September 25th, 2017 at 11:00 am 
by Ron Cervenka If you ask a 70-year-old-ish Dodger fan which Dodger team was the best ever, there is an exceptionally good chance they will say the 1955 World Series Champion Brooklyn Dodgers, which included guys named Pee Wee Reese, Duke Snider, Gil Hodges, Carl Furillo, Roy Campanella and some fellow named Jackie Robinson.
Ask that same question to a 60-year-old Dodger fan and they will undoubtedly say the 1963 Dodgers, who swept the mighty and highly-favored New York Yankees in four games with guys named Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Maury Wills, Tommy Davis, Willie Davis, Ron Fairly and John Roseboro.
And of course if you ask this same question of 40-year-olds the answer will be the Dodgers powerhouse teams of the 70’s and 80’s that included “The Infield” of Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes, Bill Russell and Ron Cey, along with catcher Steve Yeager and outfielder Rick Monday. For the thirty-somethings, how can it not be that “Improbable … Impossible” 1988 Dodgers team that included what is still considered the greatest home run in baseball history by Kirk Gibson?
But what about those who were born after that last Dodgers World Series team a mere (uggh) 29 years ago, the so-called Baby Boomers and millennials? Which Dodger team would they consider the best ever? Chances are yet again exceptionally good that they will tell you that this Dodger team is the best Dodger team ever … the one with veterans named Clayton Kershaw, Adrian Gonzalez, Justin Turner, Chase Utley, Yasmani Grandal, and youngsters Corey Seager, Chris Taylor, Yasiel Puig and, of course, superstar rookie Cody Bellinger.
As hard as it may be for some of us oldtimers to admit, the millennials may be right.
With his two-run home run on Sunday afternoon, the 2017 Dodgers established a new franchise record of 212 home runs on the season. (Video Capture courtesy of SportsNet LA)
Now this most certainly is not to take anything away from those earlier great Dodger teams, from which many former players eventually made their way into the sacred halls of Cooperstown. It is merely to say that the 2017 Dodgers are meeting and exceeding numerous records of Dodger greats who came before them.
It’s no secret that the greatest teams in Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers history included both sluggers and outstanding pitchers. So, too, does the 2017 Dodgers team. In fact, during Sunday’s matinee game between the Dodgers and their perennial most-hated rivals – the (former) New York and now San Francisco Giants – Dodgers catcher Yasmani Grandal slugged his 21st home run of the season to give Dodgers manager Dave Roberts’ boys a new franchise record-setting 212 home runs on the season.
Although impressive, this new franchise home run record doesn’t necessarily equate to postseason success, with one significant exception. In 1955, the Brooklyn Dodgers hit a then franchise record 201 home runs and we all know how that season ended. Then again, the previous franchise record of 211 home runs that was broken on Sunday (with six regular season games remaining) was set in 1979 with the likes of Garvey, Lopes, Cey, Joe Ferguson and Dusty Baker and led to a third-place finish in the National League West with a dismal 79-83 (.488) record.
But the 2017 Dodgers are a different – if not magical – team. In addition to owning the best record in all of baseball right now at 99-57 (one better than the Cleveland Indians at 98-58), they now have four guys with more than 20 home runs: Seager with 20, Turner, Grandal and Taylor with 21, Puig with 26, and likely 2017 NL Rookie of the Year Cody Bellinger with a new Dodgers franchise record 39 – again, with six games left to play.
When you put all of this together and have to come up with which Dodgers team is/was the best ever, it’s pretty difficult to come up with one better than the 2017 Dodgers.
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This has been a great year, no doubt, but I think this team would have to go all the way, in order to be considered the best. Here’s hoping they do.
The ages don’t quite match up for me. I’m 58 1/2–nearly 60– and I was 4 years old for the 1963 Dodgers. I have no direct recollection of them, except for what my parents told me about them. I think the baby boomer team is the Garvey, Lopes, Russel, Cey team. But just my opinion, obviously.
It warms my heart whenever I see comments from those of my generation (so to speak).
