Dodger to celebrate ‘Legendary Infield’ on its 50th anniversary
The Dodgers will celebrate the 50th anniversary of their “Legendary Infield” — first baseman Steve Garvey, second baseman Davey Lopes, shortstop Bill Russell and third baseman Ron Cey — the Major League-record-setting group who started across the diamond for 8 ½ seasons from 1973–1981.
Garvey, Russell and Cey will reunite on Friday, June 23, 2023, prior to the 7:10 p.m. game against the Houston Astros and throw the ceremonial first pitches. The pregame event will also include a tribute video recognizing the group on the 50th anniversary of the first game they started together in the infield. Lopes is unable to attend the event in Los Angeles.
No other Major League infield — before or after — can match the group’s 8 1/2 seasons together, which began 50 years ago on June 23, 1973, and lasted until the final out of the 1981 World Series.
On June 23, 1973, the Dodgers played the Cincinnati Reds in a twilight doubleheader at Dodger Stadium. Bill Buckner, the heir apparent first baseman after the 1972 retirement of six-time Gold Glove winner Wes Parker, played first base in the opener. In the nightcap, manager Walter Alston started Garvey at first base — the first time he opened a game with Lopes, Russell and Cey at their respective infield positions.
Once July started, they became the Dodgers’ everyday infield. At the end of the season, Garvey had a .304 average. Lopes ended the season with 36 stolen bases. Russell appeared in 162 games. And Cey drove in 80 runs. It was a preview of things to come.
Between 1974 and 1981, the Garvey-Lopes-Russell-Cey quartet made a combined 21 All-Star Game appearances while Los Angeles won four National League West titles, four National League pennants (1974, 1977, 1978, 1981) and a World Series championship in 1981.
The Legendary Infield’s time together culminated in the Dodgers’ 1981 magical postseason, in which they erased a two-games-to-none deficit to beat the Houston Astros in the National League Division Series and a two-games to-one deficit to beat the Montreal Expos in the National League Championship Series. The Dodgers then avenged losses in the 1977 and 1978 World Series and defeated the New York Yankees to win the 1981 Fall Classic. The quartet batted a combined .308 in the World Series.
