still, the game was in flux, as demonstrated by the willingness of the players to walk away in an effort to get what they felt was fair treatment.
The Dodgers roster was populated by characters. Yes, there was Fernando, though he was more exciting on the field than off. Guys like the squeaky-clean Garvey, who wasn’t as pure as fans might have believed. Speedster Lopes was fighting off the up-and-coming star Steve Sax. Ditto catcher Steve Yeager, who had Mike Scioscia in his rearview. Russell and Smith struggled with injuries, while the talented Pedro Guerrero was on the upswing.
And in the middle of it all, a perpetual motion machine powered by passion and profanity, was Tommy Lasorda, saying and doing whatever it took to keep the eyes of his squad on the prize – a World Series title.
“They Bled Blue” encapsulates the unique time and place in which this team existed. There was never a season quite like 1981, and there was never a team quite like the Dodgers. Lucky for us, we have someone like Jason Turbow ready to lay it all out for us. It is a delightful and detailed exploration of the game as it once was, an ideal summer read for any baseball fan interested in the stories of the sport.
Perhaps more than any other sport, baseball is entangled with its history. Even as we witness magnificent feats in the present, our eyes turn ever toward the past. Whether it is through statistics or stories, baseball fans love to look back.
Author Jason Turbow has a knack for transporting us to times gone by and thoroughly revisiting players and teams from the game’s history. We’re not talking about grainy black-and-white history, however – these are teams whose memories are still vivid in the minds of fans of a certain age.
His latest is “They Bled Blue: Fernandomania, Strike-Season Mayhem, and the Weirdest Championship Baseball Had Ever Seen: The 1981 Los Angeles Dodgers.” That mouthful of a title looks back nearly 40 years, digging into the particulars of an iconic franchise during one of the strangest seasons baseball had ever seen.
Seriously – the sport had never seen anything quite like the 1981 Dodgers. From the full-on phenomenon that was Fernando Valenzuela to the era-ending turn from one of the game’s longest-serving infields, from a season split in two by labor strife to the strangest postseason set-up ever, it was a time of turmoil and triumph.
Tommy Lasorda was at the helm of that team, still in the early stages of a managerial career that would land him in the Hall of Fame. He was the most ebullient, effusive skipper in the history of the Dodgers franchise – heck, probably in the history of professional baseball. His seemingly boundless devotion to the Dodgers served as the inspiration for this book’s title – Lasorda would tell anyone who would listen (and plenty who wouldn’t) that he bled Dodger blue.
This was the man in charge going into the 1981 season. The Dodgers were in the midst of a run of almost-greatness, having won the NL pennant a couple of times in the late 1970s, only to lose both times to the hated Yankees. After a couple of down years, it was starting to look as though the championship window might be closing.
That’s because the iconic Dodgers infield of first baseman Steve Garvey, second baseman Davey Lopes, shortstop Bill Russell and third baseman Ron Cey – a group that had been together and producing at a high level for nearly a decade, was beginning to show signs of age. Guys like Dusty Baker and Reggie Smith were starting to get a little grayer as well. These men, who had given their all, were getting a little long in the tooth. If they were going to get that elusive title, the clock was ticking.
On the other side of the aging curve was a young pitcher, not even old enough to drink, whose emergence onto the scene would become one of the biggest stories of the season. Sports have always featured their phenoms, young players who appear and take the field or court or ice by storm. Every sport – at every level – has youngsters who turn up and set the imaginations of fans ablaze.
But we had never seen anything quite like Fernando Valenzuela.
The young pitcher, with just a handful of big-league innings under his belt, began 1981 with an historic run of dominance. He started 8-0, hurling five shutouts and putting up a miniscule 0.50 ERA. The left-hander threw a screwball that proved nigh-impossible for even major league hitters to handle. And while the dominance itself was story enough, the fact that he was Mexican helped the Dodgers fully tap in to the sizeable Hispanic population that had yet to truly adopt the team as their own.
And of course, in the middle of it all, the strike, the first work stoppage since 1972 and the longest the game would see until 1994. Over a third of the season was lost, with the players striking on June 12 and not returning until a delayed All-Star Game on August 9. This led to an odd split-season playoff situation, with MLB crowning first-half and second-half winners that would then face off to determine division crowns before moving on to the Championship Series.
