Dodgers greatest legends take a look back at their 1981 World Series win

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- 1981 was the third time in five years the Yankees and Dodgers met in the World Series. No one could know at the time it would be 43 years before the most frequent World Series pairing in history would repeat itself.

"With the ballclub that the Yankees had and what we've had over the years, I would have thought they would have come back before 43 years," says Steve Yeager, a catcher and co-MVP for the Dodgers in the 1981 World Series.

Eleven times these teams have met in the Fall Classic, and for the men who've won it, this 12th meeting should be savored.

"Maybe the greatest rivalry in all of sports between two franchises that were originally the boroughs," explains 1981 Dodgers first baseman Steve Garvey.

Dusty Baker, an outfielder on the Dodgers that year, adds, "There's certain places, New York, LA, that if you don't win it all, you haven't done anything. And so, this is gonna be a heck of a battle here because both of them, both of them need a win."

The 1981 Dodgers lost the first two games in New York, but game three was the pinnacle of Fernandomania. Ron Cey's incredible defense helped keep rookie pitcher Fernando Valenzuela on the mound for 149 pitches in a complete game victory, a performance unlikely to ever be seen again.

"Where was Lasorda that night?" jokes Cey. "Was he sleeping in the training room this night? He had a penchant for allowing his pitchers to go the distance, you know. It was old school."

To even the series, the Dodgers won game four, a game that saw the last home run Reggie Jackson hit in the World Series, and also Tommy John as a relief pitcher for the Yankees.
The same Tommy John now known as a medical procedure and a pitcher who lost the World Series with the 1977 and 1978 Dodgers, and then lost the Series while with the Yankees in 1981.

"Tommy John was the only guy I know, he had a rubber arm. He could pitch every day and in fact, he threw every day," says Yeager.

Game five was a pitcher's duel. Solo home runs by Pedro Guererro and Steve Yeager were enough for a 2-1 win, but a frightening moment came late in the game when Cey was hit in the head by Goose Gossage.

"So I was concussed at the point of contact. I'm not gonna pass the criterion to move forward, but you know what? It was left up to me and you know I'm hard headed at times, but that would have hurt a whole lot worse missing that World Series, the finale, because I got hit in the head by Goose Gossage," explains Cey.

He did play in the 9-2 series clinching game six win. Along with Yeager and Guerrero, the three were named co-MVPs. Beating the Yankees marked the end of an era for the Dodgers and a way to exercise the demons of the past having lost to the Bronx bombers in 1977 and 1978.

"We felt together that if we were ever going to win a World Championship together, that was our year because we heard rumblings of some of the younger talent coming up," says Yeager.

Garvey adds, "It just put that era in quotations of finally, this team that had done so many significant things, finally became world champions, which is the ultimate for a team sport player."

For those who are playing in the 2024 World Series, Cey points out what this series really means. "There is something about, 'Who did you win the World Series against?' and you say 'The New York Yankees' the most successful franchise in sports history."

For history to repeat itself, the first chapter is about to be written.