the joshua tree

in the spring of 1987, u2 released 'the joshua tree'.  it was/is their best selling album and it is chock full of good songs.  also in the spring of 1987, the dodgers broke camp without a member of their vaunted infield for the first time since 1968.  bill russell had retired.

there are a few songs from the joshua tree that might fit with russell here - 'exit' could work, but 'with or without you' is probably better.  the name on the front of the jersey remains, but the names on the back always change.  not that that is what the song is about, but the title works for my purposes.

the team itself, meanwhile, was 'running to stand still' in '87.  they repeated their 73-89 record of 1986, but moved up to 4th place in the nl west.  still, that's the third worst record the dodgers have posted since the move to the west coast.

the 1987 team was fairly recognizable in that it had the same folks that had helped win the nl west in 1985 (pedro guerrero, orel hershiser, bob welch, mike scioscia, steve sax, fernando valenzuela, etc.) but it also gave playing time to the last gasps of bill madlock, ken landreaux, and phil garner (although madlock and garner would both play for a short time after leaving la).  heck, even ron davis was on the '87 dodgers.

not that i remember ron davis as a dodger.  i was pretty busy with other things that summer, including listening to the joshua tree. a lot.