1977 Los Angeles Dodgers season

1977 Los Angeles Dodgers
National League champions
National League West champions
LeagueNational League
DivisionWest
BallparkDodger Stadium
CityLos Angeles
Record98–64 (.605)
Divisional place1st
OwnersWalter O'Malley
PresidentPeter O'Malley
General managersAl Campanis
ManagersTommy Lasorda
TelevisionKTTV (11)
RadioKABC
Vin Scully, Jerry Doggett, Ross Porter
XEGM
Jaime Jarrín, Rudy Hoyos
← 1976
1978 →

The 1977 Los Angeles Dodgers season was the 88th season for the Los Angeles Dodgers franchise in Major League Baseball (MLB), their 20th season in Los Angeles, California, and their 16th season playing their home games at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles California.

Tommy Lasorda started his first full season at the helm of the Dodgers, replacing longtime manager Walter Alston as manager of the team near the end of the previous season. The Dodgers won the National League West by 10 games and defeated the Philadelphia Phillies in four games in the NLCS, then lost to the New York Yankees in the World Series. This edition of the Dodgers featured the first quartet of teammates that hit 30 or more home runs: Steve Garvey with 33, Reggie Smith with 32, and Dusty Baker and Ron Cey, who both hit 30. The Dodgers duplicated this feat again 20 years later in 1997.

Offseason

Regular season

Walter Alston's number 24 was retired by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1977.

Season standings

NL West
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Los Angeles Dodgers 98 64 .605 51‍–‍30 47‍–‍34
Cincinnati Reds 88 74 .543 10 48‍–‍33 40‍–‍41
Houston Astros 81 81 .500 17 46‍–‍35 35‍–‍46
San Francisco Giants 75 87 .463 23 38‍–‍43 37‍–‍44
San Diego Padres 69 93 .426 29 35‍–‍46 34‍–‍47
Atlanta Braves 61 101 .377 37 40‍–‍41 21‍–‍60

Record vs. opponents


Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
Team ATL CHC CIN HOU LAD MON NYM PHI PIT SD SF STL
Atlanta 5–7 4–14 9–9 5–13 6–6 7–5 2–10 3–9 11–7 8–10 1–11
Chicago 7–5 7–5 6–6 6–6 10–8 9–9 6–12 7–11 7–5 9–3 7–11
Cincinnati 14–4 5–7 5–13 10–8 7–5 10–2 8–4 3–9 11–7 10–8 5–7
Houston 9–9 6–6 13–5 9–9 8–4 6–6 4–8 4–8 8–10 9–9 5–7
Los Angeles 13–5 6–6 8–10 9–9 7–5 8–4 6–6 9–3 12–6 14–4 6–6
Montreal 6–6 8–10 5–7 4–8 5–7 10–8 7–11 7–11 5–7 6–6 12–6
New York 5–7 9–9 2–10 6–6 4–8 8–10 5–13 4–14 6–6 7–5 8–10
Philadelphia 10-2 12–6 4–8 8–4 6–6 11–7 13–5 8–10 9–3 9–3 11–7
Pittsburgh 9–3 11–7 9–3 8–4 3–9 11–7 14–4 10–8 10–2 2–10 9–9
San Diego 7–11 5–7 7–11 10–8 6–12 7–5 6–6 3–9 2–10 8–10 8–4
San Francisco 10–8 3–9 8–10 9–9 4–14 6–6 5–7 3–9 10–2 10–8 7–5
St. Louis 11–1 11–7 7–5 7–5 6–6 6–12 10–8 7–11 9–9 4–8 5–7

Opening Day lineup

Opening Day starters
# Name Position
15 Davey Lopes 2B
18 Bill Russell SS
8 Reggie Smith RF
10 Ron Cey 3B
6 Steve Garvey 1B
16 Rick Monday CF
12 Dusty Baker LF
7 Steve Yeager C
20 Don Sutton P

[4]

