1958 Los Angeles Dodgers season

1958  Los Angeles Dodgers
Home opener at the Coliseum on April 18 and Downtown Parade welcoming the Dodgers
League	National League
Ballpark	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
City	Los Angeles
Record	71–83 (.461)
Divisional place	7th
Owners	Walter O'Malley, James & Dearie Mulvey
President	Walter O'Malley
General managers	Buzzie Bavasi
Managers	Walter Alston
Television	KTTV (11)
Radio	KMPC Vin Scully, Jerry Doggett KWKW René Cárdenas, Miguel Alonzo, Milt Nava
←  1957 Seasons 1959  →

The 1958 Los Angeles Dodgers season was the 69th season for the Los Angeles Dodgers franchise in Major League Baseball (MLB), their 1st season in Los Angeles, California, and their 1st season playing their home games at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles California. The Dodgers took the field before 78,672 fans at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on April 18, 1958, to usher in the beginning of the team's new home in Los Angeles. It was a rough season, as the Dodgers finished 21 games in back of the pennant-winning Milwaukee Braves in the National League standings, but it was the beginning of the second phase for the team. Vin Scully and company moved to KTTV (television) and KMPC (radio) from that year onward, and the Dodgers became one of the first teams that commenced Spanish language radio broadcasts for Latinos, with KWKW as the first station to offer a Spanish-language service.

Offseason

Spring training

The Dodgers played their first exhibition game as the Los Angeles Dodgers on March 8, 1958. The team faced the Philadelphia Phillies at Miami Stadium. Ron Negray started for the Dodgers and gave up four runs in a 7 to 4 Dodgers loss. The New York Times noted that as much as the game was a historic milestone for the franchise, it was a chance for manager Walter Alston to evaluate players under game conditions, especially catchers, following Roy Campanella's offseason auto accident that ended his career before he could ever play for Los Angeles. ^[1]

Regular season

• April 15–20, 1958: The Dodgers and Giants played their first six official National League games as representatives of their new cities on the West Coast with back-to-back three-game series, first at Seals Stadium, San Francisco, then at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The Giants won four of those six games. In the season opener April 15, San Francisco blanked Los Angeles, 8–0, behind Rubén Gómez' complete game, six-hit shutout. Don Drysdale took the loss, and Charlie Neal notched Los Angeles' first hit, a single, in the second inning. ^[2] In their home opener April 18 in Los Angeles, the Dodgers built a 5–2 lead behind starting pitcher Carl Erskine, and held on to win 6–5. A throng of 78,762 witnessed the event at the Coliseum. Dick Gray, who hit the first home run in Los Angeles Dodger history April 16 in the second game of the 1958 season, also hit the first four-bagger before their home crowd in the seventh inning, giving Los Angeles an insurance run. The Giants nearly tied the game in the ninth inning, but Jim Davenport was ruled out for failing to touch third base after apparently scoring on a triple by San Francisco's Willie Kirkland. ^[3]

Opening Day starters
Name	Position
Gino Cimoli	Center fielder
Pee Wee Reese	Shortstop
Duke Snider	Left fielder
Gil Hodges	First baseman
Charlie Neal	Second baseman
Dick Gray	Third baseman
Carl Furillo	Right fielder
Rube Walker	Catcher
Don Drysdale	Starting pitcher

Home opener starters
Name	Position
Jim Gilliam	Left fielder
Pee Wee Reese	Shortstop
Duke Snider	Right fielder
Gil Hodges	First baseman
Charlie Neal	Second baseman
Dick Gray	Third baseman
Gino Cimoli	Center fielder
John Roseboro	Catcher
Carl Erskine	Starting pitcher

• April 23, 1958: Gil Hodges hit his 300th home run, and Pee Wee Reese played his 2,000th game, on the same day that Duke Snider injured his arm before the game trying to throw a ball out of the Los Angeles Coliseum. ^[4]

Season standings

• v
• t
• e

National League

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Milwaukee Braves	92	62	.597	—	48‍–‍29	44‍–‍33
Pittsburgh Pirates	84	70	.545	8	49‍–‍28	35‍–‍42
San Francisco Giants	80	74	.519	12	44‍–‍33	36‍–‍41
Cincinnati Redlegs	76	78	.494	16	40‍–‍37	36‍–‍41
Chicago Cubs	72	82	.468	20	35‍–‍42	37‍–‍40
St. Louis Cardinals	72	82	.468	20	39‍–‍38	33‍–‍44
Los Angeles Dodgers	71	83	.461	21	39‍–‍38	32‍–‍45
Philadelphia Phillies	69	85	.448	23	35‍–‍42	34‍–‍43

Record vs. opponents

1958 National League record v t e Sources:
Team	CHC	CIN	LAD	MIL	PHI	PIT	SF	STL
Chicago	—	10–12	11–11	10–12	13–9	9–13	12–10	7–15
Cincinnati	12–10	—	11–11	5–17	15–7	10–12	11–11	12–10
Los Angeles	11–11	11–11	—	14–8	10–12	8–14	6–16	11–11
Milwaukee	12–10	17–5	8–14	—	13–9	11–11	16–6	15–7
Philadelphia	9–13	7–15	12–10	9–13	—	12–10	8–14	12–10
Pittsburgh	13–9	12–10	14–8	11–11	10–12	—	12–10	12–10
San Francisco	10–12	11–11	16–6	6–16	14–8	10–12	—	13–9
St. Louis	15–7	10–12	11–11	7–15	10–12	10–12	9–13	—

