woensdag 26 augustus 2015

Dodgers Win the World Series: Dutch Newspaper articles

The sports pages in Dutch newspapers write about soccer, soccer ow and soccer. They always have and always will. Sure, there is some field hockey and ice skating and during the Olympics about every sport Dutch athletes are good at that year. The amount of space used to write about baseball, be it national or international, is minimal.

I thought it would be fun to show what has been written about the Dodgers winning the World Series and I must say, I was surprised. I even found an article from 1955.

So... here we go...

De Telegraaf published this article on October 5th, 1955. The title 'Dodgers slaan Yankees' is weird, it translates to 'Dodgers hit Yankees' while 'Dodgers verslaan Yankees' would read 'Dodgers beat Yankees' which in this case is what they did. The article mentions it's the first time the Dodgers win the World Series.

The next article was published in De Telegraaf on October 9th, 1959. The article itself is almost unreadable so I post just the title. It says 'Larry Sherry "hero of Chicago", the second part you can translate yourself :). As far as I can decipher, the article also mentions Wally Moon, Duke Snider and White Sox reliever Dick Donovan.

Newspaper 'De Waarheid' (the Truth) published this rather straightforward article on October 7th, 1963. It mentions the Dodgers winning in 4 games.

Het Vrije Volk, October 15th, 1965: 'Dodgers Champions of the World Again'. The article mentions the Twins having been more difficult to beat than was expected. Also the decision of Alston to put Koufax on the mound, not Drysdale. Followed by a short recap of the last game of the 1965 World Series.

Now things become interesting because THIS is the article that made me follow the Dodgers and become a lifelong fan. I was 10 years old at the time and I liked the name 'Dodgers'. De Telegraaf published the article on October 30th, 1981. It's a short article only mentioning the dodgers won in 6 games.

Het Vrije Volk was a bit longer. Published on the same day was this article. It mentions the Dodgers falling behing 0-2 in games but winning 4-2. Reason enough for Howe, Yeager and Garvey to do a happy dance.

In 1988 we won our last World Series. I remember it well and so does De Telegraaf on October 22nd, 1988.

Het Vrije Volk has an awesome picture of MVP Hershiser, a recap and even... the line score of the last game!!

Any mention of Gibson's home run in the first game? Sure, De Telegraaf had an article on October 17th. A shame, though, they have a picture of Canseco hitting his home run. Gibson's was better :).

For those who are wondering... The shot heard around the world, passed us by apparently. I wasn't able to find an article about that aweful moment in Dodgers history.

Pull Up a Chair: The Vin Scully Story: Review

Curt smith wrote this biography of one of my favorite Dodgers, Vin Scully, who, after Tom Lasorda is in the organization the longest. He grew up a Giants fan but saw the light in 1950. Mostly thanks to the efforts of Red Barber who saw him as his legacy.

The writing is up and down. Sometimes staccato, sometimes almost Proustian. The use of an enormous amount of quotes makes it difficult to breeze through it. No need for that if the subject is interesting enough and yes, Vin is! Why does the mere mentioning of silver make him sweat. Which US president to be did The Franchise play against in a college game? Those are about the most personal questions you'll get an answer to.

I had hoped to get an insight, to get to know the man behind the microphone. But it never really comes to that. Vin is a very humble man, maybe that's why. Never wanting to show too much. This quote from Vin might just be at the core of why the whole book stays at a distance: "My style is no style. I'm really nothing. I'm what I am." Smith expects you to know about Dodger players and historical relevant events. The shot heard around the world, the first worls series win, Robinson's first season, Don Larsen's perfect game are all described in a manner of fact kinda way. If you never heard about these events before, it might seem they are just things that happened, nothing fancy.

The move West, though is chronicalled quite thorough though, but not, as I would expect in a book about Scully, told from Vin's point of view. Yes, he didn't look forward to the move but he felt at home quite soon. That's about it. But if you like classic Scully quotes you'll love the book. The best part is the verbatim radio call of the last three outs of Koufax's perfect game. Besides Vin you'll meet loads of his collegues and read about how the radio and tv commentary has changed over the years, with one exception: Scully. He does what he has done for decades, his way. All in all not easy to read, no surprising behind the curtain glimpses into the private life of the Dodgers voice. I'm hoping for a better, more personal account of his life some day.

dinsdag 18 augustus 2015

A No-No for Bill Singer

Exactly 5 months before I was born, Bill Singer threw, what turned out to be, the only no-no for the Dodgers in the 1970's. This rare feat was put on record, literally! A nice piece of vinyl came into my possession recently.
It's grooves contain the voice of our beloved Vin Scully, calling the last three outs of Billy no-no's no-no. It's a younger Vin, talking a bit faster but with that very recognisable Scully style. It's fun to hear the crowd in the background and Vin giving details about how Bill's wife Ginny is keeping score. You don't need a picture, just the words describing the action and the scene are enough.
After the last out, the catch by Torborg, it's quiet for 40 seconds. Classic Vin, off the air to let the moment be the moment, not interrupting it. I get goosebumps listening to the conclusion of a historic no-hitter in Dodgers history.

If you dont have the vinyl itself, you can check it out on YouTube. Close your eyes and enjoy!

p.s. Ten years and seven days later Jerry Reuss got the next no-no for and in LA. Ten years and 2 days later, Fernando Valenzuela was the next Dodger.