A day that still lives in infamy…
Fifty years ago today, Walter O’Malley announced that the Dodgers were moving from Brooklyn, New York to Los Angeles, California.
Not that we know people who are BITTER about that sort of thing, oh no. But just ask any Brooklyn Dodgers fan this question: You’re in a room with Hitler, Stalin and Walter O’Malley and you have a gun with two bullets: Who do you shoot? And of course the Dodger fans would say, "You shoot O’Malley twice."
I always loved that joke.Most Brooklyn Dodger fans, however, are now in assisted living facilities in Deerfield Beach, Fla. The rest root for the Mets.
I have been a lifelong Met fan. The summer before I turned 8 I was sat down by my mother's uncle Tom and told "You don't have to be a Met fan but to be a member of this family you can't be a Yankee fan. And that team out in California ain't the Dodgers"
Meanwhile, us happy Cleveland fans are picturing George Steinbrenner weeping.Which is how it should be.Tony Isabella
You'd be amazed how many New Yorkers feel the same way. Yesterday, CBS radio did an online poll and I think about three-quarters of those responding said George should hold onto Joe Torre. The day before, George said he's fire Joe if the Yankees blew it. Screw George; that's like telling the batter his shoelace is untied after he grounded to short. If CBS still owned the Yankees, they could put Katie Couric in charge and deal with two problems at once.
Nah I'm rooting for a Rockies/Sox World Series with Boston winning it all. Although I did a happy dance after the game last night for the Indians; but that's more so I can root for Boston without getting crap for rooting against the Yankees from friends.
Steinbrenner is originally from Cleveland… so I'll just leave that thought right there…..
Ummm… doesn't he live in Florida now, Richard? And, ummm, don't you live in Florida now? So, which one of you is the former New Yorker?
Did any of you guys see the recent HBO doc on the Brooklyn Dodgers? The real culprit wasn't O'Malley, but the Darth Vader of New York City politics in the 50s and 60s: Robert Moses. O'Malley justifiably wanted a new stadium in Brooklyn. Moses insisted they should move out to the fringes of Queens as part of his effort to make New York into a freeway town, essentially the east coast L.A. O'Malley got the kind of offer from the real L.A. that Moses refused to give. Moses ultimately got his way by putting the replacement Mets in Flushing. But if you are going to still villify anyone for the move, put the blame on the man who consistently conspired to destroy everything that made NY unique and consistently undercut any attempt to keep the Dodgers in Brooklyn: Robert Moses.
I thought I'd left that thought right there, Mike. Damn!