It was a season for the ages – one that helped the Dodgers reestablish themselves as one of the top-tier organizations in baseball. And hey – weird season or not, flags fly forever.
What Turbow does so well with “They Bled Blue” is capture the spirit of the moment. The game wasn’t yet the multi-billion-dollar industry it is today, though it was on its way. Free agency was still in its infancy, with the truly massive paydays still a decade or more in the future. Still, the game was in flux, as demonstrated by the willingness of the players to walk away in an effort to get what they felt was fair treatment.
The Dodgers roster was populated by characters. Yes, there was Fernando, though he was more exciting on the field than off. Guys like the squeaky-clean Garvey, who wasn’t as pure as fans might have believed. Speedster Lopes was fighting off the up-and-coming star Steve Sax. Ditto catcher Steve Yeager, who had Mike Scioscia in his rearview. Russell and Smith struggled with injuries, while the talented Pedro Guerrero was on the upswing.
And in the middle of it all, a perpetual motion machine powered by passion and profanity, was Tommy Lasorda, saying and doing whatever it took to keep the eyes of his squad on the prize – a World Series title.
“They Bled Blue” encapsulates the unique time and place in which this team existed. There was never a season quite like 1981, and there was never a team quite like the Dodgers. Lucky for us, we have someone like Jason Turbow ready to lay it all out for us. It is a delightful and detailed exploration of the game as it once was, an ideal summer read for any baseball fan interested in the stories of the sport.
August 14, 2019
Quick, good read. Nothing particularly special. It felt like a really good baseball game was being played out over the course of 10 hours. There were enjoyable stories about each player and the drama was well-done when it came time to the play-off scenes. It didn't feel particularly well-reported or anything like money-ball. It was just a good, fun read. I got to learn a little bit about the LA dodgers too, along with the MLB in 1981. Overall, good to add to my baseball knowledge, not spectacular literature, but very good.
April 8, 2020
Since I had plenty of time during quarantine, I would read a few chapters in the book then go seek the games out on YouTube and watch what I had just read about. This book was a great companion piece in that way; I always enjoy learning useless baseball trivia. The best parts of the book are the player anecdotes (Reuss and Yeager, particularly), and the footnotes about Lasorda are always great. The chapters can run a bit long later in the book, but overall, I enjoyed it. I would have given it 3 1/2 stars if I could.
July 21, 2019
Interesting coverage of the characters and times of the 81 Dodgers. Too bad, there are numerous errors in the baseball coverage such as referring to right hander Steve Howe (pg 300) or having the Yankees up 2-0 (pg. 249) in a game that they trailed 3-0 after the first inning (you can look it up)....
March 13, 2020
Not the level of John Feinstein, but very informative and full of great stories for the people involved. I wasn't watching baseball in 1981, so I really learned a lot about that season. It was very interesting to note how many names I recognized - with some still involved in the game today.
I love baseball stories. This isn't the best one I've read, but I would still recommend it.
I love baseball stories. This isn't the best one I've read, but I would still recommend it.
August 26, 2021
Solid baseball book. It's better than most because it is so well written. The actual story itself just isn't going to amaze anyone, not the author's fault.
September 7, 2019
I clearly remember the time I went to my first Major League Baseball game. It was 1981 and a school field trip to Wrigley Field. The Cubs only played day games back then and it wasn’t unusual or difficult for school groups to get tickets. The attendance that day: 1100. Although my fifth grade class had general admission tickets, we roamed all over the main part of the stadium. The Cubs played the Pirates, who won easily even if they looked a little goofy in their birthday-cake baseball caps.
As Jason Turbow writes in THEY BLED BLUE, the 1981 Pirates were an imposing team, physically larger than the to-be 1981 World Series champion Dodgers. The focus of Turbow’s book is the Dodgers and it’s a great story. So much was going on in baseball in 1981 and Turbow shows how the game would never be the same again.
