1981

1981 World Champions

The 1981 World Champion Dodgers earned the nickname, "Team Comeback" for a very appropriate reason. Through the National League playoffs and World Series, they rallied from the brink of elimination three straight times to earn the admiration and respect of the sports world.

In the Western Division Championship Series, the Dodgers quickly found themselves down, two games to none, in a best-of-five series with Houston. But recalling memories of the final weekend of the 1980 season, the Dodgers swept three straight from the Astros at Dodger Stadium to advance in post-season play.

The Dodgers won the first game of the N.L. Championship Series against Montreal, but dropped the next two games to the Expos to again fall to the brink of elimination. Ahead of them lay the unenviable task of winning two straight in the Expos' home park.

Burt Hooton held the Expos to one run in 7.2 innings and Steve Garvey's two-run homer snapped a 1-1 tie in the eighth as the Dodgers evened the Series in Game Four.

Following a one-day delay due to poor weather conditions, the Expos scored a run off Fernando Valenzuela in the first inning of Game Five. But Valenzuela tied the game himself in the fifth inning as his infield roller scored Rick Monday from third base. Monday then put the Dodgers into the World Series in the ninth when his solo homer off Steve Rogers gave the Dodgers a 2-1 victory.

The well-rested New York Yankees easily took the first two games of the World Series, but the Dodgers showed that being down two-games-to-none was just where they wanted to be.

In Game Three - the first game at Dodger Stadium - Ron Cey hit a three-run homer in the first inning and then started a game-saving double play in the eighth. Valenzuela, rocked early by the Yankees for three home runs, shut them out over the final five innings to help the Dodgers win, 5-4.

Despite trailing 4-0 and 6-3 early in Game Four, the Dodgers evened the Series at 2-2 as Davey Lopes drove in two runs and scored two more. A sellout crowd at Dodger Stadium breathed a collective sigh of relief as the final out was recorded by Derrel Thomas at the center field fence with two Yankees on base.

The Dodgers then took a 3-2 Series lead in Game Five as Jerry Reuss matched Ron Guidry, pitch-for-pitch. The Yankees held a 1-0 lead in the seventh inning, but Pedro Guerrero swatted a Guidry fastball for a home run to tie it up and Steve Yeager followed with another homer to give the Dodgers the lead and an eventual 2-1 victory. The Dodgers were equally grateful for Ron Cey escaping serious injury when he was beaned by a Goose Gossage fastball in the eighth. Cey left the game, but returned for Game Six.

The Dodgers won their first World Championship in 16 years in New York three days later as Hooton, with relief help from Steve Howe, won his fourth playoff game. Cey showed no serious effects of the beaning as he tied the game with a base hit in the fifth. Yeager collected his second game - winning RBI of the Series, and Guerrero homered and tripled to drive in five runs.

The media covering the World Series named Cey, Guerrero and Yeager tri-Most Valuable Players, the first time in the history of the Fall Classic three men were named to share the award

Union Oil Promo by Richard Farrell

• About the Artist: Richard Farrell illustrates a wide range of subject matter, from sports to industrial/technical art. His works have appeared in national and regional Trade exhibitions in New York, Chicago, Minneapolis, and Los Angeles. A graduate of the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Farrell's clients include the 3M Company, John Deere, Honeywell, The National Football League, TWA, Redbook, Motor Trend, and Better Homes & Gardens.

World Champions Bat

• Los Angeles Dodgers 1981

1981 Commissioner's Trophy

1981 World Series Champions

B Harem Needlepoint

1981 World Series Champions

• LA
• Dodgers
• Lasorda
• Basgall
• Mota
• Ozark
• Cresse
• Perranoski

President ........................Peter O'Malley
Vice President Player Personnel .....Al Campanis