In 1957 Walter O'Malley announced that the Brooklyn Dodgers would move to L.A.
Until then I had been a fan of the Dodgers. They could probably have moved the team almost anywhere else and I would still be a fan. However, as a native San Franciscan there is just no way I can be a fan of any team from Los Angeles. I think it's a genetic issue and it carries over to basketball, football [both American and real football], hockey and collegiate sports, too.
Oh, yeah. I became a Giants fan because they moved to San Francisco and replaced the local Triple A S.F. Seals as the hometown team.
Maybe I should have titled this Why I am not a L.A. Dodger fan?
BTW - The Seals won the Pacific Coast League title their final year in the City. They were affiliated with the Boston Red Sox their final two years.
Interesting question arises for me now - where did the Seals go when the Giants moved in? Did they fold or move?
ReplyDelete(I should know more about PCL history, since it was almost a third major league before expansion. Shame on me.)
The Red Sox and the Giants swapped their affiliates the Minneapolis AAA team became a Boston farm team and the Seals moved to Phoenix and became the Phoenix Giants.
ReplyDeleteThe Giants have since moved the franchise to Fresno and they are the Grizzlies[?]
Pardon me, gentlemen, but what language are you talking? It looks like English, but I can't understand it!
ReplyDelete(The word verification is most apt - "dorsh".)
It's Baseball, Brian, a sport that had my paternal grandfather lived long enough, I might have enjoyed for even longer than I have.
ReplyDeletePardon me, but the explanation is as cryptic as the original post!
ReplyDeleteBrooklyn - one of the five boroughs of New York City
ReplyDeleteDodgers - a baseball team that broke the hearts of many Brooklynites
Native San Franciscan - an individual who, by virtue of geography and birth, cannot like anything about Los Angeles
Giants - a baseball team that originated in Manhattan, another of the five boroughs of New York City, and moved to San Francisco in 1958 [arch rivals of the Dodgers]
Seals - a sea going mammal, also the mascot of the minor league baseball team.
Triple A (also AAA) - a level below the Major Leagues, but above double A (like the various levels of leagues in soccer)
The affiliations between Major League and minor league teams allows for the development of players as replacements.
Thank you for clearing that up. The other cryptic bit was the comment about your paternal grandfather.
ReplyDeleteThat story, like the one about the duck, will take some time.
ReplyDeleteYou're as bad as the white queen in Through the Looking Glass - jam yesterday, jam tomorrow, but never jam today!
ReplyDeleteWell, I have to get it just right.
ReplyDelete