Athlete (1943-44)( 1947-48) Alvin Dark

[Pirogue]

Understatement

I am a HUGE Alvin Dark Fan...
I will be bringing some OOOOOLD baseball cards to the field Saturday.

[NewsCopy]

A DARK DAY: But a good day, with UL honoring one of the top athletes in the university's history. Al Dark, who played on the 1943 then-SLI football squad that finished undefeated and won the Oil Bowl before an award-filled professional baseball career, was honored between the first and second quarters Saturday. The 84-year-old Dark, now living in North Carolina, was presented with a framed baseball jersey by UL baseball coach Tony Robichaux. The rest of the story

[Turbine]

Here is a single picture of:

Coach Robichaux retiring MLB great Alvin Darks UL baseball jersey #1

Game day General, John Dugas holding the framed jersey.

Alvin Dark doing the world famous "double L" arm sign, which of course means "ULL" Rocks.

[NewsCopy]

Record: 85-69 (3rd, National League) Ballpark: Candlestick Park Manager: Alvin Dark All-Stars (5): Ed Bailey, Orlando Cepeda, Willie Mays, Mike McCormick, Stu Miller Awards: NL Gold Glove – Willie Mays The ’61 Giants had a lot of numbers, star power, and promise. They improved from the previous season, but still fell short of the ultimate prize. The 1961 Opening Day Lineup: Felipe Alou LF Harvey Kuenn 3B Willie Mays CF Willie McCovey 1B Orlando Cepeda RF Tom Haller C Chuck Hiller 2B Eddie Bressoud SS Sam Jones P New manager Alvin Dark gave some of the kids a chance to play early, and got the ball rolling on a number of changes. Original San Francisco Giants catcher Bob Schmidt was packaged with last year’s bust, Don Blasingame, to the Cincinnati Reds in late April in exchange for All-Star Ed Bailey, who would backstop the team for most of the season. Kuenn may have played his first game as a Giant at third base, but he spent most of 1961 in the outfield alongside Mays, Cepeda, and Felipe Alou. Hiller and Bressoud both started the season as the everyday middle infielders, but both eventually gave way to Joey Amalfitano and Jose Pagan, respectively. The end result of this roster juggling was a potent offense that ranked first in the NL in runs scored and second in home runs hit. Batting in front of McCovey and Cepeda, Mays had a terrific season (.308/40/123) in which he led the league in runs scored. But he was outdone in ’61 by a monster year from the 23-year old Cepeda (.311/46/142), who led the league in home runs and RBIs but finished runner-up to Frank Robinson (.323/37/124) for the MVP award. Perhaps the most amazing aspect of Cepeda’s success was that he put up his offensive number without having a consistent fielding position – with McCovey playing first and the outfield crowded with Mays, Alou, and Kuenn, Cepeda split time evenly between first base (his natural position) and the outfield. The rest of the story

[NewsCopy]

A look at each of the managers in San Francisco and Oakland history GIANTS MANAGERS 1. Dusty Baker: Lasted longer (10 years) than any other S.F. manager, first in NL to win three manager-of-year awards, rode Barry Bonds bandwagon, bullpen denied him 2002 World Series title, exited after run-in with ownership. 2. Roger Craig: The Humm Baby took over 100-loss team, helped turn around franchise, faced A's in '89 Series, had no chance. 3. Alvin Dark: Best winning percentage at .569, led first S.F. World Series team ('62) and would have won it all if Willie McCovey's Game 7 liner wasn't caught. . . . A'S MANAGERS 1. Tony La Russa: Won two manager-of-year awards with A's, only Oakland manager in three World Series, winning one, probably should have won at least one more. 2. Dick Williams: Won consecutive World Series ('72, '73) and then resigned, fed up with owner Charlie Finley's meddling. 3. Billy Martin: Took over 108-loss team, got it to playoffs in two years, then self-destructed. 4. Alvin Dark: Inherited Swingin' A's from Williams and won '74 World Series, but lost Catfish Hunter in '75 as well as ALCS. . . . The rest of the rankings

[NewsCopy]

Well, it's a game, but alas it's also a business. And nowhere is the business of baseball more wearying than in the challenge it presents of managing men, in a stressful, hyper-competitive environment, for long hot months on end, together nearly all day, every day. A few managers throughout history have proven masters of this more-magic-than-science assignment, but for most it's understandably a hard task.

