Starting tonight on HBO!! BROOKLYN DODGERS: THE GHOSTS OF FLATBUSH 8 pm Wednesday On April 15, 1947, the Brooklyn Dodgers made sports history when Jackie Robinson became the first African-American to play in the major leagues. Ten years later, they took their game to LA for good. Catch the HBO Sports documentary Brooklyn Dodgers: The Ghosts Of Flatbush - the story of how the "Boys of Summer" forever changed professional sports.
It's a rainy day here so I watched it. It was really very good. I learned a lot of stuff, I was a Dodger fan from 1955 through 1962 when the Colt .45's came to Houston and then I was sort of a dual fan for awhile and gave them up completely by the time Drysdale retired. Things I learned. 1. O'Malley tried very hard to keep the Dodgers in Brooklyn and it was Robert Moses who was the heavy. O'Malley had a plan to keep them in Brookly and in fact to build the first domed stadium. Robert Moses was determined to build a ballpark in Flushing, Queens. Moses won. 2. I'd forgotten that Mickey Mantle didn't play in the 7th game of the '55 WS. 3. I didn't remember how young Johnny Podres was when he won that 7th game. 4. The Giants have always been cheaters. They had a telescope in CF to steal signs, it was the key to their incredible winning streak to catch the Dodgers at the end of the season in 1951. 5. The '53 Dodgers were probably the best NL team ever. 6. Duke Snider hated Orange and Black so much he didn't enjoy Halloween!! And a lot of other stuff. It was a great documentary. I'd suggest even non-Dodger fans would like it...cough Krebs , cough Jif, cough Sid. Terry
I am not a "non-Dodger fan." I never disliked the Dogers. I'm like millions of NL fans of my generation who had an affinity for the Dodgers because we hated the Yankees. Like you, Terry, as I grew older I developed much stronger loyalties to other teams based on where I lived, in my case the Cards, Cubs, and Reds, but always NL. Always.