1983 Los Angeles Dodgers season

1983  Los Angeles Dodgers
National League West Champions
League	National League
Division	West
Ballpark	Dodger Stadium
City	Los Angeles
Owners	Peter O'Malley
General managers	Al Campanis
Managers	Tommy Lasorda
Television	KTTV (11) Vin Scully, Jerry Doggett, Ross Porter ONTV Geoff Witcher, Al Downing
Radio	KABC Vin Scully, Jerry Doggett, Ross Porter KTNQ Jaime Jarrín, René Cárdenas
←  1982 Seasons 1984  →

The 1983 Los Angeles Dodgers rebounded from being eliminated from the playoffs on the final day of the previous season to win their second National League West title in three years, but lost in the NLCS to the Philadelphia Phillies 3 games to 1.

Offseason

• December 28, 1982: Acquired Pat Zachry from the New York Mets for Jorge Orta.
• January 20, 1983: Acquired Vance Lovelace and Dan Cataline from the Chicago Cubs for Ron Cey.
• March 28, 1983: Acquired Ivan Mesa from the Minnesota Twins for Tack Wilson.
• March 29, 1983: Acquired Steve Walker, Jody Johnston and cash from the New York Mets for Mark Bradley.

Regular season

Season standings

• v
• t
• e

NL West

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Los Angeles Dodgers	91	71	.562	—	48‍–‍32	43‍–‍39
Atlanta Braves	88	74	.543	3	46‍–‍34	42‍–‍40
Houston Astros	85	77	.525	6	46‍–‍36	39‍–‍41
San Diego Padres	81	81	.500	10	47‍–‍34	34‍–‍47
San Francisco Giants	79	83	.488	12	43‍–‍38	36‍–‍45
Cincinnati Reds	74	88	.457	17	36‍–‍45	38‍–‍43

Record vs. opponents

1983 National League record v t e Sources:
Team	ATL	CHC	CIN	HOU	LAD	MON	NYM	PHI	PIT	SD	SF	STL
Atlanta	—	5–7	12–6	11–7	7–11	7–5	8–4	7–5	6–6	9–9	9–9	7–5
Chicago	7–5	—	4–8	5–7	6–6	7–11	9–9	5–13	9–9	5–7	4–8	10–8
Cincinnati	6–12	8–4	—	5–13	7–11	4–8	7–5	6–6	6–6	9–9	10–8	6–6
Houston	7–11	7–5	13–5	—	6–12	8–4	9–3	4–8	6–6	11–7	12–6	2–10
Los Angeles	11–7	6–6	11–7	12–6	—	7–5	7–5	11–1	6–6	6–12–1	5–13	9–3
Montreal	5–7	11–7	8–4	4–8	5–7	—	8–10	8–10–1	8–10	8–4	8–4	9–9
New York	4–8	9–9	5–7	3–9	5–7	10–8	—	6–12	9–9	6–6	5–7	6–12
Philadelphia	5-7	13–5	6–6	8–4	1–11	10–8–1	12–6	—	11–7	5–7	5–7	14–4
Pittsburgh	6–6	9–9	6–6	6–6	6–6	10–8	9–9	7–11	—	9–3	6–6	10–8
San Diego	9–9	7–5	9–9	7–11	12–6–1	4–8	6–6	7–5	3–9	—	11–7	6–6
San Francisco	9–9	8–4	8–10	6–12	13–5	4–8	7–5	7–5	6–6	7–11	—	4–8
St. Louis	5–7	8–10	6–6	10–2	3–9	9–9	12–6	4–14	8–10	6–6	8–4	—

Opening Day lineup

Opening Day Starters
Name	Position
Steve Sax	Second baseman
Ken Landreaux	Center fielder
Dusty Baker	Left fielder
Pedro Guerrero	Third baseman
Greg Brock	First baseman
Mike Marshall	Right fielder
Bill Russell	Shortstop
Steve Yeager	Catcher
Fernando Valenzuela	Starting pitcher

