The four-time All-Star second baseman was the engine of the most celebrated infield.
Davey Lopes, the swift and scrappy second baseman who anchored one of the most celebrated infields in baseball history and spent 45 years in the major leagues as a player, manager and coach, died Wednesday at age 80. The Los Angeles Dodgers made the announcement.
Lopes was born May 3, 1945, and raised in East Providence, Rhode Island, the son of a family that worked in factories and along the waterfront. He was one of 12 children and lost his father when he was a toddler. He often described his upbringing as harsh, crediting sports with steering him away from a neighborhood where trouble was never far off. A high school coach named Mike Sarkesian became a formative influence, eventually recruiting Lopes to play baseball at Iowa Wesleyan College and later at Washburn University in Kansas.
The Dodgers selected him in the second round of the 1968 draft, considered by many the most talented draft class in baseball history. He signed for $10,000 and graduated from Washburn in 1969 with a degree in elementary education, completing his coursework while playing in the minor leagues.
The infield that made history
Lopes made his major league debut in 1972 and became the Dodgers’ everyday second baseman and leadoff hitter the following year. Before the 1973 season, manager Walter Alston made a series of positional shifts that would define the franchise for nearly a decade. Lopes moved from the outfield to second base. Bill Russell shifted from center field to shortstop. Steve Garvey moved from third base to first. Ron Cey was installed at third. A longtime coach known for his infield instruction was brought from the front office to the field to help the group adjust.
The four players first took the infield together on June 23, 1973, during a doubleheader at a sold-out Dodger Stadium. They stayed together for a record eight and a half seasons, helping the Dodgers reach the World Series in 1974, 1977 and 1978 before finally winning the championship in 1981 by defeating the New York Yankees in six games.
Lopes set a record that postseason by stealing 10 bases in 10 attempts. Shortly after the title, the Dodgers traded him to the Oakland Athletics to make room for rookie Steve Sax at second base.
What made him special at the plate and on the bases
Standing 5 feet 9 inches and weighing 170 pounds, Lopes was not an imposing physical presence. But he brought a combination of speed and unexpected power that few leadoff hitters have matched. He stole 557 bases in his career with an 83% success rate, one of the best marks in major league history, and won National League stolen base titles in 1975 with 77 and in 1976 with 63. He also hit 155 home runs, including a career high of 28 in 1979, and scored more than 1,000 runs across 1,812 career games.
He was also a disciplined hitter with a .349 on-base percentage, walking nearly as often as he struck out. He earned four consecutive All-Star selections from 1978 through 1981 and won a Gold Glove in 1978.
On August 24, 1974, Lopes stole five bases in a single game against the St. Louis Cardinals, becoming the first National League player to accomplish that feat since 1904.
Still going at 40
After leaving the Dodgers, Lopes played two seasons alongside Rickey Henderson in Oakland and later joined the Chicago Cubs, where at age 40 he stole 47 bases in 99 games in 1985, becoming the first player 40 or older to steal more bases than his age. He retired after the 1987 season at 42.
A coaching career that spanned four decades
Lopes transitioned into coaching under Bobby Valentine with the Texas Rangers in 1988. He later coached for the Baltimore Orioles under former teammate Johnny Oates, spent several years with the San Diego Padres under Bruce Bochy, and served as a baserunning advisor for the Philadelphia Phillies from 2007 to 2010. The Phillies led the major leagues in stolen base percentage three times during his tenure and won the World Series in 2008, though that season began with a personal crisis when Lopes was diagnosed with prostate cancer days before spring training. He was in remission by opening day.
He managed the Milwaukee Brewers from 2000 to 2002 before returning to coaching. In 2011, Lopes rejoined the Dodgers as first-base coach, a role he held for five seasons. He finished his career with the Washington Nationals in 2017.
Lopes is survived by his brothers Patrick and John and his sisters Jean, Judith, Mary and Nina.