He was struggling to stroll, battling to speak, combating to assume.
But he by no means forgot the Dodgers. He couldn’t overlook the Dodgers.
In the first days following surgical procedure to take away two brain tumors, Dodgers team historian Mark Langill was having bother recalling every little thing however the legacy that lives completely in the deepest blue half of his soul.
“The strangest thing,” Langill mentioned. “Ninety percent of my brain was temporarily affected, but the Dodger part never went away.”
During a stroll round the Huntington Hospital hallway, an orderly requested him his room quantity and, because of the Dodgers, he remembered.
It was Ted Sizemore’s Dodger rookie quantity, mixed with Sizemore’s quantity when he returned to the Dodgers seven seasons later.
4105
As he continued his restoration, daily melting into the subsequent, nurses would attempt to hold him alert by writing every new date on a grease board.
Thanks to the Dodgers, he by no means misplaced monitor.
Somebody wrote, May 1, and Langill instantly mentioned, “Brooklyn Robins against the Boston Braves, 26 innings in 1920, longest game in major league history.”
On May 5 he mentioned, “Russell Martin’s debut in 2006.”
Dodgers historian Mark Langill was rushed to the hospital and had surgical procedure to take away two brain tumors in late April after showing unsteady at Dodger Stadium. He returned to work final week.
(Brian DeCloux / Spectrum SportsNet LA)
On May 7 he mentioned, “Russell Martin’s first home run against the Milwaukee Brewers in 2006.”
Nearly two months later, Langill is out of the hospital and combating to beat brain cancer with the staunchest of allies.
His sword is Dodger reminiscences. His defend is Dodger highlights. He is aware of extra about Dodger historical past than any residing human, and that historical past is carrying him by way of the rocky floor the place every little thing else is unsure.
“All this obscure Dodger stuff stayed in my head,” mentioned Langill, 59. “Whatever they cut out, they didn’t cut that.”
This reliance on Dodger landmarks truly started on April 25, the day he was rushed to the hospital after behaving unsteadily at Dodger Stadium.
As he lay in the dashing ambulance, all he may take into consideration was, it was flag day!
“Who can forget that?” he mentioned. “April 25, 1976, the most famous play in the history of Dodger Stadium was made by an opposing player, Rick Monday saving the American flag.”
Later that day, whereas being inserted into the MRI machine, he assured the technicians that he was being calmed by the reminiscence of … Andy Etchebarren?
“The 1966 World Series, he played for the Baltimore Orioles, he was the last man to bat against Sandy Koufax, and…he won the starting job in the spring because Dick Brown had a brain tumor,” Langill defined. “I survived the MRI by playing baseball brain tumor trivia.”
And when he discovered that his surgeon could be Dr. Celene Mulholland? He by no means once more forgot that identify as a result of, of course, Terry Mulholland pitched for the Dodgers in 2001 and 2002.
Only Langill, it appears, would bear in mind a celebrated neurosurgeon as a result of of a pitcher who graced the Dodgers with a 1-1 file and 6.60 ERA.
“I can’t help it,” he mentioned with a chuckle. “It’s who I am.”
It’s what he’s been for the final 30 years, a pleasant human trove of data that continuously shares with gamers and followers alike. A former sports activities author, Langill started working in the team’s publications division earlier than spending the final 22 years as baseball’s first official team historian, a task which places him at the forefront of the team’s highly effective connection between its current and previous.
“Mark can talk about something that happened in 1965 as easily as something that happened yesterday,” mentioned Lon Rosen, Dodgers govt vice chairman and chief working officer. “He brings great comfort to everyone because you can ask him anything and he always has the right answer.”
If a former participant needs to relive glory days, he calls Langill, who derives pleasure from aiding Dodgers each well-known and nameless, from the day of their retirement till their loss of life. He has offered reminiscences and memorabilia for a lot of memorial companies and even served as an impromptu eulogizer at Willie Davis’ funeral.
“Mark has always been my number-one asset to continue to understand the greatness of the Dodgers,” mentioned Orel Hershiser, former pitcher and present broadcaster. “He brings another level of expertise and passion with the details he remembers at a moment’s notice.”
If a fan needs to embrace a particular reminiscence, they’re additionally directed to Langill, who likes to print out historic remnants to remind people of their happiest Dodger moments.
“He is everybody’s brother, father, cousin, a trusted family member who remembers everything and is happy to share this knowledge with everyone,” mentioned Rosen.
In reality, in his final sport at Dodger Stadium earlier than falling ailing, Langill hosted an 80-year-old girl whose first sport was at Ebbets Field in 1954 when Don Newcombe was pitching.
Langill stunned her by printing out the field rating from that precise sport, handing it to her, then they each basked in her marvel at reliving her childhood.
“Suddenly she’s 10 years old again and sitting with her grandfather,” Langill recalled. “She said it was raining that day, and she talked about what it was like to be a 10-year-old at her first game and … to actually see her relive all that was priceless.”
