Dodgerland: Review

I bought 'Dodgerland : Decadent Los Angeles and the 1977-78 Dodgers' immediately when it came out in 2016. It took me until 2019 before I took it up and read it. Something about the title made me want to wait for a good moment to read it. It sounded complicated, not 'just' a book about a baseball team in a certain era, but that's what it was exactly.

Not that that's a bad thing. I love those meticulously written histories about my Dodgers. But with a title like 'Dodgerland: Decadent Los Angeles and the 1977-78 Dodgers' you expect more. Yes, sometimes it works. Dodgers in a slump and the US economy of 1977 in a slump. Sure, that kinda bridges I get. The part about ‘post-orbital remorse’ is on point! Mayor Brady's struggle to get the Olympics to LA is interesting but was that a sign of the times? And how does that tie in with the Dodgers (other than the idea of having the swimming numbers in Dodger Stadium)?
Another thing I don’t get is the introduction of one Tom Fallon. It starts very early in the book. Fallon moves to Cali. Probably this guy is the writers grandfather but why is he in a book about the 1977-1978 Dodgers seasons? Never every do the Dodgers and this guy cross paths.

Other than that weird insertion of a family member and other unrelated stuff that happens in that period, like the Manson murders and Tom Wolfe's struggle to write 'The Right Stuff', the book is well written and besides the description of Lasorda’s first seasons at the helm as manager we get loads of details about the players. Also a lot of background on how free agency changed baseball in the seventies and how baseball clubs and the fans coped with this new phenomenon.
Reading this book made me aware I don’t like Sparky Anderson at all! One of the best quotes in the book is by Anderson during 1978 season spring training: “This year will be the test and the Dodgers are going to have to beat us two years running, which no one has done in my eight years here.” Little did he know! Also, the Yankees were never my favorite but the organization under Steinbrenner... I loath after reading this book. But about our boys in blue... the author writes lovingly.

If someone writes a book as good as this one on the 2017 and 2018 Dodgers, I’ll take any randomly inserted family member for granted.

Talking about our Dodgers

Something I’ve wanted to do for quite some time now and I don’t know if I ever get around to it, is interviewing Brooklynites about what they remember from the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Just ask older people in the street, in Prospect Park, at Coney Island. Did they go to games a lot at Ebbets Field? Did their dad take them or did they sneak in? Do they remember how they felt when the Dodgers finally won the World Series for the first time in 1955?
Then montage them together, just older people against a black background, telling stories about the Brooklyn Dodgers. Like I said, I don’t know if I ever get around to it, but I got a little taste of it when someone I know from out of nowhere messaged me and told me the Brooklyn Dodgers were his favourite team growing up.

Well, you got my attention at Dodgers so we got to talking.
David was born in 1942 and he started following baseball in grade school in Ashdown, Arkansas. Apparently it was common practice to let kids listen to baseball games on the radio in that school. I’m not sure about other schools allowing regular games to be listened to, but I DO know of schools who let their kids listen to the World Series.

The strange thing is... he was a Brooklyn Dodgers fan. I asked him why and he told me he has always wondered about that himself. He did read a magazine in which articles were written about the best teams around, including the Dodgers. David knew all the names on the roster: Hodges, Reese, Robinson, Campanella, Newcombe, Erskine but his favorite player was The Duke. Most of his friends rooted for the Cardinals from (relatively) nearby St. Louis. Which was a more logical choice. The Cards were amazing in the 1940's, winning three World Series titles in five years.

The Dodgers, though, were starting to get to World Series as well. For a kid born in '42 the 1947 World Series were the first chance to hear about them Bums on the radio. A great series where they came back from 2-0 and 3-2 in the end losing a game 7 decider against the Yankees.
Then came 1949, Dodgers and Yankees, 1952 Dodgers... Yankees, 1953 Dodgers and yes... those Damn Yankees! All those World Series losses started to wear little David down. When you're eleven and your favorite team makes it to the World Series four times without winning, can't have been easy.

But then came 1955, yes the Yankees won the first two at home, but the Dodgers took the next three at Ebbets Field. Back in the Bronx the Yankees won again. All square, a deciding game 7 was forced. Behind a complete game by Johnny Podres two runs scored and the Brooklyn Dodgers had done it. They finally beat the Yankees.
It turned out to be the only World Series win for Brooklyn. Two years later the Dodgers moved west and David never listened to or watched another Dodgers game.

I love to hear about the boys of summer, I really hope I can go to Brooklyn one day and hear more.