The Dodgers on 1960s Television

Leo Durocher, Mister
Ed, and Alan Young

As a kid growing up in Missouri, the first professional baseball team of which I was aware was the St. Louis Cardinals. As to the second professional baseball team of which I was aware, I am guessing that it was either the Dodgers or the New York Yankees. I am inclined to think it was the Dodgers. It would not be surprising if they were, as they had a fairly high profile in the Sixties and Seventies. Indeed, the Dodgers had a fairly high profile for much of their history. During the Golden Age of Hollywood, the Brooklyn Dodgers had been referenced in such movies as Once Upon a Honeymoon (1942), Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), It Happened in Brooklyn (1947), and yet others. Probably the Brooklyn Dodgers movie was The Jackie Robinson Story, the biopic in which Jackie Robinson himself starred. The Dodgers hardly disappeared from the media after moving to Los Angeles in 1958. If anything, they appeared with regularity on television.

I am not sure when the Dodgers were first referenced in a scripted television show. It might well have been when they were still in Brooklyn. One of the earliest was the 1960 Michael Shayne episode "Strike Out." In "Strike Out" detective Michael Shayne investigated the death of a former baseball star. Los Angles Dodgers Sandy Koufax, Ed Roebuck, Larry Sherry, and Stan Williams appeared as themselves, as well as legendary Dodgers announcer Vin Scully.

The Michael Shayne episode "Strike-Out" would be followed by yet other, more famous appearances of the Dodgers on television shows in the Sixties. Among the most famous is the 1963 Mister Ed episode "Leo Durocher Meets Mister Ed." In the episode, the famous Mister Ed becomes frustrated with the Dodgers' poor playing of late and goes to the length of calling their coach Leo Durocher with advice on batting. Leo Durocher appeared as himself, as did Sandy Koufax, John Roseboro, Moose Skowron, and announcer Vin Scully.

Of course, the fame of "Leo Durocher Meets Mister Ed" may be matched or even surpassed by two other sitcom episodes in which the Dodgers are referenced. In the 1963 episode of The Beverly Hillbillies "The Clampetts and the Dodgers," Jed and Jethro go golfing, only to encounter Leo Durocher, who wants to hire Jethro as a pitcher. Leo Durocher also tries recruiting someone in the 1965 episode of The Munsters "Herman the Rookie," In the episode, when Herman Munster knocks a baseball out of a park and knocks out Leo Durocher eight blocks away, Mr. Durocher seeks out Herman to sign him to the Big League.

Before being referenced on The Beverly Hillbillies and The Munsters, the Dodgers had been referenced on other sitcoms. In fact, the all-time champion among sitcoms when it comes to the Los Angeles Dodgers may well be The Donna Reed Show. Don Drysdale appeared in no less than four episodes of the show. In the 1962 episode "The Man in the Mask," Donna's son Jeff got an interview with Don Drysdale. Don Drysdale also appeared in the 1963 episode "All Those Dreams," in which Jeff travels with his father to Chicago to see the Dodgers play there. The following year Don Drysdale appeared in the episode "My Son the Catcher," in which Willie Mays of the San Francisco Giants also appeared. The 1964 episode "Play Ball," in which  Donna's husband Alex organizes a charity game to benefit his hospital," not only featured Don Drysdale and Willie Mays again but also Leo Durocher.

Don Drysdale not only appeared on The Donna Reed Show in 1962 but also in the Leave It to Beaver episode "Long Distance Call," in which Beaver makes a long-distance call to the pitcher. Don Drysdale also appeared as himself on the short-lived show Our Man Higgins and later The Brady Bunch (by which time he had retired). In addition to Mister Ed, Sandy Koufax also appeared in the 1962 Dennis the Menace episode " Dennis and the Dodger," in which Mr. Quigley gets the Los Angeles Dodgers to play an exhibition game. Don Drysdale, Tommy Davis, Frank Howard, Willie Daivs, Moose Skowron, and Ron Perranoski all appeared on The Joey Bishop Show, with the voice of Vin Scully announcing a Dodgers-Mets game as well.

As to the legendary announcer Vin Scully, he not only appeared on Michael Shayne, Mister Ed, and The Joey Bishop Show, but he also appeared on the short-lived sitcom Karen and was the voice of various baseball announcers on yet other shows. Of course, he was also the narrator of the short-lived, cult show Occasional Wife.

As to why the Dodgers and Leo Durocher appeared so much on television shows in the Sixties, I suspect part of it was because Hollywood always had a soft spot for the Dodgers, even when they were in Brooklyn. When the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles, one can perhaps not blame Hollywood if they fell even more in love with the Dodgers. On top of this, when they were still the Brooklyn Dodgers, they won the World Series in 1955. They won the series again in 1959, 1963, and 1965.

As to why the Dodgers began appearing less frequently on TV shows in the Sixties, that is more difficult to say. Perhaps part of it was that the team stopped doing as well as they did in the late Fifties and early Sixties. The 1965 World Series would be the last one they would win until 1981. Their last National League Pennant won in the Sixties was in 1966. No longer the champions they once were, the Los Angeles Dodgers were no longer a hot commodity in the late Sixties. Of course, it is also possible that the novelty of Los Angeles having its own team simply wore off where Hollywood was concerned. Regardless, for a time in the Sixties, a year did not go by that some Dodger or Leo Durocher or Vin Scully didn't appear in some television show. And the Los Angeles Dodgers continue to appear in television shows to this day.