IN MEMORIAM: YOGI BERRA

1969 SEATTLE PILOTS: STORY OF BETRAYAL

John Dillinger: Cubs Fan?

THE GREATEST TRADE THAT NEVER WAS

Superman: When fiction & History Are one

Hello and welcome to the first digital download issue of Baseball Magazine! My name is Billy Brost, and what you are about to experience is the first in my vision to revive a legendary publication dedicated strictly to the long and rich history of our national pastime. Why now? In a market that is a 24/7 news cycle, I believe there is a need to celebrate the past, while examining contemporary topics. The game of baseball perfectly meshes its past with its present.

I am proud of the staff we have assembled, and I hope you've enjoyed the various web issue pieces we have provided for you since the site's launch back in March of this year. We as a staff, aim to provide thought-provoking, entertaining content, which asks for discussion and debate. The wonderful thing about examining the history of the game, is that the lens in which the topics are studied, researched and discussed, is always fluid, always changing with the latest outing from one of today's stars.

We have plenty of things to come for the future of Baseball Magazine, and I feel we are just starting the scratch the surface of the impact we want to make for baseball fans. We began by debuting online pieces, and moved to a daily short feature that we've scaled back somewhat. The next step was to begin the design and layout of our digital download issues. What's the difference between the web content and the digital download issues? There will be exclusive content just in the download that you as the reader, will never find on the webpage or linked to any other site on the Internet. In-depth, exclusive pieces such as a guest contribution about how and why the Dodgers were truly "Brooklyn's team" from contributor Christine Sisto in the first of a multi-part series.

Regular contributors from the staff, such as Associate Editor Dan Hughes, talks with long time Negro League player Art Pennington, looking back at his life and career, and his life off the diamond as a civil rights activist. In this issue, we also include some of our better daily shorts, such as infamous criminal John Dillinger's love affair with the Chicago Cubs. We remember the greatness of an American icon in Yogi Berra, as he left us within the past couple of weeks, and much, much more.

What's next for Baseball Magazine? Along with the web content, daily shorts, and digital download issue each month, we are in the process of acquiring and building an exclusive archive of all Baseball Magazine material, dating back to the first part of the twentieth century, a project that will continue to grow as we gain better access to back issues of this wonderful publication.

Finally, our videographer/contributing writer, Eric Becker, is working steadily to establish the Base-ball Magazine You Tube channel, which will feature interviews and baseball experiences you will not find anywhere else. Eric brings the game's past to life in living color, by taking us on voyages around the baseball world, speaking to those who made the game's history what it is today.

In short, we at Baseball Magazine, aim to bring the total baseball history experience, short of making a trip to Cooperstown, New York or to the Negro League Museum in Kansas City, Missouri. The fabulous staff that Dan and I have assembled, are as passionate about the history of the game as we are. As a staff, we spend countless hours researching, writing, and discussing as a group, topics, ideas, we debate, we argue, and we celebrate. We celebrate the game's history, just as you the fans do--because we too are fans of the game.

Only in the game of baseball, do records, the games of yesteryear, the statistics, the smells, the sights, the experiences, remain an integral part of who we are as Americans, and no other sport's history matters and means as much from generation to generation, as the great game of baseball.

Thank you for taking the time to download our first issue, I hope you enjoy reading it, sharing it, and discussing the topics we're presenting to you this month, and I hope you'll be back each month as we strive to properly give life to topics that have sometimes been long forgotten.

Best,

Letter From The Editor

3

Table ofCONTENTS

October

2015

PAGE 4- The Greatest Trade That Never WasPAGE 5- Bryce Harper’s Historic SeasonPAGE 6- Brevity and Betrayal for the 1969 Seattle PilotsPAGE 7- The Oakland A’s and the Moneyball MovementPAGE 8- In Memorium: Lawrence Peter “Yogi” BerraPAGE 9- The Outlaw At Wrigley: John Dillinger’s Other Life In BaseballPAGE 10- How a Beloved Panda Alienated an Entire Fan BasePAGE 11- Book Review: “512” by Ralph PelusoPAGE 12- Cover story: Superman: When Fiction and History Are OnePAGE 14- Overshadowed: Legendary Plays Long ForgottenPAGE 16- Brooklyn’s Secular Cathedral

Questions? Comments?Email us at:

editorbaseballmagazine@gmail.com

Cover image inspired by 2009 Allen & Ginter card set by Topps

For over one hundred years, the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox have battled it out on the baseball diamond. Widely considered the greatest rivalry in the history of sports, there is no love lost between the two fan bases. So, it comes as no surprise that the two teams rarely trade with one another.

The Red Sox famously sent Babe Ruth to the Yankees for a bread basket full of cash but other than that there has only been a handful of deals conducted between the two historic franchises.

Last season the Yankees sent Kelly John-son to Boston for Stephen Drew before the July 31st trade deadline. That marked the first time these two conducted busi-ness together since 1994.

If the Sox and Bombers do make deals, usually there aren't star players switching uniforms. But in 1947 there was a verbal agreement in place that, if it had been consummated, would've far overshad-owed the deal that sent Ruth to the Yankees.

As the story goes, Larry MacPhail and Tom Yawkey spent a night out at a bar together, MacPhail celebrating the Yankees World Series victory and Yawkey indulging his contemporary.

