On August 9th, 1975, at Shea Stadium during a 2-0 win vs the New York Mets, Davey Lopes of the Los Angeles Dodgers breaks the record for most consecutive stolen bases without being caught. Lopes steals his 32nd straight base, eclipsing the record held by Max Carey. The Dodger second baseman’s mark will be broken by Vince Coleman in 1989.

From 1966-1972, I went to a lot of Spokane Indians games. The Indians at that time were the Triple-A Pacific Coast League affiliate for the Dodgers. What that meant is that I saw a lot of Dodger greats play before they became Major Leaguers. Davey Lopes was one of those players.

Lopes had a 16-year Major League career, mostly for the Dodgers. He also played for the A’s, the Cubs and the Astros. A Gold-Glove second-baseman, Lopes led the league in steals twice (77 in 1975 and 63 in 1976).

Looking at his Baseball Reference page I see that he is not as good a hitter as I remembered him as being. He was great though in the 1978 postseason against the Phillies in the NCLS and then the Yankees in the 1978 World Series. He also made 4 All-Star games.

When Lopes was playing in Spokane and I was watching him play Spokane had guys like Ron Cey, Steve Garvey, and Don Sutton. And Tommy Lasorda was the manager.

One of the fun things about doing this blog is that it regularly gives me a chance to go down memory lane. I have a fond spot in my heart for old Spokane players (even Steve Garvey).

For some reason though, I never became a Dodgers fan. Just a fan of the players like Davey Lopes.