The 1981 season was interrupted by a two month strike, which happened a month after I went to that Cubs-Pirates game. Because the strike took up so much of the season, the divisions in each league held special playoffs with the leaders of the divisions, both before the strike and at the end of the season. The Dodgers barely squeaked by. The most interesting—and chilling—part of the national league playoffs was when the Dodgers traveled to Montreal. If anyone has seen Olympic Stadium in recent years, it looks neglected. It’s flabbergasting to think that the Expos played outdoors for all those years. The retractable roof wasn’t in operation until years after the Dodgers and Expos played in 1981, so those games in October 1981 were especially cold and Turbow brings the reader right into that frigid atmosphere.
Fernando Valenzuela is another highlight of this story. He was a rookie in 1981 and took LA and all of North America by storm that year. It’s amazing to think back to 1981 when Valenzuela couldn’t communicate with but a couple teammates because there were very few baseball players from Spanish-speaking countries. It’s refreshing to see how much that has changed, and not only from Latin America, but also East Asia like Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea.
The party lifestyle of early 80s LA also plays a big part of the 1981 Dodgers’ story. But not every player partied like a rockstar and not every player got along with one other. They did manage to pull it together to beat the Yankees after falling behind early in the World Series. Even though we know the outcome of the World Series, Turbow writes a thrilling and equally heartbreaking conclusion. For some reason the Dodgers traded away most of the older players on the 1981 Dodgers, or let them become free agents. It’s a bittersweet story (many of the 1981 Dodgers went to the Cubs and brought them their first division win in decades; school classes could no longer get tickets to Wrigley Field after that). This is a great book for baseball fans and people who enjoy stories about underdogs.
As Jason Turbow writes in THEY BLED BLUE, the 1981 Pirates were an imposing team, physically larger than the to-be 1981 World Series champion Dodgers. The focus of Turbow’s book is the Dodgers and it’s a great story. So much was going on in baseball in 1981 and Turbow shows how the game would never be the same again.
The 1981 season was interrupted by a two month strike, which happened a month after I went to that Cubs-Pirates game. Because the strike took up so much of the season, the divisions in each league held special playoffs with the leaders of the divisions, both before the strike and at the end of the season. The Dodgers barely squeaked by. The most interesting—and chilling—part of the national league playoffs was when the Dodgers traveled to Montreal. If anyone has seen Olympic Stadium in recent years, it looks neglected. It’s flabbergasting to think that the Expos played outdoors for all those years. The retractable roof wasn’t in operation until years after the Dodgers and Expos played in 1981, so those games in October 1981 were especially cold and Turbow brings the reader right into that frigid atmosphere.
Fernando Valenzuela is another highlight of this story. He was a rookie in 1981 and took LA and all of North America by storm that year. It’s amazing to think back to 1981 when Valenzuela couldn’t communicate with but a couple teammates because there were very few baseball players from Spanish-speaking countries. It’s refreshing to see how much that has changed, and not only from Latin America, but also East Asia like Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea.
The party lifestyle of early 80s LA also plays a big part of the 1981 Dodgers’ story. But not every player partied like a rockstar and not every player got along with one other. They did manage to pull it together to beat the Yankees after falling behind early in the World Series. Even though we know the outcome of the World Series, Turbow writes a thrilling and equally heartbreaking conclusion. For some reason the Dodgers traded away most of the older players on the 1981 Dodgers, or let them become free agents. It’s a bittersweet story (many of the 1981 Dodgers went to the Cubs and brought them their first division win in decades; school classes could no longer get tickets to Wrigley Field after that). This is a great book for baseball fans and people who enjoy stories about underdogs.
July 15, 2019
4.5 stars.
This is a very good book on the history of the Dodgers first championship season under Lasorda. Turbow avoids the main pitfall of a book like this - the "then this happened, then this happened" type of book that's little more than a series of game recaps. He focuses less on the games than on the people. He interviewed everyone from the team he could get a hold of, and the different personalities shine through. Also, when he does recap games, Turbow is a good enough writer to make the accounts interesting.
And Turnbow finds plenty of interesting things to say about the season. You had Fernando-mania early on. Then came the strike. There are little nuggets throughout, like how Steve Garvey and Derrel Thomas had their contracts worded in such a way as to ensure they still got paid their full salaries during the strike. There's also Dodger boss Al Campanis interrogated troubled reliever Steve Howe about why he hung around with black and Hispanic players so much. (For Campanis, hanging around with minorities was why Howe got involved in drugs. Add that context to his infamous Nightline comments).
