HBO: Brooklyn Dodgers

[greybeard]

July 11; even for a non-Brooklynite, it should be a terrific show (saw it and it was terrific but I can't speak for the rest of humanity who must of course hold themselves cheap since they did not fight with us there during the mid fifties, '55 in particular), There were several shows done on the Dodgers of old, but if this is the one that explains the move to LA, it really is worth seeing for that reason alone.

[dukemomLA]

I was a little kid when the Dodgers left Brooklyn. But as a Jerseyite I had spent many a day/night on my Dad's knee rooting for those Brooklynites. I have lived in L.A. (back and forth to NYC & DC) since 1978 -- and I STILL HATE the Dodgers. I attend Dodger games often -- and of course, usually, root again them (....as to almost 50% of the fans). I only cheer for them when they're playing someone like Atlanta, or Philly, or another team ready to overtake my beloved Mets.

How the Dodgers accessed Chavez Ravine is still a disgust. (Although I don't blame the team players for that). But a lot of "revered" Dodger players have always gotten under my skin. (i.e. Steve Garvey). Whatever.

Long live the memory of Ebbets Field.

[4decadedukie]

Living on Long Island and “far” from the city in the ‘40s, ‘50s, and ‘60s, the Dodgers were my team (and, with the Yanks, the Giants plus a much smaller MLB, New York was THE baseball capital). Like dukemomLA, I have never forgiven Walter O’Malley for moving the team to LA; it was the termination of my youth and innocence.

[dkbaseball]

A friend of mine grew up down the street from Ebbets. Though his family headed west two years before the Dodgers did, only in recent years has he become reconciled with the entire sport of baseball. Regularly refers to O'Malley as one of the three great villains of the 20th century, along with Hitler and Stalin.

[greybeard]

If this is the documentary I think it is, then you guys have to watch. In one of the two documentaries I saw, I think it was last year, the director told the story of how O'Malley engineered the deal in great detail. It was worser than we remember as kids, much worser. One of the keys to the deal was getting the Giants to move too. No Giants, no league approval. Reportedly, O'Malley's guys informed him that there was a week or so window when what became the Candlestick Park site was devoid of wind and rain, was blissfully calm and warm. O'Malley took the Giants' owner out there during that period; the deal was made shortly after that. Hard to believe that that actually was the deal maker, but the overvoice said it was.

Could never really root for a baseball team after they left. We moved from Brooklyn to the Island when I was 10; my high school and college years coincided with the Mets rise. My old man had a business a stone's throw from Shea and had season tickets 13 rows up from first base. Went maybe three or four times; passed on the 69 series (I was away at college but it did not dawn on me to come in for a game, 4 1/2 hour car ride).

As I wrote in at the close of an essay my Junior Year in high school on the NY Regents exam, the essay was about my move from Brooklyn to Long Island, "But, I'll never forget good old 83rd Street, or the guys on the block, or the candy store on the corner, or the Brooklyn Dodgers, or most of all how it felt when I had to give them all up." peace, my brothers.

[asbcheeks]

I have lived in L.A. (back and forth to NYC & DC) since 1978

So you did the same thing that the Dodgers did, yet you object to their doing it?

[dukemomLA]

Yeah, my work has brought me back and forth from coast to coast. HOWEVER -- I never screwed the sports world while doing it.

[Windsor]

For (Brooklyn) Dodger fans specifically and baseball fans in general I recommend:

The Boys of Summer by Roger Kahn. It's one of my favorites.

Windsor

[hurleyfor3]

Reportedly, O'Malley's guys informed him that there was a week or so window when what became the Candlestick Park site was devoid of wind and rain, was blissfully calm and warm. O'Malley took the Giants' owner out there during that period; the deal was made shortly after that.

Let me guess -- first week of October.