Notable transactions

Roster

1977 Los Angeles Dodgers
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Game log

Regular season

Legend
  Dodgers win
  Dodgers loss
  Postponement
  Clinched division
Bold Dodgers team member
1977 regular season game log: 98–64 (Home: 51–30; Away: 47–34)[8]
April: 17–3 (Home: 6–2; Away: 11–1)
# Date Time (PT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Box/
Streak
May: 16–12 (Home: 8–5; Away: 8–7)
# Date Time (PT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Box/
Streak
June: 17–11 (Home: 9–3; Away: 8–8)
# Date Time (PT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Box/
Streak
July: 16–12 (Home: 6–9; Away: 10–3)
# Date Time (PT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Box/
Streak
July 19 5:15 p.m. PDT 48th All-Star Game National League vs. American League (Yankee Stadium, Bronx, New York)
August: 14–15 (Home: 11–5; Away: 3–10)
# Date Time (PT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Box/
Streak
September: 17–10 (Home: 10–5; Away: 5–5)
# Date Time (PT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Box/
Streak
October: 1–1 (Home: 1–1; Away: 0–0)
# Date Time (PT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Box/
Streak

Postseason Game log

1977 Postseason game log: 5–5 (Home: 2–3; Away: 3–2)
NL Championship Series: vs. Philadelphia Phillies 3–1 (Home: 1–1; Away: 2–0)
# Date Time (PT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Series Box
Streak
World Series: vs. New York Yankees 2–4 (Home: 1–2; Away: 1–2)
# Date Time (PT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Series Box
Streak
1 October 11 5:15 p.m. PDT @ Yankees L 3–4 (12) Lyle (1–0) Rhoden (0–1) 3:24 56,668 NYA 1–0 L1
2 October 12 5:15 p.m. PDT @ Yankees W 6–1 Hooton (1–0) Hunter (0–1) 2:27 56,691 TIE 1–1 W1
3 October 14 5:15 p.m. PDT Yankees L 3–5 Torrez (1–0) John (0–1) 2:31 55,992 NYA 2–1 L1
4 October 15 1:15 p.m. PDT Yankees L 2–4 Guidry (1–0) Rau (0–1) 2:07 55,995 NYA 3–1 L2
5 October 16 1:15 p.m. PDT Yankees W 10–4 Sutton (1–0) Gullett (0–1) 2:29 55,955 NYA 3–2 W1
6 October 18 5:15 p.m. PDT @ Yankees L 4–8 Torrez (2–0) Hooton (1–1) 2:18 56,407 NYA 4–2 L1

Player stats

= Indicates team leader
= Indicates league leader

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
C Steve Yeager 125 387 99 .256 16 55
1B Steve Garvey 162* 696 192 .297 33 115
2B Davey Lopes 134 502 142 .283 11 53
3B Ron Cey 153 564 136 .241 30 110
SS Bill Russell 153 634 176 .278 4 51
LF Dusty Baker 153 533 155 .291 30 86
CF Rick Monday 118 392 90 .230 15 48
RF Reggie Smith 148 488 150 .307 32 87

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Lee Lacy 75 169 45 .266 6 21
Glenn Burke 83 169 43 .254 1 13
Johnny Oates 60 156 42 .269 3 11
Ted Martinez 67 137 41 .299 1 10
John Hale 79 108 26 .241 2 11
Ed Goodson 61 66 11 .167 1 5
Vic Davalillo 24 48 15 .313 0 4
Boog Powell 50 41 10 .244 0 5
Manny Mota 50 38 15 .395 1 4
Jerry Grote 18 27 7 .259 0 4
Joe Simpson 29 23 4 .174 0 1
Ron Washington 10 19 7 .368 0 1
Rafael Landestoy 15 18 5 .278 0 0
Jeffrey Leonard 11 10 3 .300 0 2
Kevin Pasley 2 3 1 .333 0 0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Don Sutton 33 240.1 14 8 3.18 150
Burt Hooton 32 223.1 12 7 2.62 153
Tommy John 31 220.1 20 7 2.78 123
Rick Rhoden 31 216.1 16 10 3.74 122
Doug Rau 32 212.1 14 8 3.43 126

