The most decorated infield in Dodgers history started, of all things, with a harmless little lie.
On June 23, 1973, the Dodgers were snuffed out in the first game of a Cincinnati Reds doubleheader. They lost 4-1. They only recorded seven hits. And before the last drink of the day, manager Walter Alston looked for a way to shake up his formation.
Infielder Steve Garvey was the answer.
“I was sitting at my locker,” Garvey recalled, “and Walter Alston came over and stopped me and said, ‘Have you ever played first?’ ”
Garvey hadn’t, not really. There was once in the Little League, another in triple-A and a brief appearance on the bench 10 days earlier, after behind-the-scenes work at the post throughout the season.
“But,” Garvey added with a smile, “I wasn’t going to tell him.”
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Instead, Garvey coldly lied to his manager. “Oh sure,” he replied. So that night he lined up alongside Ron Cey, Bill Russell and Davey Lopes.
Over the next 8 1/2 years, the Dodgers infield rarely changed again – the foursome notched a combined 21 All-Star Game appearances, four National League pennants and a memorable 1981 World Series title playing side by side.
“It’s one of those things in Dodger history that,” Cey said, “you don’t go back 50 too often.”
Indeed, half a century later, this Dodgers infielder was honored Friday night before the team’s game against the Houston Astros at Dodger Stadium. The band’s three Southern California residents — Garvey, Cey and Russell — were at the stadium to throw out the first pitch and watch a pregame video tribute.
More than that, however, they enjoyed standing side by side on the same ground they called home for nearly a decade.
“It’s like your family,” Russell said. “We didn’t take anything for granted back then. We had to succeed to be together for so long.
That, the quartet was. Cey was in six consecutive All-Star Games from 1974 to 1979. Russell was in the Midsummer Classic in 1973, 1976 and 1980. Lopes was a Rookie of the Year runner-up in 1973, Gold Glove winner in 1978 and four-time All-Star from 1978 to 1981.
And then there was Garvey, who not only became a four-time Golden Glove winner at his first adopted base position, but also won the NL Most Valuable Player award in 1974 and appeared in eight Back-to-back All-Star Games through 1981 – the year the four infielders helped lead the Dodgers past the New York Yankees for the franchise’s first World Series title in 16 years.
“When you look at the accomplishments, the longevity, the contribution to the Dodger organization and to baseball,” Garvey said, “all four of us are very proud of that.”
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Max Muncy not back yet
Although the Dodgers hoped to get Max Muncy back for the start of this weekend’s series, the third baseman still felt “tense” in his hamstrings, manager Dave Roberts said, and will not be activated at from the injured list before Sunday at the earliest.
“He still feels it when he’s running at full speed,” Roberts said, adding, “It’s more about making sure we’re all really confident he can play and stay healthy.”
This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.