Lest We Forget: Davey Lopes

The stolen base maven who spent the majority of his 17-year career with the Los Angeles Dodgers passed away April 8 at the age of 80.

Lopes, who stolen 47 bases at the age of 40 (with just four caught-stealing), got a late start, joining the Dodgers at the age of 27 in 1972. He led the NL in swipes with 77 in 1975 and 67 the following year. All told, Lopes stole 557 bases for the Dodgers, As, Cubs,  and Astros.

He was the second baseman for the Dodgers’ longest-serving infield — 1973-1980 — along with Steve Garvey at first, Bill Russell at short, and Ron Cey at third. According to “The Durable Dodger Infield,” published in SABR’s 1980 Baseball Research Journal, 

All four of the current Dodger infielders came up through the L.A. farm system, playing with Spokane and/or Albuquerque. However, they never played together at any one time in the minors. Russell and Garvey came up to the Dodgers first in 1969, Bill playing in the outfield and Steve making pinch hitting appearances only. In 1970 Russell again played in the outfield and Garvey filled in at third and second. In 1971 Russell played at second, the outfield, and short, and Garvey played at third, but not full time. The next year Russell was the regular at short and Garvey played 85 games at third where he made a league-leading 26 errors. Ron Cey, who came up just briefly in 1971, played 11 games at third at the end of the 1972 season. Davey Lopes, the oldest of the quartet, was the last one up, playing 11 games at second at the tag end of 1972. That same season Garvey also played three games at first base.

Lopes served as manager for the Milwaukee Brewers from 2000-2002, fired after beginning that season with a record of 3-12. He also served as a coach for 12 seasons for the Rangers, Orioles, and Padres before getting his shot at the Brewers’ helm. After losing that gig, he returned to the Padres before moving on to the Phillies, Nationals, and Dodgers. He returned to the Nationals to end his career in uniform.

Here’s his obit from the Los Angele Times and The New York Times (via The Athletic).

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Davey Lopes