Comments@THE GUSS REPORT-Now that the Dodgers have finally returned to the World Series for the first time since 1988, the next question for those of us who are confident of a 2017 championship is whether the boys in blue will clinch it here in Los Angeles.
While the franchise dates back to the 19th century, and the team’s modern-day World Series championships go back to their first in Brooklyn in 1955, they have only won it all on their home field once. Will 2017 be the year to do it again?
On October 4, 1955, the Brooklyn Dodgers won their first World Series as Johnny Podres got the win in Game 7…but it happened in Yankee Stadium which, for those who enjoy schadenfreude, was great for seeing Yankee fans suffer, but it wasn’t a home field celebration.
On October 8, 1959, the now-Los Angeles Dodgers won their first LA championship in a season played in the not-for-baseball-shaped LA Coliseum (photo above) while Dodger Stadium was being built. It was the only season from 1949 to 1964 in which the World Series was not played in New York City. The Dodger’s victory was celebrated after Larry Sherry hurled the winner against the White Sox in Game 6…in Chicago’s Comiskey Park.
It was on October 6, 1963 that Sandy Koufax helped the Dodgers sweep the Yankees…in the only World Series clinched at home, this time in Dodger Stadium, which had opened just a year and a half earlier.
Two years later, on October 14, 1965, Koufax hurled a 2-0 Game 7 masterpiece over the Twins...in Metropolitan Stadium in Minneapolis. Imagine the temperature in mid-October in Minnesota!
The Dodgers lost their next four World Series as its on-field leadership switched from Walt Alston to Tommy Lasorda. On October 28, 1981 – a later World Series due to expanded playoffs and seasons – the boys in blue slugged it out with the Yankees, with our Burt Hooton getting the Game 6 win….in Yankee Stadium (not the original Yankee Stadium, and not the one in which they currently play, but the middle one). Again, it was good for witnessing the suffering of Yankee fans, but not for a home town celebration.
And of course, there was 1988, the most recent Dodger World Series win, known almost exclusively for hobbled hero Kirk Gibson’s Dodger Stadium homerun. But it was 5 days later, on October 20, that Orel Hershiser took the Game 5 victory against the A’s…up in Oakland.
While this year the Dodgers’ opponent is the not quite well-known Houston Astros, make no mistake, they are tough as nails with two top-notch pitchers, Justin Verlander and Dallas Keuchel, and a 5’6” slugger named Jose Altuve. The Dodgers may very well need a Game 6 or Game 7 to win it all.
That would be just the second Dodgers home field World Series celebration and it would happen on Tuesday October 31 for Game 6 (how cool would a Halloween crowd be?) or on November 1 in Game 7, when we can only hope the great Vin Scully and Sandy Koufax would be the ones chosen to throw out the first pitches.
(Daniel Guss, MBA, is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club, and has contributed to CityWatch, KFI AM-640, Huffington Post, Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Daily News, Los Angeles Magazine, Movieline Magazine, Emmy Magazine, Los Angeles Business Journal and elsewhere. Follow him on Twitter @TheGussReport. Verifiable tips and story ideas can be sent to him at [email protected]. His opinions are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of CityWatch.) Edited for CityWatch by Linda Abrams.
-cw