As the night wore on the two got to talking, verbally agreed on a deal to send New York star Joe DiMaggio to the rival Red Sox for the young shooting star Ted Williams.

Allegedly, the deal was written down on a pair of cocktail napkins (Not exactly legally binding) but once the two woke up the day after, they began to have second thoughts. However, both sides did still have some interest in making a deal.

The Bronx brass drooled over the thought of the lefty slugger Williams playing in the hitter-friendly Yankee Stadium where the right field short porch was a welcoming sight for left-handers.

For the Red Sox, the promise of the righty DiMaggio slugging balls over the Green Monster in left field was too good to simply shrug off. So negotiations went on and on.

Eventually, the Red Sox pinpointed the player that would've made the deal work, but the Yankees balked at the proposition. That player was a minor leaguer by the name of Yogi Berra.

The deal was dead but its mythology lives on.

For years, sports writers have pondered what the history books would've looked like if this Goliath deal had ac-tually come to fruition. Joe DiMaggio had won the Amer-ican League Most Valu-able Player Award in 1947 at the age of 32. While his 1948 campaign (.320 with 39

home runs and 155 RBI) was certainly noteworthy, his age would soon hobble him and after 1951 he left the game for good.

In 1947 Williams was just 28-years-old and fresh off military service and a 1946 Most Valuable Player Award. He had plenty of baseball left in him unlike the elder DiMaggio. The age difference is what caused the Red Sox to ask for the prospect, Berra, to be included in the deal.

Ultimately, the stark difference between the remainder of DiMaggio and Wil-liams's career makes it hard to accurately compare who would've won the deal. It's also hard to firmly claim that Yogi Berra would've been as great with the Red Sox.

After all, former Yankee catcher Bill Dickey is credited with guiding Yogi towards his future as possibly the greatest catcher of all-time. It would not be fair to analyze this deal as one would look at a modern day trade scenario. Instead, it's probably easier to look at specific aspects of each team and allow you, the fans to decide who may have won this trade that never happened.

The Greatest Outfield Ever?

In 1948, the Yankees outfield boasted the great DiMaggio in center field, with

Johnny Lindell and Tommy Henrich flank-ing him in left and right. The acquisition of Williams would have cemented him in left field and left a hole in center.

It's likely that manager Casey Stengel would have utilized his famed platoon system and given the likes of Lindell and Henrich as well as Hank Bauer and Charlie Keller more than a few rides around the carousel in order to man the center and right spots.

While that would have indeed been a formidable outfield, it is not the "Greatest Outfield Ever" I have eluded to.

That outfield would have become a major possibility starting in 1951 which, as we all know, would be Joltin' Joe's last year. Infamously, that was also the year a young and promising rookie slipped on a storm drain to move out of the way of DiMaggio who was fielding a ball hit by Willie Mays in the World Series.

That young rookie was Mickey Mantle. That day his knee was blown open and his still great career was blemished by constant injuries. But without DiMaggio playing center field that day, it would have been Mickey. No storm drain, no knee injury and an even better Mickey Mantle (If you could even imagine that!).

Going forward the Yankees would boast Williams in left field with Mantle in center field.

While the Yankee dynasty sported talented outfields, none could even begin to approach the kind of talent, both of power and batting average, that a combination of Williams and Mantle would have produced.

It's just unfortunate that Roger Maris didn't join the team until 1960, Williams's last season in the big leagues.

90 Percent Mental, 50 Percent Physical

The man whose name eroded trade talks was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1925 and given the name Lawrence Peter Berra. He would be better known by the name "Yogi".

While Yogi built his Hall of Fame resume as a catcher, he played much of his minor league career as an outfielder.

When he began his big league career in 1946 he was a valuable utility player. Often he spent time in left field and right field, while also spending time behind the plate and at third base.

Even as he grew into an elite backstop, he was still utilized around the diamond while slugging his way to fame.

While the absence of would-be mentor Bill Dickey might have stopped Berra

The Greatest Trade That Never Was By Matt Mirro

4

Photo Courtesy: New York Times

from transforming into a prime time catcher, his bat would have probably kept him in the lineup long enough to become a mainstay at left field, playing against the backdrop of the Green Monster alongside DiMaggio.

In New York, Berra was as beloved as any of his teammates and was a member of a record 10 World Series rosters. I don’t know if he would’ve gotten 10 but, could the presence of Berra and DiMag-gio have ended the then-standing Curse of the Bambino decades before the 2004 team finally did?

Berra’s big personality would’ve shown just as bright in the big market called Beantown. But the Yankees would’ve un-knowingly surrendered a franchise pillar and a fan favorite.

The team would not sign the talented backstop Elston Howard until the 1950 season, and he didn’t reach the major leagues until 1955.

Of course, there would have been no way to know it at the time, but the Yan-kees would have sacrificed the face of their franchise and as well as another all-time great in order to add Williams. Would it have been worth it?

Where Have You Gone, Joe DiMaggio? Our Nation

Turns Its Lonely Eyes to You!

In case the Simon and Garfunkel lyrics didn’t give it away, Joe DiMaggio was a pretty popular guy in his day. In 1941 he shattered baseball’s consecutive game hitting streak by collecting a hit in 56 straight contests.

