It is often said time flies. It doesn’t. At least not in the literal sense. 24/7/365 has been a standard for quite some time, even though this year has 366 days. But the number of seconds in a minute, minutes in an hour, hours in a day, days in a week, weeks in a month, months in a year, years in a decade, decades in a century, and centuries in a millennium have been set for some time now. And they all proceed according to long observed, and widely accepted terms. They are as predictable as the atomic clock is reliable.
But over time, customs do change. Sometimes, it can seem like only yesterday, when in reality, it was eons ago. When I was growing up, baseball was America’s game. It was the first game I was exposed to; introduced by my father who was a most ardent fan of the game. He even played a little semi-pro ball, at least that what I’ve been told by relatives who knew him in his salad days.
My father was not just a baseball fan, like many Black men in his era who followed the sport, he was a Dodgers fan. At an early age, I inherited my love of the game from him, and also my Dodger fandom. Watching the Saturday afternoon game of the week together was our thing.
As the arc of life would have it, I spent a couple of summers in New York, after third and fourth grades. Although that was way before Cable TV, in New York, the home of the Yankees and the recently formed Mets, there was a game on most evenings during the summer. I don’t remember all the players, but Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale, pitchers for the Dodgers were two of my early personal faves. Bob Gibson, and Juan Marichal were also standouts. Yes, I had an affinity for the guys who had the ball in their hands, and who on good days, baffled hitters, and occasionally threw no-hitters, and on the rarest of occasions, a perfect game.
Baseball’s playoffs began over the weekend. Entering Tuesday, all four series were tied 1-1, for the first time in history. This year, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Yankees clinched the best records during the regular season in the National and American Leagues, respectively. The Dodgers, with 98 wins, had the most wins in all of baseball, this year. Yankees and Dodgers are the quintessential names in baseball, somewhat akin to the Lakers and Celtics in basketball. The two teams have met 11 times in the World Series, with the Yankees prevailing 8 times. The thing that helped make Yankees-Dodgers compelling baseball was, before the Dodgers moved to Los Angels, they played in Brooklyn. Not only that, but before moving to San Francisco, the Giants played in the Polo Grounds in Upper Manhattan. You can almost imagine the electricity of having three Major League Baseball teams in one city. While the Dodgers and Giants pursued westward expansion, they both landed in the same state, so their rivalry continued. Meanwhile, back in New York, the Mets entered the cityscape in 1962, and in 1969, the Miracle Mets won the World Series. That’s a story for another day.
Today, of course football is far and away America’s Game. It unlikely that unless one is an adult male of a certain age, one would even recognize what Fall Classic pertains to. And while anyone who knows me could tell you, I’m no football fan, I also can no longer lay claim to the title baseball fan. I do still pull for the Dodgers, but I haven’t watched them play a non-World Series game in decades. So yeah, that means I haven’t watched a Dodger’s game since the 2020 World Series (in which they defeated the Tampa Devil Rays). But who knows? The World Series is set to begin October 25th. The Dodgers have been beastly during the regular season, and ghastly during the playoffs in recent years. The San Diego Padres, another Cali foe seems to have their number. The beat the Dodgers last night to take a 2-1 lead in the best of 5 Series. It would be a shame to waste the best record in baseball; GO DODGERS! “The Fall Classic: It’s About That Time!”
I’m done; holla back!
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