Dixie Walker of the Dodgers: Review

This is a biography the way I like to read them! Maury Allen together with Dixie's daughter Susan Walker deliverd a fine piece of baseball player history in script. Except for some annoying repeating of facts throughout the book.

I have to confess, I wanted to read this biography because of the name Dixie Walker has in baseball history. That name that has been linked to the petition against Jackie Robinson becoming a Big League player. Walker is said to have been the initiator of the petition. I expected a biography of a bitter, southern bigot. What I got was an insightful book about a baseball lifer. A guy who loved the game, played it and managed it for decades. He played on and off for the Yankees but became a bench warmer when DiMaggio came up. With the White Sox he had a pre Tommy John kinda surgery which helped him have a great 1937 season. He's the guy who is founding father of the players pension plan, an all star and the 1944 NL batting champion. I guy I learned to love instead of hate.
Yes, he was from the South and yes, people from his home town Birmingham would have strong feelings about Dixie playing with a colored player. But he did and learned to appreciate Jackie. Later on he expressed his admiration for players like Gilliam and Mays.
This is a very nicely written book, very digestible. It dares to be critical but also let's the reader see the family side of Walker. There is even a chapter all about his wife Estelle.
So, without expecting it, within 280 pages, the Peepuls Cherce became one of my favorite Brooklyn Dodgers players.

Dodgers '59

No vhs, no dvd, so how to recollect a great season of a great team? On vinyl! Steve Bailey, Ira Cook and our own Vin Scully present this ‘best of the 1959 Dodgers season’. Side 1 of the album features Roy Campanella night. 93,103 people came to L.A. Coliseum for the Yankees vs. Dodgers exhibition game. Roy’s speech and a short interview with Vin are included on the record. Next up is a lively description of a Willy Mays hit that ends up foul but is given as a home run. A brawl starts and heats up when the umpire decides to change the call to foul again. Vin describes the verbal fight as if it were a boxing match, calls it a ruhbarb, like Red Barber would. it’s Scully at his best!

Side 2 starts with Vin giving the play by play of Koufax fanning 18 to tie the one game strike out record with Bob Feller and break the same pitchers old 2 game strike out record with 31. Then it's on to the simultaneously broadcast of the Dodgers playing a double header against the Pirates at the Coliseum and the Giants at Seal Stadium playing the Phillies, September 11th. Vin does a masterful job keeping the crowd with transistors in the Coliseum and the folks back home listening to their radios up to date with the games. First place was on the line. Next up is the tie-breaker series between the Dodgers and the Milwaukee Braves which ends with Vin saying "we're going to Chicago". And that's where the record ends.

The World Series broadcast would not have fit, I get that, but it's a bit of a let down not having the first World Series celebration for L.A. on this piece of vinyl. I would have loved a second album in the sleeve. Except for this omission it's a great recollection of a historic season.

Jackie Barnett Presents The Sound of the Dodgers!

I stumbled upon this record on Ebay, I loved the cover and was curious about Maury Wills and Willie Davis singing. The album was released in 1963, after the second world series win of the L.A. Dodgers. All songs are written by famous composer Jackie Barnett. Below is a short review of the songs and spoken tracks on the album.

Side 1

Dodger Stadium - Maury Wills, Willie Davis & Stubby Kaye
The song starts with an instrumental part that's a Marvin Gaye's 'You're a Wonderful One' rip-off. But it's a happy start to a great song sung by Wills, Davis and Kaye. It's a song from it's time but most of what they sing still is true today. Dodger Stadium: 'It's our answer to the Taj Mahal'.

Somebody's Keeping Score - Maury Wills
A gospel song performed by Maury Wills. Gospel? You better believe it! Keeping score on a whole other level. This song could be sung during a church service, not during a ballgame. It's a swinging tune, sure, but a bit of a weird choice for a baseball themed record.

What is a Dodger? - Vin Scully
Scully, in his velvet voice tells us what a Dodger is. It starts at Vero Beach. Rookies want to become a Doger, veterans want to stay one. They are All Stars, bums and heroes. It gives a real Dodger fan goosebumps. Vin concludes with this: "A Dodger is a grown up with a lot of little boy in him. It's a way of life". I can only concur!

Solilioquoy of a Dodger Fan - Stubby Kaye
Kaye compares the heroics of the Dodgers with all kind of things, a comet, Sierra Madres treasure, Mona Lisa. Followed by a happy 'we've won today' and a 'we've lost today' chorus. Ending on a high note, of course: we've won today! Funny to hear a guy with a New York accent sing this. Somehow it fits. The best song on the album.

Side 2

Dandy Sandy - Jimmy Durante
There is no voice more recognisable than Jimmy Durante's same goes for his face. Dandy Sandy is a great vehicle for Jimmy. It's reminiscent of Inka Dinka Doo melody wise. A peppy, happy ode to one of baseball's best pitchers ever. best line? "they can't hit whatever they can't see, for them a pop up is a moral victory".

That's the Way the Ball Bounces - Willy Davis
Willy Davis has a deep dark voice which does the song justice. But like the Maury Wills song on side 1 of this record, baseball terms are used as a metaphor for something entirely different. In this case a love song. It lingers in your head but again, has nothing to do with baseball. It's just a vehicle for Davis and he delivers.

The Story of the L.A. Dodgers - Vin Scully
Vin returns to us for a second monologue. In a little more than nine minutes, The Franchise recaps the first five years of the ballclub in Los Angeles. The years they played at the 'memorial goat pasture', their first world series win as an L.A. Club. The move to the new stadium and the fact the planners had forgotten to have drinking fountains installed. Koufax ailments and his glorious world series strike out record against the Yankees. It's great to listen to!