» Jim Price / Staff writer

If the Brooklyn Dodgers of the 1940s were the boys of summer, the future Los Angeles Dodgers of the 1960s, most of whom played for the Spokane Indians, must have been the teenagers.

The memory can play tricks, so it's important say, right up front, that not all of the Spokane teams backed by the Dodgers were successful. All of the players weren't future major league stars. Fans didn't pack the ballpark every single night. But there were several very good teams, maybe one great one, quite a few future stars, some wonderful crowds and, of course, plenty of excellent memories.

Spokane did without professional baseball in 1957. Failure of the community-owned team in 1956 left the city with no one willing to own a team. There were plenty of unpaid bills, and Ferris Field, once a jewel of a ballpark, wasn't the same without a real grandstand. The grounds had been acquired by an investment group, and a semipro team played there the following summer.

Then the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants announced their cross-country move to Los Angeles and San Francisco respectively, dislodging three Pacific Coast League teams in an instant. The Angels, L.A.'s PCL team for more than half a century, became the property of the Dodgers. They needed a new home. Spokane was it.

On Nov. 27, 1957, the day before Thanksgiving, Dodgers executive Dick Walsh sat down in the Spokane Club with a committee of businessmen. Years later, broadcaster Frank Herron recalled that the discussions seemed to be at an impasse when W.H. Cowles Jr., who was the publisher of this newspaper, said “This sounds like a good idea. We've just got to find a way to bring this thing about.”

And before long, it was so. With county commissioner W.O. “Bill” Allen as a leader, the group developed plans to remodel Ferris Field and told the Dodgers it was ready to commit the necessary $355,000. On Dec. 2, the Dodgers said “Yes.”

Three days later, the city and Spokane County announced that they would build a new ballpark at the fairgrounds. The Dodgers liked that even better.

On Jan. 9, Allen, former mayor Art Meehan and contractor Henry George, one of the city's top fans, turned the first shovelfuls of dirt. The first home game was played 111 days later.

The Dodgers sent energetic Spencer Harris, who had been with the organization for years, to serve as general manager. Local Rainier Brewery executive Nave Lein was hired as the business manager. The team retained its traditional nickname.

Fatherly Goldie Holt became Spokane's first Pacific Coast League manager. His team wasn't very good. Minor-league veterans and major-league rejects dominated the roster. The best prospect was long-ball-hitting first baseman Jim Gentile. The veterans included Maury Wills, a skinny, weak-hitting shortstop.

Spokane played its first PCL game in a drizzle at Seattle on Tuesday, April 15. The game was supposed to be the first half of a doubleheader, but it was called as a 1-1 tie after 11 innings, and the second game was rescheduled. Right-hander Dick Hanlon concluded the season-opening trip by pitching a seven-inning 1-0 no-hitter April 27 at Vancouver in Spokane's 12th Coast League game.

The Indians played their first home game two days later. With a crowd of 8,404 flowing out of the stands and down the right-field foul line, Spokane defeated Seattle 6-5.

At the end of June, the Dodgers replaced Holt with Bobby Bragan, an energetic former catcher and infielder who had just been fired by the Cleveland Indians. For some time, the Dodgers had wanted Wills, who had great speed, to become a switch-hitter. Bragan insisted. Within a year, Wills was in the big leagues. By 1962, he was the National League's MVP. A decade later, he ranked with the greatest base-stealers of all-time.

Attendance in 1958 amounted to 270,297. The next two teams drew nearly as well.

The 1959 team played .500 ball with a lineup featuring batting champion Tommy Davis and slugging first baseman Steve Bilko, who had won three MVP awards when the franchise was located in Los Angeles. Young slugger Frank Howard arrived late, gained recognition as minor league player of the year and returned for the first part of the 1960 season, which brought Spokane its first PCL championship.

Under new manager Preston Gomez, the 1960 Indians had another fine offensive team. Center fielder Willie Davis, a brilliant prospect, won league MVP honors after hitting .346 and breaking a 57-year-old league record with 26 triples. Another outfielder, Ron Fairly, now a Seattle Mariners broadcaster, hit.303 with 100 walks. Third baseman Ramon Conde hit .326 and won a minor-league Silver Glove.

