The Dodgers once stood for success, for stability, for Sandy Koufax. Their very name evoked loyalty and pride from fans, respect and admiration from competitors.
The Angels were a joke locally, a blip nationally. They wore wings on their caps, and periwinkle pinstripes. They lurched from Plan A to Plan Z and back again in a futile attempt to win one for the Cowboy, but Gene Autry died at 91 without seeing his beloved team reach the World Series.
Autry's old team is the one that stands tall today, with the Dodgers providing fodder for Jay Leno. In the latest episode of turmoil for the team that was once a model sports franchise, Dodger owner Frank McCourt fired General Manager Paul DePodesta on Saturday.
The dismissal -- 3 1/2 weeks after McCourt publicly sided with DePodesta in a power struggle that resulted in the departure of Manager Jim Tracy -- highlighted the dramatic reversal in the identities of the Los Angeles area's two major league teams.
"For many years, everybody wanted to pattern themselves after the Dodgers," said their Hall of Fame manager, Tom Lasorda. "You haven't heard that for a while. We're trying to get that reputation back."
Lasorda managed the Dodgers from 1976 to '96, working for two general managers while winning two World Series championships and four National League pennants. Since then, they have employed four managers and five general managers and won no pennants.
During Lasorda's tenure, the Angels employed nine managers and six general managers, winning no American League pennants. Since they hired General Manager Bill Stoneman and Manager Mike Scioscia in 1999, the Angels have won the World Series championship, attracting record crowds and star players to Anaheim.
The directions of the two teams have so diverged that Scioscia, who played on the Dodgers' last World Series championship team in 1988 and long aspired to manage the club, now has no interest in what was once his dream job.
As a minor league instructor with the Dodgers, Scioscia worked with Paul Konerko, who blossomed into the cleanup hitter for the World Series champion Chicago White Sox. As manager of the Angels, Scioscia will recruit him to Anaheim as a free agent.
"Stability takes awhile. It's not an overnight fix," said Sparky Anderson, the Thousand Oaks resident who managed the Cincinnati Reds and Detroit Tigers in his Hall of Fame career. "The Angels have two great people there, Stoneman and Scioscia, and they have an owner that is out of this world."