Roster

1983 Los Angeles Dodgers
Roster
Pitchers 27 Joe Beckwith 50 Sid Fernandez 55 Orel Hershiser 23,40 Rick Honeycutt 46 Burt Hooton 57 Steve Howe 49 Tom Niedenfuer 26 Alejandro Peña 41 Jerry Reuss 56 Rich Rodas 48 Dave Stewart 34 Fernando Valenzuela 35 Bob Welch 47 Larry White 21 Ricky Wright 38 Pat Zachry		Catchers 31 Jack Fimple 15 Gilberto Reyes 22 Dave Sax 14 Mike Scioscia  7 Steve Yeager Infielders 10,62 Dave Anderson  9 Greg Brock 33 Sid Bream 28 Pedro Guerrero 17 Rafael Landestoy 43 José Morales 25 Germán Rivera 18 Bill Russell  3 Steve Sax 37 Alex Taveras		Outfielders 12 Dusty Baker 52 Cecil Espy 44 Ken Landreaux 20 Candy Maldonado  5 Mike Marshall 16 Rick Monday 23 R. J. Reynolds 40 Ron Roenicke 30 Derrel Thomas		Manager  2 Tommy Lasorda Coaches  8 Joey Amalfitano 54 Monty Basgall 58 Mark Cresse 11 Manny Mota 29 Ron Perranoski

Notable transactions

• May 2, 1983: Tom Klawitter was released by the Dodgers. ^[1]
• May 9, 1983: Acquired Rafael Landestoy from the Cincinnati Reds for Brett Wise and John Franco
• August 19, 1983: Dave Stewart, Ricky Wright and cash were traded by the Dodgers to the Texas Rangers for Rick Honeycutt. ^[2]

Game log

Regular season

Legend
	Dodgers win
	Dodgers loss
	Postponement
	Clinched division
Bold	Dodgers team member

1983 regular season game log: 91–71–1 (Home: 48–32; Away: 43–39–1) [3]
April: 14–6 (Home: 6–3; Away: 8–3) # Date Time (PT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Box/ Streak
May: 18–8 (Home: 9–5; Away: 9–3) # Date Time (PT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Box/ Streak
June: 14–14 (Home: 9–9; Away: 5–5) # Date Time (PT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Box/ Streak 52 June 7 @ Braves 53 June 8 @ Braves 54 June 9 @ Braves 59 June 14 Braves 60 June 15 Braves 61 June 16 Braves
July: 11–17 (Home: 5–5; Away: 6–12) # Date Time (PT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Box/ Streak — July 6 54th All-Star Game in Chicago, IL
August: 20–10 (Home: 12–4; Away: 8–6) # Date Time (PT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Box/ Streak 107 August 5 Braves 108 August 6 Braves 109 August 7 Braves 113 August 12 @ Braves 114 August 13 @ Braves 115 August 14 @ Braves
September: 14–14–1 (Home: 7–4; Away: 7–10) # Date Time (PT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Box/ Streak 141 September 9 Braves 142 September 10 Braves 143 September 11 Braves 153 September 23 @ Braves 154 September 24 @ Braves 155 September 25 @ Braves
October: 0–2 (Home: 0–2; Away: 0–0) # Date Time (PT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Box/ Streak

Postseason Game log

Legend
	Dodgers win
	Dodgers loss
Bold	Dodgers team member

1983 Postseason game log: 1–3 (Home: 1–1; Away: 0–2)
NL Championship Series: vs. Philadelphia Phillies 1–3 (Home: 1–1; Away: 0–2) [4] # Date Time (PT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Series Box/ Streak 1 October 4 5:20 p.m. PDT Phillies 2 October 5 5:20 p.m. PDT Phillies 3 October 7 12:05 p.m. PDT @ Phillies 4 October 8 5:20 p.m. PDT @ Phillies

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	Steve Yeager	113	335	68	.203	15	41
1B	Greg Brock	146	455	102	.224	20	66
2B	Steve Sax	155	623	175	.281	5	41
SS	Bill Russell	131	451	111	.246	1	30
3B	Pedro Guerrero	160	584	174	.298	32	103
LF	Dusty Baker	149	531	138	.260	15	73
CF	Ken Landreaux	141	481	135	.281	17	66
RF	Mike Marshall	140	465	132	.284	17	65

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
Derrel Thomas	118	192	48	.250	2	8
Rick Monday	99	178	44	.247	6	20
Jack Fimple	54	148	37	.250	2	22
Ron Roenicke	81	145	32	.221	2	12
Dave Anderson	61	115	19	.165	1	2
Rafael Landestoy	64	64	11	.172	1	1
Candy Maldonado	42	62	12	.194	1	6
R.J. Reynolds	24	55	13	.236	2	11
José Morales	47	53	15	.283	3	8
Mike Scioscia	12	35	11	.314	1	7
Gilberto Reyes	19	31	5	.161	0	0
Germán Rivera	13	17	6	.353	0	0
Sid Bream	15	11	2	.182	0	2
Cecil Espy	20	11	3	.273	0	1
Dave Sax	7	8	0	.000	0	1
Alex Taveras	10	4	0	.000	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
Fernando Valenzuela	35	257.0	15	10	3.75	189
Jerry Reuss	32	223.1	12	11	2.94	143
Bob Welch	31	204.0	15	12	2.65	156