But in 1943, World War II came calling and DiMaggio spent three years in the

military. When he re-turned in 1946, he was 31 and he would have just a few DiMaggio-type sea-sons left in him. By 1949 his body would fail him as injuries marred his play-ing time and his produc-tion. By the end of 1951, his lavish career would be over.

But would the move to Fenway Park have helped to extend his career? Would the smaller out-field have spared his legs the abuse they suffered in his final years? Would the Green Monster have proved so friendly to the righty slugger that his numbers grew extremely gaudy, forcing him to keep playing?

Would the absence of su-per bonus baby prospect, Mickey Mantle, have pre-vented the great Yankee Clipper from overexerting

himself in an effort to remain the best player on the team? If he had escaped the grasp of manager Casey Stengel, who he so often bickered with, would he have gotten the breathing room needed to adapt to his new diminished skill set?

None of these questions could actually be answered, but they do go a long way in measuring how much DiMaggio’s career would have been affected had the Yankees actually dealt him to Boston to play out the remainder of his career.

There are too many variables to tru-ly evaluate how this trade would have turned out. But, seeing as it never actu-ally occurred, it’s more or less become a legend than a real piece ripe for anal-ysis. “Remember how the Yanks almost traded Joltin’ Joe for the Splendid Splinter?”

Personally, I don’t know if either fan base would have been happy with see-ing the face of their franchise dawn the uniform of their arch rivals. I certainly shudder at the image of Joe DiMaggio and Yogi Berra brandishing the words “Red Sox” on their chest. Yikes!

But since we’ll never know exactly how this move would have affected the course of these two franchises, the best we can do is dream.

5

Matt Mirro is currently the Lead American League Writer at Call to the Bullpen, an MLB.com affiliate. He is a certified member of the Internet Base-ball Writers Association of America.

Follow Matt on Twitter:@Mirro_The_Ronin

Bryce Harper was hyped as a future star ever since he was a Las Vegas high schooler. He gained massive buzz for doing things like (unofficially) crushing 500 foot home runs at the age of 16. Add to that the fact that he was a catcher who had a chance to either stick behind the plate, or utilize his athleti-cism to easily transition to another position, and it’s easy to see where the hype train came from.

Well, it didn’t take long (if any time at all) for that hype to materialize for Harper. He spent just over one full season in the minor leagues before getting the call to the show, and performed well from the start.

He was the clear NL Rookie of the Year in 2012 hitting .270/.340/.477 with a 121 wRC+ and a 4.6 fWAR. He came back strong for his sophomore season, apart from some injury concerns, putting up a 137 wRC+ and 4.0 fWAR. It was a little less exciting in 2014 as the injuries continued and he posted just a 115 wRC+ and 1.4 fWAR in 100 games.

But what I am really interested in is his current season. Harper has absolutely domi-nated this season, in every facet of the game. .342/.471/.672 -- 41 home runs -- 206 wRC+ -- 9.7 fWAR, all with over a week left to go.

He hits for average, he draws walks, he hits dingers, and he plays above average defense in the outfield. In fact, he has done the first three of those better than just about anyone else in baseball.

That’s not something that happens very often, as evidenced by the fact that he is on pace for a 10 WAR season, which has only been done seven times since 2000, by the likes of Barry Bonds (4), Alex Rodriguez (1) and Mike Trout (2).

His season projects to be top 50 all-time by fWAR, and top 30 all time by wRC+. Be-yond that, there are only 14 other seasons in baseball history of a walk rate at or above 19 percent, an on-base percentage at or above .460, over 40 home runs, and a wRC+ of 200 or better.

Nine of those were by Babe Ruth, four were by Barry Bonds, and one was by Mark Mc-Gwire. And oh yeah, they didn’t do it until the ages of 25 (Ruth), 35 (McGwire) and 37 (Bonds). Harper is doing it at 22, in an era dominated by pitching. Let that sink in a bit.

We are witnessing historic greatness, in the form of Bryce Harper, and yet it doesn’t feel as though people are taking notice, at least not the kind that his season deserves.

Bryce Harper’s Historic Breakout

Season

Photo Courtesy: New York Times

JJ Keller is currently in college on his way to earning a degree in History

Education with the hopes of becoming a high school teacher. A lifelong Seattle Mariners fan, JJ began as a staff writ-er for Sodo Mojo in 2012 at the age of 16 and remained there through 2014, working under fellow Baseball Maga-

zine members Dan Hughes and Charlie Spencer-Davis for much of that time.

You can find him on Twitter:@KJ_Jeller

By JJ Keller

When I was a Safeco Field tour guide the summer of 2013-- my younger, glory days-- I had my favorite route from top to bottom of the ballpark. I’d catch people in awe of the retractable roof and how infrequently the Mariners actually play games with it closed (it’s less than 20 times per season since 2000). Then, on our way down the elevators and along the suite-level hallway, I’d ask a few Seattle-themed baseball questions. Where did the Mariners play baseball before Safeco Field? How many World Series titles have the Mariners won? Who is the greatest Mariner of all-time?

Then, as a final question before entering the owner’s suite be-hind home plate, I would ask a question that tested the baseball knowledge of everyone in my tour group: what is the name of the first Major League Baseball team to call Seattle home?

Younger kids will say the Mariners. Some of the adults will too. Then, usually mumbled with resentment, someone in the back of the tour says The Seattle Pilots. I would then smile, take the group into the suite and sit them down.

