Bill Russell

William Ellis Russell (born October 21, 1948) is a former shortstop, coach and manager in Major League Baseball. Russell played his entire 18-year, 2,181-game career with the Los Angeles Dodgers as the starting shortstop for four National League pennant winners and one World Series championship team. He also served as the team's manager from 1996 to 1998. Playing career A right-handed batter and thrower, Russell came to the Dodgers as a 20-year-old outfielder in , and his first two MLB seasons were spent in the outfield (veteran Maury Wills was the Dodgers shortstop). During the 1970–71 offseason, Russell was converted to a second baseman, and then – the following year – to shortstop. With Wills out of shape at the start of the 1972 season and mired in a slump, Russell got the start at shortstop on April 29 and held onto the position for the next eleven years. He anchored an infield that included third baseman Ron Cey, second baseman Davey Lopes and first baseman Steve Garvey for eight and one half years. Russell batted .263 over his regular season career, and – coincidentally – posted the same average in 23 World Series games in 1974, 1977, 1978, and 1981. Russell's finest Fall Classic was in 1978, when he garnered 11 hits and batted .423 in a losing effort against the New York Yankees. He also hit .337 over five National League Championship Series. Russell wore number 18. Russell was hit in the hand with a pitch in September 1980 by Mike LaCoss of the Cincinnati Reds, shattering his right forefinger. He had the finger surgically repaired but was never really the same player afterward and retired in October 1986. Only Zack Wheat played more games as a Dodger and no one in the West Coast portion of Dodgers history has played more games. He played shortstop exclusively from 1974–1983 and alternated playing time at second base, shortstop and the outfield for his final three seasons. Tommy John, who pitched in the major leagues for 26 years, called Russell "the best shortstop that ever played behind me." Coaching career Russell became a coach on manager Tommy Lasorda's staff in 1987. In 1992–93, he piloted the Dodgers' Triple-A farm club, the Albuquerque Dukes of the Pacific Coast League, but posted losing records each season. He then rejoined Lasorda and the Los Angeles coaching staff in 1994 and was considered by general manager Fred Claire and team owner Peter O'Malley to be the heir apparent to Lasorda's job.