The fourth in an occasional collection of profiles on Southern California athletes who’ve flourished of their post-playing careers.
Earlier than there was Mookie Betts, there was Invoice Russell.
An impressive outfielder in his first three main league seasons, Russell moved to the infield full time in his fourth 12 months. It was a catastrophe.
“It was something I lost a lot of sleep over,” stated Russell, who led the majors with 34 errors that 12 months. “After the season, I just collapsed for a few weeks.”
Then he picked himself up and went to work on getting higher and in his second 12 months as a shortstop he led the majors with 560 assists, led the Nationwide League in defensive WAR and made the primary of three all-star groups.
He went on to play extra video games for the Dodgers than any participant in Los Angeles historical past.
It was a outstanding profession, one which hardly wanted a second act. However even after he left the stage, Russell by no means left the theater. Six months after his final at-bat — he struck out as a pinch hitter within the ultimate week of the 1986 season — Russell was again in uniform because the group’s bench coach.
He later managed within the Dodgers’ minor league system, changed Tommy Lasorda in that job on the main league degree and, for the previous 13 years, has labored within the group’s group relations division, teaching youth camps and showing at colleges, fan fests and different occasions. Since 2002 he’s additionally served as an umpire observer, partly as a result of the job will get him a very good seat behind the plate at Dodger Stadium.
If the group have been to a decide a Mr. L.A. Dodger, somebody emblematic of the group’s historical past and values since shifting to Southern California, the soft-spoken, humble Russell, a Dodger for almost half a century, must be in that dialog.
Nevertheless it was his dedication to mastering the change from the outfield to shortstop — turning into the primary distinguished participant since Honus Wagner to make the transfer — that actually modified the path of the franchise. If he hadn’t made it work, the Dodgers might by no means have had the braveness to show a minor league outfielder named Davey Lopes right into a second baseman, the place he grew to become Russell’s double-play accomplice.
If he hadn’t made it work, the Dodgers might by no means have tried pushing a scatter-armed third baseman named Steve Garvey throughout the diamond to first, opening up the place to Russell’s proper for Ron Cey. The ensuing infield of Garvey, Lopes, Russell and Cey performed collectively for 8 ½ seasons, longer than any quartet in baseball historical past, successful 4 pennants and a World Collection.
“Each one of us had different talents,” Russell stated. “It was tough at first but all of a sudden we started having success. It’s four brothers.”
From left, Ron Cey, Invoice Russell, Davey Lopes and Steve Garvey pose earlier than an old-timers sport at Dodger Stadium in 2013. The infield quartet gained 4 pennants and a World Collection collectively.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Instances)
Now Betts, a six-time Gold Glove-winning outfielder, has mastered the transfer too, serving to the Dodgers to the cusp of their twelfth division title in 13 seasons. Nonetheless if Betts perfected the shift, Russell pioneered it.
“He was a great athlete,” stated Steve Sax, Russell’s double-play accomplice his final 5 seasons. “He was maybe the fastest guy in the organization. The whole genesis of being able to move guys around was the thought they’re so athletic, why can’t they make the transition?
“And he proved that to be true.”
At 76, Russell is almost 4 many years faraway from his final of his 2,181 big-league video games, all with the Dodgers. However he’s nonetheless match, not far off his taking part in weight of 175 kilos. And whereas he was as soon as among the many quickest gamers within the majors, he now strikes at a purposeful saunter moderately than a dash. Wire-rim glasses crease his once-boyish face and the mop of straw-blond hair he as soon as tucked underneath his cap has gone white, leaving him wanting extra like a school English professor than a once-iconic athlete.
“I just enjoyed going to the park and being with the guys. They just make you feel young again,” stated Invoice Russell, who turns 77 in October.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Instances)
What hasn’t modified is his love for a sport that has been his life and for a group that has turn out to be his household.
“I just enjoyed going to the park and being with the guys. They just make you feel young again,” stated Russell, who typically wears a wry smile that means he’s in on a joke nobody else is aware of about.
“Billy’s very special,” stated Peter O’Malley, the Dodgers’ proprietor and president all through a lot of Russell’s profession.
“He was stable. Popular with the fans for sure. He deserves more credit that he’s received.”
Russell grew up a brief drive from each the Missouri and Oklahoma state strains within the type of nondescript Kansas city the place all people knew their neighbors and laborious work wasn’t a advantage, it was an expectation.
The center little one in a household of 5 kids, he attended a highschool so small it didn’t have a baseball group. So he performed basketball throughout the winter and baseball on sandlots and with American Legion groups throughout the summer season. He was the type of participant scouts as soon as described as “an athlete,” that means he was sensible sufficient and proficient sufficient to excel at any place, although the Dodgers listed him as an outfielder once they chosen him within the ninth spherical of the second novice draft in 1966.
He gave most of his $14,000 signing bonus to his mother and father, minus the cash he wanted to purchase a second-hand Chevy just like the one his greatest good friend drove.
Russell shot up the minor-league ladder, taking part in simply 221 video games earlier than making the leap from Class A Bakersfield to the majors in 1969, doubling in his first big-league at-bat.
