1981 World Series Autograph Requests

Baseball Almanac Recap

This is a work In Progress of one of my earliest baseball memories the 1981 World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees. I'd like to thank Ryan Carey who has agreed to contribute to this theme. His experience in this theme is detailed below, and he'll be contributing more in the weeks to come. My Memories Of The Series The Los Angeles Dodgers lost the first two games, then swept the last four games of the series (Something the Yankees did to the Dodgers in the 1978 World Series, and would end up doing to the Atalanta Braves in the 1996 World Series). Dave Winfield's performance in the series led George Steinbrenner the Yankees owner to dub him "Mr. May" In game 5 of the series Goose Gossage hit Ron Cey in the head, and Cey would come back in the clinching game 6 to go 2-3 with 1 run scored and 1 run driven in on his way to being named Co-MVP of the Series.

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to contribute to your outstanding site with a brief discussion of the 1981 World Series Collecting Theme that we are both working on.

One of the really neat things about autograph collecting is that you can tailor your collecting efforts to very specific items that have particular relevance to you. A team that will always have a lasting place in my memory is the 1981 Dodgers, and it is for that reason that I have decided to focus a good deal of my collecting efforts on obtaining a signature from every player and coach that was on the active roster during that season. Growing up in the suburbs of Los Angeles it was only natural for me to become a Dodger fan at a young age. In 1981 I was 8 years old and was only really starting to become concerned with the winning and losing of my favorite team, but soon I began to live and die with their daily results. I’m not sure I had any understanding of the nature of the playoff structure and what was involved in actually making it to the World Series….but I do vividly remember that every team that the Dodgers faced in that years playoffs took an immediate lead in the series. First it was the Astros, and then the ill-fated Expos and finally the Yankees. I may have only been 8 years old, but I could do the math….with a 2 game lead in the Series the Yankees would only need two more victories to secure their 74th Series title….while my beloved Boys in Blue would need 4 more. Not good odds. Well I won’t bore you with the details, as we all know how it ended up. The Dodgers came back to win 4 straight and win the Series in 6 games….clinching the title with a 9-2 victory in Yankee Stadium. Two lasting memories from that Series that will stay with me for the rest of my life are Ron Cey getting beaned by Goose Gossage and Ken Landreaux catching the final out in centerfield to clinch the title.

That team and the excitement and happiness that they created are a big reason that I became a diehard baseball fan. I guess when I look back on it after 25 years, all of the great memories that I have of baseball can be traced back to that team….because without that team, who knows, maybe my interest in the game would never have been sparked. So when I first heard about collecting autographs through the mail I knew I was going to try to get the guys from that team. I started on this project two and a half years ago. I am trying to obtain the signatures through the mail and in-person as much as possible, and am trying to avoid buying the autographs as much as I can (although in some instances I may not have a choice). To date I have received autographs from 21 of the 36 players that were on the active roster that year, as well as 4 members of the coaching staff. Please feel free to contact me at coachsmallhead@yahoo.com should you have any questions or simply want to discuss this theme. One last item of note; I have not been working on the 1981 Yankees yet, but Alex has inspired me and I will soon be starting on that aspect of the 1981 World Series.

Listed below are the players for both the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Yankees from the 1981 World Series Matchup between the two teams.

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