The Los Angeles Dodgers took the field before 78,672 fans at the

Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (also known as the L.A. Coliseum) is a multi-purpose stadium in the Exposition Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Conceived as a hallmark of civic pride, the Coliseum was commissioned in 1921 as a me ...

on April 18, 1958, to usher in the beginning of the team's new home in Los Angeles. It was a rough season, as the Dodgers finished 21 games in back of the pennant-winning

Milwaukee Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The Braves were founded in Bos ...

in the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

standings, but it was the beginning of the second phase for the team. Vin Scully and company moved to KTTV (television) and KMPC (radio) from that year onward, and the Dodgers became one of the first teams that commenced Spanish language radio broadcasts for Latinos, with KWKW as the first station to offer a Spanish-language service.

Offseason

Spring training

The Dodgers played their first exhibition game as the Los Angeles Dodgers on March 8, 1958. The team faced the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

Miami Stadium Miami Stadium (later officially known as Bobby Maduro Miami Stadium) was a baseball stadium in Miami, Florida. It was primarily used for baseball, and was the home field of the Miami Marlins minor league baseball team, as well as other minor le ...

Ron Negray Ronald Alvin Negray (February 26, 1930 – November 8, 2018) was an American professional baseball player. A right-handed pitcher, he appeared in 66 games in Major League Baseball over four seasons between and for the Brooklyn / Los Angeles ...

started for the Dodgers and gave up four runs in a 7 to 4 Dodgers loss. The ''New York Times'' noted that as much as the game was a historic milestone for the franchise, it was a chance for manager Walter Alston to evaluate players under game conditions, especially catchers, following

Roy Campanella Roy Campanella (November 19, 1921 – June 26, 1993), nicknamed "Campy", was an American baseball player, primarily as a catcher. The Philadelphia native played in the Negro leagues and Mexican League for nine years before entering the minor lea ...

's offseason auto accident that ended his career before he could ever play for Los Angeles.

Regular season

*April 15–20, 1958: The Dodgers and Giants played their first six official National League games as representatives of their new cities on the West Coast with back-to-back three-game series, first at

Seals Stadium Seals Stadium was a minor league baseball stadium on the west coast of the United States, located in San Francisco, California; it later became the first home of the major league San Francisco Giants. Opened in the Mission District in 1931, Se ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

, then at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The Giants won four of those six games. In the season opener April 15, San Francisco blanked Los Angeles, 8–0, behind Rubén Gómez'

complete game In baseball, a complete game (CG) is the act of a pitcher pitching an entire game without the benefit of a relief pitcher. A pitcher who meets this criterion will be credited with a complete game regardless of the number of innings played—pitche ...

, six-hit

shutout In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

Don Drysdale Donald Scott Drysdale (July 23, 1936 – July 3, 1993) was an American professional baseball player and television sports commentator. A right-handed pitcher for the Brooklyn / Los Angeles Dodgers for his entire career in Major League Baseball, D ...

took the loss, and Charlie Neal notched Los Angeles' first hit, a single, in the second inning. In their home opener April 18 in Los Angeles, the Dodgers built a 5–2 lead behind

starting pitcher In baseball (hardball or softball), a starting pitcher or starter is the first pitcher in the game for each team. A pitcher is credited with a game started if they throw the first pitch to the opponent's first batter of a game. Starting pit ...

Carl Erskine Carl Daniel Erskine (born December 13, 1926) is a former right-handed starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played his entire career for the Brooklyn / Los Angeles Dodgers from 1948 through 1959. He was a pitching mainstay on Dodger team ...

, and held on to win 6–5. A throng of 78,762 witnessed the event at the Coliseum.

Dick Gray Richard Benjamin Gray (July 11, 1931 – July 8, 2013) was an American professional baseball player. He was an infielder in Major League Baseball, playing mainly as a third baseman for the Los Angeles Dodgers and St. Louis Cardinals from 1958 t ...

, who hit the first home run in Los Angeles Dodger history April 16 in the second game of the 1958 season, also hit the first four-bagger before their home crowd in the seventh

inning In baseball, softball, and similar games, an inning is the basic unit of play, consisting of two halves or frames, the "top" (first half) and the "bottom" (second half). In each half, one team bats until three outs are made, with the other tea ...

