I did not think of myself as, nor did I mean to be, contrary when I was little.
I did favor the underdog and the side that was different. I realized early on when in to school that if we had to write a paper on a particular view, always take the less popular one simply because it will be different and not quite as boring for the teacher to read.
When I discovered baseball, it was the late 50’s, and in 1961 I simply claimed the Dodgers because everyone else in my Northern California town was a Giants fan. And, though I did take some pride in not just being different, but not being afraid of being different, the Dodgers did indeed become my team.
I loved the Bums of the 60’s, with Maury Wills, Tommy Davis and Willie Davis and Frank Howard and especially Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax. They had Jim LeFebvre and Jim Gilliam and made the best trades, and despite all the razzing and ribbing I took, my team actually won championships, so I could lord that back over my friends.
As an aside, though, I came to the Giants/Dodgers feud during Phase II. Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin wrote a simply beautiful memoir about the Giants and Dodgers rivalry and its New York roots in her book Wait Until Next Year, which I cannot recommend enough.
While it is true the Dodgers and Giants still carry some residual rancor, at least among humans of my generation. For the most part, it seems the Athletics are much more the natural rivals of the Giants now just as the Dodgers source enemy are the Angels.
In fact, that is one of the aspects of inter-league play that I really enjoy: the Cubs and Pale Hose, Marlins and Rays, Reds and Indians, and such are all great little geographic rivalries.
But, somehow, dating back at least to Babe Ruth, the Yankees and the Red Sox show us everything that is great around the dynamics surrounding sports teams and their nemesis, and truly nothing really lives up to that spectacle time in time out like the Pinstripes versus the BoSox.
Over three days this past week, the pair, who at the time the three-game series began were the best two teams in baseball won/loss percentage-wise, knocked one another back and forth, ripping runs from one another when it no longer seemed reasonable and putting together a breath-taking three games between Tuesday and Thursday.
Tuesday’s 3-2 game was tight enough, especially when the Sox tied the score top of the seventh, but a few outs later Giancarlo Stanton showed the run was moot.
Wednesday’s game featured no fewer than five lead changes and finished with Brett Gardner putting the screws to the normally dominant Craig Kimbrel. As for Thursday, the Sox grabbed the lead and held it through some rain and then the dryout when the Bombers assembled four runs bottom of the seventh to tie things up.
That, however, was short-lived as a J.D. Martinez liner into the seats sealed a score that this time Kimbrel would be able to protect.
Over the three days the teams banged bats and pitches for 10 hours and 32 minutes, not to mention the 55 minute rain delay on Thursday. Between the teams, 35 runs were scored, and in the end the two teams were tied, still with the best record in the galaxy, at 26-11.
The rest of the season is going to be fun, no?
Tune into the Tout Wars Hour on the FNTSY network, hosted by me, with Justin Mason and featuring Lord Z every Sunday, 2-4 PM ET/11 AM-1 PM PT, and you can follow me @lawrmichaels and Creativesports 2.0.
