May 18th, 2025 at 7:00 am 
by Jesse Pearce This isn’t about Don Drysdale‘s stats, which earned him entry into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1984. Instead, this recalls his combative spirit – his intensity – the intangibles that characterized his career and helped secure his spot in the sacred Halls Cooperstown.
Drysdale was one of the fiercest competitors I have ever watched play a sport – any sport. A couple of his quotes provide a small glimpse into his intensity:
- “If they knocked two of your guys down, I’d get four. You have to protect your hitters.”
- “I hate all hitters. I start a game mad and I stay that way until it’s over.”
- “The pitcher has to find out if the hitter is timid, and if he is timid, he has to remind the hitter he’s timid.”
- “When I throw a curve that hangs and it goes for a hit, I want to chew up my glove.”
The great Willie Mays said of ‘Big D‘:
“No one was meaner than Drysdale. I was knocked down every at-bat by Drysdale. Not every game, every at-bat.”
Fellow HOF member Frank Robinson said of him:
“He was mean enough to do it, and he did it continuously. You could count on him doing it. And when he did it, he just stood there on the mound and glared at you to let you know he meant it.”
than Don Drysdale. No one.
(LA Dodgers)
Don was so formidable that it was said that some players would opt out of a lineup because he was pitching that day.
For the most part, Major League Baseball today is a different game from the days of Drysdale, Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson, Ferguson Jenkins, et al. Today, the players are paid so much that they are more like a fraternity than fierce combatants.
So, what’s the point?
The Dodgers of 2025, including their laid-back manager Dave Roberts, need to put on the character of ‘Big D’ – pick up their intensity. Their reputation on the field should be that of fierce competitors, every inning inning of every game, never taking any team for granted, never underestimating any opponent.
If an opponent is timid, remind them thet are timid. When a pitcher makes a bad pitch, they should want to chew up theig glove. Go Back to the Future to be champions.
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July 3, 2025 will be the 32nd anniversary of Don Drysdale’s death, which happened less than three weeks before his 57th birthday. Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully painfully announced the news of Don’s passing on the air:
“Never have I been asked to make an announcement that hurts me as much as this one, and I say it to you as best I can with a broken heart.”
Scully later described it as:
“…the toughest broadcast of my career.”
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Gone, but never forgotten by this fan.
May Don’s competitive spirit be rekindled in the Dodgers of 2025 and those generations of Dodgers to come.
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Posted in 
My earliest and fondest memories as a Dodger fan are sitting out in the Left Field Pavilion with my dad and brothers watching Drysdale pitch. He is the OTHER reason for my handle FanSince53.
One of my all time favorite Dodgers. He is one of the reasons I am a Dodger fan. They just don’t make them that way anymore. I miss that brand of baseball I grew up with.
Ditto. MLB is now all about entertainment. Today, players openly fraternize, they are giving interviews while on the field during game action. Pitchers don’t intentionally pitch inside, not more knock down pitches. Regular season has become almost irrelevant as so many teams make it into the postseason tournament. The All Star game has gone from a true competition between the AL and NL to an exhibition, making sure that nearly every player makes an appearance.
Today’s game is also all about money, and not just for the players. The between-inning commercials are pathetic, and the non-stop rolling banner at the bottom of the screen is SOOOO annoying.
The three of us are from the same generation, age wise and Dodger fan wise.
Favorite stories of Drysdale:
His quote, Why throw four pitches and walk him intentionally when you can throw one and hit him. Also he was in the hospital when Sandy Koufax threw a no hitter. The Dodgers offense was so pitiful that Drysdale asked, Did he win?
A very old memory, but I think the quote about hitting the batter rather than throwing four pitches happened in a game against the then Milwaukee Braves and the hitter was shortstop Johny Logan. Alston signaled for Drysdale to walk Logan intentionally, but Big D drilled Logan in the back.
Drysdale & Koufax protected those 60s Dodgers while Maury Wills & Tommy Davis scratched & clawed for a couple of runs. Although Koufax had to overcome no minor league training & extreme physical pain to pitch at his greatest, Big D had to struggle & battle his way through many of his wins. Regular season games against the Giants were of a Game 7 World Series intensity! Willie Mays left his hat in the air many times while being spun out by Drysdale. The crowd at Dodger Stadium would come alive every time Maury got on base with a non-stop chant of Go! Go! Go! drawing multiple throws to first always with very hard tags from the first baseman. Like a Ronin samurai, Wills would be 6 times down but steal on the seventh time up. After every Dodger win the fans would throw thousands of those blue rental seat cushions into the air & on to the field. Once during spring training, Drysdale & a couple of other Dodgers went to a bar where Bob Buhl, Eddie Mathews & some other Braves were also at. They drank together & socialized for the evening. When they were leaving Drysdale turned to the Braves contingent & said “Don’t think this changes anything.”