Several years ago I had the pleasure of meeting Dodgers team historian Mark Langill while at Dodger Stadium. Mark has been with the Dodgers organization for nearly twenty-five years and if you like talking Dodgers history, Mark is a walking encyclopedia and absolutely loves talking about the team’s rich history. After our all-too-brief chat, we exchanged business cards and went our separate ways.

About a week later I received a suspicious package in the mail. The return address was Dodger Stadium and since the package wasn’t ticking, I opened it. Inside was a signed copy of Mark’s popular book Game of My Life – Memorable Stories of Dodgers Baseball which he had authored in 2007.

I was overwhelmed by Mark’s generosity and immediately sent him an email thanking him for the book. I also immediately cracked the book open and began reading it and the next thing I knew it was midnight.

Langill’s ‘Game of My Life – Memorable Stories of Dodgers Baseball’ is very easy to read but very hard to put down

Mark used a very unique format in writing this book. He broke it down into chapters comprised of interviews of many former Dodgers players and employees (from both Brooklyn and Los Angeles) and naturally included a chapter on Vin Scully. (Did you know that Vin played the outfield for Fordham Prep School in New York and would do a running play-by-play of his games while standing in the outfield during the games?).

In each chapter, the respective former Dodger player or employee would pick one single game and share their specific memories of that game; and while you might think that they would select a game of huge significance in Dodgers history, most chose games that were not great moments in Dodgers history but rather very personal memories in their own lives. The result is a collection of great stories that are incredibly interesting yet otherwise unknown – even to the biggest of Dodger fans. It truly is an awesome book that is very easy to read but very hard to put down.

Those interviewed in Mark’s book include:

• Carl Erskine
• Buzzie Bavasi
• Vin Scully
• Willie Davis
• Maury Wills
• Wes Parker
• Sweet Lou Johnson
• Steve Yeager
• Jimmy Wynn
• Dr. Frank Jobe
• Steve Garvey
• Mike Brito
• Jerry Reuss
• Steve Sax
• Jaime Jarrín
• Nancy Bea Hefley
• Jim Gott
• Tommy Lasorda
• Don Drysdale

Although Game of My Life – Memorable Stories of Dodgers Baseball is currently out of print, you can still get it on-line through Barnes & Noble and eBay. It is well worth your time and investment.

As a point of interest, Langill has authored several other books – all of them pertaining to the colorful history of the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers.