Even though I like baseball in general and enjoy watching good matchups regardless of the teams involved, I've always have a favorite that I root for in any sports.
So during the playoffs last fall, I've gone through Wikipedia articles, team history section on MLB.com for every major league team that has been playing in the pre-sixties era.
As it's plainly obvious from the banner, I've chosen the Los Angeles Dodgers. Dating as far back as 1884 when they went by the name of Brooklyn Atlantics, the Dodgers played their home games at legendary Ebbets field in baseball's hotbed, the city of New York. Causing great disappointment among Brooklyn faithful, just three years after winning their first World Series, Dodgers relocated to the west coast in 1958, settling in Los Angeles. Appropriately enough, their long standing rivalry with the New York Giants didn't end in 1958, since the Giants also relocated to Pacific coast that same year, going to San Francisco. Dodgers were the first major league team to cross the color divide, signing HOF Jackie Robinson, who played his first game in the majors on April 15th, 1947. The 'bums' as they were nicknamed, always had great pitchers - Don Newcombe, HOF Don Drysdale, Claude Osteen, HOF Don Sutton, Fernando Valenzuela, Orel Hershiser, Chan Ho Park, Derek Lowe, Brad Penny. And I've just recently finished reading a book on their perhaps best hurler ever, Sandy Koufax. HOF's biography, which is mixed with flashbacks to each inning of his 1965 perfect game vs Cubs, was superbly written by Jane Leavy (1). But not only pitchers, other positions with the Dodgers were manned by some great players throughout the years: HOF Pee Wee Reese (great leader, who played a big role in acceptance of Robinson as the first African-American in the majors (2); these two also made up one of the greatest double-play combos in baseball), Roy Campanella, Gil Hodges, Maury Wills, Kirk Gibson, Mike Piazza, Paul LoDuca, Shawn Green to name a few.
Clearly a team with great tradition, as evident from (just some of) historical facts listed above. All this and more enticed me to embrace the LA Dodgers as my favorite.
Go Dodgers!
1 - Amazon link to Leavy's Book: US readers, UK/Europe readers
2 - Link to photo of a sculpture in KeySpan park in Brooklyn, NY depicting Pee Wee Reese and Jackie Robinson (posted on Flickr.com by member ElissaSCA)
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Sharing the passion.
Well, this is it. Just can't keep this to myself anymore. I'm a regular European guy, who likes sports, but with a minor flaw. I follow sports played in the USA. Yes, that would be hockey, football (the american kind) and basketball among the more known ones.
You're now probably scratching your head thinking: 'Why didn't he mention baseball?' Well, keep reading, the best part is just ahead.
To get it off my chest I'll admit to something in this first post. Ever since I was a kid in grade school - when I was more impressed by the show and visual elements of the US pro sports - and up until present day, when I understand the rules and follow the major sports more closely, I was mostly a fan of hockey, basketball (kind of logical on this one, since hoops is very popular on the old continent) and football. In fact, I was not much into baseball at all. I did know the reigning World Series champions and some of the more known players, but that was mostly it. Even went as far as to say that the game was boring to me, mainly because of lengthy time needed to play one game and due to the fact I had little knowledge beyond the basic rules of the sport.
But my view on baseball changed drastically last September. I said to myself: 'Why not give it a chance?' So I did. I read the rules and some history of the game and what do you know? It grabbed me! The fact that it was late September and the playoffs were around the corner just added fuel to the fire. And already those first few weeks of my baseball experience gave me some amazing moments. The positive one was without a doubt wild card Tigers winning over the Yankees in ALDS and their subsequent reaching the World Series. The downside - unfortunately - was Mets' sweep of the Dodgers in NLDS.
And yes, feel free to pounce on me for tagging the sport with the 'boring' label. :) I'm just glad that I realized how wrong I was about baseball and it's anything but boring! It's a great sport, despite some 'dark spots' in the recent years and here's one fan who will be drawn to it until his eyes and ears give up on him, which hopefully won't happen anytime soon. As for the other major sports? Well, one-timers, rushing TDs and beyond-the-arcs are now occupying the back seat.
This blog of mine is purely about the great game played on the green diamond. Don't expect other major sports to be included and reflected on in my writings (this first post being an exception), like I said, they're taking the back seat.
Enjoy the game!
You're now probably scratching your head thinking: 'Why didn't he mention baseball?' Well, keep reading, the best part is just ahead.
To get it off my chest I'll admit to something in this first post. Ever since I was a kid in grade school - when I was more impressed by the show and visual elements of the US pro sports - and up until present day, when I understand the rules and follow the major sports more closely, I was mostly a fan of hockey, basketball (kind of logical on this one, since hoops is very popular on the old continent) and football. In fact, I was not much into baseball at all. I did know the reigning World Series champions and some of the more known players, but that was mostly it. Even went as far as to say that the game was boring to me, mainly because of lengthy time needed to play one game and due to the fact I had little knowledge beyond the basic rules of the sport.
But my view on baseball changed drastically last September. I said to myself: 'Why not give it a chance?' So I did. I read the rules and some history of the game and what do you know? It grabbed me! The fact that it was late September and the playoffs were around the corner just added fuel to the fire. And already those first few weeks of my baseball experience gave me some amazing moments. The positive one was without a doubt wild card Tigers winning over the Yankees in ALDS and their subsequent reaching the World Series. The downside - unfortunately - was Mets' sweep of the Dodgers in NLDS.
And yes, feel free to pounce on me for tagging the sport with the 'boring' label. :) I'm just glad that I realized how wrong I was about baseball and it's anything but boring! It's a great sport, despite some 'dark spots' in the recent years and here's one fan who will be drawn to it until his eyes and ears give up on him, which hopefully won't happen anytime soon. As for the other major sports? Well, one-timers, rushing TDs and beyond-the-arcs are now occupying the back seat.
This blog of mine is purely about the great game played on the green diamond. Don't expect other major sports to be included and reflected on in my writings (this first post being an exception), like I said, they're taking the back seat.
Enjoy the game!
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