Thursday, October 24, 2013

no. 226 - bill russell


Who is the man: Bill Russell was still roaming the outfield in 1971 after his second part-time year in the majors. In 1970, he played in a few more games and hit a little better than in '69.

Can ya dig it: The '71 Russell card in my Dodger binder is in much better shape than this one. I feel like I gave you leftovers here.

Right on: Those old-style black batting gloves make it look like the player is about to knock some heads.

You see this cat Russell is a bad mother: Russell just helped celebrate the 40th anniversary of the start of the longest running infield, which featured himself, Steve Garvey, Dave Lopes and Ron Cey. The four were starters for the Dodgers between 1973-81.

Shut your mouth: Russell received a lot of criticism for his fielding when he was with the Dodgers. But manager Tommy Lasorda stuck with him through it all. Later, after Russell succeeded Lasorda as Dodgers manager, they had a falling out as Russell believed Lasorda was responsible for his firing.

No one understands him but his woman: Russell came into a tough situation when he took the Dodgers manager job in 1996 after Lasorda suffered a heart attack. It didn't get any better as he encountered problems with some of the Dodger pitchers, catcher Mike Piazza was traded in a highly controversial deal, and the O'Malleys sold the team to Fox.


(A word about the back): I don't know why I always think Russell is from Oklahoma. Kansas is not Oklahoma.

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