I’d begin: In 1969, Major League Baseball expanded base-ball with four new teams, two in each league: the Montreal Expos and the San Diego Padres in the NL, and the Kansas City Royals and the Seattle Pilots in the AL.

After the Pilots ownership-- Pacific North-west Sports, Inc. (PNSI)-- paid their $1 million fee for leaving the minor league Pa-cific Coast League, King County had a vote. With 62% approval, the county where Seattle resides, approved a bond for the building of a domed stadium. Naturally, being a dome in King County, the to-be-built sports arena was known as the Kingdome.

PNSI hired Marvin Milkes, former Califor-nia Angels executive, as their general manag-er. Then came Joe Schultz, all the way from the NL champion St. Louis Cardinals, to be manager.

And before the season even started, the Pi-lots traded a young man who would become the AL Rookie of the Year to the Kansas City Royals. A man, though he had a solid MLB career, is best known for his fiery managerial antics. Lou Piniella-- the one-time manager of the to-be Seattle Mariners.

Even though the Pilots won their first ever game, and their first ever home game at Sicks Stadium, their success was short-lived. The 1969 season went the way of many first-year expansion teams, with the Seattle Pilots finishing with a 64-98 record, a whop-ping 33 games behind the division-winning Minnesota Twins, and 45 games back of the AL-leading Baltimore Orioles.

The losing wasn’t the problem though. Or at least not the biggest problem. Sicks Stadi-um was the real concern.

With a capacity of 19,500, Sicks Stadium wasn’t up to Major League Baseball stan-dards. With delayed expansions, the stadi-um crawled up to a 25,000 seat capacity by mid-season. But having seats didn’t manifest fans to fill them. Struggling through that season, their 81 home games saw fewer than 700,000 fans, or fewer than 9,000 on average per home game.

They didn’t play well. They didn’t sell tick-ets. And the Seattle Pilots lost money their first season. All, a recipe for baseball disaster in the Pacific Northwest.

But, it appeared, there was a savior for the

one-year-old franchise. A used car salesman from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, headed a group that offered $10.8 million for the Seattle Pi-lots franchise. At first he agreed to keep the team in Seattle, but it soon became clear he had other plans.

The Big ‘R’ word. Relocation.Since 1900, twelve Major League Baseball

franchises have relocated. And prior to 1970, nine franchises had done it. As far back as 1902 there was a team in Milwaukee-- the Milwaukee Brewers-- but they relocated to St. Louis and became the St. Louis Browns. (Not to be confused with the Cleveland Browns of National Football infamy.) Then, a year later in 1903, the Baltimore Orioles moved to New York, became the Highland-ers, and were eventually renamed the New York Yankees in 1913.

Then there was a break in the action. Not until fifty years later in 1953 did another team get shipped across the continental United States. That year the Boston Braves moved to Milwaukee, breaking a half centu-ry stretch of the same 16 teams, eight in each league, playing each other year in and year out.

A flurry of shipments came between 1953 and 1972 with the St. Louis Browns mov-ing to Baltimore and becoming the Orioles (1954), the Philadelphia Athletics moving to Kansas City (1955). Then, 1959 was a big year with the Brooklyn Dodgers getting shipped across the country to Los Angeles and the New York Giants taking their talents

to San Francisco-- those in fact were the first two West Coast teams in MLB history.

In 1961 the Washington Senators moved to the Twin Cities in Minnesota, while the American League granted Washington, D.C. a new expansion franchise, also called the Senators. (Confused yet?)

In 1966 the Milwaukee Braves moved to Atlanta, followed by the Kansas City Athlet-ics’ move to Oakland in 1968. A year after the Athletics’ relocation-- a product of a broken lease and fear of anti-trust legisla-tion-- Kansas City got the Royals, Seattle got the Mariners, Montreal got the Expos,and

San Diego got the Padres.I am trying to get at the long,

checkered, and frankly confus-ing history of expansion and relocation in Major League Base-ball. The ordeal the Pilots went through after the 1969 season, then, was not unprecedented.

Though that did not make for an easier pill to swallow for fans of the franchise.

After a fight to keep the team ownership local, and in turn keep the team in Seattle, the Mil-waukee car salesman won out. Bud Selig, now known as the former Commissioner of Ma-jor League Baseball, bought the Pilots, and quickly relocated and

renamed one of the four newest franchises in Major League Baseball.

Goodbye Seattle Pilots. Hello Milwaukee Brewers.

Fortunately for Seattle, seven seasons later Major League Baseball expanded once again. The Seattle Mariners played their inaugural season in 1977. Since then, the team has seen few playoff appearances, but holds the AL record for most wins in a season with 116.

The franchise also boasts a young but rich history, including a record for singles in a season, the first ever father-son duo to start an MLB game for the same team, and a per-fect game.

And, for all the bar trivia and obscure base-ball facts that percolate from the 1969 Seattle Pilots, there’s even a journal. Ball Four, writ-ten by Pilot pitcher Jim Bouton, has been im-mortalized as one of the most read baseball books ever published. So for all the brevity and betrayal in the 1969 Seattle Pilots saga, there still came some good: a book worth reading, and a story forever worth telling.