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
Alejandro Peña	34	177.0	12	9	2.75	120
Burt Hooton	33	160.0	9	8	4.22	87
Rick Honeycutt	9	39.0	2	3	5.77	18
Sid Fernandez	2	6.0	0	1	6.00	9

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
Steve Howe	46	4	7	18	1.44	52
Tom Niedenfuer	66	8	3	11	1.90	66
Dave Stewart	46	5	2	8	2.96	54
Joe Beckwith	42	3	4	1	3.55	50
Pat Zachry	40	6	1	0	2.49	36
Orel Hershiser	8	0	0	1	3.38	5
Rich Rodas	7	0	0	0	1.93	5
Ricky Wright	6	0	0	0	2.84	5
Larry White	4	0	0	0	1.29	5

1983 National League Championship Series

Main article: 1983 National League Championship Series

The National League West champion Dodgers faced the National League East champion Philadelphia Phillies in the 1983 NLCS and lost the series 3 games to 1. Noteworthy was that the Dodgers had won 11 of 12 games against the Phillies during the regular season.

Game 1

October 4, Dodger Stadium

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Philadelphia	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	5	1
Los Angeles	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	0
W: Steve Carlton (1-0)  L: Jerry Reuss (0-1)  SV: Al Holland (1)
HRs: PHI – Mike Schmidt (1)

Game 2

October 5, Dodger Stadium

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Philadelphia	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	7	2
Los Angeles	1	0	0	0	2	0	0	1	X	4	6	1
W: Fernando Valenzuela (1-0)  L: John Denny (0-1)  SV: Tom Niedenfuer (1)
HRs: PHI – Gary Matthews (1)

Game 3

October 7, Veterans Stadium

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Los Angeles	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	4	0
Philadelphia	0	2	1	1	2	0	1	0	X	7	9	1
W: Charles Hudson (1-0)  L: Bob Welch (0-1)
HRs: LAD – Mike Marshall (1); PHI – Gary Matthews (2)

Game 4

October 8, Veterans Stadium

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Los Angeles	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	2	10	0
Philadelphia	3	0	0	0	2	2	0	0	X	7	13	1
W: Steve Carlton (2-0)  L: Jerry Reuss (0-2)
HRs: LAD – Dusty Baker (1); PHI – Gary Matthews (3), Sixto Lezcano (1)

Awards and honors

• 1983 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
  • Steve Sax starter
  • Pedro Guerrero reserve
  • Fernando Valenzuela reserve
• Silver Slugger Award
  • Fernando Valenzuela
• NL Pitcher of the Month
  • Burt Hooton (June 1983)
• NL Player of the Month
  • Dusty Baker (July 1983)
• NL Player of the Week
  • Dusty Baker (July 11–17)
  • Mike Marshall (Sep. 5–11)

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Albuquerque Dukes	Pacific Coast League	Del Crandall Terry Collins
AA	San Antonio Dodgers	Texas League	Terry Collins Rick Ollar Dave Wallace
High A	Lodi Dodgers	California League	Don LeJohn
High A	Vero Beach Dodgers	Florida State League	Stan Wasiak
Rookie	Lethbridge Dodgers	Pioneer League	Gail Henley
Rookie	Gulf Coast Dodgers	Gulf Coast League	Gary LaRocque

Teams in BOLD won League Championships

Major League Baseball Draft

Main article: 1983 Major League Baseball Draft

The Dodgers drafted 35 players in the June draft and 17 in the January draft. Of those, six players would eventually play in the Major Leagues. They received two extra picks in the 2nd round as compensation for losing free agents Steve Garvey and Terry Forster.

The first round pick in the June draft was pitcher Erik Sonberg of Wichita State University. He played six seasons in the minors and was 19-38 with a 6.20 ERA in 107 games. None of this years signings amounted to much of anything in the Majors.