, giving Los Angeles an insurance run. The Giants nearly tied the game in the ninth inning, but

Jim Davenport James Houston Davenport (August 17, 1933 – February 18, 2016) was an American Major League Baseball infielder, primarily a third baseman, who played his entire career—over 1,500 games—with the San Francisco Giants (1958–1970). He also ma ...

was ruled out for failing to touch third base after apparently scoring on a

triple Triple is used in several contexts to mean "threefold" or a " treble": Sports * Triple (baseball), a three-base hit * A basketball three-point field goal * A figure skating jump with three rotations * In bowling terms, three strikes in a row * ...

by San Francisco's

Willie Kirkland Willie Charles Kirkland (born February 17, 1934) is a retired American professional baseball player. A right fielder and a powerful left-handed hitter, Kirkland appeared in 1,149 games in Major League Baseball over nine seasons for the San Franc ...

. * April 23, 1958: Gil Hodges hit his 300th

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

, and

Pee Wee Reese Harold Peter Henry "Pee Wee" Reese (July 23, 1918 – August 14, 1999) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a shortstop for the Brooklyn / Los Angeles Dodgers from 1940 to 1958. A ten-time All-Sta ...

played his 2,000th game, on the same day that

Duke Snider Edwin Donald "Duke" Snider (September 19, 1926 – February 27, 2011), nicknamed "the Silver Fox" and "the Duke of Flatbush", was an American professional baseball player. Primarily a center fielder, he spent most of his Major League Baseball (M ...

injured his arm before the game trying to throw a ball out of the Los Angeles Coliseum.

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Notable transactions

* June 15, 1958: The Dodgers traded

Don Newcombe Donald Newcombe (June 14, 1926 – February 19, 2019), nicknamed "Newk", was an American professional baseball pitcher in Negro league and Major League Baseball who played for the Newark Eagles (1944–45), Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers (1949–1 ...

Cincinnati Redlegs Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line w ...

for

Steve Bilko Stephen Thomas Bilko (November 13, 1928 – March 7, 1978) was an American professional baseball player known for his home run hitting as a minor leaguer during the 1950s. He was 20 years old when he broke into Major League Baseball on Sept ...

Johnny Klippstein John Calvin Klippstein (October 17, 1927 – October 10, 2003) was an American professional baseball pitcher (mostly a reliever), who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for a number of teams, over an 18-season career. The most prominent portion ...

and players to be named later. The Redlegs completed the deal by sending

Art Fowler John Arthur Fowler (July 3, 1922 – January 29, 2007) was an American pitcher and pitching coach in Major League Baseball. The , right-hander was signed by the New York Giants as an amateur free agent before the 1944 season. He played for the C ...

and

Charlie Rabe Charles Henry Rabe (born May 6, 1932) is an American former professional baseball player. The left-handed pitcher and native of Boyce, Ellis County, Texas, appeared in 11 games in Major League Baseball for the – Cincinnati Redlegs. He was list ...

to the Dodgers on June 23. * August 4, 1958:

Randy Jackson Randall Darius Jackson (born June 23, 1956) is an American record executive and television presenter, perhaps best known as a judge on ''American Idol'' from 2002 to 2013. Jackson began his career in the 1980s as a session musician playing ba ...

was purchased from the Dodgers by the

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central division. Since , they have ...

. * August 15, 1958:

Ramón Conde Ramón Luis Conde Román (December 29, 1934 – February 23, 2020) was a professional baseball player from Puerto Rico. Also known as "Wito," he amassed 3,025 base hits in the U.S., the Puerto Rican Winter League, and Mexico. Alas, none of those ...

was purchased by the Dodgers from the

.Ramón Conde
at ''Baseball-Reference''

Roster

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

''Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in''

Other batters

''Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in''

Pitching

Starting pitchers

''Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts''

Other pitchers

''Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts''

Relief pitchers

''Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts''

Awards and honors

Gold Glove Award The Rawlings Gold Glove Award, usually referred to as simply the Gold Glove, is the award given annually to the Major League Baseball (MLB) players judged to have exhibited superior individual fielding performances at each fielding position in bo ...

** Gil Hodges

All-stars

1958 Major League Baseball All-Star Game The 1958 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the 25th playing of the midsummer classic between the all-stars of the American League (AL) and National League (NL), the two leagues comprising Major League Baseball. The game was held on July 8, ...

Johnny Podres John Joseph Podres (September 30, 1932 – January 13, 2008) was an American left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played in the majors from 1953 to 1969, spending most of his career with the Brooklyn / Los Angeles Dodgers. Podres ...

reserve **

Johnny Roseboro John Junior Roseboro (May 13, 1933 – August 16, 2002) was an American professional baseball player and coach. He played as a catcher in Major League Baseball from 1957 until 1970, most prominently as a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers. A fou ...

reserve

Farm system

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Montreal

Notes

References

Baseball-Reference season pageBaseball Almanac season page

External links

1958 Los Angeles Dodgers uniformLos Angeles Dodgers official web site
{{Los Angeles Dodgers Los Angeles Dodgers seasons Los Angeles Dodgers season