6-4-2 — an Angels/Dodgers double play blog

Ken Brett LAN,CAL b. 1948, played 1977-1979, All-Star: 1974, d. 2003-11-18. The winning pitcher in the 1974 All Star game as Pittsburgh's representative, Brett was a durable but inconsistent pitcher whose career tied the modern record for appearances for the most teams, with ten. The 21 starts he got with the 1977 Angels would mark the last time in his career he would see so many, but being a lefty, he managed to eke out four more years as a reliever. One of those seasons was with the Dodgers, in 1979. A first-round pick and fourth overall, he was the youngest pitcher ever (19 years and one month) to appear in a World Series game in 1967; he pitched an inning and a third of scoreless ball, both in lost causes. The brother of Hall of Famer George Brett, he died of a brain tumor in 2003 at the age of 53.

Dick Dietz LAN b. 1941, played 1972, All-Star: 1970, d. 2005-06-27. A great-hitting catcher for the late 60's Giants who hit for average and power in an era when both were tough to come by. Two of his career highlights came against the Dodgers, once hitting a 430 foot homer off Sandy Koufax. On May 31, 1968, against Don Drysdale, Dietz came to the plate with the bases loaded and the Dodgers leading 3-0 in the top of the ninth with nobody out. Drysdale, trying to extend a scoreless innings streak, hit Dietz with a pitch — but home plate umpire Harry Wendelstedt claimed Dietz did not attempt to move out of the way, and did not award him the base. This led to Giants coach Herman Franks' ejection, and Drysdale settled down to record three consecutive outs.

Beaned in midseason 1971, he played with a huge gash on his head covered by a bandage the rest of the year. 1971 featured a bruising race to the finish line, as the Giants squandered an enormous eight-game lead at the end of August. Second-place Los Angeles ate up seven games of that deficit by going 11-2 from September 1 through September 14, including a sweep of the Giants in their final confrontations of the year. When San Francisco finally clinched, he grabbed a radio microphone and yelled into it, "The Dodgers can go to hell!" Ironically enough, he ended up in a Dodgers uniform the very next year, thanks to a Giants front office screwup, as the Dodgers picked him up off waivers.

With the 1972 Dodgers, he was used principally as a reserve catcher behind Chris Canizzaro. Dietz hit poorly with the Dodgers, and a broken arm incurred in or following a July 30 5-4 loss to the Braves knocked him out for the balance of the year. In 1973, the Dodgers would commence the Joe Ferguson era behind the dish, gaining ten games in the standings (but still second behind 99-win Big Red Machine Cincinnati). Dietz moved on to the Braves, where he had a very solid .295/.474/.432 final season. He died of a heart attack only last year.

Wilkin Ruan LAN b. 1978, played 2002-2003. A speedy throw-in in the trade that sent Guillermo Mota to the Dodgers, and perhaps just as importantly, got Matt Herges off the roster. Most recently seen back at Jacksonville following a .325/.357/.475 line earned at Las Vegas through July 16, a move indicating the Dodgers think of him as an organizational player. That he's no longer on the Dodgers' 40-man roster says a lot about the how the Dodgers have improved the quality of the players currently on it.

Dave Sells CAL,LAN b. 1946, played 1972-1975. Grabbed from the Giants in the minor league draft (rule 5, maybe?), Sells had one good year in 1972 as the Angels' stopper, but didn't ever repeat that level of success. He ended his career as a PTBNL for the Dodgers who pitched seven innings.

Joe Tepsic BRO b. 1923, played 1946