Gomez had a weak-hitting team that finished seventh in 1961 and an even worse, last-place team in 1962. Wet, cold spring weather sent attendance figures into a nosedive. However, during those two seasons, the fans who did show up got their first looks at most of the players who formed the core of several fine teams to come.

This talented group included middle infielders Bart Shirley and Nate Oliver, first baseman Dick Nen, third baseman John Werhas, outfielders Jim Barbieri, Al Ferrara and Dick McLaughlin, right-handed starting pitchers Howie Reed and Joe Moeller and reliever Ken Rowe. Shirley would set an all-time record by playing 997 games in a Spokane uniform. Tommy Hutton began a long tenure at first base in 1966.

All of these men played in the major leagues. A few played quite a bit.

By the time Danny Ozark began a three-year tenure as manager in 1963, these youngsters had begun to mature. The 1962 team had won 58 games. The 1963 Indians won 98 and took the Northern Division of the PCL by 17 games before losing a playoff series to Oklahoma City. Werhas led the Indians in six categories. Reed won 19 games.

Rowe appeared in a record 88 games in 1964, sharing the league lead with 16 victories to go with a 1.77 earned run average. The Indians might have finished first again if the Dodgers hadn't summoned Reed in the middle of the season. They still came close. Lou Johnson, a crowd-pleasing veteran outfielder, led Spokane offensively and earned another shot at the big leagues.

After Harris and Lien died within 12 weeks of one another that winter, the Dodgers sent Peter O'Malley, son of their owner, to run the Indians. Then, when Pete Reiser, scheduled to manage the 1965 team, took ill, recently retired Hall of Fame player Duke Snider took his place. Werhas led the Indians in eight categories this season, but he couldn't keep them from finishing last.

Despite a constant shuttle of players between Los Angeles and Spokane, the next three Indians teams, all managed by Roy Hartsfield, put up winning records.

Barbieri had his finest season in 1966. He was leading the league with a .357 average when the Dodgers called him up in July. The 1967 and 1968 clubs both won Western Division titles, the 1967 team doing it in a one-game playoff with Portland.

Even so, attendance figures continued to dwindle.

In 1967, Alan Foster, amazingly, no-hit the Seattle Rainiers twice within two weeks. Don Sutton, early in a Hall of Fame career, pitched 16 innings during the 1968 season, when Moeller crafted seven shutouts among his 15 victories.

Another future Hall of Fame member, manager Tommy Lasorda, made the scene in 1969. Lasorda stayed three seasons. The second was a masterpiece. In 1993, Baseball America characterized the 1970 Spokane Indians as the best minor league team in the second half of the 20th century.

Lasorda, then as now, was nothing if ebullient. The Dodgers were in a transitional period with a fresh crop of young players, flush with talent and open to motivational speeches, but not necessarily wed to a position. Many of them had followed him from Ogden, where he had managed three consecutive Pioneer League champions.

The 1970 Indians included more than a dozen players who enjoyed long major league careers. Injuries prevented shortstop Bobby Valentine from matching their success, but he later managed the Texas Rangers and the New York Mets.

Some prospects who had seemed too green for the PCL in 1969, blossomed in 1970, including Valentine, who became the league's most valuable player. Charlie Hough, just beginning to master the knuckleball, had an equally amazing season. Working almost exclusively in relief, he won 12 games, saved 18 and fell just short of winning the earned-run average title. Teammate Jerry Stephenson did win it, going 18-5 with a 2.82 mark.

Third baseman Steve Garvey, called up two-thirds of the way through the season, joined Valentine on the All-PCL team. So did Hutton. The Indians squad also included outfielders Bill Russell, Davey Lopes, Von Joshua and Tom Paciorek, first baseman outfielder Bill Buckner, catcher Bob Stinson and pitcher Doyle Alexander. Those who didn't later play regularly for the Dodgers, played regularly for other big-league teams.

Fixtures with the Dodgers in the 1970s, Garvey, Lopes, Russell, manning first base, second base and shortstop respectively, and former Washington State University third baseman Ron Cey made up the most durable infield group in baseball history. Cey played for Spokane in 1971,

In 1971, the Indians had a losing season overshadowed by thoughts of Albuquerque, N.M. Albuquerque, home of the Dodgers' Double-A affiliate, had a brand-new stadium. It wanted the Triple-A ballclub. In the end, it got it.

Fans and the news media reacted with outrage, but that was just a warmup. They would have another chance, just a decade later.