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

Johnny Allen BRO b. 1905, played 1941-1943, All-Star: 1938, d. 1959-03-29. Remarkable pitcher who refused to lose, as they say; he had a 15-1 season with Cleveland in 1937 that set a mark for winning percentage in the AL. With the Dodgers in the twilight of his career, used mainly as a rotation pitcher who could also pitch in relief, a role that doesn't exist today.

Dick Cox BRO b. 1897, played 1925-1926, d. 1966-06-01

John DeSilva LAN b. 1967, played 1993

Frank Lamanske BRO b. 1906, played 1935, d. 1971-08-04

Jose Lima LAN b. 1972, played 2004, All-Star: 1999. The man who broke the Dodgers' postseason winless streak in impressive fashion with his complete game shutout of the Cards in Game 3 of the 2004 NLDS.

And then there's his pornstar wife.

Johnny Podres LAN,BRO b. 1932, played 1953-1955, 1957-1966, All-Star: 1958, 1960, 1962. 23 when the southpaw pitched the Dodgers to their first and only Brooklyn title in Game 7 of the 1955 World Series, he tends to get overlooked in Dodger lore because of players like Don Newcombe, and later, Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale; he owns a 4-1 record in the World Series, four of those starts (and three of the wins) coming against the Yankees. Still in the top ten of the Dodgers recordbook in several categories, including wins (136, 9th), losses (104, 10th), games (366, 10th), starts (310, 8th), strikeouts (1,331, 7th), hits allowed (2,009, 9th), shutouts (23, tied with Bob Welch for 10th); also holds the franchise consecutive strikeout record when he fanned eight straight Phillies starting in the fourth inning of a July 2, 1962 doubleheader that the Dodgers won 5-1. In 1961, he led the league in winning percentage with an 18-5 record (.783). He retired in 1968 but returned after a stint with the Tigers to play for Padres in 1969; his 5-6 record, while unimpressive on its face, was among the higher winning percentages on that team's maiden season. After he retired for reals, he was the Phillies' pitching coach for a time.

Nap Rucker BRO b. 1884, played 1907-1916, d. 1970-12-19. Brooklyn's ace in a forgettable decade; once the life on his fastball started to fade in his 1913 season, he developed a pitch that sounds remarkably like an eephus pitch or possibly a knuckleball. In retirement, he became a scout with the Dodgers and signed players such as Hall of Famers Dazzy Vance and Al Lopez, and Hugh Casey. A segregationist Democrat, once the squeeze of the Depression hit and the Dodgers released him from his scouting duties in 1934, he became mayor of his hometown of Roswell, Georgia — where he owned a mansion, the local wheat mill, a piece of the local bank, two cotton plantations, and umpired sandlot baseball besides.

Frank Skaff BRO b. 1910, played 1935, d. 1988-04-12

Rusty Torres CAL b. 1948, played 1976-1977. Played in three of the four forfeit games played in the 1970's, perhaps a record:

• The final Washington Senators game (fans poured onto the field with two out on this day in 1971, forfeiting the game; umpires ruled the game counted for stats, but no winning pitcher or losing pitcher was declared, despite a 7-5 victory for the Senators).
• Ten-cent beer night (June 4, 1972), an idiotic promotion by the Indians that also involved the now Texas Rangers that resulted in 25,134 rioting fans when the Indians tied the game in the bottom of the ninth.
• Now in a White Sox uniform, he was on the field on July 12, 1979 for Disco Demolition Night in which Chicago DJ Steve Dahl tried to retaliate at WDAI, who had fired him and gone to an all-disco format. The retaliation took the form of asking people to bring unwanted disco records to the park at the very cheap ticket price of 98 cents. Mayhem resulted when people started throwing records onto the field, and got worse when Dahl came out to center field and blew up more records. This left a huge hole in the playing field, and thousands of "fans" ran onto the field, eventually requiring police in riot gear to disburse the crowd.