A couple of days later Langill was spinning extra nice tales for brand spanking new Dodger workers throughout a stadium tour when he grew to become unsteady. He ended up at Huntington Hospital, the place a number of days later Mulholland pitched an ideal sport in eradicating two tumors the mixed measurement of a lemon.
Before the surgical procedure, Langill ready himself by watching a laptop computer video of Game 2 of the 1974 World Series between the Dodgers and the Oakland Athletics.
“That’s the one game in that series that the Dodgers won, and it was won by my first favorite Dodgers team with my all-time favorite Dodger Jimmy Wynn,” Langill mentioned. “I figured, if I’m going to go out, I’m going to go out my way.”
He additionally remembered that it was the World Series the place supervisor Tom Lasorda wore two completely different cleats as a result of he had two completely different shoe contracts.
“Those are the little stories that make Dodger history so special,” Langill mentioned.
Eric Karros, left, with Steve Sax throwing out the ceremonial first pitch earlier than Game 1 of the 2022 NLDS at Dodger Stadium, considers Mark Langill “the caretaker of Dodger history.”
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
As the surgical procedure approached and it got here time to hunt peace, Langill stored desirous about Gary Cooper’s quote whereas portraying Lou Gehrig, “All the arguing in the world can’t change the decision of the umpire.”
He defined, “Some people in that situation rely on Scripture. I also rely on ‘Pride of the Yankees’.”
Throughout the ordeal, his restoration buoyed by his longtime accomplice, Patty Hirata, and registered nurse nephew Michael Rayala, Langill shortly bonded with varied hospital staff by way of the Dodgers. He doesn’t bear in mind a lot about the bodily particulars of his keep, however he remembers discussing Shohei Ohtani with one orderly after which touring again down reminiscence lane together with his first bodily therapist.
“Mark has always been my No. 1 asset to continue to understand the greatness of the Dodgers.”
— Orel Hershiser
“He said his earliest Dodger memory was when he was 4 years old and his mom took him to LAX and I knew exactly what he was talking about,” Langill mentioned. “Oct. 23, 1957, Red Patterson arranged for a pep rally to welcome the team to Los Angeles.”
During his rehabilitation, whereas initially combating every little thing however his Dodger data, Langill was strengthened by the method it linked him together with his uncomfortable environment.
“It’s like knowing 100 languages,” he mentioned. “You can talk to anybody at any age if it involves the Dodgers.”
During his a few years with the Dodgers, he had made many of these distinctive connections, his fixed outreach making him arguably the franchise’s most essential public consultant.
There was the longtime Brooklyn Dodgers fan who was on his deathbed and needed to listen to yet one more Dodger story earlier than he handed. His daughter handed the telephone to Langill, who proceeded to take the man on an audio tour of all the Brooklyn Dodger memorabilia unfold round the stadium.
“I told him, ‘We’re here for you,’” Langill recalled.
Then there’s his annual reminder to Eric Karros each May 23.
“Happy Stan Belinda Day,” he’ll inform him as a result of, on that day in 1992, Karros established himself as a future star by hitting a three-run walk-off homer in opposition to the Pirates’ Stan Belinda.
You can look it up. Langill’s reminiscence of Dodger historical past is bulletproof.
“With him, we never need a fact checker,” mentioned Rosen. “He’s right every time.”
“He’s basically become the caretaker of Dodger history,” mentioned Karros of Langill. “Anything you want to know, he’s your guy.”
Then there was the story of Roy Gleason, a former outfielder who doubled in his solely major-league plate look for the Dodgers in 1963. After that season Gleason was despatched to Vietnam and by no means performed main league baseball once more, ending his profession with that one at-bat, all the time questioning if anyone on the Dodgers remembered.
Langill remembered. Langill all the time remembers. And when he heard that Gleason was feeling disconnected from a company that certainly had seemingly forgotten him, Langill invited Gleason to Dodger Stadium in the summer time of 2003.
Once there, Langill accompanied Gleason to a wall that incorporates most of the names on the Dodgers’ all-time roster. In a scene that introduced each males to the verge of tears, Gleason’s identify was there.
“I was surprised that anyone in the organization even remembered my name,” mentioned Gleason just lately. “But Mark took the time to go into the Dodger archives and research my history.”
Later that season, Gleason threw out the first pitch and was stunned with a 1963 World Series ring.
“The best night of my life…a night I will never forget,” mentioned Gleason. ‘And it all happened because of Mark Langill.”
This season Dodger history will have a new entry, a new landmark, a new hero, the date of June 17.
“That’s the anniversary of the first common season ‘Freeway Series’ sport between Dodgers and Angels,” Langill recalled. “Dodgers won on Todd Zeile’s walk-off home run against Troy Percival.”
Well, sure, however that is about one thing greater.
June 17 must be eternally often known as the day Mark Langill not solely recorded Dodger historical past, however made it.
It is the day he returned to work.
