The Last Innocents: The Collision of the Turbulent Sixties and the Los Angeles Dodgers is a book by author Michael Leahy, centered around the Los Angeles Dodgers teams of the 1960s. The book was the winner of the 2016 Casey Award as the best baseball book of the year.
The book examines the tumultuous political and social changes, paranoia and racism of the 1960s through the eyes of the players themselves. It centers around seven "principals": Maury Wills, Wes Parker, Sandy Koufax, Tommy Davis, Jeff Torborg, Dick Tracewski, and Lou Johnson. Other prominent subjects in the book include: Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley, general manager Buzzie Bavasi, and broadcaster Vin Scully.
The "Principals" Tommy Davis Lou Johnson Sandy Koufax Wes Parker Jeff Torborg Dick Tracewski Maury Wills
Awards and recognition
Michael Leahy was awarded the 2016 Casey Award for The Last Innocents.
The book was nominated as a finalist for the 2017 PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing.
On July 12, 2017, Leahy was invited to speak at the Baseball Hall of Fame to discuss The Last Innocents and its background.