Davey Lopes, a four-time All-Star second baseman as part of the vaunted Dodgers infield of the 1970s and one of the greatest basestealers in history, passed away on Wednesday at the age of 80.
Lopes played for the Dodgers, A’s, Cubs and Astros over a 16-year Major League career before coaching in the big leagues from 1988-2017, ultimately spending nearly a half-century career in baseball. He served as manager for the Brewers from 2000-02 and was the first-base coach and outfield/baserunning instructor for the 2008 Phillies club that won the World Series. He also coached for the Dodgers, Nationals, Orioles and Padres.
From his first full season in 1973 through the ’81 campaign, Lopes played 1,139 games at second base for the Dodgers. In 833 of those contests, he was joined in L.A.’s infield by first baseman Steve Garvey, third baseman Ron Cey and shortstop Bill Russell. That quartet has its own Wikipedia page and set a record for games played together by an infield, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Second is the 623 games played by the late-'60s Cubs infield of Ernie Banks, Glenn Beckert, Don Kessinger and Ron Santo.
A speedy second baseman who developed into a leader on and off the field, Lopes was named the fifth captain in Dodgers history in 1977 and was central to the team’s success from the mid-1970s through 1981. Over that span, the franchise reached the World Series in 1974, ’77 and ’78, losing all three times before finally winning it all in ’81.
A game-changer on the basepaths, Lopes led the Majors with 77 steals in 1975 – a season during which he set an MLB record by swiping 38 consecutive bases without being caught (a mark broken by Vince Coleman in 1988) – and then paced the National League with 63 steals the following year.
In all, Lopes stole 557 bases in his career, which ranks 26th in MLB history. His successful steal rate of 83% is higher than those of all-time steals leader Rickey Henderson (80.8%) and second-ranked Lou Brock (75.3%).
Lopes made his mark at the plate as well – only Jeff Kent (29 in 2005) hit more home runs as a primary second baseman in a single season for the Dodgers than Lopes’ 28 in 1979. Overall, Lopes hit .263 with 155 homers in his career, posting 42.4 WAR, according to Baseball-Reference.
Lopes was strong defensively at the keystone position, winning a Gold Glove Award in 1978. He also delivered in the playoffs, particularly for the Dodgers during the 1977 postseason. In the NL Championship Series against the Phillies that fall, he posted a 1.278 OPS with a pair of home runs, then in the World Series against the Yankees, he launched three home runs with a 1.011 OPS.
Following 10 seasons with the Dodgers, Lopes was traded to the A’s after the 1981 campaign. He spent two-plus seasons with the A’s before being dealt to the Cubs midway through the ’84 season. Chicago traded Lopes to the Astros in July 1986, and it was with Houston that he spent the final two seasons of his career as a player.
David Earl Lopes was born on May 3, 1945, in East Providence, R.I., one of 10 children. His father died when he was young, according to his biography on the Society for American Baseball Research website. Lopes was an all-state athlete in baseball and basketball in high school before playing in college at Iowa Wesleyan University and Washburn University.
Drafted by the Giants in June 1967, Lopes elected to stay in school and signed with the Dodgers in 1968 after being selected in the secondary phase of the January Draft. After spending five seasons in the Minor Leagues – two at Class A and three at Triple-A – Lopes made his MLB debut at Dodger Stadium on Sept. 22, 1972, at the age of 27. He started at second base, batting leadoff, and went 0-for-5 in the Dodgers’ 1-0 win over the Giants.
In his first full season, ’73, Lopes batted .275/.352/.351 with 36 stolen bases and finished sixth in NL Rookie of the Year voting. The next year, he stole 59 bags and followed that up with an MLB-best 77 in ’75 and an NL-leading 63 in ’76. He stole at least 15 bases in every season in which he played at least 100 games, which was 14 of his 16 seasons – excluding only his 11-game cameo in September 1972 and the 47 games he played for the ’87 Astros at the age of 42.
Lopes’ four All-Star selections came consecutively from 1978-81. He retired after the 1987 season with a line of .263/.349/.388 and a 107 OPS+. He averaged 92 runs, 21 doubles, five triples, 14 home runs, 55 RBIs and 50 stolen bases per 162 games.
In total, Lopes was in the big leagues as a player, coach or manager for 45 consecutive years from 1972-2017.