In 1981, the Dodgers were confident they would beat the Yankees and win the World Series

The Dodgers lost the first two games of a 1981 National League playoff series in Houston, both in walk-off fashion, before storming back and winning three straight games against the Astros in Los Angeles to win the series that ended in the first and second half – the half league winner from the season that was interrupted by strikes.

That secured them a spot in the best-of-five NL championship series, where the Dodgers erased a two-games-to-one deficit by winning twice in icy Montreal, including a 2-1 Game 5 thriller in which Rick Monday hit a game-winning two-out homer in the ninth inning of what Expos fans still refer to as “Blue Monday.”

So when the Dodgers lost the first two games of the 1981 World Series at Yankee Stadium, there was no panic or fear on the five-hour flight from New York to Los Angeles for Games 3, 4 and 5.

“We were actually pretty confident,” said Ron Cey, now 76 and the third baseman on the 1981 team. “It was like our backs were against the wall… again… and we had to respond.”

Members of the Dodgers' 1981 World Series championship team pose with their trophy before a game in 2021.

(Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press)

Cey provided a powerful counterattack, hitting a three-run home run in the first inning of Game 3, a two-out pitch that turned the series and led the Dodgers to four straight wins and a championship in the last World Series meeting between two of baseball's most storied franchises, who will resume one of baseball's oldest rivalries in October when they open the 120th Fall Classic at Dodger Stadium on Friday night.

“Anyone who ignores the momentum has probably never competed on a big stage, because that (Cey homer) was the momentum right there,” said Monday, now 78 and in his 31st year as a radio host for the team .

“Our club was just stupid enough to think that despite losing 2-0 in the series we could come back and win this thing. I see a lot of the 1981 club in this year’s team, where they just never believe it’s impossible to win a ballgame.”

It took a series of clutch hits, dazzling defense, a gutsy pitching performance from a 20-year-old phenom that started the “Fernandomania” trend this spring, a strong start from a veteran left-hander and a deep reservoir of resilience for these Dodgers to to avenge World Series losses to the Yankees in 1977 and 1978.

“Most of us still had a sour taste in our mouths in 1977-78, and I think that was an added incentive for us,” Monday said. “It was a chance for redemption.”

Fernando Valenzuela was a teenager in Mexico when Yankees slugger Reggie Jackson hit three home runs in Game 6 to clinch the 1977 Series and the 1978 Series with his controversial hip-check of a potential double-play relay throw swung to first base in Game 4 for New York.

But the pudgy screwball specialist with offbeat power emerged as the team's ace in 1981, going 13-7 with a 2.48 ERA in 25 starts and winning NL Cy Young and Rookie of the Year awards, one Performance that gave him a long lead heading into the postseason. In the eyes of some, the leash is too long.

Valenzuela, who died Tuesday at age 63, didn't pitch well in Game 3 in Los Angeles, giving up four earned runs and nine hits, walking seven and striking out six. But manager Tommy Lasorda refused to shut him down, allowing Valenzuela to throw 147 shots and win the entire game 5-4.

“I don’t know if Tommy watched that game closely,” Cey said, “because he let Fernando go the distance.”

Valenzuela gave up two runs in the second and third innings as the Yankees took a 4-3 lead. The Dodgers scored twice in the fifth, one on an RBI double by Pedro Guerrero, to take a 5-4 lead.

Dodgers pitcher Fernando Valezula (34) is congratulated by teammates Mike Scioscia (14) and Ron Cey (10) after playing a complete game and beating the Yankees 5-4 in Game Three of the 1981 World Series at Dodger Stadium.

(Robert Lachman)

Cey thwarted a Yankees rally in the eighth when, with two on and no outs, he made a spectacular diving catch of a bunt that Bobby Murcer popped into foul territory and threw to first base to double Larry Milbourne. Valenzuela duly retired in the ninth inning, one of only two error-free innings that night.

