Jim Murray, May 16, 1961

May 16, 1961: A batter who has only to tell a real curve from a slider has an easy job compared to the general manager who has to straighten out the curve balls thrown at him by the other front offices. The Dodger's Buzzi Bavasi, for instance, has to hit the dirt from so many brush-back pitches thrown at him by his colleagues that he has the reputation of being a one-trade-a-year man, the front office equivalent of a Luke Appling who fouls off two-dozen pitches waiting for the right one.

Jim Murray, May 14, 1961

May 14, 1961: Rinold George Duren, is the victim -- or the beneficiary, if you want to look at it that way -- of the most monumental case of nearsightedness in the annals of sport, if not in the annals of optometry. The movies' Mr. Magoo, who frequently confuses the Sahara Desert with Malibu Beach or a lion with a housecat, is a hawkeye by comparison.

From the Stacks -- 'The Long Season'

I haven’t read a baseball book since my mother gave away my trading cards of the Philadelphia Athletics and the Boston Braves. No, I’m not quite that old. I got them from a neighbor lady who was surreptitiously cleaning out her son’s room and I imagine they are still circulating on EBay.  On Jim Murray’s recommendation, I got a copy of Jim Brosnan’s 1960 baseball diary “The Long Season” from the library, and discovered that “Season” is as unlike the heroic sports biographies of my youth (“as told to Bob Considine”)  as a glossy travel book is to a group of airline pilots critiquing the world’s worst airports.

Jim Murray, April 17, 1961

April 17, 1961: Jim Murray pulls together a column of various items, including this line about Vin Scully, who is “the only redheaded broadcaster I know who makes a ball game sound like a ball game and not the end of the world.”

Jim Murray, April 16, 1961

April 16, 1961: Jim Murray has a lighthearted profile of Dick Stuart, who played briefly – but memorably – for the Hollywood Stars.

Jim Murray, April 9, 1961

April 9, 1961: Walt Alston is the first one in his family tree going back about to the time of the discovery of fire to escape being a farmer -- a full-time farmer, that is. It sometimes seems to make him uneasy just frittering his life his life away managing a baseball team, Jim Murray says.

Jim Murray, April 6, 1961

April 6, 1961: James Gilliam Jr. is with the Dodgers but not of them. He starts every season in the dugout. He sleeps every night with his bag packed at his feet and rumors of a trade swirling around in his dreams. Then the season starts and some phenom begins to leak at the seams. The manager sets  a hysterical search and there sits Jim Gilliam -- waiting.

Jim Murray, March 23, 1961

March 23, 1961: Has Terrible Ted Williams turned into an affable soul thanks to Sears? Jim Murray takes a look at “the wolf of Wall Street.” In case you’re wondering about Alex Perez, who frequently drew cartoons for the sports pages,  he worked as assistant director of The Times’ art department in the 1950s and ‘60s

Jim Murray, Feb. 20, March 6, 1961

Feb. 20, 1961: Jim Murray writes about Walter O’Malley’s impact on Los Angeles, and the construction of Dodger Stadium underway at Chavez Ravine. March 6, 1961: Jim Murray takes a look at jockey Johnny Longden. "Will Johnny be the oldest jockey ever to win at Kentucky?" someone wanted to know. "He'll be the oldest jockey ever to win anywhere," came the answer.

Jim Murray, Feb. 16, March 3, 1961

Feb. 16, 1961: Jim Murray writes about Dodgers Vice President Fresco Thompson, who thinks the romance has gone out of baseball. March 3, 1961: Murray files another story out of Las Vegas on the upcoming match between Gene Fullmer and Sugar Ray Robinson. In case you're wondering, I missed the debut of Murray’s column on Feb. 12, so I’m running two a day until I get caught up!

Jim Murray: Don't Kill the Umpire, Feb. 26, 1961

Feb. 26, 1961: It has been far too long since we checked in with Jim Murray, so here’s a column about umpires. And for fans of sportswriter Jeane Hoffman (you know who you are) we have an item on a proposed series between the Dodgers and the Angels. Was her column really called “Skirting All Sports?” Oh you sports guys!!

Matt Weinstock, Dec. 29, 1960

Dec. 29, 1960: The Information Please Almanac for 1961 lists Los Angeles fourth in population in the nation behind New York, Chicago and Brooklyn. Yes, Brooklyn. Maybe reprisal for swiping the Dodgers, Matt Weinstock says.  CONFIDENTIAL TO DOTTY ON STATE STREET: Be careful with "half-truths" -- you may have been told the wrong half.