The main theme, though, is the old gang has one last chance. The Dodgers had the longest-lasing infield in MLB history - Garvey, Lopes, Russell, and Cey. And while those guys had been together for almost a decade, they'd never won it all. They were on the teams that lost to the Yankees in 1977 and 1978. They broke in around the time they lost to the 1974 A's. Time was running out, and if they didn't do it here, they might never do it at all. And sure enough, the old core started going away right after the World Series, as Davey Lopes was sent off that off-season.
So this really is a well-done recap. The only knocks on it are that the World Series account goes a bit long. Also, at the end Turbow uncritically presents a series of quotes from the players about how the Dodgers broke up the team too early. That goes against the main theme of the book, and also seems ridiculous on the face of it. Throughout the book we're reading about how guys like Lopes and Yeager are scuffling and not what they once were. If you're going to provide those quotes, maybe balance that with how the team had reasons to do what it did.
Overall, though, this is a really solid read.
This is a very good book on the history of the Dodgers first championship season under Lasorda. Turbow avoids the main pitfall of a book like this - the "then this happened, then this happened" type of book that's little more than a series of game recaps. He focuses less on the games than on the people. He interviewed everyone from the team he could get a hold of, and the different personalities shine through. Also, when he does recap games, Turbow is a good enough writer to make the accounts interesting.
And Turnbow finds plenty of interesting things to say about the season. You had Fernando-mania early on. Then came the strike. There are little nuggets throughout, like how Steve Garvey and Derrel Thomas had their contracts worded in such a way as to ensure they still got paid their full salaries during the strike. There's also Dodger boss Al Campanis interrogated troubled reliever Steve Howe about why he hung around with black and Hispanic players so much. (For Campanis, hanging around with minorities was why Howe got involved in drugs. Add that context to his infamous Nightline comments).
The main theme, though, is the old gang has one last chance. The Dodgers had the longest-lasing infield in MLB history - Garvey, Lopes, Russell, and Cey. And while those guys had been together for almost a decade, they'd never won it all. They were on the teams that lost to the Yankees in 1977 and 1978. They broke in around the time they lost to the 1974 A's. Time was running out, and if they didn't do it here, they might never do it at all. And sure enough, the old core started going away right after the World Series, as Davey Lopes was sent off that off-season.
So this really is a well-done recap. The only knocks on it are that the World Series account goes a bit long. Also, at the end Turbow uncritically presents a series of quotes from the players about how the Dodgers broke up the team too early. That goes against the main theme of the book, and also seems ridiculous on the face of it. Throughout the book we're reading about how guys like Lopes and Yeager are scuffling and not what they once were. If you're going to provide those quotes, maybe balance that with how the team had reasons to do what it did.
Overall, though, this is a really solid read.
April 30, 2020
So, this is the second Jason Turnbow book I have read. The other about the bombastic A's was a five star book to me. This book is still very enjoyable and easy to read. Turnbow covers the personalities of the 81 club in sufficient detail so the reader comes away with a good feel for the players, especially the infield that played together longer than any in history. Turnbow was successful in spending hours of in person interviews with Jerry Ruess, Steve Garvey, Reggie Smith, Ron Cey, and Davy Lopes, and Lasorda.He does a nice job with the causes of and strategies that led to the 81 strike , but not in such overwhelming detail(As did Jeff Katz in his Split Season) so as to distract from the Dodger Blue team of 81. One consequence of the split season was that the Dodgers, having won the first half, could coast during the second half and preserve their picthing because they were assured of a spot in the playoffs.I thoroughly enjoyed the Tommy Lasorda background and the short history of the team in the late 70's to their last chance for a world title 1981 team. I laughed out loud at the time Jonathan Winters, as Lasorda's guest, put on a comedy routine in the club house that ran so long that the team wasn't on the field until after the national anthem.Some of the stories are very amusing, plenty revolving around Jerry Reuss(I won't ruin it for you but it concerns what Reuss did at a restaurant to loosen up the frayed nerves of the team down to their last loss against the Expos), Jay Johnstone's pranks, the almost brawl between Reggie smith and Pascal Perez and their teammates, and the time Reggie climbed into the stands to blast a heckling fan. What I found interesting was how similar the Dodgers were to the A's of the early 70's. The A's of course were knwn as a team that fought each other internally but who jelled because of their hatred of Charlie Finley. In many ways the Dodgers, especially the infielders disliked one another a great deal, but were able to win not only because each player contributed their best(Not one Hall of Famer on the team) in no small measure because of the driving personality of Tommy Lasorda and his "bleed Dodger blue" act that worked for quite a long time. This is a refreshing look back at the end of an era and the men that made it finally to a title.
