Dodgers Feel the Pain of Death Again : Reaction: Fiery Drysdale is remembered as one of the ‘last of the angry pitchers.’

The death of Don Drysdale Saturday, at 56, left former teammates, competitors and club officials--many still numbed by the recent passing of Roy Campanella--in shock and disbelief.

Drysdale, with a 209-166 pitching record during his 14-year Hall of Fame career with the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers, was remembered as a fierce competitor who seldom missed a turn and a throwback to an era when games were decided on the field rather than the disabled list.

“I don’t think there was any tougher competitor than the big guy with the game on the line,” said Bill Rigney, former San Francisco Giants’ manager, who added that he would always remember the first inning of the first game of a three-game series between the Giants and Dodgers in September of 1959.

The Giants led the Dodgers by two games with eight to play and loaded the bases against Drysdale with none out, only to have Drysdale strike out Orlando Cepeda and Willie Kirkland on pitches that were probably balls, Rigney said, and then retire Darryl Spencer for the third out of a scoreless inning.

“(Dodger Manager) Walter Alston had a guy warmed up and ready to come in because the pennant was on the line,” Rigney said, “but Drysdale weathered it, stayed in and went on to win the game.

“The Dodgers swept that series and went on to win the pennant, and I’ll always remember how we were probably one hit away from putting it out of reach, but Drysdale wouldn’t let us get it.

“I don’t think anybody hit Drysdale harder during those years than Willie McCovey, but Drysdale never backed off, he always came right at them even though Willie kept handing him his lunch.

“I mean, I played against Campy in Brooklyn, and managed against Don, and they were two of the greatest. They were what the Dodgers of those years were all about. It’s so sad.”

Buzzie Bavasi, former Dodger general manager, said he couldn’t find the right words to express his grief.

“We all loved Campy,” he said, “but we all knew he lived 35 years on almost courage alone.

“To lose Don . . . it’s unbelievable. I just talked to him and Anne (Meyers, Drysdale’s wife) at the Campanella services and he seemed fine. It’s just a shock.”

Bavasi said he remembered the year that Drysdale and Jackie Robinson played together in Brooklyn and doubted that a team ever had two better competitors.

“If a young pitcher today had none of Drysdale’s talent but all of his competitiveness, he’d win a lot of games,” Bavasi said. “He was always Alston’s favorite because Walter knew he’d be there every fourth day.”

Al Campanis, former Dodger general manager, said that Drysdale exemplified the spirit of the Dodgers with his tenacity and competitiveness on the mound. Campanis said he was a scouting supervisor for the Dodgers when he first saw Drysdale pitch for Montreal of the International League in a 2-1 loss to Syracuse.

“He was down, but I went to him and said, ‘Son, don’t worry about this game. You’re going to win a lot of games in the big leagues.’ I mean, you didn’t have to be a scout to see that, and the thing I liked best about Don was that he was always talking baseball.”

As an example of Drysdale’s impact and leadership, former teammate Claude Osteen, now pitching coach of the Texas Rangers, was reached in Detroit and recalled the final stages of the 1966 race. The Dodgers were four games out with 11 to play, and Drysdale got Osteen and Ron Fairly alone late one night to try and convince them the race could still be won. Osteen and Fairly helped Drysdale spread the word.

“Many of us may not have really believed we had that kind of team, but we came back to steal it,” Osteen said of the pennant, adding that Drysdale carried that kind of credibility and weight.

Alluding to Sandy Koufax, another pitching great, Osteen said: “No disrespect to Sandy, he certainly did his thing on the mound. But Don had a different personality.

” People saw him as the one true Dodger. He was the spokesman for all of us.”

Dick Williams, a former Brooklyn teammate, who managed the Angels when Drysdale was a broadcaster for that team, recalled that he and Drysdale sat up late many nights, talking baseball. He said he would always remember that competitiveness--on and off the field.

“I remember Don and Frank Robinson used to have a thing going,” Williams said. “They would feud all the time. Don would knock him down and Frank would get up and hit a rope. Then Don would knock him down again the next time. I’m in shock. This is just tragic.”

Gene Mauch, who displayed similar intensity and competitiveness managing against the Dodgers and Drysdale in the National League, was also a Palm Springs-area neighbor for many years and had difficulty controlling his emotions Saturday night.

“There is not enough room in your newspaper to write a story about Don Drysdale, not enough room in the sports section, not enough room in the whole paper,” Mauch said, his voice breaking.

“I loved Don Drysdale. This is a heavy hurt. He didn’t allow himself to be close to many people, but the ones who were close, they were very, very dear to him. I mean, the day before yesterday, we made plans to get together at the All-Star break.”

Said Dave Niehaus, a Seattle Mariner broadcaster and broadcast partner of Drysdale’s with the Angels:

“He was my best friend outside of Seattle, one of those guys who never acted like a superstar off the field, never had his nose in the air.

“It’s hard for a jock to make the transition and be a good broadcaster, and I know he had his share of Drysdale-isms, but he enjoyed the game, had a tremendous knowledge and did a terrific job of sharing it.”

Roger Craig, the former Giant manager and Drysdale teammate with the Dodgers, said that in Montreal one night in 1955, Drysdale and current Dodger manager Tom Lasorda got into a fight with hecklers and Drysdale suffered a broken knuckle, but still pitched the next night.

“He was a real force,” Craig said. “He always wanted the ball, on two days’ rest, whatever. He had a driving force to excel, to be better than anybody else.

“He was 19 when he came to the big leagues, and he kind of turned things around for us from the start. He came up with an ‘I don’t give a damn’ attitude, and even with all those stars in the clubhouse--Carl Erskine, Duke Snider, Junior Gilliam, this kid walked right in and said, ‘Hey, I’m going to show you how to win.’ And he did.”

Said Erskine: “He was productive and in control from the start, probably the most successful of the transitional players who played in both Brooklyn and Los Angeles. I saw him at the Campanella services last week and he seemed so happy and healthy.

“We’ve lost so many players at such a young age--Jackie, Gil (Hodges), Carl (Furillo), Billy Cox. . .

“It’s so sad and ironic.”

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Times staff writers Bill Plaschke and Scott Miller contributed to this story.