History sits like a buzzard on a branch at Dodgertown, where anything that doesn`t move gets named after a Gilliam, Robinson, Campanella or Koufax. Times were bad enough when the Dodgers simply weren`t good any more. Times got worse when people started to laugh, and the Dodgers couldn`t laugh back.
Back-to-back seasons of 73-89 introduced Dodger fans to mediocrity. The offense and defense were the worst in the National League last season and the farm system, once considered baseball`s best, had failed.
The products of the Los Angeles system that did produce are doing so with other major league teams, leaving the Dodgers with little of the talent that promised to replace Cey, Russell, Lopes and Garvey.
”Those were the Dodger Hall of Famers,” said utility man Mickey Hatcher, who returned to the Dodgers last year. ”They created a winning atmosphere just by being around.
”But those guys are gone, and some of these guys following them put a lot of pressure on themselves and feel like they have to go out and be those guys. That`s just not going to happen.”
Not with these artless Dodgers.
Said outfielder Mike Marshall: ”Sometimes you just don`t have the horses, you know?”
So the Dodgers looked in other pastures this winter, signing free-agent outfielders Kirk Gibson and Mike Davis and trading for shortstop Alfredo Griffin and reliever Jesse Orosco.
The new approach may improve the offense and defense, and Orosco could be the left-handed reliever the club has missed since Steve Howe was released.
But the new group hasn`t done much for team morale.
The problems started last week, when Gibson was called to a telephone, and upon picking it up, got an earful of shaving cream. He took that one for the team, he said.
He was not so forgiving later, when Orosco put either black shoe polish or eyeblack, the substance outfielders wear under their eyes to reduce the sun`s glare, on the sweatband of Gibson`s cap. He didn`t notice until he removed his cap, revealing a black halo.
Now, Kirk Gibson does not take jokes lightly aimed at his head, primarily because he treasures a hairline that is retreating like a beach at low tide.
”They should have done their homework,” Gibson snapped, and promptly went home.
He returned the next day but was booed by a Vero Beach crowd each time he came to bat in the exhibition opener against the Twins. Two fans unfurled a sign that read ”Kiwi Kirk,” alluding to a brand of shoe polish likely used by Orosco.
Gibson`s teammates didn`t seem to take a shine to their new power threat, but Tommy Lasorda did. He called a team meeting and gave a clear message: cut the clowning.
The edict doesn`t stop the jokes on Johnny Carson or comedian Rich Little`s rips in front of the winter baseball meetings, when he said he came from Los Angeles, a city ”that does not have any baseball.”
Nobody laughed at the Dodgers as little as three years ago, when they won the NL West. But injuries, bad trades, a poor bullpen and inside feuding have turned Los Angeles into a team fast losing focus.
The Dodgers have finished under .500 three of the last four years, and a third consecutive sub-.500 season would be the club`s worst three-year run in 40 years, leaving Lasorda with what may be his toughest job since taking over in 1977.
A few months ago, it wasn`t clear if he still wanted the job. He reportedly wanted the general manager`s job when Al Campanis was fired after voicing his views on the lack of blacks in baseball management positions. But Dodgers owner Peter O`Malley promoted Fred Claire, a former sports writer and public relations man.
Lasorda says now that he wants to manage ”as long as I can, as long as they`ll let me.” He avoids talk of someday wanting the general manager`s job, saying ”let`s cross that bridge when we come to it.”
He is adamantly optimistic. His value to the team in public relations probably was never more important, considering the Dodgers dropped below the 3 million mark in attendance last year for the first time since 1979. This team needs a salesman now more than ever.
Sitting behind his desk in the clubhouse, Lasorda unbuttons the top of his uniform pants to give his ample paunch some room. He invites two sons of a Dodgers player into his office and tells each to give ”Uncle Tommy” a hug.
The Gibson matter is temporarily under control, and he is feeling good. He is cordial and upbeat, every answer a positive one.
A reporter walks in and asks if Marshall was given a reason for not starting that day against Minnesota. Lasorda`s expression clouds over. He says yes. The reporter says Marshall told him if he didn`t start, he wasn`t going to play at all.
Lasorda`s gray eyes are half-lidded now, and he says, in an almost sinister whisper, ”No comment.”
Marshall is the last of the Dodgers` big bang prospects, and perhaps one of the organization`s biggest pains. He says he didn`t want to come off the bench in the exhibition game because, going into the game cold, he was afraid of further injuring a slightly pulled thigh muscle.
Such injuries and demands make him unpopular with his teammates, who question his dedication. He hit .294 with 16 home runs and 72 RBIs but played in only 104 games last season because of injuries, one of them listed as
”general soreness.” He further distanced his teammates by getting into a fight with infielder Phil Garner.
Marshall didn`t make any friends last week, when he complained because Mike Davis started in right field against the Twins. Marshall thinks he sees the future.
”I either want to be an everyday player here or I want to be traded someplace else,” he said.
He admits he may have no position with the Dodgers. There was talk that he might play third, but Jeff Hamilton or Steve Sax likely will play there.
Pedro Guerrero, NL Comeback Player of the Year after hitting .338 with 89 RBIs, is at first. Gibson has left field, and Davis likely will be given right field because of his defensive superiority over Marshall.
If the new veterans produce, Dodgers officials believe it will take the burden off the farm system. Players won`t be rushed to the big leagues as much, and the system will have time to heal itself.
”This way you can leave them down there a year or so longer,” Marshall said. ”Sometimes you ruin a guy by moving him too fast. But, if it turns around this year, those guys will have to time to develop, and I think everything will be like it was.”
Two minutes later, Marshall`s optimistic aura turned to trade talk again. Five feet from him, Gibson dressed quickly as he told a reporter he was ”not in a position to talk” on the day of his return. ”It`s been a long day,” he said, sighing.
And the season hasn`t even started.