March 25, 2020
The World Series has been around since 1903. It has seen its fair share of excellence, weakness, and bizarreness. The 1981 Major League Baseball season was bizarre. The players’ strike squandered a month and half of the season. To compensate for the loss of games, everyone agreed to let the first-half division winners face the second-half winners which created the first division series in the MLB playoffs.
The 1981 season also saw the explosion known as Fernandomania. Fernando Valenzuela burst onto the scene with eight straight wins that included five complete game shutouts and a microscopic earned run average.
The 1981 season also saw the return of a great baseball rivalry: the Dodgers and the Yankees. Prior to 1981, the Dodgers had faced the Yankees in the World Series ten times, losing to them eight times. The last two losses occurring in 1977 and 1978.
They Bled Blue is the story and the stories within the story of the 1981 Dodgers. The main character is the incomparable Tommy Lasorda, manager of the Dodgers since 1976. The book is well researched and full of interesting and funny anecdotes. The author relies heavily on footnotes to share his more striking yet narrative adjacent tales. Though interesting, these sheer amount of footnotes became irritating. Almost every page requires you to stop reading, look down on the footnotes, and then look back up and figure out where you left off. This definitely made the book feel clunky and longer.
This is a good book. It is not filled with all the Dodgers stories and clichés a fan has heard over and over again. I also read this book during the COVID 19 outbreak that saw the postponement of the 2020 MLB season, so it will be very interesting how the MLB responds to another shortened season.
The 1981 season also saw the explosion known as Fernandomania. Fernando Valenzuela burst onto the scene with eight straight wins that included five complete game shutouts and a microscopic earned run average.
The 1981 season also saw the return of a great baseball rivalry: the Dodgers and the Yankees. Prior to 1981, the Dodgers had faced the Yankees in the World Series ten times, losing to them eight times. The last two losses occurring in 1977 and 1978.
They Bled Blue is the story and the stories within the story of the 1981 Dodgers. The main character is the incomparable Tommy Lasorda, manager of the Dodgers since 1976. The book is well researched and full of interesting and funny anecdotes. The author relies heavily on footnotes to share his more striking yet narrative adjacent tales. Though interesting, these sheer amount of footnotes became irritating. Almost every page requires you to stop reading, look down on the footnotes, and then look back up and figure out where you left off. This definitely made the book feel clunky and longer.
This is a good book. It is not filled with all the Dodgers stories and clichés a fan has heard over and over again. I also read this book during the COVID 19 outbreak that saw the postponement of the 2020 MLB season, so it will be very interesting how the MLB responds to another shortened season.
October 27, 2023
Reported with astonishing density, an impressively woven tapestry of voices and stories that ranges back and forward from the 60s through the late 80s to present a more gritty and personal take, an 80s remake (or really, in the same way 1981 movies are still 70s movies, a 70s remake) of The Boys of Summer--which I read years ago, so maybe that book is more gritty than its rep? Anyway, most of his teammates couldn't stand Steve Garvey (always kinda wondered about that), Jay Johnstone was a famous prankster (already famous), and Jerry Reuss is the unsung hero of the book--a droll wit who also had some amazing seasons. The baseball, honestly, comes across as not that great, with the Dodgers' infield butchering balls left and right (there's a funny "Casey at the Bat" parody somebody did about Davey Lopes making errors), but you really feel the length of the season--not in a bad way, but the quantity of description does not make this a quick read, unlike Turbow's A's book, which I read in a day.
