Dodgerland

The Los Angeles Dodgers of the late 1970’s came close to winning two championships but fell in consecutive years to the New York Yankees in the World Series. They were a team that was comprised of mostly homegrown players who stuck together through some tough seasons before finding success in 1977 and 1978. They also epitomized the culture of their home city with many people looking for a carefree, easier life on the beach in the land of Hollywood. This connection between the city and its baseball team is illustrated in this terrific book by Michael Fallon.

While the bulk of the material is about the two seasons in which the Dodgers won the National League pennant, it does not read like a typical book about a team’s adventures during a season. The personal accounts of several players (Bob Welch, Glenn Burke, Steve Garvey and Rick Monday just to name a few) as well as the new manager of the team, Tommy Lasorda, give the reader an inside look at the team.

The writing about the baseball itself is very entertaining. There are many comparisons between the baseball and some of the events that were going on in the city at that time. One example that I thought was particularly entertaining was Fallon’s description of the match-up for the 1977 World Series. Most of the buzz that year from Hollywood was for the movie “Star Wars.” Fallon compared the World Series participants to characters from the movie with the Dodgers playing the part of Obi Wan Kenobi (good) and the Yankees as Darth Vader (evil). That single line was just perfect for describing the mood of the time in both baseball and pop culture.

Other issues affecting Los Angeles such as Mayor Bradley bidding for the 1984 Summer Olympics, the passage of tax-cutting Proposition 13 and the murders of the Hillside Strangler are also included as well as the culture of the times, such as the rise of the adult entertainment industry in the region. Interspersing these items into the writing about the Dodgers’ travails on and off the field makes for fascinating reading that illustrates that the team was a true reflection of its city.

This book is recommended not only for baseball fans but also for readers who are interested in social history or who want to learn more about the culture of Los Angeles during that time. With excellent writing, interesting stories and terrific coverage of the 1977 and 1978 seasons for the Dodgers, the book is one that should be added to many readers’ libraries.

I wish to thank University of Nebraska Press for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

DODGERLAND by Michael Fallon is study of The Los Angeles Dodgers and the community around them in 1977-1978. Fallon uses writer Thomas Wolfe, small business owner Tom Fallon, Mayor Tom Bradley, and a plethora of other socially impactful people and events to paint the picture of struggle, rebellion, and malaise that was the late 1970's in Los Angeles.
I am drawn to a good sports book that follows a team and really digs into who they are, how they do and don't work together, and how the outside world of the time looks at them. Fallon has done all of that and very well; I learned so much about the Dodgers players and the Dodgers organization, with it's one of a kind history. However, Fallon goes so much farther into how events, big and small, created the true feelings of the LA society in 1977-1978 and how those feelings affected the Dodgers organizations. Fallon ties the events together and always brings the reader back to the Dodgers, but I really felt dropped into Los Angeles in 1977-1978 and I really saw how Los Angeles was still evolving and finding itself and wasn't just sunny Hollywood with surfers and celebrities everywhere.
An epic recreation of the time and while the launching point of the whole book is the Dodgers, I think anyone wanting to read about the Dodgers, the 1970's. Los Angeles would enjoy this book.

A well researched and beautifully written analysis of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team's 1977 and 1978 seasons when they came so near but so far from winning the World series against the New York Yankees powerhouse.

This is a treat for baseball aficionados but also for students of social history too as it examines through the eyes of four key protagonists the events both on and off the field and the changes taking place in the California landscape at this period.

An exceptional book that deserves a wide audience and readership.

Dodgerland is a book about the 1977-78 Dodgers who made it the World Series both of those years only to be defeated by the Yankees both times. The author takes you back in time from before 1977 to the beginning of the 70’s with how the social climate, economical, and political happenings of the period. You see part of the transformation of the Inland Empire of how Rancho Cucamonga which was known for vineyards, and had more grapes being grown there that you could not see the town. I should know grew up in that area and now there are homes, a freeway, and many, many shopping centers in places that once I hiked around with my granddad. He takes you through the struggles of Los Angeles and how Tom Bradley felt that getting the 1984 Olympics would be the thing that bring us together, not knowing that his hiring of Chief Darryl Gates would have a much more lasting effect on not only L.A. but the whole state. Once you see these you are taken back to a time when Tommy Lasorda was being announce as the new manager of the Dodgers, and they were still owned by the O’Malley’s. That the infield of Gravey, Cey, Russell, and Lopes. I of course was and still am a Yankee fan, but growing up in Southern California I remember the games especially the ones the Dodgers played against the Reds. Those years they seemed to always battle. The author does a fine job of mixing all of the issues together to get a better understanding of what was going on at the time. When he talks about Jarvis and prop 13 I had forgotten that it was during this time. An excellent book about baseball and how everything changes. Also a good look at behind the scenes of what was going with the Dodgers during that time.