Product Details

• Actors: Sandy Koufax, Tommy Lasorda, Orel Hershiser, Walter Alston, Don Drysdale
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: A&E Home Video
• DVD Release Date: July 25, 2006
• Run Time: 198 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000FBFYVY
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #48,534 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

1959 - LOS ANGELES DODGERS vs CHICAGO WHITE SOX 1963 - LOS ANGELES DODGERS vs NEW YORK YANKEES 1965 - LOS ANGELES DODGERS vs MINNESOTA TWINS 1981 - LOS ANGELES DODGERS vs NEW YORK YANKEES 1988 - LOS ANGELES DODGERS vs OAKLAND ATHLETICS All the glory and classic moments of the Los Angeles Dodgers World Series Championships from 1959 to 1988 are digitally preserved in this one-of-a-kind two-disc DVD collection. The Los Angeles Dodgers have set the standard for organizational excellence--team first, powerful pitching, class on and off the field--the blueprint for successful teams. The passion and excitement of Los Angeles Dodgers baseball was on full display in the first three Fall Classic® games in 1959. Each record-setting crowd at The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum swelled beyond 90,000. A tradition of October baseball was born in Los Angeles. In 1963, Sandy Koufax set the World Series strikeout record of fifteen in Game 1. Again in 1965, pitching was supreme, but this time the speed of the Dodgers charged the offense as well. The 1981 and 1988 World Series championships were fueled by the optimism of manager Tommy Lasorda.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars great stuff for Dodger fans, June 15, 2008

By 

Michael R. Chernick "statman31147" (Holland PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: MLB Vintage World Series Films - Los Angeles Dodgers 1959, 1963, 1965, 1981 & 1988 (DVD)

This video contains all the World Series that the Dodgers won since moving to Los Angeles. This is great for Dodger fans. As a Yankee fan I was most interested in their two confrontations in 1963 and 1981. Both were very memorable to me. The Yankees also played the Dodgers in the 1977 and 1978 World Series but the Dodgers were on the short end of those series, so they are not included. In 1959 the Dodger won in only their second year in Los Angeles. They beat Al Lopez's White Sox in 6th games. This was the beginning of the Koufax and Drysdale Dodgers but the pitching hero was a reliever named Larry Sherry. Casey Stengel's Yankees only lost the American League pennant twice in the 1950s and both times it was to a team managed by Al Lopez. First the Cleveland Indians with the pitching of Feller, Wynn and Lemon in 1954 and then to the White Sox in 1959. In 1954 the Indians amassed an amazing total of more than 110 wins in a 154 game season and so a Yankee team that won as many games as any in the 1950s lost out. 1959 was the only bad year that the Yankees had under Stengel and they finished a distant third that year.

In 1963 the Yankees still had Mantle and Maris and Skowron, Howard and Berra. They were the defending World Champions but got swept by the Dodgers in the series due to phenomenal pitching. Mantle did hit his 15th World Se3ries home run off Koufax in game 4 to tie a record that Babe Ruth held at the time for most World Series home runs.

Three of the games were pitchers battles with Ford battling Koufax twice and Bouton against Drysdale. But the Dodgers were able to win each game. A young Al Downing picthed the other game.

1981 was another interesting year. It was a strike year with a split season where there was a playoff in each league between the teams that won each half season. I think Cincinnati had a better overall record than any team in the National League but because of the peculiar format they didn't even get into the playoff since their record in each half was not the tops in the league. It was Fernando Valenzuela's rookie season and the popular Mexican was the National League Rookie of the Year and Cy Young award winner. The excitement due in part to the large Mexican-American population in the Los Angeles area led the media to refer to this as Fernando mania. He was able to lead Lasorda's Dodgers to a victory over those Yankees that Tommy's team couldn't achieve in 1977 or 1978.

The 1988 Dodgers were the team led by Orel Hershiser and Kirk Gibson. They beat a strong Oakland As team. Gibson was unable to play in the Series but in the nonth inning of game 1 the Dodgers had the tying run on base with two outs. The As had brought their ace reliever Dennis Eckersley into the game. Lasorda decided to pinch hit with Kirk Gibson. Gibson hobbled up to the plate and if he hit a long "extra base" hit he would be lucky to make it just to first base.

Amazingly, Gibson made contact with a fast ball and somehow got the leverage to hit it into the right field seats at Dodger Stadium.

Jack Buck was calling the game for the national network on radio and was so stunned that he uttered the famous line "I don't believe what I just saw!"

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally, July 31, 2006

By 

SONOFAA (LA,CA,USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: MLB Vintage World Series Films - Los Angeles Dodgers 1959, 1963, 1965, 1981 & 1988 (DVD)

After wearing out my VHS versions, MLB productions have finally put their WS films on DVD. As al ifelong Dodger fan I wish they had also included the 1955 WS. Also why haven't they made all of the other MLB team Series available. Still need the Mets, Tigers, Braves and Indians I think. But the quality is still there on the new DVDs ans having them all in one package is great for a baseball lover like me. Also think MLB productions should put out more box sets of famous series like the 88 or 91 or maybe a playoff package like the 86 playoffs or the the 2003. Anyway if you love baseball like me you should pick these up

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You can sell those tapes now., July 27, 2006

By 

TomAzon (United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: MLB Vintage World Series Films - Los Angeles Dodgers 1959, 1963, 1965, 1981 & 1988 (DVD)

Over the years, I bought all those World Series videos for the Dodgers that now go for $50-$100 apiece on auctions, Amazon and elsewhere. Now they are all available in all their glory on this two-disc DVD set.

No special music or extras here (which would be welcome), just the tapes transfered to DVD with narration by Vin Scully throughout except for the 1988 Series narrated by Bob Costas (complete with the puns but without the Gatorade drenching he got after the game where he said the Dodgers had the worst team in Series history on the field).

Since I have the original tapes, I was able to make a direct A-B comparison with the DVD set and the quality is very similar. No disappointments here but remember the old shows done in the late 50's and early 60's aren't up to par technologically with the later shows. Still it's a welcome set to those who have been searching for those VHS tapes of Dodger World Series Championships.

Go Blue!