Sunday, May 15, 2016

Generations Change- Dodgers Numbers persist - George Vecsey

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Billy Cox -Third Base                   Willie Davis Center Field

For George Vecsey - the great sportswriter - the Dodgers were a first love.
As he puts it - "fifty nine years after the Dodgers left Ebbetts Field, I am beginning to adjust".  My path led to the Red Sox and David Ortiz.  But my first heroes were the greatest - every player on the field.  Especially Sandy Koufax who went from Wingate High School in Flatbush to Ebbetts Field without spending a day in the minors.  I wish I had kept that rookie year Topps baseball trading card. - GWC
In this post he remembers Dodgers greats - most in Brooklyn, some in L.A.  I stuck with the Dodgers til the last man who wore a Brooklyn uniform passed away - the fine second baseman Junior Gilliam, one of Major League baseball's first Black players .  At the time of his death he was first base coach. - gwc

Generations Change- Dodgers Numbers persist - George Vecsey

This is the 59th season of the Brooklyn Dodgers out west; I think I am adjusting.

I’ve been staying up late watching the Mets and Dodgers, the two teams in my life, do battle in distant Chávez Ravine. The shock now is the familiar numbers on the home white jerseys -- with strange people wearing them.