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.

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"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 1962 and 1980. The 1959 win followed a seventh-place finish, a record comeback. (TG)

FROM THE BASEBALL CHRONOLOGY » February 7, 1958: The Dodgers officially become the Los Angeles Dodgers, Inc. » April 15, 1958: The San Francisco Giants defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers in the first ML game played at Seals Stadium, with Ruben Gomez pitching an 8-0 shutout. Giants SS Daryl Spencer hits the first HR. The Giants set an attendance record for Seals Stadium by drawing 23,192 fans. » October 8, 1959: The Los Angeles Dodgers win 9-3 to take the series in Chicago, again behind Sherry in relief of Johnny Podres. The Dodgers have an 8-0 lead after 4 innings and hold on despite Ted Kluszewski's 3-run HR. The round-tripper gives the slugger a new 6-game RBI record of 10. Chuck Essegian hits his 2nd pinch HR to establish a new record, later equalled by Bernie Carbo of the Red Sox in 1975. Each Dodger receives a record $11,231 winning share. The White Sox get a record $7,275 for losing. » May 10, 1966: The Tigers purchase P Johnny Podres from the Los Angeles Dodgers. » December 3, 1980: Don Sutton, 35, the winningest pitcher in Los Angeles Dodgers' history, signs a 4-year contract with the Houston Astros. Sutton was 13-5 in 1980 with a league-leading 2.21 ERA. » May 12, 1997: Los Angeles Dodgers owner Peter O'Malley confirms that he wants to sell his team to the conglomerate controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch. He has asked Major League Baseball to approve the negotiations. » May 22, 1997: San Diego P Joey Hamilton homers and Tony Gwynn has three hits off Hideo Nomo as the San Diego Padres top the Dodgers, 4-1. It is the Pads' seventh straight win over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Gwynn, whose wife, Alicia, is being sued by Nomo, goes 3-for-4 to raise his average to .387. Nomo sued Alicia Gwynn last week in Los Angeles Superior Court, claiming the unauthorized use of his name and picture in a jigsaw puzzle. » June 18, 1997: Billy Ashley, Raul Mondesi and Todd Zeile each hit two-run homers to lead the Los Angeles Dodgers, 7–5, over the Anaheim Angels. When Shigetoshi Hasegawa relieves in the sixth inning, Dodger starter Hideo Nomo is still in the game, the first major league matchup of pitchers from Japan. » March 19, 1998: Rupert Murdoch purchases the Los Angeles Dodgers from Peter O'Malley for a reported $311 million, the highest price ever paid for a US sports franchise. » July 1, 2000: On Canada's 133rd birthday, Florida's Ryan Dempster and Montreal's Mike Johnson hook up in a rare matchup of Canadian starters. Dempster comes out on top as the Marlins defeat the Expos by a score of 6–5. Johnson hails from Edmonton, Alberta, while Dempster is a native of Sechelt, British Columbia. Theirs is the first matchup of Canadian-born starters since last September when Dempster took on Eric Gagne of the Los Angeles Dodgers. » June 12, 2001: Gary Sheffield of the Los Angeles Dodgers became the first player in major-league history to win three 1-0 games in a season with a home run when he solos to beat the Atlanta Braves, 1-0. He also supplied the only scoring by homering on April two versus Milwaukee and on May seven against Florida. » April 6, 2002: Highly touted Japanese pitcher Kazuhisa Ishii makes his ML debut and pitches five 1/3 scoreless innings, striking out 10, in LA's 9–2 win over the Rockies. Brian Jordan backs Ishii with a grand slam to give the loss to Jason Jennings. Relief pitcher Jesse Orosco of the Los Angeles Dodgers scores just the third run of his 4–decade major–league career. He last scored while playing for the Mets on July 22, 1986. » April 30, 2002: Mike Piazza hits two home runs and drives home six as the Mets defeat the Diamondbacks, 10–1. Al Leiter gets the victory for NY and in doing so becomes the first pitcher to have defeated all 30 ML teams. Both Randy Johnson of the Diamondbacks and Kevin Brown of the Los Angeles Dodgers have beaten 29 teams, but Johnson needs a win against his own team, the D'Backs, for 30. » August 28, 2002: Odalis Perez of the Los Angeles Dodgers hits a solo homer, off Arizona's Rick Helling, for the only run of the game. He is the first pitcher (and the 12th ever) since Bob Welch in 1983 to hit a solo homer for the only run.