Former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Orel Hershiser throws the ball to first behind back during the first inning of an old-timers baseball game in Los Angeles, Saturday, June 10, 2017.
The Hollywood Walk of Fame turned a familiar shade of blue Thursday when a Dodgers pitching great celebrated for his elite command on the mound and unrelenting determination to compete was honored with a star
The star for Orel Hershiser, a crucial part of the Dodgers’ magical 1988 championship season and the World Series MVP, was unveiled in a ceremony that included speeches from retired Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, Hershiser’s broadcast partner Joe Davis and retired Dodgers broadcaster Jaime Jarrin. Sports broadcaster Bob Costas emceed the event a block east of Highland Avenue in the heart of Hollywood
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Kershaw described Hershiser as a mentor who was always willing to share what he learned
“Orel was always there to be a helpful guy, somebody that was never negative, never told you what you did wrong,” Kershaw said. “Even when itwasn’t going good.”
The location was selected because Hershiser, who has been a Dodger broadcaster since 2014 after being an ESPN broadcaster from 2006 to 2013, wore the No. 55 jersey
The right-hander who demonstrated clinical control on the mound in his 13 seasons with the Dodgers was selected in the 17th round of the 1979 Major League Baseball draft from Bowling Green University. He was the 440th overall pick
“I was a suspect, not a prospect,” Hershiser said in 2023 when he was inducted into the Legends of Dodger Baseball. “I am truly an organizational player because what this organization did was it gave me people around me that were trying to achieve excellence every single day
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“I’m an accumulation of great examples, great people and great expectations
In 1984, Hershiser was 11-8 with a 2.66 ERA in his first full MLB season, but reached another level the next season when he posted a major league-leading .864 winning percentage and a 2.03 ERA in helping LA win the National League West
His signature season came in 1988, when the “Bulldog” became the first pitcher to win a Cy Young Award, League Championship Series MVP and World Series MVP in the same season. No one has accomplished the feat since
Hershiser concluded that regular season with a major league-record 59 consecutive scoreless innings, breaking Hall of Famer Don Drysdale’s previous record of 58 2/3 innings set in 1968 with the Dodgers
He won a career-high 23 games, pitched a major league-leading 15 complete games and eight shutouts — including five in a row — and was selected the National League Cy Young Award winner by a unanimous vote
“He went from becoming an underdog to becoming the Bulldog,” Roberts said. “There isn’t a person here who has had any interaction with Orel that can’t say that he was a great teammate and he made them better.”
Hershiser was selected the National League Championship Series MVP for pitching a five-hit shutout in Game 7 as the Dodgers completed an upset of the heavily favored New York Mets. He was selected World Series MVP for shutting out the highly favored Oakland Athletics in Game 2 and recording a complete-game victory in the series-clinching victory in Game 5
Hershiser joins actor John Beradino, who won a World Series with Cleveland in 1948, and actor Chuck Connors, who had a brief minor league stint for the Brooklyn Dodgers and Chicago Cubs, as the only professional baseball players on the Walk of Fame. Legendary Dodgers broadcasters Vin Scully and Jarrin also have Walk of Fame stars
