June 16, 1958

By Keith Thursby
Times staff writer

he struggling Dodgers traded a piece of their past for a player rich in Los Angeles minor league history.

Steve Bilko, who hit 148 home runs in three seasons with the Los Angeles Angels, was traded by the Reds in exchange for pitcher Don Newcombe, a former National League MVP who had been a disappointment in Los Angeles. Two others were involved in the transaction, but the story in The Times predictably focused on the two key figures.

Bilko had become a minor league legend with the Los Angeles Angels by hitting 55 home runs in 1956 and 56 in 1957 playing his home games in cozy Wrigley Field. He had hit only four home runs for the Reds at the time of the trade. With the Dodgers going nowhere fast in 1958, he probably seemed like a low-risk deal. "Bilko’s a pull hitter, and maybe he can hit some home runs in the Coliseum for us," General Manager Buzzie Bavasi told The Times.

And in Los Angeles, he had name value. Less than a year before, The Times chronicled Bilko’s run at the Pacific Coast League home run record of 60, set in 1925 by future Yankee Tony Lazzeri. The Times  pictured Bilko next to a photo of Babe Ruth, who held the major league homer record, also with 60.

Manager Walt Alston seemed less enthusiastic about the trade. Maybe he was trying to figure out how to use three first basemen — Bilko, Gil Hodges and Norm Larker. "The deal’s been made. That’s all there is to it. We’re satisfied. I think it will help both clubs," Alston said.

Bilko wasn’t the answer in 1958. He hit only seven home runs for the Dodgers and next went to Detroit. But he returned to Los Angeles and Wrigley Field in 1961 as a member of the expansion Los Angeles Angels. He hit 20 home runs, then eight more in his final season with the Angels in 1962.

keith.thursby@latimes.com