The adjustment from the minors to the majors was far simpler than the change from the tiny mining city of Pittsburg, Kan., to the technicolor sprawl of Southern California.
“Coming to Los Angeles, you’ve got to be kidding me. A big city like this?” stated Russell, who had not often traveled greater than 30 miles from Pittsburg earlier than signing with the Dodgers. “My town was only 10,000 people so I had to grow up fast.
“I’m 20 years old, I’m in the major leagues and the minimum salary is $10,000. It wasn’t even $1,000 a month. But that was more money than I’d ever thought of. And I’m playing in Hollywood.”
After taking part in 18 seasons with the Dodgers, Invoice Russell managed the ballclub from 1996-98.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Instances)
Taking part in completely within the outfield, too, though Monty Basgall, a fellow Kansan and the previous minor league infield teacher who scouted Russell as an athlete, was already plotting the transfer to shortstop, essentially the most difficult defensive place after catcher.
“Shortstop is a difficult position,” stated Derrel Thomas, a former teammate who performed in all places however pitcher throughout a 16-year big-league profession. “A lot of people don’t give Monty Basgall any credit for what he did helping with the infielders.”
After some preparation within the educational league and the minors, Russell made his main league debut at shortstop on the ultimate day of the 1970 season, then performed 47 video games as a center infielder a 12 months later. However the transfer didn’t turn out to be everlasting till Russell’s fourth season when he changed an growing old Maury Wills.
“I wasn’t in a position to say anything, really,” stated Russell, who nonetheless speaks with a noticeable Midwestern accent.
“I had doubts about it, no question. But I figured my longevity in the big leagues, if I had [any], would come with moving to the infield.”
In actual fact, the transfer almost ended his profession. Russell made his first poor throw seven video games into the season and by the all-star break he had as nearly as many errors as extra-base hits. By then, he was additionally wanting over his shoulder, anticipating the Dodgers to place an finish to the experiment.
“I’m surprised they didn’t,” he says now. “The fans got involved too. It wasn’t a standing ovation when I was coming back to the dugout after making some errors.
“At that time people brought transistor radios to the stadium. You could hear [Vin Scully] doing the game. I could hear him say something about me at shortstop. Talk radio was just coming on board and they were on me. It was a lot of negative stuff.”
Quitting, nonetheless, wasn’t an possibility.
“Maybe I was too dumb, I don’t know,” Russell stated with a shrug. “I never thought about giving up or going back home. What am I going to do back home? I did say to myself, ‘I’m going to show these people I can play this position.’
“And I did. For 13 years.”
By means of laborious work and dedication, Russell turned his fielding from a legal responsibility into an asset and the Dodgers started to win, reaching the World Collection 4 instances over the following 9 seasons. And whereas Russell by no means gained a Gold Glove — he twice led the majors in errors — he completed within the high 5 in fielding proportion by an NL shortstop 3 times, was within the high 5 for putouts 4 instances and within the high three for assists six instances.
He was understatedly sensible, a lot in order that Cincinnati Reds’ shortstop Dave Concepcion as soon as mocked Russell’s critics saying he didn’t know who the very best fielder was “but I sure watch Bill Russell in the playoffs a lot.”
“He would never quit. Never,” O’Malley stated. “Making that transition at the major league level, he deserves extraordinary credit for that.”
Virtually misplaced within the give attention to his protection was the very fact Russell was a troublesome out, hitting higher than .271 six instances and excelling in clutch conditions.
“That went all the way back to high school,” stated Russell, who hit the shot that took his underdog group to the ultimate of the Kansas state event. “It’s just a calmness. You can’t describe it. You can’t teach it. It is something that comes over you and you get a calm feeling that you’re going to succeed.”
As a highschool infielder at Arroyo Excessive in El Monte, James Baker was given his alternative of uniform numbers. He didn’t must suppose lengthy earlier than choosing one.
“I wore No. 18,” he stated. “Because of Bill.”
It was the identical quantity he had worn in Little League and American Legion ball.
“He was Mr. Clutch,” Baker, 61, stated of Russell. “He was the dean of the infield.”
“The great thing about Bill Russell,” added Rick Zubiate, 57, Baker’s brother-in-law “is he wasn’t flashy. He made all the plays he was supposed to. Not only that, he had a presence and he commanded everybody around him to be better and expect more of themselves.”
Russell could also be little greater than a face on an previous baseball card to Era Z. However for youngsters of the ‘60s like Baker and Zubiate, he remains the archetypal Dodger, one with a Dodger Blue resume that is unassailable. Which is why Baker and Zubiate braved rush-hour traffic last week to drive to Ontario, where Russell was appearing at an event for the Dodgers’ latest minor league affiliate.
“I loved him,” Baker stated after asking Russell for an autograph.
And what’s to not love? He performed extra video games and has extra World Collection at-bats than any participant in L.A. Dodger historical past. He trails solely Willie Davis and Garvey in hits and solely Clayton Kershaw has matched Russell’s 18 seasons at Dodger Stadium.