One and Done: Brevity and Betrayal for the 1969 Seattle Pilots

By Charlie Spencer-Davis

6

Charlie Spencer-Davis is a 2015 grad-uate from Boston College with BAs in International Studies and French. A

die-hard Mariners fan born and raised in Seattle, Charlie has spent much of

his life writing in his spare time. Follow Charlie on Twitter:

@C14SpencerD

Photo Courtesy: digitalballparks.com

7

Back in 2002, Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane went off the deep end.

After losing to the New York Yankees in five games in the ALDS the year prior, the A's lost Jason Giambi, Johnny Damon and Jason Isringhausen – among others – due to payroll constraints. Needless to say, Oak-land entered the '02 campaign with notably lower expectations given some of the names included on the roster.

Instead of Giambi, Isringhausen and Damon, you had names like David Justice, Ray Durham and Billy Koch. Justice, who was once a 30-homer, 100-RBI threat in Cleveland, was no longer the same player and was often cited by media as a prime example of Beane jettisoning the campaign.

Before we get any farther into this, there are some key differences between Holly-wood's version of "Moneyball" and the facts that existed 13 years ago. While Damon and Isringhausen both had a great deal of name recognition, they were far from elite players in 2001.

According to Baseball Reference, Damon posted a 2.4 WAR in his lone season in the Bay, a stark contrast from his 6.1 and 5.4 marks in the two previous years in Kansas City. The next season, his first with the Boston Red Sox, he bounced back for a 4.8 WAR and a .799 OPS – over 100 points higher than his '01 marks in Oakland.

Isringhausen, meanwhile, had 34 saves in 2001 with Oakland – one year after earning the first All-Star selection of his big league career. Koch, who ultimately assumed the closer's duties the next season, was essen-tially an exact replacement for the right-hander, posting a 1.8 WAR (Isringhausen clocked in at 1.9 WAR in 2001).

As we all know now, the Athletics went on to rack up 103 wins that season, thanks to the continued emergence of the "Big Three" of Barry Zito, Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder and a re-focusing on on-base per-centage, rather than batting average. Oak-land had two pivotal stretches that ultimate-ly led them to October, including a 16-1 stretch in June and their famous 20-game winning streak in August.

Now, any time you can reel off a 36-1 record in a 37-game stretch, you have to chalk it up to a combination of talent and at least a little bit of luck, especially in Major League Baseball.

It was the aforementioned stellar start-ing pitcher that led Oakland to a 103-win campaign that year, led by Zito's Cy Young performance, that played a large part in his landing a massive deal from the crosstown rival San Francisco Giants later in his career.

Couple a rotation that picked up 15 wins in that 20-game span with an offense led by the breakout campaign of eventual Ameri-can League MVP Miguel Tejada, and it's not so hard to fathom exactly how this "miracle" team came to be. Despite these facts that are

often overlooked now, it's an idea that Oak-land inspired that remains even now – some 13 years later.

With the third-lowest payroll in all of Ma-jor League Baseball, the Athletics defied all odds, once again reaching the Division Se-ries, before falling to the Minnesota Twins – again in five games, ending their exciting season in heartbreaking fashion.

As we know now, there is plenty we could discuss about the '02 Athletics: the roster breakdown, the lineup construction put to-

gether by manager Art Howe and the chem-istry in the clubhouse – all of which con-tribute to a team's success down the stretch.

But more than anything, this team - and its front office - paved the way of the future for the game of baseball.

The Athletics' 2002 season set off the firestorm now known as 'Moneyball' - which has since taken the game by storm. Now, more front offices than not have departments dedicated to the analysis of advanced sabermetrics, which have allowed small-market-minded teams like the Athlet-ics, Tampa Bay Rays and even larger market clubs, such as the Chicago Cubs, among others, to change how they build their orga-nization.

Luck often seems to play a hand in small market teams' success, just as it did to an extent in 2002 in Oakland, but in a time when player contracts are growing more ludicrous by the day, every dime counts and finding new ways to evaluate talent and build a Major League roster is paramount to many clubs' hopes of contending for the length of a 162-game campaign.

In fact, most of the team's in this year's postseason field have metric-minded front offices: the Cubs, New York Mets, Toronto Blue Jays, Royals and Astros can all be in-cluded in that group. With former Rays GM Andrew Friedman now handling things in Los Angeles, you will soon be able to firmly place the Dodgers in that field, as well.

Even Brian Cashman and the New York Yankees seem to be shying away from simply buying wins by throwing exorbitant

amounts of money at aging veterans these days. Instead of trading the system for a Da-vid Price this summer, Cashman stood pat, electing to keep young talent such as Greg Bird and Luis Severino.

Their replacement for the irreplaceable Derek Jeter? Not Troy Tulowitzki or some other high-profile stud. Instead, Cashman went with former Diamondbacks infielder Didi Gregorius, who made just $553,000 this season. Now, you can say that he's just hoarding his assets for a big move in the

future, but in the past, the Bronx Bombers would have spared no expense and laid waste to the farm system to add an arm like Price - even as a rental.

Once you see that the ideas that took shape in 2002 have emanated the House of Steinbrenner – it's hard to dispute the im-pact Billy Beane and his Oakland Athletics made - and are still making - on the game. As we all look back with a Hollywood-esque remembrance of that campaign thanks to the recent film, there were very real con-tributions to the game made by a band of misfits out west.

