LOS ANGELES _ Ron Fairly, a former USC standout who played his first 11-plus years in the big leagues with the Los Angeles Dodgers and closed his 21-year career with the California Angels in 1978, died Wednesday in Indian Wells because of cancer. He was 81.
Fairly, a graduate of Long Beach (Calif.) Jordan High School, turned down a basketball scholarship from John Wooden and UCLA to attend USC. He played only one season with the Trojans, but he hit .348 with a team-high nine homers and 67 RBIs as a sophomore center fielder to help USC win the 1958 national championship.
By the end of that summer, the outfielder/first baseman had advanced through two minor league levels and was promoted to the Dodgers in September. He spent the next 11 seasons with the Dodgers, hitting .260 with 90 homers and 541 RBIs. His career was interrupted only by a six-month stint of active duty in the Army in 1960.
Fairly was on Dodgers teams that won World Series titles in 1959 over the Chicago White Sox and 1963 over the New York Yankees, but he made his biggest postseason impact in 1965, when he hit .379 (11 for 29) with two homers, three doubles and six RBIs in the Dodgers' seven-game World Series win over the Minnesota Twins. He was one of only three Dodgers players from 1946-1982 to wear No. 6 _ the others being Carl Furillo and Steve Garvey.
He was traded to Montreal for Manny Mota and Maury Wills on June 11, 1969, and hit .276 with 80 homers and 331 RBIs in six seasons (1969-74) with the Expos. Fairly made the National League All-Star team in 1973.
He finished his career with brief stops in St. Louis, Oakland, Toronto, and with the Angels, hitting .279 with 19 homers and 64 RBIs and making the American League All-Star team with the Blue Jays in 1977. He batted .217 with 10 homers and 40 RBIs in 91 games for the Angels in 1978. He had a career average of .266 with 215 homers and 931 RBIs in 2,442 games.
Fairly transitioned to radio and television broadcasting after his playing career, joining KTLA in Los Angeles as a sports anchor in 1979 and calling games for the Angels (1980-86), San Francisco Giants (1987-92) and Seattle Mariners (1993-2006, 2007, 2010 and 2011).
He was inducted into the USC Athletics Hall of Fame in 1997, and he co-wrote a book with former Los Angeles Times sportswriter Steve Springer titled "Fairly at Bat: My 50 Years in Baseball, From the Batter's Box to the Broadcast Booth."
"The worst day in a baseball uniform was better than the best day I could have had in any other career," Fairly wrote.
He is survived by two sons, Steve and Patrick.
