Dodgers: Ron Cey calls 1977 team the most talented of playing career

Ron Cey believes the 1977 Dodgers were the most talented of the teams he played on.

With the baseball season on pause due to the coronavirus pandemic and financial bickering between owners and players, many sites, like this one, have been compiling lists of the best players, seasons, and teams. Los Angeles Dodgers legend Ron Cey offered his opinion on the best team he has ever played on during a Q&A published by the Los Angeles Times on Thursday.

Cey, 72, played parts of 12 seasons with the Dodgers in the 1970s and early 1980s, before being traded to the Chicago Cubs, where he played four seasons leading up to his final year in the majors with the Oakland Athletics in 1987.

While he notes the 1981 World Championship Dodgers are the best overall team of his playing career, it’s interesting, when asked, Cey immediately thought of the 1977 Dodgers as the most talented.

"“The 1977 Dodgers were the most talented team I ever played with,” Cey said in the Los Angeles Times. “We had the first 30-homer foursome in MLB history (Baker, Cey, Garvey, Smith), the longest-running and most successful infield in MLB history (Garvey, Lopes, Russell, Cey) and a star-studded group of pitchers as well. However, the 1981 team was very, very talented and a team of destiny. We won it all in six games. It was the last game the “Fabled Infield” would play together. Lopes was the first to leave the group with Steve Sax taking over at second base in 1982. So, the 1981 Dodgers are my pick because we became “World Champions.”"

The third baseman was an integral member of three Dodger teams who reached the World Series, including the 1981 team that beat the Yankees in six games. Cey won the 1981 World Series co-MVP after batting .350 (7-20) with one home run and six RBIs. He was hit in the head in the clinching Game 6 by a Goose Gossage fastball.

The 1977 Los Angeles Dodgers were a special team.

The 1977 Dodgers season was the first full campaign with Tommy Lasorda as manager. Their 98 regular season wins were the third most since the franchise moved to Los Angeles in 1958, and that total wasn’t surpassed again until the 2017 Dodgers won 104 games.

That season would have ended in a championship had they not run into the New York Yankees and Reggie Jackson who famously hit three home runs in Game 6 of the 1977 World Series to overcome the Dodgers.

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As we reflect on 1977, hopefully, baseball will return soon so we can start talking about whether the 2020 Dodgers team is the most talented in franchise history.