For Ron Cey, being part of the Dodgers' fabled infield of the 1970s will never be matched
Cey, Russell, Lopes and Garvey.
In Southern California, those names are as ingrained in the culture are the Santa Monica Pier, the 405 Freeway and the Griffith Observatory. The infield of Ron Cey at third base, Bill Russell at shortstop, Davey Lopes at second base, and Rancho Mirage resident and U.S. Senate candidate Steve Garvey at first base played together for the Los Angeles Dodgers for eight and a half years in the 1970s and 1980s.
Now, 50 years after the quartet’s first game together in the major leagues in 1974, one of the foursome says it’s easy to understand how the group continues to resonate strongly with Dodgers fans.
“The simple answer to that is we were the longest-running and most successful infield in major league history,” Cey said. “That’s the bottom line. And that’s a fact. There isn’t any infield even remotely half as close to the run that we had. There are four World Series in there. There are 20-some-odd All-Star Game appearances by the group. The entire infield was All-Star caliber."
More: Major League Baseball crystal ball: Picking the winners for all six divisions
Cey, whose run with the Dodgers went from 1971 to 1982, is now talking about his time as a major league player and his thoughts on baseball in the book “Penguin Power,” co-written with long-time Southern California baseball writer Ken Gurnick. He was at the Barnes and Noble bookstore in Palm Desert on Saturday for a book signing and question-and-answer session.
Known as the Penguin in his playing days for his choppy, waddling running style, Cey was a key part of Dodgers teams that won four National League championships while fighting the powerful Cincinnati Reds teams in the Western Division of the National League. The Dodgers lost the World Series in 1974 to the Oakland A’s and in 1977 and 1978 to the celebrated New York Yankees. In 1981, the Dodgers won the World Series, getting a bit of revenge by beating the Yankees. Cey was the co-Most Valuable Player in that victory.
Forever a quartet: Cey, Russell, Lopes, Garvey
Throughout that time, Cey was linked with Russell, Lopes and Garvey, players who had come up through the Dodgers minor league system together before starting their long run as a unit in Los Angeles.
“We won more games together as an infield than anyone else in major league history,” said Cey, who finished his career with 316 home runs, 1,139 runs batted in and six All-Star Game appearances. “We were all home-grown. We all came up essentially together. Three of us signed in 1968 and Bill Russell signed in 1966 I believe. We were the nucleus of that team at the time. We averaged over 150 games a year at each position.”
The idea of a foursome like the Dodgers infield of the 1970s staying together so long in today’s baseball in unthinkable, Cey says. Long-term contracts of 10 or 12 years exist, but so does modern free agency that pulls players away from their first organizations.
“You look at the Dodgers, you look at Freddie Freeman’s contract, Mookie Betts’ contract, now Will Smith’s contract, it’s tough,” said Cey, who was part of the Dodgers organization for 40 years before parting ways with the team a little over one year. “You think while Freddie Freeman's there, there is a chance some other first baseman is going to come along and take his place? I don’t think so.”
Cey looks back on his team’s World Series appearances and admits there is one loss that stings more than the others. That was the 1978 World Series where a controversial non-call on what the Dodgers believed was intentional interference by Yankees’ Reggie Jackson on a throw between second and first bases turned the tide.
“Well, 1978 is a sore spot. The interference call in the 1978 Series turned the World Series upside down. We were in a very commanding position at the time, in that game in particular. I’m pretty sure if they looked at the call in review like they do today, we would have a correct call and that would have given us a victory in that game.”
Cey admits the Dodgers as a team didn’t handle the controversy well as they lost that series four games to two.
Oddly, three of the four players linked forever with that infield played the final years of their careers with different teams. Cey left the Dodgers after 1982 to join the Chicago Cubs and then the Oakland A’s. Garvey left that same year and played five seasons with the San Diego Padres. Lopes left the Dodgers in 1981 and played for three teams over the next six years. Cey believes corporate ownership of teams – the Dodgers were bought by Fox Corporation – hurt the ability to keep teams together. As he points out, Rubert Murdoch of Fox had already owned Manchester United of the English Premier League, and the Dodgers were not a priority for Murdoch.
But rather than lament the end of the famous infield, Cey prefers to think about the accomplishments.
“We did something that will not happen again in major league history,” Cey said. “We were fortunate that we had individual success. We had health. We had team success. We were the nucleus of the team. I feel like we were really, really fortunate.”
As for his old infield mate Steve Garvey running for the United States Senate, Cey laughs a bit about his own lack of political aspirations.
"I know my place," Cey said.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Dodgers great Ron Cey discusses new book and that fabled infield