The irony here, given the title and the theme that Tommy Lasorda was an extreme cheeseball and also entirely sincere in his love of the team, is that the Dodgers' organization comes across as thoroughly undeserving of loyalty; within a few years, nearly the entire '81 team had been denied larger contracts and driven out of town, often chased by mysteriously unsourced rumors that (he implies) the team planted. So there's a sad emptiness at the heart of this, a bunch of once-elite players scrapping their hardest to wring one more chance at glory (they'd lost the World Series in '74, '77, and '78 and been eliminated in a playoff by the Astros in 1980), getting there, and almost immediately getting shoved out the door.
The irony here, given the title and the theme that Tommy Lasorda was an extreme cheeseball and also entirely sincere in his love of the team, is that the Dodgers' organization comes across as thoroughly undeserving of loyalty; within a few years, nearly the entire '81 team had been denied larger contracts and driven out of town, often chased by mysteriously unsourced rumors that (he implies) the team planted. So there's a sad emptiness at the heart of this, a bunch of once-elite players scrapping their hardest to wring one more chance at glory (they'd lost the World Series in '74, '77, and '78 and been eliminated in a playoff by the Astros in 1980), getting there, and almost immediately getting shoved out the door.
July 7, 2019
Very similar in style to Turbow's previous must-read: "Dynastic, Bombastic, Fantastic," which chronicles the Oakland A's of the early 1970s. I like the style of both books because they follow the team's ups and downs chronologically, but Turbow is great at slowing the script at times to focus on individual players and how their respective backstories impacted the team in ways you may not have known from your memories of how the games / seasons unfolded. That's what is so great about his books: even though there's no suspense from the standpoint of whether the team was going to win or not, or even the outcome of individual games. It's that you finally get to see what made each of the players tick. And you start to see them not as a fan, but as they saw themselves as teammates. It's very nice how Turbow is able to pull that off.
Some of the best parts of the book are in the footnotes, which are plentiful throughout each chapter. One of my favorites included this gem about Hall of Famer Don Sutton: "Once, when an umpire searched Sutton for abrasive surfaces, he instead found a note reading, 'It's not here, but you're getting warm.'"
This is a great pick to add to your reading list, not only for Dodgers fans, but also for those of us who grew up in the 80s and remember watching these guys in the prime of their careers, many of whom ended up playing for other teams throughout the remainder of the decade: Steve Garvey in San Diego, Ron Cey, Jay Johnstone, and Rick Sutcliffe in Chicago, Davey Lopes in Oakland, Dusty Baker in San Francisco, and Pedro Guerrero in St. Louis.
Some of the best parts of the book are in the footnotes, which are plentiful throughout each chapter. One of my favorites included this gem about Hall of Famer Don Sutton: "Once, when an umpire searched Sutton for abrasive surfaces, he instead found a note reading, 'It's not here, but you're getting warm.'"
This is a great pick to add to your reading list, not only for Dodgers fans, but also for those of us who grew up in the 80s and remember watching these guys in the prime of their careers, many of whom ended up playing for other teams throughout the remainder of the decade: Steve Garvey in San Diego, Ron Cey, Jay Johnstone, and Rick Sutcliffe in Chicago, Davey Lopes in Oakland, Dusty Baker in San Francisco, and Pedro Guerrero in St. Louis.
December 11, 2024
The 1981 Los Angeles Dodgers are one of the most storied teams in baseball history, coming out of a unique year defined by a strike that very nearly ended the season and a postseason format that wouldn’t see anything similar for another decade with the number of teams chasing the pennant. Through a combination of young stars like Fernando Valenzuela and old veterans like Steve Garvey and Ron Cey, the special nature of this team in baseball history cannot be overstated, and I think it is crucial that fans of baseball understand the importance of this team in the history of the major leagues. This was a defining season for baseball in the wake of the strike, and critical in defining the careers of managers Tommy Lasorda and Bob Lemon of the Yankees after the two clubs met in the Fall Classic.
Turbow’s recounting of the 1981 season is precise and direct, with a clear sense of purpose and direction that I found admirable, providing real and solid insights into a season unlike any other and the many factors that made the eventual world champions so impactful upon the game. As a fan of baseball, the 1981 Dodgers are a team that I always associate with the more iconic champions in the history of the game, regardless of what, statistically, may seem like an underdog squad. Any fan of baseball, especially the Yankees-Dodgers rivalry, should take the time to read this intriguing replay of an iconic season.