“I was sitting on the bench watching the game and thought, 'Wow, he's sticking around,'” then-Dodgers pitcher Jerry Reuss, now 75, said of Lasorda. “Fernando's tank was empty because we were pitching every fourth day, and we had to go the distance to beat Houston and Montreal… I can understand why Fernando was out of gas because I was out of gas too.”

Even if Reuss brought the Dodgers to the brink of a title at full power.

The Dodgers erased a 6-3 deficit in the sixth inning of Game 4 when Jay Johnstone hit a two-run pinch-hit home run, Jackson lost a fly ball in the sun in right field on a two-base error and Bill Russell hit an RBI single. The Dodgers scored twice in the seventh (Steve Yeager's sacrificial fly, Davey Lopes' RBI single) to hold on for an 8-7 victory.

“Our confidence increased after we evened the series,” Monday said. “But when you climb Mount Everest, you don’t stop halfway up with a high-five.”

Reuss brought the Dodgers closer to the lead when he gave up one run and five hits, struck out six and walked three in Game 5. Guerrero and Yeager hit back-to-back homers against Yankees ace Ron Guidry in the seventh, turning a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 Dodgers win.

“It seemed like the Yankees had a man on base every inning until the seventh and there was a constant threat,” Reuss said. “We also played from behind for seven innings.

“Then we hit a couple of home runs, the momentum in that game and the series changed, and within a week we were world champions and I was on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. It gives you an idea of ​​how quickly fate can change.”

The Dodgers defeated the Yankees 9-2 in the decisive Game 6 in New York, but their fifth World Series title in franchise history came with a dose of drama.

Cey, the burly slugger nicknamed “Penguin,” was hit in the head by a Goose Gossage fastball in the eighth inning of Game 5 and carted off the field. While the Dodgers were heading to the airport for their flight to New York, Cey went to Centinela Hospital, where he was diagnosed with a concussion.

Outfielder Pedro Guerrero, catcher Steve Yeager and third baseman Ron Cey, who were named Most Valuable Players in the Dodgers' 1981 World Series win over the Yankees, pose for a photo.

(Uncredited/Associated Press)

“Based on today’s protocol, that would have been it, I would have been done for the series,” Cey said. “That would have hurt a lot worse than getting hit in the head by Gossage.”

Cey was cleared to fly on the day off before Game 6, which was postponed due to rain, giving him an additional day of rest. Cey arrived at Yankee Stadium early before Game 6, received a new helmet with an ear flap and underwent a series of tests to determine whether he could play.

“Tommy followed me around like a shadow dog all day and said, 'How are you feeling?' How are you feeling?' said Cey. “He showed me a lineup card in his office and the cleanup area was empty. He said, “This is where your name goes.” ”

Cey pitched and had two hits and an RBI in the decisive win, but left after seven innings due to dizziness. He batted .350 (seven for 20) with one home run and six RBIs in the series and shared MVP honors with Guerrero, who hit five RBIs in the deciding game, and Yeager, who hit two home runs in the series.

In a last hurrah for longtime Dodgers infield Cey, Russell, Lopes and Steve Garvey, the four players earned their only World Series rings.

“You're sitting at the top of the mountain, you've reached the pinnacle of success and then you want to have a World Series MVP on board?” Cey said. “It couldn’t be better.”

With the Dodgers and Yankees playing in the World Series for the first time in 43 years, memories of that 1981 series and a great rivalry come flooding back in October, especially for Reuss, who admittedly had lost touch with the game over the past decade.

“After I wrote my book (in 2014), I really didn’t think much about baseball,” said Reuss, who lives in Las Vegas. “…Growing up in St. Louis, I became interested in baseball when I was six or seven years old when the Yankees and Dodgers played in the 1955 and 1956 World Series. A store in my small town of Overland, Missouri, Brockman's TV & Appliance, put the largest TV available – a 27-inch black and white TV – in the window and a speaker outside so when I got home from school, stand on that Sidewalk and watch the games.

“So when the Dodgers won (the NL on Sunday night), it rekindled the embers that I thought had long since gone out. This series has kept me interested in every World Series since I retired from the game 34 years ago. Why? Because it’s Dodgers-Yankees.”