1972 Los Angeles Dodgers season explained

Los Angeles Dodgers
Season:	1972
League:	National League
Division:	West
Ballpark:	Dodger Stadium
City:	Los Angeles
Owners:	Walter O'Malley, James Mulvey
President:	Peter O'Malley
General Managers:	Al Campanis
Managers:	Walter Alston
Television:	KTTV (11)
Radio:	KFI Vin Scully, Jerry Doggett KWKW Jose Garcia, Jaime Jarrín

The 1972 Los Angeles Dodgers finished the season 85–70, good for a tie for second place with the Astros in the National League West. This was the first season where the players' last names appeared on the back of the uniforms.

Offseason

• October 21: Tommy Hutton was traded by the Dodgers to the Philadelphia Phillies for Larry Hisle.^[1]
• October 22, 1971: Bobby Darwin was traded by the Dodgers to the Minnesota Twins for Paul Powell.^[2]
• October 24, 1971: Maury Wills was released by the Dodgers.^[3]
• December 2, 1971: Doyle Alexander, Bob O'Brien, Sergio Robles and Royle Stillman were traded by the Dodgers to the Baltimore Orioles for Frank Robinson and Pete Richert.^[4]
• December 2, 1971: Dick Allen was traded by the Dodgers to the Chicago White Sox for Tommy John and Steve Huntz.^[5]
• December 2, 1971: Tom Haller was traded by the Dodgers to the Detroit Tigers for a player to be named later and cash. The Tigers completed the deal by sending Bernie Beckman (minors) to the Dodgers on March 31, 1972.^[6]
• December 17, 1971: Chris Cannizzaro was claimed off waivers by the Dodgers from the Chicago Cubs.^[7]
• March 27, 1972: Bill Sudakis was claimed off waivers from the Dodgers by the New York Mets.^[8]

Regular season

Opening Day lineup

Opening Day starters

Name	Position
	Shortstop
	First baseman
	Center fielder
	Right fielder
	Second baseman
	Left fielder
	Catcher
	Third baseman
	Starting pitcher

Notable transactions

• April 14, 1972: Dick Dietz was claimed off waivers by the Dodgers from the San Francisco Giants.^[9]

Roster

1972 Los Angeles Dodgers
Roster
Pitchers		CatchersInfielders		Outfielders		ManagerCoaches

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C		73	200	48	.240	2	18
1B		130	427	119	.279	4	59
2B		60	243	63	.259	0	12
SS		129	434	118	.272	4	34
3B		96	294	79	.269	9	30
LF		118	371	120	.323	5	48
CF		149	615	178	.289	19	79
RF		103	342	86	.251	19	59

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
	119	391	107	.274	3	32
	105	383	122	.319	5	37
	96	243	61	.251	8	27
	70	169	34	.201	5	24
	51	151	29	.192	2	11
	53	144	24	.167	4	16
	71	132	17	.129	0	4
	35	106	29	.274	4	15
	27	56	9	.161	1	6
	11	47	12	.255	1	6
	11	42	9	.214	0	1
	11	37	10	.270	1	3
	8	24	7	.292	1	5
	9	23	3	.130	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
	33	272.2	19	9	2.08	207
	33	252.0	20	11	2.64	100
	31	202.2	9	9	2.98	117
	29	186.2	11	5	2.89	117
	26	169.1	6	16	3.67	101

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
	51	8	7	17	1.26	69
	37	2	3	6	2.25	38
	33	5	5	5	4.06	41
	19	1	2	0	3.26	25
	16	0	1	1	4.62	9
	9	2	0	0	2.70	5
	5	0	0	0	8.59	4
	2	0	0	0	3.38	4

Awards and honors

• NL Player of the Month
  • Don Sutton (April 1972)

All-Stars

• 1972 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
  • Don Sutton reserve
• Gold Glove Awards
  • Wes Parker
  • Willie Davis

Farm system

Teams in BOLD won League Championships

1972 Major League Baseball draft

See main article: 1972 Major League Baseball draft. This was the eighth year of a Major League Baseball Draft. The Dodgers drafted 42 players in the June draft and eight in the January draft.

This was a weak draft class whose most notable player was Dennis Lewallyn, a pitcher who played for the Dodgers and two other teams from 1975 to 1981 with a 4–4 record and 4.48 ERA. The top draft pick was shortstop John Harbin from Newberry College who played in only 83 games in the Dodgers farm system in 1972 and was quickly out of baseball.

References

• Baseball-Reference season page
• Baseball Almanac season page

External links

• 1972 Los Angeles Dodgers uniform
• Los Angeles Dodgers official web site

Notes and References

1. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/huttoto01.shtml Tommy Hutton
2. https://www.baseball-reference.com/d/darwibo01.shtml Bobby Darwin
3. https://www.baseball-reference.com/w/willsma01.shtml Maury Wills
4. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/a/alexado01.shtml Doyle Alexander
5. https://www.baseball-reference.com/a/allendi01.shtml Dick Allen
6. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/halleto01.shtml Tom Haller
7. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/cannich01.shtml Chris Cannizzaro
8. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/sudakbi01.shtml Bill Sudakis
9. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/dietzdi01.shtml Dick Dietz
10. https://www.baseball-reference.com/draft/?query_type=franch_year&team_ID=LAD&year_ID=1972&draft_type=janreg& 19721 Los Angeles Dodgers Picks in the MLB January Draft-Regular Phase
11. https://www.baseball-reference.com/draft/?query_type=franch_year&team_ID=LAD&year_ID=1972&draft_type=jansec& 1972 Los Angeles Dodgers Picks in the MLB January Draft-Secondary Phase
12. https://www.baseball-reference.com/draft/?query_type=franch_year&team_ID=LAD&year_ID=1972&draft_type=junreg& 1972 Los Angeles Dodgers Picks in the MLB June Amateur Draft
13. https://www.baseball-reference.com/draft/?query_type=franch_year&team_ID=LAD&year_ID=1972&draft_type=junsec& 1972 Los Angeles Dodgers Picks in the MLB June Draft-Secondary Phase