Memories of Brooklyn

[Mays1951]

Please lets move on. Walter O'Malley had the vision to see that the Automobile and Urban Flight were going to shape the future marketing of Americas Past time. Brooklyn was becoming more Black and Brown, I am Black and I will tell you that is what contributed to O’Malley moving the team. Was O’Malley a racist? No, he just saw that Brooklyn like so many other Urban areas on the East Coast after WW II were changing for the worst. Now the Internet, Cable and Direct and Dish TV and Internet Radio have made the National Past Time accessible to everyone around the globe. Gone are the days of rooting for the "local" team. America is more mobile and people are not tied to their "neighborhoods". If you love your team their location should not matter. I lived on the East Coast for 5 years and not once went to a ballgame, it was an American League city. Did I start to follow the local team, no way. I was still loyal to my Dodgers, I could not see them as much as I would have liked but my loyalty never wavered. The Dodgers have kept and maintain their ties to the past hence in keeping the colors and records of their Brooklyn days. Let's move on as one Blue Unit. Think Blue.

[prof93]

Nostalgia: A bittersweet longing for things, persons, or situations of the past

I still feel, (although I don't actually know these people) that the people who regularly post here are Dodger fans. They like to talk about their shared past, and that past was centered around one of the most loved teams in baseball history. I cannot, nor can anyone who didn't live in Brooklyn durning the time the Dodgers were there claim to understand the deep feelings that Brooklyn fans had for "their team". Thats the thing, todays fans do not identify themselves with their teams anymore, Brooklyn fans didn't consider the Dodgers a mere team, they considered them FAMILY!!!

I like to talk baseball with them, and I often come and just read their posts, but I envy them. They had something that won't come again in this era of baseball, let alone sports. I am probably doing a poor job of trying to explain it beacuse in my lifetime that closeness won't be found again, I guess I can just look through the window of the past and envy them.

[jaykay]

Gone are the days of rooting for the "local" team.


Needless to say, Mr. Mays, you speak only for yourself. For many of those who post here, the disappearance of the "local" team accounts for a diminished interest in baseball, and a residue of bitterness regarding the circumstances that brought it about.
The local team was Brooklyn (only incidentally Dodgers, as it was also Superbas, Trolley Dodgers, Bridegrooms and Robins). The franchise may still call its team Dodgers, but even if, in LA, it had continued to be called the Brooklyn Dodgers (or other names that have been suggested here, such as Los Angeles Brooklyn Dodgers, or the slightly more imaginative Brooklyn Los Angeles Dodgers), none of us would have been hoodwinked. In fact, some of us former Brooklyns (yes, we moved, too) have stated in complete sincerity that if a franchise - any franchise, new or used, including the LA franchise - were relocated in Brooklyn, it would not be worthy of our affection. I do not know that those alluded to speak for the majority, but they certainly do make a point.

So you see, on this forum not only is "local" an essential, but it must be a team, a time, and a place that can never exist again. What's so unreasonable about that?

[donzblock]

Originally posted by Mays1951
Please lets move on. Walter O'Malley had the vision to see that the Automobile and Urban Flight were going to shape the future marketing of Americas Past time. Brooklyn was becoming more Black and Brown, I am Black and I will tell you that is what contributed to O’Malley moving the team. Was O’Malley a racist? No, he just saw that Brooklyn like so many other Urban areas on the East Coast after WW II were changing for the worst. Now the Internet, Cable and Direct and Dish TV and Internet Radio have made the National Past Time accessible to everyone around the globe. Gone are the days of rooting for the "local" team. America is more mobile and people are not tied to their "neighborhoods". If you love your team their location should not matter. I lived on the East Coast for 5 years and not once went to a ballgame, it was an American League city. Did I start to follow the local team, no way. I was still loyal to my Dodgers, I could not see them as much as I would have liked but my loyalty never wavered. The Dodgers have kept and maintain their ties to the past hence in keeping the colors and records of their Brooklyn days. Let's move on as one Blue Unit. Think Blue.

I get really blue reading your stuff. Move on already.