Dodgers supervisor Tommy Lasorda, proper, hugs Invoice Russell within the dressing room after the Dodgers beat the Phillies, 6-5, in Sport 3 of the 1977 NLCS.
(Related Press)
However he additionally managed within the group’s minor league system, was the bench coach underneath Lasorda for seven years, then managed the big-league group for elements of three seasons, posting the fourth-best successful proportion by a supervisor because the franchise left Brooklyn. And he nonetheless pulls on his previous uniform — with the intense pink 18 over his Dodger blue coronary heart — a number of instances a 12 months to hitch former teammates together with Garvey, Sax and Steve Yeager in reminiscing with followers at fantasy camps and clinics.
“We have fun out there,” he stated. “People come from all over the country. [It’s] like you’re still involved in the whole scene of being a major league player.”
If the pace and energy of Willie Mays is synonymous with the San Francisco Giants and the fashion and beauty of Ted Williams is emblematic of the Boston Crimson Sox, Russell’s blue-collar work ethic and country-boy humility is the embodiment of the Dodgers since they moved to Southern California.
“Quintessential Dodger?” O’Malley stated. “Absolutely right. From start to end, he deserves the credit. He was respected and liked by everybody.”
Russell stood out, O’Malley stated, partly as a result of he blended in.
“He was quiet,” he stated. “But keen sense of humor. If he wanted to make a point or be heard, he could nail it with a comment. It was pretty darn funny.”
But Russell’s silent excellence typically went unappreciated. A .263 lifetime hitter who had fewer house runs in his profession than Shohei Ohtani has this 12 months alone, he acquired simply three Corridor of Fame votes the one time his identify appeared on the poll. For a time, even his loyalty to the Dodgers went unrequited; for years after his final sport as supervisor Russell felt unwelcome at Dodger Stadium, the results of a poisonous stew of bruised egos, Machiavellian maneuvering and company mismanagement.
It started halfway by way of the 1996 season when Lasorda, the supervisor who had groomed Russell within the minors then gained with him within the majors, had a coronary heart assault. A month later Lasorda stepped down and Russell took over on an interim foundation, guiding the Dodgers to a playoff berth.
That earned him the job full time but it surely didn’t earn him unquestioned help all through the group. The low-key Russell was a placing distinction to the colourful and bombastic Lasorda, extra Mr. Rogers than Bobby Knight.
“He’s named the manager following Tommy. That’s not easy,” O’Malley stated. “And he did it in his own way.
Critics who had preferred hitting coach Reggie Smith, Mets manager Bobby Valentine or triple A manager Mike Scioscia — all former Lasorda pupils — over Russell quietly worked to undermine him and 74 games into his second full season as manager, Russell was fired by the team’s new overlords at Fox, who also sacked general manager Fred Claire, replacing him with Lasorda.
By then a major rift had developed between Russell and his former manager, who privately questioned Russell’s performance to management and publicly questioned his qualifications to manage. As a result many pointed fingers for the firings at Lasorda, who strongly denied being involved.
Bill Russell observed umpires on behalf of MLB during Sunday’s Dodgers-Giants game at Dodger Stadium.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Either way, the relationship was irrevocably broken.
Russell left with a .537 winning percentage over parts of three seasons, a better mark — albeit over a far shorter span — than the one that took Lasorda to the Hall of Fame. After firing Russell, the Dodgers never made the playoffs under Fox, with the seven-season postseason drought matching the team’s longest since the late 1960s-early 1970s.
The hard feelings have softened some with the passing of both time and Lasorda, who died in 2021. (Russell, pointedly, was not invited to the funeral; Scioscia, Valentine, Garvey and Cey were.)
“I knew him better than anybody. I was like his son,” Russell stated earlier this month, sitting at a patio desk close to the neat two-bedroom Valencia home the place he’s lived for 20 years.
“I don’t want to bad mouth him but he wanted to keep managing. He just couldn’t accept not being there. That’s just the way it was.”
The slight wounded Russell, who took off his Dodger uniform for what he thought could be the ultimate time. O’Malley, who was within the room when Bob Graziano, the previous banker Fox put accountable for the group, fired the supervisor, invited Russell again to the stadium later that season. However the place the place he had grown from a boy to man wasn’t the identical.
So he went on to work as an advisor with a group in Taiwan, spent a season as bench coach in Tampa Bay and managed within the minors for each the Rays and Giants.
None of it felt comfy.
“I was in the Dodger organization 30 years,” he stated. “To go somewhere else, it wasn’t right.”
After managing the Shreveport Swamp Dragons to a last-place end within the Texas League in 2001, he returned to Southern California — and Dodger Stadium — as an umpire observer for Main League Baseball, a job that lets him sit behind the plate and watch video games.
As if he might think about doing anything.
“He’s brought a different perspective because he played at the highest level and he managed,” stated Matt McKendry, MLB’s vice-president of umpire operations. “But, you know, Bill loves being at the ballpark and if he wasn’t doing what he’s doing for us, I think he’d be at Dodger Stadium almost every night anyway.”
As a result of for Russell it’s by no means been a stadium. It’s house.
