Dodger Old-Timers Go Back to the Future to Play Ball

Originally posted at 6:57 a.m. May 10, 2014. Edited to add new details.

By STEVEN HERBERT

City News Service

Teams managed by Hall of Famers Sandy Koufax and Tommy Lasorda played to a 3-3 tie today in the Los Angeles Dodgers Old-Timers Game at Dodger Stadium.

Team Koufax took a 3-0 lead in the top of the first on an RBI single by Rick Monday and a two-run double by Shawn Green, both off starter Fernando Valenzuela.

Team Lasorda scored two runs in its half of the first on a sacrifice fly by Tim Wallach and a wild pitch by Orel Hershiser.

Team Lasorda scored the tying run in the bottom of the second and final inning on an RBI single by Steve Yeager off Rick Honeycutt, now the Dodgers pitching coach.

The game included six Rookies of the Year and three Cy Young Award winners.

Team Lasorda included Valenzuela, the 1981 National League Cy Young Award winner and Rookie of the Year; Eric Gagne, the 2003 National League Cy Young Award winner; along with three other National League Rookies of the Year - - second baseman Steve Sax, the 1982 award winner, outfielder Raul Mondesi, the 1994 winner, and Darryl Strawberry, who won the award in 1983 when he played for the New York Mets.

The team also included two members of the Dodgers' record-setting infield of the 1970s and early 1980s, second baseman Davey Lopes and third baseman Ron Cey.

Team Koufax included Hershiser, the 1988 National League Cy Young Award winner, first baseman Eric Karros, the 1992 National League Rookie of the Year, and infielder Nomar Garciaparra, who was selected as the 1997 American League Rookie of the Year when he played for the Boston Red Sox.

The team also included shortstop Bill Russell, a third member of the infield that played together from June 23, 1973 through the end of the 1981 season, the longest an infield had played together in Major League Baseball history.

The game followed the Dodgers 6-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants.