When it was announced that Don Mattingly was out as the Dodgers manager a little over a week ago, the rumors and speculation of his possible successor immediately hit the media (and social media) with a list that was rather short but formidable. The early favorites were current Dodgers Director of Player Development Gabe Kapler, bench coach Tim Wallach and third base coach Ron Roenicke, with the former and latter being Friedman-Zaidi appointees at their current jobs. Soon thereafter, Chicago Cubs bench coach Dave Martinez was added to the list and to a lesser degree former Padres manager Bud Black and a much lesser degree former Dodger (and former Giants, Cubs and Reds manager) Dusty Baker.

As the week went on, Black was hired to replace embattled former Washington Nationals manager Matt Williams and Baker was quickly dismissed as a viable candidate. That pretty much left it to the original four favorites: Kapler, Wallach, Roenicke and Martinez.

All of that changed on Friday afternoon when it was widely reported that former Angels outfielder/first baseman Darin Erstad had been added to the list and was being interviewed for the position, which caught the media, Dodger fans and Kapler, Wallach, Roenicke and Martinez completely off guard – although perhaps it shouldn’t have.

Erstad was always known as an extremely aggressive player and rarely (if ever) left the field with a clean uniform. (Photo credit – Ezra Shaw)

It’s impossible to hear the name Darin Erstad and not immediately think of the bottom of the eighth inning of Game-6 of the 2002 World Series when the Angles were down 5-3 in the game and down three games to two in the series.

Giants starter Russ Ortiz had held the Angels scoreless through six innings but allowed a single and a walk with one out in the seventh in the 4-0 game. (Then) San Francisco manager Dusty Baker (an ironic twist to all of this) came out to the mound and removed Ortiz and, before a completely sold out Angel Stadium and in front of more than a million television viewers, handed Ortiz the game ball.

It was the kiss of death.

The next batter, Angels first baseman Scott Spiezio, promptly hit a three-run home run off of Giants reliever Felix Rodriguez.

“I knew it had a chance but it felt like a half hour going down to first base,” Spiezio later recounted. “I was praying ‘Go out. Please God, let it go out some how.'”

It went out.

Down 5-3, Erstad led off the bottom of the eighth with a solo home run to right field to make it a one-run game. His blast absolutely positively changed the momentum of the game and got the Angels (and their fans) back in it. Erstad’s home run was followed by back-to-back singles by Tim Salmon and Garret Anderson, which was followed by a two-RBI double off the bat of eventual series MVP Troy Glaus for an impossible 6-5 come-from-behind Angels win, thus forcing a decisive Game-7. The Angels would go on to win Game-7 by a score of 4-1 to capture their first (and only) World Series title in franchise history. And while there were many heroes in that historic Game-6, it was Erstad’s eighth-inning solo home run that clearly turned the momentum around for the eventual World Champions.

After his impressive 14-year MLB career – 11 with the Angels – Erstad, the first overall pick in the 1995 MLB First Year Player Draft, retired from the game and accepted a voluntary position as a coach for his alma mater University of Nebraska and on June 2, 2011 was named as the Cornhuskers’ head coach. In his four seasons as the ‘Huskers head coach, Erstad has a career mark of 139-97 and is considered among the best head coaches in college baseball. As such, it really should come as no surprise that Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman and general manager Farhan Zaidi invited the now 41-year-old Jamestown, North Dakota native for an interview to possibly become the Dodgers next manager.

Whether or not Erstad will get the job remains to be seen, but the (extremely) hard-playing former major leaguer has something that none of the other four Dodgers managerial candidates do not – a World Series ring as a player*. He is also extremely well-loved by Southern California baseball fans – even if it was as an Angel.

(*Ron Roenicke was the Angels third base coach when the team won the World Series in 2002. As such, he too has a World Series ring, but not as a player).