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Al Downing 12 20.0 0 1 6.75 23
Dennis Lewallyn 5 17.0 3 1 4.24 8
Bobby Castillo 6 11.1 0 0 3.97 7
Hank Webb 5 8.0 0 0 2.25 2

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Charlie Hough 70 6 12 22 3.32 105
Mike Garman 49 4 4 12 2.73 29
Elias Sosa 44 2 2 1 1.98 47
Stan Wall 25 2 3 0 5.34 22
Lance Rautzhan 25 4 1 2 4.35 13

Postseason

1977 National League Championship Series

Game One

October 4, Dodger Stadium

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Philadelphia 2 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 2 7 9 0
Los Angeles 0 0 0 0 1 0 4 0 0 5 9 2
W: Gene Garber (1–0)  L: Elías Sosa (0–1)  SV: Tug McGraw (1)
HRs: PHIGreg Luzinski (1); LADRon Cey (1)

Game Two

October 5, Dodger Stadium

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Philadelphia 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 9 1
Los Angeles 0 0 1 4 0 1 1 0 X 7 9 1
W: Don Sutton (1–0)  L: Jim Lonborg (0–1)  
HRs: PHIBake McBride (1); LADDusty Baker (1)

Game Three

October 7, Veterans Stadium

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Los Angeles 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 3 6 12 2
Philadelphia 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 5 6 2
W: Lance Rautzhan (1–0)  L: Gene Garber (1–1)  SV: Mike Garman (1)
HRs: None

Game Four

October 8, Veterans Stadium

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Los Angeles 0 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 4 5 0
Philadelphia 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 7 0
W: Tommy John (1–0)  L: Steve Carlton (0–1)  
HRs: LADDusty Baker (2)

1977 World Series

AL New York Yankees (4) vs. NL Los Angeles Dodgers (2)
Game Score Date Location Attendance Time of Game
1 Dodgers – 3, Yankees – 4 (12 inns) October 11 Yankee Stadium 56,668 3:24
2 Dodgers – 6, Yankees – 1 October 12 Yankee Stadium 56,691 2:27
3 Yankees – 5, Dodgers – 3 October 14 Dodger Stadium 55,992 2:31
4 Yankees – 4, Dodgers – 2 October 15 Dodger Stadium 55,995 2:07
5 Yankees – 4, Dodgers – 10 October 16 Dodger Stadium 55,995 2:29
6 Dodgers – 4, Yankees – 8 October 18 Yankee Stadium 56,407 2:18

Awards and honors

Farm system

Level Team League Manager
AAA Albuquerque Dukes Pacific Coast League James B. Williams
AA San Antonio Dodgers Texas League Don LeJohn
A Lodi Dodgers California League Stan Wasiak
A Clinton Dodgers Midwest League Dick McLaughlin
Rookie Lethbridge Dodgers Pioneer League Gail Henley

Teams in BOLD won League Championships

Major League Baseball draft

The Dodgers drafted 40 players in the June draft and eight in the January draft. Of those, eight players would eventually play in the Major Leagues.

The first round draft pick in the June draft was pitcher Bob Welch from Eastern Michigan University. In 17 years with the Dodgers and Oakland Athletics he started 462 games with a 211–146 record and a 3.47 ERA. He became a two time All-Star, a two time World Series Champion and won the 1990 American League Cy Young Award.

The draft also included Mickey Hatcher, who hit .280 in 1130 games, mostly as an outfielder and was a part of two Dodgers World Series champions; outfielder/utility player Ron Roenicke who played eight seasons in the Majors before becoming a coach and manager; and relief pitcher Tom Niedenfuer, who was picked in the 36th round but would play 10 seasons in the Majors and save 97 games.

Notes

References