Al Ferrara began his big league career with the Dodgers in 1963 and, at 27, blasted 16 homers with an .812 OPS in 1967 only to have a fractured ankle limit him to two games the following year.
That he was on former Dodgers boss Buzzie Bavasi’s list of expansion players to select for the Padres’ inaugural squad, according to an account in the book “The New Boys of Summer,” was a dying favor to Fresco Thompson, who’d succeeded Bavasi as general manager in L.A.
Fellow outfielder Jimmy Williams and shortstop Zoilo Versalles were also included in Thompson’s request.