Dodgers Dugout: The 25 greatest Dodgers of all time, No. 14: Walter Alston

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell as we continue the top-25 countdown.

Readers voted in droves, submitting 15,212 ballots by email, Twitter and Facebook. Voters were asked for their top 10 Dodgers in order from 1 to 10, with first place receiving 12 points, second place nine points, third place eight, all the way down to one point for 10th place.

The last time we did this was in 2018, and there were some changes in the rankings.

So, without further ado:

The 25 greatest Dodgers, No. 14: WALTER ALSTON (71 first-place votes, 13,991 points)
2018 rank: 15th

Tommy Lasorda is far more famous, but you can make a solid case that Alston is the greatest manager in Dodgers history.

Alston began managing the Dodgers in 1954 when they still were in Brooklyn and remained manager until 1976, winning seven NL pennants (1955, 1956, 1959, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1974) and four World Series, (1955, 1959, 1963, 1965), three of them in Los Angeles.

Alston was named NL manager of the year six times before retiring with a record of 2,040-1,613. He had his number (24) retired by the team in 1977 and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1983. When he got his 2,000th win in the 1976 season, he became only the fifth manager to reach that milestone. There are only 12 now. He is one of five managers to win at least four World Series. The others: Joe McCarthy, Casey Stengel, Connie Mack and Joe Torre.

Alston died at age 72 on Oct. 1, 1984.

A great Alston story, recounted in many books on the Dodgers, comes from the time when teams still traveled by bus. One time, the bus the Dodgers were using was old and had no air conditioning. Several players spent the trip yelling and getting on Lee Scott, the club’s traveling secretary, for getting them such a rickety bus.

Alston, sitting in the front, stood up and said: “I don’t want to hear another word about this bus. And if anyone has something more to say about it, he can step off right now and we’ll settle it right here.” No one said a word after that.

Legendary Times columnist Jim Murray wrote the following when Alston retired:

“I don’t know whether you’re Republican or Democrat or Catholic or Protestant, and I’ve known you for 18 years,” Murray wrote of Alston. “You were as Middle-Western as a pitchfork. Black players who have a sure instinct for the closet bigot recognized immediately you didn’t know what prejudice was. There was no ‘side’ to Walter Alston. What you saw was what you got.”

You can read more about the life of Alston in this article.

Previously

No. 15: Steve Garvey

No. 16: Branch Rickey

No. 17: Walter O’Malley

No. 18: Don Sutton

No. 19: Orel Hershiser

No. 20: Mike Piazza

No. 21: Don Newcombe

No. 22: Mookie Betts

No. 23 Dazzy Vance

No. 24: Kirk Gibson

No. 25: Eric Gagné

No sign of Julio Urías

If you were holding out hope that somehow Urías would return to the Dodgers, you can give that hope away. The Dodgers have given his locker to someone else (Kolten Wong) and covered up or painted over any mural that featured Urías. There is no merchandise featuring his name available to purchase at Dodger Stadium.

Asked if this was a sign the Dodgers have moved on, Dave Roberts said, “I think so. I think that’s kind of where we’re at right now. So there’s really not much for me to comment on, other than the fact that it’s just like I said on the first day, it’s a very unfortunate, sad situation.”

And finally

Hall of Fame biography: Walter Alston. Watch and listen here.