1983 Draft Picks

January draft [5] Round Name Position School Signed Career span Highest level 1 Derek Lee RHP Sacramento City College Yes 1983–1984 A 2 Todd Cobbs RHP Vincennes University Yes 1983–1985 A 3 Patrick Sullivan C Sacramento City College No Blue Jays-1985 1985 Rookie 4 Mark Tindall LHP Sinclair Community College No Expos-1983 1983–1984 A- 5 Victor Marin RHP Chaffey College No 6 Randy Hamrick LHP Spartanburg Methodist College Yes 1983–1985 A 7 John Partridge RHP Alvin Community College No 8 Rob Leary RHP College of San Mateo No Expos-1986 1986–1990 AAA 9 Kenneth Boone RHP Citrus College No 10 Theodore Parker OF Spartanburg Methodist College No Cardinals-1986 1986–1987 A 11 Scott Campbell OF Citrus College No Royals-1983 1983 Rookie 12 Mark Reynolds OF Austin Community College Yes 1983–1986 AA 13 Wayne Kirby OF Newport News Apprentice School Yes 1983–2001 MLB 14 Karl Ciamaichelo SS Yes 1983 Rookie 15 Gerald Robinson C No January Secondary phase [6] Round Name Position School Signed Career span Highest level 1 Dennis Woods OF Spartanburg Methodist College No 2 Rodney McCray OF West Los Angeles College No Padres-1984 1984–1993 MLB June draft [7] Round Name Position School Signed Career span Highest level 1 Erik Sonberg LHP Wichita State University Yes 1983–1989 AAA 2 Michael Cherry RHP The Citadel Yes 1983–1986 AA 2 Robert Hamilton RHP Northeast High School Yes 1983–1987 AA 2 Luis Lopez C Lafayette High School Yes 1984–2004 MLB 3 Mitchell Moran OF University of Texas–Pan American Yes 1983–1985 A 4 Bert Flores OF Mt. Whitney High School Yes 1983–1986 A 5 Richard Thurman RHP Pepperdine University Yes 1983 A 6 Scott May RHP University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point Yes 1983–1995 MLB 7 Timothy Zaploski 3B Boulder City High School Yes 1983–1985 A- 8 Dave Eichborn RHP University of Miami No 9 Curtis Campbell C Gardena High School Yes 1983–1984 Rookie 10 Chuck Bartlett C Mississippi State University Yes 1983–1984 A 11 Joe Karmeris 3B Reavis High School Yes 1983–1985 A 12 Samuel Dotson C University of Memphis Yes 1983 Rookie 13 Kenneth Harvey 2B University of Richmond Yes 1983–1987 AA 14 Barry Wohler LHP University of Minnesota Yes 1984–1988 AA 15 Richard Ross 3B North Park University No 16 Steven Shields RHP California State University, Los Angeles Yes 1983–1985 A 17 Michael Blair C Jacksonville State University Yes 1983–1984 A 18 Fred LaGroue RHP Holy Cross High School No 19 Christopher Chapman OF Southern University and A&M College Yes 1983–1987 AA 20 Mark Stevens OF Citrus College No 21 Shawn Gilbert SS Agua Fria High School No Twins-1987 1987–2003 MLB 22 Mike Fetters RHP ʻIolani School No Angels-1986 1986–2004 MLB 23 Robert Rowen LHP Lassen College Yes 1983–1988 AA 24 Vincent Beringhele OF University of California, Los Angeles Yes 1983–1985 A 25 John Rexrode RHP Dallas Baptist University Yes 1983–1984 A 26 Scott Parrish RHP Clemson University No Athletics-1984 1984–1985 A- 27 Dale Hamrick 3B Spartanburg Methodist College No Braves-1984 1984 Rookie 28 Fernando Fernández 3B Lennox High School No 29 Kevin Monk 1B Fremont High School No 30 Daniel Kapea LHP Waipahu High School No Brewers-1988 1988 Rookie June secondary phase [8] Round Name Position School Signed Career span Highest level 1 Jon Leake 3B Sacramento City College No Brewers-1985 1985–1989 A 2 Terence Guzman LHP Ferrum College No 3 Tim Criswell RHP Georgia Perimeter College Yes 1983–1987 AA

Notes

1. Tom Klawitter page at Baseball Reference
2. Dave Stewart page at Baseball Reference
3. "1983 Los Angeles Dodgers Schedule & Results". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved December 3, 2024.
4. "1983 National League Championship Series". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved December 3, 2024.
5. 1983 Los Angeles Dodgers Picks in the MLB January Draft-Regular Phase
6. 1983 Los Angeles Dodgers Picks in the MLB January Draft-Secondary Phase
7. 1983 Los Angeles Dodgers Picks in the MLB June Amateur Draft
8. 1983 Los Angeles Dodgers Picks in the MLB June Draft-Secondary Phase

References

• Baseball-Reference season page
• Baseball Almanac season page

External links

• 1983 Los Angeles Dodgers uniform
• Los Angeles Dodgers official web site