Notable transactions

• June 15, 1958: The Dodgers traded Don Newcombe to Cincinnati Redlegs for Steve Bilko, Johnny Klippstein and players to be named later. The Redlegs completed the deal by sending Art Fowler and Charlie Rabe to the Dodgers on June 23. ^[5]
• August 4, 1958: Randy Jackson was purchased from the Dodgers by the Cleveland Indians. ^[6]
• August 15, 1958: Ramón Conde was purchased by the Dodgers from the Philadelphia Phillies. ^[7]

Roster

1958 Los Angeles Dodgers
Roster
Pitchers 46 Don Bessent 12,37 Babe Birrer 55 Jackie Collum 40 Roger Craig 53 Don Drysdale 17 Carl Erskine 16 Bob Giallombardo 26 Fred Kipp 35 Johnny Klippstein 32 Sandy Koufax 41 Clem Labine 29 Ralph Mauriello 16 Danny McDevitt 38 Ron Negray 36 Don Newcombe 22 Johnny Podres 37 Ed Roebuck 35,51 Larry Sherry 40 Stan Williams		Catchers 58 Joe Pignatano  8 John Roseboro 10 Rube Walker Infielders 33,36 Steve Bilko 27 Jim Gentile 11 Dick Gray 14 Gil Hodges  2 Randy Jackson 11,30 Bob Lillis 43 Charlie Neal  1 Pee Wee Reese 61 Earl Robinson 23 Don Zimmer		Outfielders  9 Gino Cimoli 2,27 Don Demeter 55 Ron Fairly  6 Carl Furillo 19 Jim Gilliam 25 Frank Howard  5 Norm Larker 45 Don Miles  4 Duke Snider  3 Elmer Valo 16 Bob Wilson		Manager 24 Walter Alston Coaches 33 Joe Becker  7 Charlie Dressen 31 Greg Mulleavy 10 Rube Walker

Player stats

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	John Roseboro	114	384	104	.271	14	43
1B	Gil Hodges	141	475	123	.259	22	64
2B	Charlie Neal	140	473	120	.254	22	65
SS	Don Zimmer	127	455	119	.262	17	60
3B	Dick Gray	58	197	49	.249	9	30
LF	Jim Gilliam	147	555	145	.261	2	43
CF	Duke Snider	106	327	102	.312	15	58
RF	Carl Furillo	122	411	119	.290	18	83

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
Gino Cimoli	109	325	80	.246	9	27
Norm Larker	99	253	70	.277	4	29
Pee Wee Reese	59	147	33	.224	4	17
Joe Pignatano	63	142	31	.218	9	17
Don Demeter	43	106	20	.189	5	8
Elmer Valo	65	101	25	.248	1	14
Steve Bilko	47	101	21	.208	7	18
Bob Lillis	20	69	27	.391	1	5
Randy Jackson	35	65	12	.185	1	4
Ron Fairly	15	53	15	.283	2	8
Rube Walker	25	44	5	.114	1	7
Jim Gentile	12	30	4	.133	0	4
Frank Howard	8	29	7	.241	1	2
Don Miles	8	22	4	.182	0	0
Earl Robinson	8	15	3	.200	0	0
Bob Wilson	3	5	1	.200	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
Johnny Podres	39	210.1	13	15	3.72	143
Stan Williams	27	119.0	9	7	4.01	80
Danny McDevitt	13	48.1	2	6	7.45	26
Bob Giallombardo	6	26.1	1	1	3.76	14

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
Don Drysdale	44	211.2	12	13	4.17	131
Sandy Koufax	40	158.2	11	11	4.48	131
Fred Kipp	40	102.1	6	6	5.01	58
Carl Erskine	31	98.1	4	4	5.13	54
Don Newcombe	11	34.1	0	6	7.86	16
Roger Craig	9	32.0	2	1	4.50	16
Ralph Mauriello	3	11.2	1	1	4.63	11

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
Clem Labine	52	6	6	14	4.15	43
Johnny Klippstein	45	3	5	9	3.80	73
Ed Roebuck	32	0	1	5	3.48	26
Don Bessent	19	1	0	0	3.33	13
Babe Birrer	16	0	0	1	4.50	16
Larry Sherry	5	0	0	0	12.46	2
Ron Negray	4	0	0	0	7.15	2
Jackie Collum	2	0	0	0	8.10	0

Awards and honors

• Gold Glove Award
  • Gil Hodges

All-stars

• 1958 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
  • Johnny Podres reserve
  • John Roseboro reserve

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Montreal Royals	International League	Clay Bryant
AAA	St. Paul Saints	American Association	Max Macon
AA	Victoria Rosebuds	Texas League	Lou Rochelli
A	Macon Dodgers	South Atlantic League	Danny Ozark
A	Pueblo Dodgers	Western League	Ray Mueller
B	Green Bay Bluejays	Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League	Pete Reiser
C	Great Falls Electrics	Pioneer League	Stan Wasiak
C	Reno Silver Sox	California League	Ray Perry
D	Columbus Foxes	Alabama–Florida League	Brandy Davis
D	Kokomo Dodgers	Midwest League	Edward Serrano
D	Thomasville Dodgers	Georgia–Florida League	Rudy Rufer Sam Suplizio

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Montreal

Notes

1. Gordon S. White Jr. (March 9, 1958). "Phillies Triumph Over Dodgers, 7–4". New York Times. p. S1.
2. Retrosheet box score: 1958-04-15
3. Retrosheet box score: 1958-04-18
4. "Duke Snider | the BASEBALL Page". www.thebaseballpage.com. Archived from the original on March 4, 2006. Retrieved June 6, 2022.
5. Don Newcombe at Baseball-Reference
6. Randy Jackson at Baseball-Reference
7. Ramón Conde at Baseball-Reference

References

• Baseball-Reference season page
• Baseball Almanac season page

External links

• 1958 Los Angeles Dodgers uniform
• Los Angeles Dodgers official web site