Turbow’s recounting of the 1981 season is precise and direct, with a clear sense of purpose and direction that I found admirable, providing real and solid insights into a season unlike any other and the many factors that made the eventual world champions so impactful upon the game. As a fan of baseball, the 1981 Dodgers are a team that I always associate with the more iconic champions in the history of the game, regardless of what, statistically, may seem like an underdog squad. Any fan of baseball, especially the Yankees-Dodgers rivalry, should take the time to read this intriguing replay of an iconic season.
July 23, 2023
The story of the 81 Dodgers and the baseball season as well. The author takes you through Lasrada becoming manager and then he brings in sayings Dodger's sayings that we all were used to him saying. He takes you through the losses of 77 and 78 to the Yankees and how when 1981 comes around it will likely be it for the infield of Garvey, Lopes, Russell, and Cey if they want to win this will be their last chance. He then goes into Fernando! How he exploded onto the scene and then goes into how and who found him in Mexico which was a fascinating story. Then you come to the strike and he speaks about it and how it affected some of the players and how some had to go out and work another job and how one player still got paid because he had it written in his contract. You then get to the playoffs then their win against the Yankees. A good book my only side commentary is I have always felt that Lasorda overworks Fernando always leaving him in past the ninth inning sometimes into the 11th and I remember one game where he went longer than that, not that we will see it again but he had multiple years where he was just short of 300 innings and had some years with 20 complete games by the time the Dodgers were done with him they were done with him. The book though is a very good book.
July 1, 2019
Veteran baseball author Jason Turbow has turned in another solid effort with his newest book, They Bled Blue, about the 1981 Los Angeles Dodgers.
Turbow covers the ending of the era of the seemingly permanent infield fixtures of Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes, Bill Russell, and Ron Cey, the enthusiastic Dodger blue evangelist Tommy Lasorda, solid pros such as Dusty Baker and Rick Monday, wacky characters like Jerry Reuss and Jay Johnstone, and of course Fernandomania.
The narrative does an outstanding job weaving the story of the Dodgers season in and out of explorations of the members of the team, the city of Los Angeles in the early 1980s, and the larger issue facing baseball in '81, the prolonged strike that wiped out a third of the season. The storyline transitions easily between subjects broad and narrow, with readers truly getting a sense of what it was like to be with and around that team at that point in time.
There are many books that cover the team over the course of one season, and this is among the better ones that I've read.
Thanks to NetGalley for providing an advanced reading copy in exchange for an honest review.
Turbow covers the ending of the era of the seemingly permanent infield fixtures of Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes, Bill Russell, and Ron Cey, the enthusiastic Dodger blue evangelist Tommy Lasorda, solid pros such as Dusty Baker and Rick Monday, wacky characters like Jerry Reuss and Jay Johnstone, and of course Fernandomania.
The narrative does an outstanding job weaving the story of the Dodgers season in and out of explorations of the members of the team, the city of Los Angeles in the early 1980s, and the larger issue facing baseball in '81, the prolonged strike that wiped out a third of the season. The storyline transitions easily between subjects broad and narrow, with readers truly getting a sense of what it was like to be with and around that team at that point in time.
There are many books that cover the team over the course of one season, and this is among the better ones that I've read.
Thanks to NetGalley for providing an advanced reading copy in exchange for an honest review.
November 3, 2019
A really good book by Jason Turnbow, who also wrote a great book on the 1970's Oakland Athletics. I hope Turnbow continues to write baseball books, (although his editors need to be a little better - Ron Guidry and Tommy John are LEFT HANDERS, not righties) as this one was a gem. It's on the 1981 Dodgers that won the World Series in a weird season in which there were two halves (Jeff Katz wrote a great book on the entire season) and the Dodgers won the first half before a strike. In this book you learn a lot about Tommy Lasorda, Steve Garvey, Jerry Reuss, Fernando, Ron Cey, Davey Lopes, Burt Hooton, Steve Howe, Dusty Baker, Reggie Smith, Steve Yeager, Steve Sax, Bob Welch, Rick Monday, Pedro Guerrero and countless others. Takes the reader through the entire season and gets dry for a chapter on the actual strike, but the chapters on the series with Houston, Montreal and New York are about as good of writing and research as you'll find. Did I like this book a little more because I'm a Dodger fan? Yeah probably, or else it's a four-star book because of a few writing errors, but I let it slide because I'm from LA. A must for any Dodger fan or baseball fan, especially during the 1980s.