A few fail at it in excruciating fashion, egregiously antagonizing their players and losing their respect. Here a writer adroitly deploys anecdotes to illustrate the struggles of Alvin Dark in his 1961-64 managerial stint with the San Francisco Giants, revealing the far-less-than-idyllic atmosphere in which emerged the first African-American team captain in major league history:

Dark’s moods were mercurial, but predictable enough: in victory, magnanimity; in defeat, black rage. In this he was not unique. The night he ripped away his finger throwing a stool in the clubhouse, Ed Bailey, who recently had come to the Giants from the Cincinnati club managed by Fred Hutchinson, seemed singularly unaffected by the episode. “Dark throws stools,” he shrugged. “Hutch throws rooms.” Dark did in truth seem committed to fail-safe. One story told of a time during his playing days when following an especially painful defeat Dark sat before his locker, methodically shredding a discarded uniform to tatters. “Some day,” said Herman Franks, “Alvin’ll get so mad he’ll tear up his own uniform.” And there was the time in 1963 when Dark took José Pagan to one side after a game, handed him a $50 bill, and said, “Take the boys to supper,” meaning the Latin players on the Giant team. A few days later, following a loss to St. Louis, Dark called Pagan aside once more. “José,” he said, “I’m fining you for not hustling.” “How much?” Pagan asked. “Fifty dollars,” Dark told him. From the time in his first season as manager when he removed Marichal from the game in which he had a three-run lead and had already struck out twelve Dodgers, Dark had impressed his players as overreactive. His problem here was compounded by his rules for player conduct and his clubhouse lectures, both of them sprinkled with biblical admonitions which, including as they did his own continuing breach of the Third Commandment, did little to improve his authority. By the beginning of the 1964 season, Dark’s level of communication with the players was at perigee. And it was in this setting that he named Willie Mays to be captain of the Giants, as he himself had been captain of the Giants under Durocher in New York. —Charles Einstein

More 24 karat diamond writing gems

[Turbine]

Should Alvin Dark be in the MLB Hall of Fame?

Baseball Fever is running a poll on the subject.

LINK

[RaginFan2]

Should Alvin Dark be in the MLB Hall of Fame?

Baseball Fever is running a poll on the subject.

LINK

You mean he's NOT? WTF. Of course he deserves to be in.

[Boomer]

What a game in NO that summer after the NY vs Clev. Series the year before ---I was in the stands yelling for my idol George Strickland of the Indians who I had met a couple of times---For got who won the game but a thrill for a 10 year old!!!!! Pelican Stadium's maybe best show ever as far as the 2 top ranked teams in baseball to play there!!!!

[NewsCopy]

  Beginning his major league baseball playing career with the Boston Braves in 1946, and ending it with the Milwaukee Braves in 1960, Alvin Dark was one of the top shortstops in the post-World War II era.

There are baseball experts who think Dark might be in the Hall of Fame had he not had to delay his debut in the big leagues until after completing his military service in World War II.

Alvin attended LSU in 1942 and was outstanding in football as well as baseball. He transferred through the V-12 program to the University of Louisiana where in 1943, Dark quarterbacked an undefeated team which won the Oil Bowl. The Philadelphia Eagles drafted him, but after serving in Asia during the war, he chose baseball.

The rest of the story

Real Sports Heroes with Ross Porter

[NewsCopy]

  EASLEY — Alvin Dark was in five Worlds Series as a player or manager, with his career spanning from 1946 to 1978. Part one of our interview was in the October 30, Easley Progress. When we spoke then, we also asked him about all the baseball greats he played with.

Easley Progress: You played with so many great players. Let’s talk about some of them.

The rest of the interview

Joe DiMaggio and Alvin Dark

[Turbine]

5 World Series the guy belongs in the Hall of Fame.