The 1988 baseball season is remembered for an incredible home run in the first game of the World Series, one that capped a season-long run that seemed straight off the Hollywood set. But there was a whole lot of context that set the stage for that October moment, including the following… *The Los Angeles Dodgers […]
For two decades of Los Angeles Dodgers history they were defined by manager Tom Lasorda. The manager, inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1997, “bled Dodger Blue” by his own proud admission. The Dodgers won games, pennants and championships and this post features links to articles that capture the heart of his best teams.
The 1988 Los Angeles Dodgers were starting a season that lacked the expectations often associated with this proud organization. They’d missed the playoffs for two straight years and in an era where only the first-place team in a six-team division would qualify, there was no expectation that 1988 would be any different.
Editor’s Note: This is part of a series of sports history articles aimed at preserving the best moments of the modern sports era, from 1976 to the present. The focus is team sports—college & pro basketball and football, major league baseball and hockey. This article offers a snapshot of 1988 sports, a year that saw an epic college football clash with cultural overtones, an NBA guarantee made good and a great Super Bowl drive finally save face for America’s most popular sporting event.
Where was the place for sports fans to be in 1988? There’s not much doubt about this one—you wanted to be in Hollywood. The Los Angeles Lakers completed a drive for their second straight NBA title. The Dodgers won the World Series. UCLA and USC each had Top 10 football teams and played a head-to-head showdown for the Rose Bowl. And the Rams, still in Los Angeles, made the playoffs for the third time in four years. The Notebook follows this amazing year through from spring to winter.