Why the Dodgers?

In the midst of the World Series, without my hometown Padres involved, I find myself rooting for the LA Dodgers. Why is that?

The team got their name when streetcars roamed Brooklyn and they had to be dodged to stay in one piece. In 1955 I was watching baseball for the first time on television having begun to play the game. I saw Jackie Robinson steal home in the 1955 World Series in which the then Brooklyn Dodgers beat the New York Yankees for the first time. There was an unsuccessful attempt to steal home last night by the Rays, which, was apparently the first attempt since Robinson’s feat.

That was a 65 year stretch. Though it is a shorter stretch, it has been 32 years since the LA Dodgers won the World Series. We were living in LA in 1988 and were thrilled with the Kirk Gibson home run and the LA, Series victory.

Having followed the Dodgers first as a child and later over 16 years when we lived in Ventura and then LA, a Dodger victory would be sweet. That’s particularly true since Clayton Kershaw’s record, at 32 years of age, lacks that wonderful victory. Go Dodgers!