The 15 greatest L.A. Dodgers of all time, No. 2: Don Drysdale
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Continuing our countdown of the greatest L.A. Dodgers of all time, as chosen by our readers.
No. 2: Don Drysdale (471 first-place votes, 73,134 points)
Big D teamed with Sandy Koufax during the 1960s to form one of the most dominating pitching duos in history.
In 1962, Drysdale won 25 games and the Cy Young Award. In 1965, he won 23 games and helped the Dodgers to their third World Series title in L.A. In 1968, he set a record with 58 consecutive scoreless innings, a record that was broken by Orel Hershiser in 1988.
Drysdale was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1984, and had his number (53) retired by the Dodgers that same year.
Drysdale was also one of the last of the breed of pitchers who weren’t afraid to knock a batter down with a pitch to get his point across. His 154 hit batsmen is still the modern National League record.
Drysdale also was a broadcaster for the Dodgers from 1988 until his death during the 1993 season.
On the all-time L.A. Dodgers list, Drysdale is second in wins (187), second in strikeouts (2,283), second in losses (152), third in games pitched (459), tied for first in complete games (156), second in shutouts (46), third in walks (763) and fourth in ERA (2.98).
-- Houston Mitchell
Previously:
No. 3: Vin Scully
No. 4: Tommy Lasorda
No. 5: Maury Wills
No. 6: Steve Garvey
No. 7: Orel Hershiser
No. 8: Fernando Valenzuela
No. 9: Mike Piazza
No. 10: Don Sutton
No. 11: Walter Alston
No. 12: Ron Cey
No. 13: Walter O’Malley
No. 14: Tommy Davis
No. 15: Kirk Gibson