Despite his Athletics being out of con-tention this season - just one year after he seemingly broke his own rule and raided the farm system for midseason deals - Beane and his game-changing mentality and approach to America's pastime can be found all over most of the teams left stand-ing with a week left in the season.

So, love him or hate him and what he has come to stand for, Billy Beane and the 2002 Oakland Athletics have their fingerprints all over the looming Major League Baseball postseason.

The Oakland Athletics and the Groundwork for the

Moneyball Movement By Jacob Misener

Photo Courtesy: thesportsquotient.com

Jacob Misener is a die-hard Cubs fan who grew up in the Steroid Era, which, believe it or not, he loves to reminisce about often. Favorite players include

Randy Johnson and Craig Biggio. Believes that Wrigley Field is the

greatest place on earth.You can follow Jacob on Twitter:

@jacobrmisener

8

In Memorium:Lawrence Peter “Yogi” Berra

By Billy BrostWe who love baseball lost not only a

baseball legend recently, but a war hero, an American icon, and simply, a great human being when Lawrence Peter Yogi Berra passed away at the end of September. While I have had the pleasure of meeting many of the legends of the game, I was never able to meet Mr. Berra. Shame on me for not making more of an effort.

During the mass media coverage of the life and death of Yogi Berra, we heard all of the famous Yogi-isms that have become far better known than his actual on-field exploits. I do find it somewhat ironic that he passed away 69 years to the day in which he made his big league debut. While I know quite a bit about Yogi’s life and career, reading through the various first-person testimonials, the stat charts, the final words to celebrate this great human be-ing, there were many things I did not know about Yogi Berra.

For example, I had no idea that he ranked number one on Bill James’ Win Shares formula chart, making the argu-ment that he was the greatest catcher of all-time. I also did not know that he DIDN’T finish his playing career with the New York Yan-kees, but rather he registered nine plate appearances at the age of 40 in 1965, AFTER taking an entire year off in 1964 to manage the Yankees to an American League pennant. There are just so many interesting tidbits of golden information about Yogi Berra, that it’s hard to believe some of the things you find out later, weren’t created in a Hollywood studio, but in fact, truly happened.

Everyone knows that he grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, and his best friend grow-ing up was legendary broadcaster and for-mer big league backstop, Joe Garagiola. I wasn’t aware that Garagiola was viewed as the better big league prospect.

I also wasn’t aware that the reason the Cardinals signed Garagiola and not Berra, wasn’t because Yogi was so much less of a player, but because Cardinals’ GM Branch Rickey knew he was leaving the team soon, and wanted to sign Berra for himself when he landed at his next stop with the Brooklyn Dodgers. The only problem was, by the time Rickey was in Brooklyn, Yogi was already signed with

the Yankees.I knew that Yogi served our country

admirably as a gunner’s make, and was involved in the D-Day invasion at Normandy on Omaha Beach. What I didn’t know, was that on that same day, he was also involved in the fighting at Utah Beach, and luckily avoided getting injured in two of the biggest battle sites in U.S. military history.

As a kid growing up in the 1980’s and early 1990’s, I knew Yogi managed his son Dale while with the Yankees. At the time, I had no idea that Yogi’s other son Tim, played for the Baltimore Colts for one season in 1974. The Berra DNA definitely had the Midas touch.

I was under the assumption that when lower socio-economic ballplayers were trying to make their way, they strictly

played baseball in their region of where they lived. I knew that Yogi began playing baseball at the American Legion level. What I didn’t know, was that he ran off to Rhode Island to play independent base-ball under a different name. I guess when baseball is your life, you do whatever you must to get an opportunity, and Yogi proved that time and time again.

I am fully aware that Yogi has more World Series rings as a player, coach, and manager than anyone before or since. I wasn’t aware that he received MVP votes in fifteen consecutive seasons, topped only by Hank Aaron and his nineteen consecutive campaigns receiving at least one league most valuable player vote. I knew that Yogi held a plethora of World Series records, in part because he truly was the greatest catcher of all-time, and partly because he played when the Yan-kees were at their absolute pinnacle as a franchise.

But, I did not know he hit the very first pinch-hit home run in World Series play, off of none other than Ralph Branca of Bobby Thompson fame. How can a player

the caliber of Berra, gone so unnoticed, playing with guys like Mickey Mantle and Joe DiMaggio, and lead the team in runs batted in for seven straight years?

Many men from Yogi’s generation never completed high school, and Yogi was no exception. He finished the eighth grade and that was it. I knew that his museum was located on the campus of Montclair State University’s campus, but I figured it was because he lived in New Jersey. The reality of the situation, is that one of Yogi’s primary philanthropic missions post-playing career, was to help improve the education of children across the coun-try.

There are just so many unknowns to the world that was Yogi Berra, I could prob-ably study nothing but his career for the next six months and learn something new

everyday.How many times

has a catcher posted a perfect 1.000 field-ing percentage, while serving as his team’s primary backstop? Yogi did it in 1958, while catching almost 90 games. How many catcher’s could catch an entire 22-inning game, let alone do it at the age of 37? Yogi did that too. I just looked up the 1.000 fielding percentage

item, and it’s been done by three other catchers in history. Pretty elite company. What’s the worst thing someone can do? Assume anything about a ballplayer.

