On Aug. 13, 1982, Steve Sax set a Los Angeles Dodgers rookie record with a stolen base in a 6-1 victory over the San Francisco Giants.
The game took place at Dodger Stadium and after going 0-for-3 to start the night, Sax singled to right field in the sixth inning. With Ken Landreaux at the plate, Sax proceeded to swipe second base for his 41st steal of the season.
That gave Sax the Dodgers franchise record for most stolen bases in a single season by a rookie.
Sax finished 2-for-5 when he hit a solo home run in the seventh inning.
The second baseman went on to swipe eight more bags to end his season with 49 stolen bases as a rookie, which still stands as the Dodgers’ franchise record. Over the course of the season, Sax hit .282/.335/.359 with 23 doubles, seven triples and four home runs over 150 games.
After the season, Sax was named the 1982 National League Rookie of the Year award winner. This made him the fourth consecutive Dodgers player to win the award, following Rick Sutcliffe (1979), Steve Howe (1980) and Fernando Valenzuela (1981).
The four consecutive Rookie of the Year winners also set an MLB record, but it was later broken by the Dodgers with five winners from 1992-96.
Nomar Garciaparra’s first career ejection
Also on this day in Dodgers history but in 2007, Nomar Garciaparra was ejected by home plate umpire Tom Hallion for arguing a called third strike in the fourth inning.
It was the first time in 1,303 games that the 12-year veteran infielder was tossed out. Garciaparra ended up being restrained by teammates after continuing to shout at Hallion and pointing his bat toward the umpire.
Garciaparra was replaced in the game by Shea Hillenbrand and they went a combined 0-for-4 in the Dodgers’ 4-1 loss to the Houston Astros.
The Dodgers offense was unable to solve Roy Oswalt, who pitched eight innings while giving up just one run. Chad Billingsley took the loss after giving up four runs in five innings.
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