Dodgers Dugout: The 25 greatest Dodgers of all time, No. 19: Orel Hershiser

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell as we continue the top-25 countdown.

Readers voted in droves, submitting 15,212 ballots by email, Twitter and Facebook. Voters were asked for their top 10 Dodgers in order from 1 to 10, with first place receiving 12 points, second place nine points, third place eight, all the way down to one point for 10th place.

The last time we did this was in 2018, and there were some changes in the rankings.

So, without further ado:

The 25 greatest Dodgers, No. 19: OREL HERSHISHER (10,126 points)
2018 rank: 11th

Orel Hershiser finished the 1988 season by pitching 59 consecutive scoreless innings over seven starts, including 10 innings of shutout ball in his final game of the season. The streak included five consecutive shutouts and, during the seven starts that encompassed the streak, Hershiser made 757 pitches, or 108 pitches per start.

It would never happen today. Sure, some great pitcher may break the streak, but not in seven starts. With today’s focus on pitch counts and not facing a batter three times in a game, it would take about 10 starts to do it.

Hershiser broke the record of another great Dodger, Don Drysdale, who was a Dodgers broadcaster that season.

“I really didn’t want to break it,” Hershiser said after the game. “I wanted to stop at 58. I wanted me and Don to be together at the top.” But Drysdale, on hand to see his record broken, would have none of that. “I’d have kicked him right in the rear if I had known that. ... I’d have told him to get his buns out there and get them,” the late Dodgers great said.

“I caught 16 pitchers who won the Cy Young Award, and I never caught anyone who pitched like him that year,” Dodgers catcher Rick Dempsey said. “We knew when he was pitching that the game was over.”

Here is a quick look at the shutouts.

The first shutout in the streak was 3–0 over the Atlanta Braves on Sept. 5. The game was notable for the fact Hershiser struck out two-time league MVP Dale Murphy four times, the only time in Murphy’s 2,180-game career in which he struck out four times in a game against the same pitcher.

On Sept. 10, Hershiser beat the Cincinnati Reds 5–0, not only getting his second consecutive shutout but also picking up his 20th victory.

On Sept. 14, the Braves got another chance at him but fared no better, losing 1–0.

On Sept. 19, it was another 1–0 win, this time against Houston.

“One of the things that helped me get the streak was that the offense wasn’t scoring many runs,” Hershiser said in a 2013 interview. “When your team is winning big, you trade outs for runs a lot, but early in the streak, I couldn’t.”

On Sept. 23, it looked like the streak would end.

In the third inning against San Francisco, Hershiser got into a little trouble. Jose Uribe led off with a single and moved to second on Atlee Hammaker’s infield hit. Brett Butler grounded to second, but the Dodgers were unable to turn the double play, putting runners on first and third with one out.

Ernest Riles came to the plate and hit a grounder to second. Steve Sax fed Alfredo Griffin to force Butler at second, but the throw to first was too late and the run scored.

The streak was over at 42 innings.

Except it wasn’t.

First-base umpire Paul Runge ruled that Butler had drifted too far right of the base on his slide and interfered with Griffin’s throw. He called Riles out — so no run scored, the inning was over and the streak continued.

“For something like this to happen,” Hershiser said, “you have to catch one break.”

Even now, Butler says Runge blew the call. “That was the only time in 17 years that that’s ever happened to me,” Butler said. “I’d done it the same way for all those years.”

The play brought to mind a similar play that kept Drysdale’s streak alive. With it at 45 innings in 1968, Drysdale faced a bases-loaded situation against the Giants. Dick Dietz was the batter and was hit by a Drysdale fastball, seemingly forcing in a run and ending the streak.

However, plate umpire Harry Wendelstedt ruled that Dietz had not tried to avoid the pitch. He was ordered back to the plate, and Drysdale retired him on a fly ball to preserve the streak.

With the streak at 49 innings, Hershiser made his final start of the season against the San Diego Padres. It looked like the best he could do was tie Drysdale, unless by some miracle the game went into extra innings tied at 0–0. But what were the odds of that happening?

Pretty good, actually.

Hershiser shut out the Padres for nine innings to tie the record, but the Dodgers failed to score against Andy Hawkins, sending the game to extra innings. One problem, though. Hershiser did not want to go out for the 10th inning. He wanted to go into the record books tied with Drysdale.

“I loved it because he had so much respect for Don Drysdale,” manager Tommy Lasorda said. “That was the thing he was concerned with. He just needed someone to push him a little bit. I told him, ‘Get out there and break it.’”

Hershiser pitched a scoreless 10th to break the record.

“I felt wonderful for Hershiser,” Dodgers announcer Vin Scully said. “And I thought we were blessed. I mean, what a set of circumstances to have the man whose record is broken part of the same group with the man who broke it. That was, to me, kind of a special moment.”

Amazingly, opponents went 0 for 31 with runners in scoring position and 0 for 9 with runners on third during Hershiser’s streak.

Oh, and Hershiser also won the NL Cy Young and was named the NLCS and World Series MVPs in 1988. Pretty good year.

But the streak and the awards don’t mean as much to Hershiser as winning the World Series.

“You can break a record or win a Cy Young and go home and celebrate with your wife and friends,” Hershiser said in 1988, “but after it’s over, there’s only a few people that really care about it. But if you win a team thing, you’ve got 24 guys and all their families, all their friends, a whole city celebrating.”

By the way, Hershiser opened the postseason by pitching eight scoreless innings against the New York Mets in Game 1 of the NLCS. So, even though playoff games don’t count officially, in reality it was a 67-inning shutout streak.

Hershiser’s nickname was Bulldog, given to him by Lasorda in 1984.

“I saw him pitch and I thought he didn’t have much inside here,” Lasorda, pointing to his heart, said in 2008. “He was a negative pitcher. Every ball he threw he threw with a negative attitude. And then I had that famous one-on-one meeting with him. I told him he was scared and that I didn’t like his name. ... So, I said ‘You pitched yesterday like a scared dog. So, from now on your name is Bulldog. I’m going to call you Bulldog and you’ll be a Bulldog and you’ll act like a Bulldog.’ And that’s what happened. He acted like a Bulldog.”

And that’s how a Bulldog ended up the 19th-greatest Dodger of all time.

Previously

No. 20 Mike Piazza

No. 21: Don Newcombe

No. 22: Mookie Betts

No. 23 Dazzy Vance

No. 24: Kirk Gibson

No. 25: Eric Gagné

And finally

Orel Hershiser sets the consecutive scoreless-innings record. Watch and listen here.