From the Hill to the Hall: The Legacy of Bo Belinsky A Baseball Playboy

In the middle of the 1957 season, after nearly seven decades in Brooklyn, New York, the National League's Dodgers moved its franchise across the country to Los Angeles for the 1958 season, much to the heartbreak of fans in the East. But folks thousands of miles away were ecstatic with the move, especially after 1962's outstanding season. It seemed like the team was here to stay. To cement the deal, the city of Los Angeles built them a stadium.

Meanwhile, the American League's newly franchised Los Angeles Angels hit the town in 1961. The team's owner and popular entertainer Gene Autry needed a stadium for his "helos" to play in. Gene's answer was to move his team in with the Dodgers for two seasons. Dodgers fans knew the place as Dodger Stadium, but the Angels called it Chavez Ravine.

In the middle of this monumental period in baseball's history, sashayed Bo Belinsky, a New Jersey pool hustler who had God-given talent as a lefty pitcher but also had feet of clay that many times caused him to squander this outstanding gift. Throughout his career, he was, at times, Hollywood's darling, the heartthrob of women everywhere, the bad boy, and an example of what could have been.