VERO BEACH — Historic Dodgertown celebrated Dec. 1, the anniversary of the birthdate of Dodger Hall of Fame manager, the late Walter Alston. The first time Alston was at Holman Stadium at Historic Dodgertown was at its dedication on March 11, 1953.
He was not yet the Brooklyn Dodger manager, but as the manager of the Montreal Royals, he was assigned to a volunteer role to take tickets at the ballpark. By November of 1953, he had managed the Montreal Royals to a Little World Series minor league championship that season and was named by the Brooklyn Dodgers to be their manager for the 1954 season.
The New York World-Telegram newspaper headline on the announcement of Alston as the new Dodger manager read, “Who’s He?” A later New York Post headline posted, “Meet the Man Nobody Knows.” They would soon find out about Walter Alston.
He had one at bat in the major leagues with the St. Louis Cardinals and he struck out. But, his leadership style and love for the game started him on a career to manage in the minor leagues and he left the Cardinal organization to join the Dodgers. Alston was the manager for the St. Paul Saints in 1948 where Roy Campanella and Don Newcombe first entered the Dodger organization. When Alston would be ejected from a game for arguing with an umpire, he would assign Campanella to run the game in his place.
Alston would manage 23 seasons for the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers from 1954 through 1976. He managed the Brooklyn Dodgers to the World Championship in 1955 and led the Los Angeles Dodgers to World Series titles in 1959, 1963, and 1965. He had nerves of steel in the World Series. Alston started 23-year old Johnny Podres in Game 7 of the 1955 World Series and Podres rewarded him with a shutout. In 1965, he started Sandy Koufax on two days’ rest and it was Koufax who blanked the Minnesota Twins in Game 7.
The Dodgers won seven National League pennants under Alston and finished second six times. He was a National League All-Star manager in nine games and six times he was voted as “Manager of the Year.” His Dodger career as the team leader started with Jackie Robinson, Pee Wee Reese, Roy Campanella, and Duke Snider, and ended with players as Steve Garvey, Ron Cey, Davey Lopes, Don Sutton, and Bill Russell. Alston was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1983 and a conference room is named for him in Historic Dodgertown.
He signed 23 one-year contracts as the Dodger manager and truer words were never spoken by Walter O’Malley at his initial contract signing. On November 23, 1953, Dodger President O’Malley was quoted in the New York Journal-American as saying, “I’d like to think you’ll (Alston) be the manager for a great many years.”
