Under legendary manager Tommy Lasorda, the 1988 Los Angeles Dodgers won 94 games during the regular season, winning the National League West, before dispatching the New York Mets in seven games to win the pennant. The 1988 World Series would find the Dodgers squaring off against the powerhouse Oakland Athletics, winners of 104 regular season games followed by a 4-0 sweep of the Boston Red Sox in the ALCS.

     Oakland featured the intimidating 1-2 punch of the “Bash Brothers” – sluggers Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire. However, as the old axiom suggests, pitching wins…. and there wasn’t a better pitcher on the planet that season than Dodgers ace Orel Hershiser. While winning the 1988 NL Cy Young Award, Hershiser led the league with 23 wins (posting a 2.26 ERA) and eight shutouts. He also set the all-time record by pitching a remarkable 59 consecutive scoreless innings, passing former Dodger Don Drysdale. Fellow starters Tim Leary (17-11) and Tim Belcher (12-6) provided plenty of additional pitching help, with each posting a matching 2.91 ERA. That pitching was plenty enough to dispatch the A’s, as the Dodgers won the championship four games to one in a Fall Classic remembered for Kirk Gibson’s famous walk-off homer in Game 1. For good measure, Hershiser won the Series MVP, going 2-0 with a 1.00 ERA.

     Presented here is a 1988 Los Angeles Dodgers World Championship 14K staff ring. The face of the ring features one larger diamond set on a beautiful blue stone, which is surrounded by 20 smaller diamonds. “WORLD CHAMPION DODGERS 1988” – along with two small images of a baseball - appears in relief around the bezel setting. The name “LANTIGUA” is shown on the left shank, above the Dodgers’ famed “LA” logo, while “Dodgers” is proudly shown atop the World Series Trophy on the ring’s opposite shank. This ring weighs approximately 39.6 grams and is an approximate size 11 ½. On the inside of the band is stamped LGB (the Balfour company trademark) and 14K.

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