1958 – Present
When Dodger fans stopped dodging the Brooklyn trolleys that gave the team its name and started dodging traffic on the notorious Los Angeles freeways (eventually starting a local tradition of leaving the ballpark early to beat the traffic) America entered a new era.
“Dem Bums” had gone Hollywood. Leaving behind revered Ebbets Field, considered too small by owner Walter O’Malley, they wound up in the stadium considered by many the best ever built and became the most successful sports franchise ever fielded, setting the ML single-season attendance record several times. They also became known for a succession of great pitching staffs starting with Koufax and Drysdale; bringing back the running game with Maury Wills; and the long tenures of their managers, Walter Alston and Tommy Lasorda. Los Angeles continued the Brooklyn tradition of appearing in every NL playoff, winning in 1959 and losing in 1962and 1980. The 1959 win followed a seventh-place finish, a record comeback.