With Yogi’s success, I ASSUMED that he was a first-ballot Hall of Fame selection. Wrong again. He only received 67.2 per-cent of the vote his first year on the ballot in 1971. What were these writers think-ing? I mean, Johnny Bench, Carlton Fisk, Thurman Munson and Ivan Rodriguez weren’t legends yet. Compare Yogi’s career stats to anyone from his era prior, and not many stack up, if any.

The statistic about Yogi however, that stands out to me more than any oth-er from his playing career, was the fact that he hit 20 or more home runs in 10 straight seasons, and never struck out more than 35 times during that de-cade-long run. His career high in strike-outs was 38.

How many catchers in big league histo-ry have a career batting average of .285 or higher, AND have 350 or more home runs, AND have a career fielding per-centage of .989 or better? Not Fisk. Not

Mandatory Credit: AP Photo

9

Bench. Yogi is in a class by himself.I think about some of the quotes I’ve read

about Yogi since his passing. The ones that mean the most? The ones that come from his granddaughter Lindsay. Sure it’s great to have millions of fans around the world adore you in your golden years.

It’s great to have teammates, fellow coaches, and Hall of Famers talk about how there’s only one Yogi. At the end of the day, all a man has is his family. What your family feels and says about you goes so much further into the soul of who a man really was, than any baseball card or Hall of Fame plaque. I took this excerpt from Ms. Berra’s Facebook page:

As a kid, it took me a long time realize my Grampa was also this fella named Yogi Berra, because he was just such a normal Grampa; playing ball in the yard, grilling – or rather, burning – hot dogs, teaching me to play hearts and gin rummy. By the time I was old enough to comprehend his fame, he’d already been Grampa for so long that his two separate identities were difficult to rationalize. That pinstriped icon on televi-sion was the same as the guy laughing at Seinfeld reruns in his blue leather chair???

Even as an adult, the extent of his reach overwhelms me. We often say Grampa, Jesus and Shakespeare are the three most quoted men in history, and those other two are losing ground. With each new person I meet who shares their own per-sonal Yogi story about how Grampa made them feel like the most important person in the world, my love and admiration for him only continue to grow. It makes my heart so happy to see how many lives he touched and how many people, many of whom he never even met, love him, too.

He wasn’t just a good man, he was the best man. If we all try to be a little more like him every day, this world will be a better place. You’re amazing, Gramp, and I love you tons. Rest easy up there, and give Gram a big kiss from all of us down here. ~Lindsay Berra

As a lifelong Yankees fan, I know what Yogi the character, the legend, the man means to me. I can’t speak for anyone else, but as a father of three, I hope that when my time comes, my kids and grandchil-dren think half as highly of me, as Yogi’s family does of him. It won’t be the same without the little old guy with the large ears shuffling around Yankee Stadium, but even though his physical body is no longer with us, in the mind’s eye, Yogi will always be there with a grin on his face, and a fun-ny story ready to remember.

Rest in peace Mr. Berra. You are truly an American original.

As a writer, certain topics tend to spark my imagination more than others. But when I sit down and attempt to spin a tale, I find myself drawn to two American classics: Baseball and crime, both of which we so often romanticized.

Many great and ancient trees have been chopped down and pulped so that people of my ilk could write fantastic novels about such things. As an avid movie fan, I am just as comfortable watching The Sandlot, Major League, Eight Men Out or A League of Their Own as I am watching The Godfather (Undoubtedly, my all-time favor-ite), Scarface and Goodfellas.

However, it's not often these two genres get the opportunity to mix naturally, but for a period of time way back in 1934, one of baseball's most famous ballparks frequently played host to one of America's most infamous outlaws.

Imagine sitting in the stands at Wrigley Field in the summer of 1934. It's Chicago, and the days are as beautiful as they are long. A perfect day for catching a game at the always gorgeous and beloved Wrigley. You look to your left and see the normal group of fans. They're dressed in their best suits and ties, loving every second despite the usual heat.

Happily they jump from their seats, applaud-ing with a thunderous exuberance as the Cubs take the field. Then you look to your right and the sight before you turns your face pale as your heart pounds harder and harder. The man J. Edgar Hoover and every other law enforcement officer is relentlessly hunting, John Dillinger, Public Enemy Number One, is in attendance that very day.

Bank robber, escaped convict, murderer and national celebrity. Dillinger was supposed to be in hiding in 1934, but the crime king of Chica-go and huge Cubs fan could not resist attending games when he was probably better off shielding his face from the police and the ever-growing F.B.I. He was famously spotted at a game on June 26th and witnessed the Cubbies beat the Brook-lyn Dodgers by a score of 5 to 2. The Cubs had a good team in 1934, and were in the thick of the pennant race but unfortunately finished third in the National League with a record of 86-65. It's likely Dillinger saw stars like Babe Herman, Charlie Grimm, Chuck Klein and Stan Hack that day at the ballpark.

It's safe to say that there were few in the stadium who would turn him in. Dillinger robbed banks, after all, and in the midst of the worst economic crisis in the history of the United States, the Great Depression, banks were far from popular. The public not only hated the banking industry, but

applauded Dillinger's war on them. He only took the money and made every effort to avoid civilian casualties. He probably felt as safe in Wrigley as in his own living room. Perhaps even safer given the constant prying eyes at his own residences.