[EbtsFldGuy]

Originally posted by Mays1951
Please lets move on. Walter O'Malley had the vision to see that the Automobile and Urban Flight were going to shape the future marketing of Americas Past time. Brooklyn was becoming more Black and Brown, I am Black and I will tell you that is what contributed to O’Malley moving the team. Was O’Malley a racist? No, he just saw that Brooklyn like so many other Urban areas on the East Coast after WW II were changing for the worst.

Your analysis accords with that which Pete Golenbeck made more than 15 years ago in Bums, his excellent book about Dodger history.

[Bklyn Boy since 1936]

What is so hard to understand???

we are BROOKLYN DODGER Fans!!!

[D6+]

Originally Posted by Mays1951

Please lets move on. Walter O'Malley had the vision to see that the Automobile and Urban Flight were going to shape the future marketing of Americas Past time. Brooklyn was becoming more Black and Brown, I am Black and I will tell you that is what contributed to O’Malley moving the team. Was O’Malley a racist? No, he just saw that Brooklyn like so many other Urban areas on the East Coast after WW II were changing for the worst. Now the Internet, Cable and Direct and Dish TV and Internet Radio have made the National Past Time accessible to everyone around the globe. Gone are the days of rooting for the "local" team. America is more mobile and people are not tied to their "neighborhoods". If you love your team their location should not matter. I lived on the East Coast for 5 years and not once went to a ballgame, it was an American League city. Did I start to follow the local team, no way. I was still loyal to my Dodgers, I could not see them as much as I would have liked but my loyalty never wavered. The Dodgers have kept and maintain their ties to the past hence in keeping the colors and records of their Brooklyn days. Let's move on as one Blue Unit. Think Blue.

Sorry, I have no intentions of moving on.

Despite what visions Walter O' Malley might have had, he still had the most profitable MLB franchise from the combined period of 1952 to 1956. Like myself and many others have expressed in this forum, if O' Malley was so gung ho about owning a MLB team in Los Angeles, he could have sold the Brooklyn Dodgers. Using part of the money from the sale to either buy a team that was losing money or apply for an expansion team.

There has never been in the history of Pro Sports in North America a team other than the Dodgers that were moved a year after being the most profitable franchise over a 5 year period. I will bet the ranch that this NEVER happens again. O' Malley ( who is at the top of the dubious list), the government officials in Los Angeles who contributed to the hijacking of the Dodgers, then Commissioner Ford C. Frick, and then NL President Warren Giles will forever by associated with the darkest team related moment in the history of sports on this continent. Notice, I didn't include Robert Moses on this list.



One other thought. For myself and many others who consider themselves as Brooklyn Dodgers fans, the worst possible scenario that occurred besides the team itself being hijacked by O' Malley to Los Angeles is he took the nickname, colors, uniform designs, records, and overall history of the franchise with him to Los Angeles. As far as I'm concerned , the Dodgers haven't played a game since September, 1957. The team that has used the Dodgers name since October 9, 1957 is a fraud.

[penncentralpete]

back some years the LA dodgers had a minor league team in bakersfield, CA. their caps were exact replicas of the old brooklyn caps. their uniforms, of course were also exact duplicates. watching this team play actually brought real tears to my eyes. eerie, beautiful, and very sad. pete

[EbtsFldGuy]

"Moving on" from the happy memories of the Brooklyn Dodgers is akin to forever forgetting loving grandparents, a kindly nun in your parish school, or a successful day at the plate in a stickball or Little League game as a 9 year old.

Ain't gonna happen, as they said in the old neighborhood.

[D6+]

Originally Posted by EbtsFldGuy

"Moving on" from the happy memories of the Brooklyn Dodgers is akin to forever forgetting loving grandparents, a kindly nun in your parish school, or a successful day at the plate in a stickball or Little League game as a 9 year old.

Ain't gonna happen, as they said in the old neighborhood.

Well stated!


In addition to what you mentioned, it's important that history isn't forgotten. My generation, the even younger generations, and future generations must know about the impact the Brooklyn Dodgers had not only on baseball but on our country and world as a whole. As well as whose who are truly responsible for the the Dodgers being taken from Brooklyn. This Forum is an invaluable part of the internet.

[Yankwood]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXHFz_XCM7M, Here's a nice clip....