I was blessed to have attended Game-3 of the 1963 World Series as an eight-year-old, a game that Tommy Davis often calls the greatest World Series games ever played. It was the Drysdale 1-0 / 3-hit shutout that was won on a one-out walk by Hall of Famer Jim Gilliam, a wild pitch by Yankee great Jim Bouton, and an RBI single by (wait for it…) Tommy Davis in the first inning.
I have no conflict with your interpretation of baby boomers (ages 51-69 in 2015), of which you and I are among.
Good times indeed.
** Oops – Meant Ring of Honor Jim Gilliam, not HOFer Jim Gilliam.**
Ron,
With all due respect, you need to do some homework with regard to Dodger history.
-Jim Gilliam is not in the hall of fame.
-The 1955 team did not set a franchise home run record–the 1953 team had hit 208.
-The 1979 Dodgers hit 183 home runs.
-This year’s team broke the franchise record of 211 by the 2000 team.
Go Blue!
Don’t believe that I said that Jim Gilliam is in the Hall of Fame, but if I did (somewhere), I certainly meant the “Ring of Honor” (retired numbers) for Gilliam who, as you undoubtedly know, is the only non-Hall of Famer to have his number retired (although I wish they’d add Fernando).
The 1955 thing is/was 100 percent on me for listening to (and believing) Charlie Steiner, who said this during Saturday night’s radio broadcast. The most wins in Dodger history is (as you noted) 105 games set by the 1953 Brooklyn Dodgers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Los_Angeles_Dodgers_seasons
I apologize for the confusion (I’m pretty good at that) and I thank you for the clarification.
Thanks for posting and don’t be a stranger.
GO DODGERS!
Contrary to your reply, you did indeed write, “It was the Drysdale 1-0 / 3-hit shutout that was won on a one-out walk by Hall of Famer Jim Gilliam…” I concede that this may have been misattributed to you.
An assertion in the September 25th Think Blue article, “Then again, the previous franchise record of 211 home runs that was broken…was set in 1979…” is also erroneous.
Nothing personal, Ron. I have been a devoted Dodger fan since 1965 and consider myself a sort of baseball “junkie” hooked on the sport of baseball, its history and stats, and my beloved team. If you are a lifelong Dodger fan as noted on the website, I tip my Dodger cap to you!
ps I would love it if Gilliam and Valenzuela were in the HOF but the Dodger player who is most deserving and not yet elected is Gil Hodges.
The baby boom lasted a long time, beginning in 1946, 9 months after the men started coming home from WWII. For me those ’60’s teams are it.
I’m not really sure when it officially ended (quite frankly, I don’t care) but it seems to me those ’70’s teams would fall into that time frame too. Remember, the baby boom only indicates when someone was born.
I was born during the war so am not a baby boomer as such. My Dad was up for deployment to Europe but a truck accident on the base in Liverpool,NS injured some soldiers. He suffered a broken leg and was not deployed.
I have witnessed all of those teams and have never gotten the 1955 team out of my mind as the best ever Dodger team. The only question I have had was if the pitching matched up to some of those other teams. In my mind the 1955 team was without question the best offensively. Perhaps on the mound it did match up as those other teams did not have to play the 1955 Yankees.
I have been thinking about this and have concluded it is not possible to determine which Dodger team has been the best. It boils down to being a bit subjective. The times and circumstances in the game have changed so much it is difficult to compare. For instance, the strikeout is now an acceptable stat.(although not in my books) Pitching with so many specialists and match-ups is definitely different today.
I also expect our opinion hinges on the statistics we choose as the benchmark.
The 1953 Dodgers might have been the best ever offensively as they have the best record in so many offensive categories: 955 runs, 887 RBI, 208 HR,90 SB, 655 BB, 686 K, .285 BA, .366 OBP, .840 OPS, .474 SLG in 154 games.
1955 Dodgers: 857 runs, 800 RBI, 201 HR, 79 SB, 674 BB, 718 K, .271 BA, .356 OBP, 804 OPS,.448 SLG in 154 games.
2017 Dodgers:770 runs, 730 RBI, 221 HR, 77 SB, 649 BB, 1380 K, .249 BA, .334 OBP, .771 OPS, .437 SLG in 162 games
As mentioned earlier it is the pitching that makes if difficult to determine the best team. Back in the fifties there was two eight-teams leagues in pre-expansion days and four-man rotations.