September 19, 2025
As a Dodger fan, I enjoyed this book about the 1981 Los Angeles World Series Championship Season.
There are a lot of anecdotes which are as exciting and informational as the book itself.
The Dodger Players have some background included within the book. Some explain their personality and reactions to each other but to the game itself.
Fernando Mania and the 81 Strike are discussed in very good detail.
The chapters regarding the Playoffs and World Series are much longer in detail.
This was a team with season veterans that played together - Cey, Russel, Lopes and Garvey -for nearly 9 years and who loss 3 World Series together. It was good to finally see them win one.
Am unclear why the 1988 WS Kirk Gibson moment is included. Although it does fit well as part of the scope of---What happened to those 81 Dodgers, it seems a little out of place.
Regardless - it is a good book for a Dodger Fan
There are a lot of anecdotes which are as exciting and informational as the book itself.
The Dodger Players have some background included within the book. Some explain their personality and reactions to each other but to the game itself.
Fernando Mania and the 81 Strike are discussed in very good detail.
The chapters regarding the Playoffs and World Series are much longer in detail.
This was a team with season veterans that played together - Cey, Russel, Lopes and Garvey -for nearly 9 years and who loss 3 World Series together. It was good to finally see them win one.
Am unclear why the 1988 WS Kirk Gibson moment is included. Although it does fit well as part of the scope of---What happened to those 81 Dodgers, it seems a little out of place.
Regardless - it is a good book for a Dodger Fan
November 11, 2024
I started this book the day after Fernando died, right before the Dodgers would go on to play in (and win!) the World Series this year. As a Dodger fan of not that many years, I felt like it was high time to learn more about one of the franchise and baseball's most iconic pitchers and winning teams. This work is one that is so clearly and lovingly researched, and I loved how the author incorporated little fun tidbits in the notes in every chapter. I see a lot of parallels between 1981, 1988 and the 2024 World Series winning teams, though of course there have been many changes and developments in baseball in the 40 odd years that separate them. Even aside from "Gibby, meet Freddie," the spirit of Dodger baseball remains the same and its why I'm proud to call myself a Dodger fan. Curious to read if, though more likely when, in the next few years a book comes out about the 2024 team.
June 29, 2020
A long car ride and cutting some thick grass was enough to knock out this audio book. Solid book about a largely forgotten World Series team, The 1981 Los Angeles Dodgers. It was perfect timing as the 2020 is going to be the oddest season since that one in 1981.
Mr. Turbow does a great job laying out the season and follows the Dodgers from start to finish. This was an interesting club. It was the peak of Fernandomania with rookie Fernando Venezuela shutting down the league. It was interesting to learn that although the whole infield was together since the early seventies it was not a tight team.
Overall I enjoyed this book, and if you are fan of baseball in the 1980’s, I think you will too.
Mr. Turbow does a great job laying out the season and follows the Dodgers from start to finish. This was an interesting club. It was the peak of Fernandomania with rookie Fernando Venezuela shutting down the league. It was interesting to learn that although the whole infield was together since the early seventies it was not a tight team.
Overall I enjoyed this book, and if you are fan of baseball in the 1980’s, I think you will too.
November 25, 2019
There are many books about the 1981 baseball season, but Jason Turbow's does perhaps the best job of hitting the big-picture view well enough to account for a strike, Fernando-mania, and the crazyquilt of cultural factors in play that made the season a watershed time... while at the same time getting inside the personalities that made the Dodgers tick. Lasorda, Garvey, Jerry Reuss, and the enigmatic Fernando are all well chronicled. If I had a criticism for this book, it's that the post-season play-by-play kind of drags in spots. The book is most fun when the team is in the dugout, clubhouse, or airplane, where the stories flowed freely.
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