Don Drysdale Being Celebrated by Local High School

Van Nuys High School is holding a dedication ceremony at 2:30 p.m. on Friday to recognize Los Angeles Dodgers Hall of Famer Don Drysdale posthumously.

The primary purpose of the ceremony is to dedicate the school's baseball field in his honor and renamed to “Don Drysdale Memorial Field.”

The Drysdale family, including Don's widow, Ann Meyers Drysdale, will be on hand for the ceremony. Festivities are going to include a silent auction and raffle to help raise funds for the field and high school equipment.

Don Drysdale was born in Van Nuys and attended Van Nuys High School, graduating in 1954. One of his classmates was the late Robert Redford. Drysdale did not begin pitching until his senior year of high school, during which point he went 10-1.

Don Drysdale's Dodgers career

After starring at Van Nuys High School, Drysdale agreed to a $4,000 signing bonus with the Brooklyn Dodgers. The right-hander spent two years in the Minors before making his MLB debut on April 17, 1956.

Drysdale spent the entirety of his 14-year career with the Dodgers, including two seasons in Brooklyn before the team moved to Los Angeles in 1958.

Over the course of his Dodgers career, Drysdale won 209 games while pitching to a 2.95 ERA and 1.15 WHIP, and finishing with 2,486 strikeouts.

Drysdale was a nine-time All-Star and won World Series with the Dodgers in 1959, 1963 and 1965. On a personal level, he added the National League Cy Young Award in 1962. He went 25-9 with a 2.83 ERA and 1.11 WHIP across 43 games (41 starts) that year.

During Spring Training in 1966, Drysdale and Sandy Koufax joined forces in a combined holdout over the status of their respective contracts. It ultimately was resolved by Koufax receiving $130,000 and Drysdale signing for $105,000.

Their holdout spanned 32 days during Spring Training until ending on March 30, 1966.

In 1968, Drysdale set Major League records with six consecutive shutouts and a streak of 58.2 scoreless innings. Drysdale's scoreless streak remained an MLB record until it was broken by Orel Hershiser, also with the Dodgers, 20 years later.

Drysdale retired following the 1969 season. He was voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in January 1984, and in July of that same year, the Dodgers retired Drysdale's No. 53 jersey.

After retiring, Drysdale pursued a career as a broadcaster and was employed by many teams including the Dodgers. He died of a heart attack in 1993 at the age of 56.