Jackson was an unlikely candidate for his melancholy achievement: He had hit only one other home run that season, and he played in just 48 games while hobbled by a leg injury. And that home run seemed nothing special to him when the third-place Dodgers closed out their history the next day with a 2-1 loss to the Phillies, the last Brooklyn pitch delivered by an unproven left-hander named Sandy Koufax. He was a two-time All-Star with Chicago, hit 59 home runs over his final three seasons there and played alongside the future Hall of Fame shortstop Ernie Banks. The Dodgers obtained Jackson in a multiplayer deal, expecting him to take over at third base from an aging Jackie Robinson. He arrived with a reputation for lacking fire, but as he told The Miami News at his first Dodger spring training camp, “My voice doesn’t carry more than six feet before it drops off, so what’s the use?”

Source: New York Times March 20, 2019 22:08 UTC