Expos stories included in new book about 1981 Dodgers

April 29, 2019

By Danny Gallagher

Canadian Baseball Network

When I was writing my book Blue Monday about the 1981 Expos, I was tipped off two years ago that Jason Turbow was working on a book about the 1981 Dodgers.

Considering that there would be similar scenarios in our book since the teams met in the ’81 NLCS, I let my publisher Dundurn Press know that I wanted to get my book out before Turbow’s book. And that’s what happened. My book was released last October.

Here I am reading Turbow’s terrific book due to be released in early June. Turbow is an eloquent wordsmith with insight that takes readers inside some of the characters from that ‘81 Dodgers team. There are chapters within chapters and mini bios of players to complement the games covered.

Chapter 1 is simply called The Manager. The team evolved around Tommy Lasorda, a shill, who was bombastic and flamboyant long before he became Dodgers skipper, even during his nine-season stint with the Dodgers triple-A farm team, the Montreal Royals.

Yes, the same Lasorda who had to be coaxed and coaxed and prodded by then Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame executive director Tom Valcke to show up for his induction ceremony in June 2006.

As Turbow reveals in his book, Lasorda did more than just pitch for the Royals. When he wasn’t pitching, Lasorda coached first base, he ran the pitchers in the outfield, he was the team’s travelling secretary, looking after plane and train trips, and he handed out meal money. No wonder all of this activity helped him as a leader when he was elevated to become Walter Alston’s replacement as Los Angeles manager in 1977.

Lasorda was even controversial in his time with Montreal, even to the point of taking a foul ball while he was coaching first and firing it back at the legs of the opposing pitcher, starting a donnybrook. Often, Lasorda’s wife Jo wouldn’t say goodbye to him as he left for the ballpark or a road trip. She would merely say, “Please, Tommy, don’t start any fights.’’

When he was born, Lasorda was found to have a spot on his heart but it was really a Dodgers logo. As Turbow points out in the book, some stories about Lasorda were tough to verify because Lasorda, more often than not, was the source.

According to Turbow, the Expos offered Lasorda “multiple years and $250,000’’ to be their manager in time for the 1977 season which was the year he took over from Alston. Depending on who you talk to, Lasorda was close to signing with the Expos but that Dodgers logo on his heart won him over.

By the time the ’81 season rolled around, the Dodgers fab infield of Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes, Bill Russell and Ron Cey was on its last legs. But the Fab Four still had a lot to offer, especially in the post-season when they beat the Astros in the NLDS, the Expos in the NLCS and the Yankees in the World Series.

Ironically, those four infielders had little in common away from the park. They never socialized.

“Cey walks like a duck, hits like a truck,’’ Lasorda said of Cey, who was known as the Penguin.

What gets a lot of attention is the controversial plate-blocking abilities of Dodgers catcher Mike Scioscia. In one game, Expos players Warren Cromartie, Rowland Office and Andre Dawson bowled Scioscia over. The Expos would complain that Scioscia’s career-long tactics in blocking the plate were illegal.

When veteran Jerry Reuss couldn’t go as the Dodgers Opening Day catcher in ’81, a rookie with a rotund belly and a unique glitch that saw him gaze toward the sky, was summoned. That pitcher spawned Fernandomania. Fernando Valenzuela’s out pitch was a reverse curve called the screwball.

The Dodgers won the first half of the NL West and didn’t play that great in the second half. But they beat the Astros, even though Garvey complained that the Astros dimmed their home lights when their power pitchers were throwing.

Then the Dodgers faced the Expos. Much was said in the book about Expos rookie Tim Raines, who stole 71 bases in only 88 games. He missed many games due to the strike and a hand injury. Would he have broken Lou Brock’s single-season record of 118 stolen bases if he had played a full season?

When Expos pitcher Ray Burris shut down the Dodgers 3-0 in Game 2 of the NLCS, Dodgers outfielder Ken Landreaux exclaimed to Turbow, “Ray Burris? Can you believe that?’’

Then the series switched to Montreal for the remainder of the series, which prompted the chapter heading Tundra. Somebody made the joke that it got so cold in Montreal that Raines’ tobacco in the back pocket of his uniform froze on him.

There was mention of the turf at Olympic Stadium that forced Expos players to do their pre-game running at a nearby park instead of on the hard surface of their ballpark.

When Dawson was asked what he thought of unlikely hero Jerry White hitting a go-ahead three-run homer to win Game 3 for the Expos, he demurred this way, “Best dresser in the league.’’

Down 2-1 in the best-of-three series, the Dodgers were told to bring their luggage to the ballpark from the hotel but outfielder Dusty Baker was having no part of it.

“I’m going to the World Series,’’ Baker said.

So what Baker meant was that even if the Dodgers didn’t beat the Expos, he was still going to New York to be at least a fan, “even if I have to sit in the stands. I’m not going home.’’

When the Dodgers won the NLCS to beat out the Expos, Baker got involved in a fracas with Expos fans in an Olympic Stadium parking lot and badly injured his right hand, punching people, who were hitting on some of the players’ wives. Baker kept it all a secret and played the World Series but was very ineffective. The media didn’t know about the injury.

As the World Series begun, Garvey was the subject of much chatter about his failing marriage to his wife Cyndy, amid speculation that both were engaging in infidelity. A 12,000-word article in Newsweek’s magazine Inside Sports spilled the beans on what some had called a “perfect American couple’’ and a “storybook’’ marriage. Garvey and his wife sued the magazine for invasion of privacy. Instead of the original $11.2-million requested in the suit, the Garveys settled for a few less zeros at $112,000.

Some teammates disliked Garvey for coming across as loving himself too much. He would take 8x10 photos with him into bars on road trips just in case he would run into fans wanting autographed copies.

Garvey admitted his focus had been off kilter for most of the 1981 season but he hit .417 in the World Series. He didn’t win the MVP. Instead, Cey, Steve Yeager and Pedro Guerrero shared the honours as the Dodgers beat the Yankees in six games, prompting not only champagne baths but food fights featuring Reuss and a cast of others.

Turbow’s writing skills make this book a wildly entertaining narrative. Complete with footnotes and bibliographic notes, it’s obvious he put a lot of time, effort and wordsmithing into this colossal effort. They Bled Blue is published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and is due in bookstores June 4.

Danny Gallagher is signing copies of his book Blue Monday May 4, 6-10, at the Toronto Maple Leafs fan forum and reception at the Marriott Hotel, 901 Dixon Road.