27, 1958, and had one daughter, Kelly, now 34. He went into broadcasting after retiring from the Dodgers in 1969 because of arm problems.Īfter the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in 1958, Drysdale met Ginger Dubberly, 19, of Pasadena, who earlier that year was a Tournament of Roses princess.ĭrysdale and Ginger were married Sept. He worked exclusively for ABC in 1980 and then returned to the Angels in 1981.Īfter the 1981 season, Drysdale was hired by the Chicago White Sox to replace Harry Caray, who had left to do broadcasts of the cross-town Cubs.ĭrysdale joined the Dodgers’ three-man broadcasting team in 1988. He first worked as a broadcaster with the Montreal Expos for two seasons (1970-71), spent the 1972 season with the Texas Rangers and joined Dick Enberg with the Angels in 1973.ĭrysdale also worked for ABC while with the Angels through the 1979 season. In his debut with the then-Brooklyn Dodgers on April 24, 1956, he beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-1, striking out nine batters, including the first three he faced.ĭrysdale was in his sixth season as a Dodger broadcaster and 22nd as a major league announcer. He also hit seven homers in 1958 and had 29 for his career, second in National League history behind Warren Spahn’s 35.ĭrysdale was born July 23, 1936, in Van Nuys and was pitching in the majors by the time he was 19.
Reluctantly, the Dodgers gave it to them.ĭrysdale was also pretty good with a bat. In 1966, he and Sandy Koufax held out on their contracts, seeking at least $100,000 apiece. “Why waste four of them,” he said with a familiar sneer. Once told to walk a batter intentionally, Drysdale instead hit the batter with a pitch. In 1961, Drysdale signed with the Dodgers for $32,000, a salary that made him the highest-paid pitcher in baseball at the age of 24.ĭuring the 1961 season, Drysdale, one of the more feared pitchers of all-time, hit 20 batters in 244 innings, leading the National League in that category for a fourth consecutive season. that and my reputation for being mean, or the fact that I was durable and never missed a turn,” Drysdale wrote in his 1990 book “Once a Bum, Always a Dodger.”
“When you’re around fans and they start talking baseball, that seems to be the thing they associate with me. Whatever, it was quite an accomplishment.
Some record books, dropping the fraction, simply say Drysdale’s record was 58 innings. In his streak, Drysdale had six consecutive shutouts, still a major league record. In 1968, Drysdale went 58 2/3 innings without allowing a run, a major league record that stood for 20 years until broken by Orel Hershiser with 59 consecutive shutout innings in 1988. His finest season was 1962, when he was 25-9 and led the National League with 41 starts, 314 1/3 innings and 287 strikeouts. On July 1, 1984, his uniform number, 53, was retired by the Dodgers. He was elected into baseball’s Hall of Fame on Jan. “To Annie and Donnie and Darren and Drew and all the Drysdale family, our prayers for strength and our tears as well.”
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