Speaker 1: It's Sandy Kofax Babo head night at Dodger Stadium and
Speaker 1: also Alumni Weekend coming up. And what a better person
Speaker 1: to talk to than Dodger team a historian Mark Langel. Mark,
Speaker 1: great to see you here at Dodger Stadium. We're all
Speaker 1: so happy things are going well with you well.
Speaker 2: David, it's a pleasure to be here.
Speaker 3: And right after you say Alumni Weekend, I immediately think
Speaker 3: of Old Timers Day when they called it when I
Speaker 3: was a kid in the nineteen seventies and eighties, and
Speaker 3: it's still the same premise, no matter the same generation
Speaker 3: in terms of what you remember and everything. How cool
Speaker 3: that we're going to have all these familiar names coming
Speaker 3: back to Dodger Stadium and sharing memories.
Speaker 1: Including the all time legend Sandy Kofax. What do you
Speaker 1: want to share about him? Because it feels like everybody
Speaker 1: just bows at the altar of Sandy Kofax.
Speaker 3: Well, just imagine, who is a reigning Hall of Famer
Speaker 3: for more than a half century. I think people see
Speaker 3: the statue, but they don't really know the legend as
Speaker 3: far as behind the scenes. He retires when he's thirty
Speaker 3: years old, having won twenty seven regular season games in
Speaker 3: nineteen sixty.
Speaker 2: Six of arthritis.
Speaker 3: So if you look at all the stats, they say
Speaker 3: three times cy Young Award winner. They only gave one
Speaker 3: cy Young Award between nineteen fifty six and nineteen sixty six.
Speaker 3: And I have a feeling that after Sandy had won three,
Speaker 3: they said, you know, we better give one to each league,
Speaker 3: otherwise Sandy's going to take them all.
Speaker 1: How much have you shared stories and memories with Sandy
Speaker 1: Kofax for him to be in the vault of Mark
Speaker 1: Langel's head.
Speaker 3: The really nice thing is to be able to know
Speaker 3: behind the scenes as far as the perfect game, and
Speaker 3: to be able to work with Jane Levy as far
Speaker 3: as that wonderful book that he did.
Speaker 2: She did because people just don't understand.
Speaker 3: We've been playing baseball since eighteen ninety in the National League.
Speaker 3: We've only had one perfect game. September the ninth, nineteen
Speaker 3: sixty five. Sandy pitched it. So the greatest pitcher in
Speaker 3: our history pitched the only perfect game. And oh, by
Speaker 3: the way, Bob Henley of the Chicago Cubs only allowed
Speaker 3: one hit and one walk, and the hit had nothing
Speaker 3: to do with the scoring, so it could have been
Speaker 3: a double no hitter, So that night was just one
Speaker 3: of those hitching for the ages. Bob Henley versus Sandy kolfex.
Speaker 1: Mark Langel, Dodger team historing is joining us and on
Speaker 1: Friday Night, Mark Dusty Baker will be honored. He was
Speaker 1: my favorite Dodger growing up. He captured the imagination of
Speaker 1: so many young Dodger fans. How special is it finally
Speaker 1: to have I guess, not closure, but full circle for
Speaker 1: Dusty on Friday.
Speaker 3: It's definitely full circle because I remember the struggles that
Speaker 3: he went through.
Speaker 2: In nineteen seventy six. He hits a home run.
Speaker 3: On Opening Day and then they only hits three more
Speaker 3: because he's got knee problems. Tommy Lesorda comes along in
Speaker 3: nineteen seventy seven.
Speaker 2: I believe in you.
Speaker 3: You're my guy, You're my left fielder. And just imagine
Speaker 3: you're going into that final week end of the season.
Speaker 3: The other three Ron say, Reggie Smith and Steve Garvey
Speaker 3: have their thirty home runs and you're gonna face JR.
Speaker 3: Richard on Sunday the final regular season game. And my
Speaker 3: favorite story from that, Reggie Smith actually called the Houston
Speaker 3: dugout in front of Dusty and said, let me talk
Speaker 3: to Jr. And he said, I'm gonna He's gonna do
Speaker 3: it against you. Dusty's in the background going no, no,
Speaker 3: don't say that. Don't say that. And it all comes
Speaker 3: down to the final at bat and Dusty remembers Tommy
Speaker 3: giving him the Rob Ross speech, something about Moses and
Speaker 3: the partying into the Red Sea and to be able
Speaker 3: to hit that home run on the last day as
Speaker 3: a kid for me, I'm in middle school.
Speaker 2: I wanted him to do that so bad.
Speaker 3: And then afterwards for them to be able to all
Speaker 3: tip their caps and the first thirty home run quartet
Speaker 3: and now it's like Mount Rushmore. They were the first
Speaker 3: to do it, and Dodger fans in seventy seven will
Speaker 3: never forget that quartet.
Speaker 1: This might be the first time they've been together at
Speaker 1: the same place at the same time at Dodger Stadium
Speaker 1: in a while.
Speaker 3: Absolutely and John Sue, who are a great team photographer
Speaker 3: who's been here forever, said he's never shot Dusty in
Speaker 3: a Dodger uniform because if you think of it, when
Speaker 3: Dusty left, When Dusty leaves in the mid eighties, suddenly
Speaker 3: he goes to the Giants.
Speaker 2: He goes to the A's.
Speaker 3: He goes to the Reds and Cubs, and so this
Speaker 3: is a great homecoming. Dusty would always participate in pregame
Speaker 3: ceremonies if we had a bobblehead or things like that.
Speaker 3: But to be able to see Dusty in a Dodger uniform,
Speaker 3: it's a wonderful sight. But Dodger fans have to turn
Speaker 3: back the clock to the nineteen seventies and early eighties
Speaker 3: to actually see Johnny B in a Dodger uniform number
Speaker 3: twelve like his boyhood idol.
Speaker 2: Tommy Davis can't wait.
Speaker 1: It's going to be a great alumni weekend. Mark Langel.
Speaker 1: We're so happy you're doing well. You're a treasure yourself
Speaker 1: to the Dodgers. Thanks a lot for the time, my.
Speaker 2: Pleasure, David, Thank you. Always good to be with you,