It's a little known fact that America's most no-torious criminal once had aspirations of playing the popular pastime. The Illinois native played ball for an Indiana semi-pro team stationed in the town of Martinsville. It wasn't long before Dillinger had cemented himself as the team's star hitter. But after the 1924 campaign came to an end, the then 21-year-old Dillinger was strapped for cash and willing to do anything to get it.

Desperate, he robbed a local grocery store with the help of his cousin and former minor league umpire Edgar Singleton. In an effort to get away, Dillinger beat a store employee but it did little to help. He was arrested and sentenced to 20 years in prison. It was here that Dillinger again starred on the baseball diamond, only this time it was for the prison team. The veteran inmates taught him the finer points of life as a criminal. He never looked back. A career as a bank robber and na-tional icon had begun.

But in June and July of 1934, Dillinger repeated-ly brushed off the fear of capture so that he could watch his beloved Chicago Cubs. The friendly confines of Wrigley Field was just as friendly to the thieves like Dillinger. But his run would soon come to an end. A team of federal agents led by the famed Melvin Purvis shot and killed Dillinger at the Biograph Theater in Chicago. His days of running as well as his legendary bank heists had finally come to an abrupt end.

For whatever reason we, as Americans, have a habit of romanticizing outlaws. From Jesse James and Billy the Kid to Al Capone and John Dil-linger. I can't speak for what made such vicious criminals so beloved after (and in some cases like Dillinger's before) their deaths. Maybe they saw Dillinger's attacks on banks as someone doing what they only wished they could do but never had the courage. Maybe they saw past the vio-lence and saw the man who, at one point, had the potential to be a talented and charismatic ball-player. I don't know.

Whatever the case, Dillinger's love for the Great American Pastime is probably the one thing most of the country shared with him. An American outlaw? Yes. Public Enemy Number One? Yes, the very first to be dubbed as such. Diehard fan of the Cubs? Absolutely. For one summer in 1934, Wrigley Field was the home away from home for one of history's most legendary outlaws.

Billy Brost resides in Riverton, Wyo-ming with his wife and two children. In his spare time, he coaches youth

baseball at the Little League and American Legion levels, and serves

on his county’s historical preservation commission.

You can follow Billy on Twitter: @Billy_Brost

The Outlaw At Wrigley:John Dillinger’s Other Life

In Baseball By Matt Mirro

Mandatory Credit: The Captain’s Blog

10

We all know how much panda bears are adored by zoo goers. When zoos have pandas, they are always among the top, if not the top, attraction. People line up to take photos of, sometimes take pictures with, and just gaze lovingly at, these im-possibly cute creatures.

I am a fan who is very loyal to the play-ers on the teams I like. I felt sick when the Phoenix Suns traded Jeff Hornacek for Charles Barkley. What Suns fan would not be ecstatic by that transaction?

I grew to love Barkley, but missed a player I really liked (decades later he is back as their coach). I un-derstand the business side, but don’t like that as much, especially when it comes to trading favorites.

My son, David, probably sees the business side a little more than I do when players are sent packing. My wife and daughter, Lynn and Rachel, I would say are even a little more sentimental than I am, probably not wanting to see favorite players, even marginal ones, let go. For sake of family peace, par-ticularly my own, I won’t give examples.

Virtually the entire San Francisco Giants fan base thoroughly adored Pablo Sandoval. He came up to the big leagues as an un-heralded rookie, mid-sea-son, and captured the imagination of the fan base by hitting .345 in 41 games. The next year he took the league by storm, with the second best batting average in the National League at .330, and adding 25 home runs and 90 runs batted in. He was affectionately nicknamed “Panda”, short for Kung Fu Panda, by Giants’ pitcher Barry Zito.

He was adored by fans and teammates alike. Thousands of fans (my wife in-cluded) could be seen at games, even the occasional hot ones in San Francisco, wearing the warm, fuzzy, ear-flapped Panda hats.

They LOVED this guy, the roly-poly catcher-turned-third baseman. He wasn’t fast, but when Panda got going on the base path, he could move. He was quick and athletic as a third baseman, a very good fielder with a very good arm. He was never afraid of getting dirty, flopping and diving in the infield, spitting what-ever he was chewing. He was a two-time

All-Star and will be remembered for the epic, three-home run night in the World Series against the Tigers, two of them coming off of monster pitcher Justin Ver-lander. WE LOVED this guy.

He never came close to matching these numbers again. He broke his hamate bone twice, once, amazingly in each wrist. What on earth is a hamate? It is a new thing to be injured, like an oblique. No matter, the fans LOVED him. He was grossly overweight, a source of friction between he and management and discus-sion by the fan base. Off-season workout

regimens and carefully planned diets were semi-mandated, sometimes successful for a while.

As the seasons wore on, though, the weight inevitably steadily came back. Still the fans LOVED him. He was an abso-lutely joyful and infectious personality in the dugout, always laughing and hugging his teammates, a different congratulatory hand shake for each player. The smiles, the television interviews, the hustle, the dirt piling up on his clothes, they LOVED this guy.

And suddenly, he was gone. Who knows why? Reports were that he felt “disre-spected” by the Giants by their spring training contract extension offer. I won’t go into salaries here; we all have our opinions on whether players are paid too much in general, and specific players in particular.

They did offer him, after the third World Series championship, ending with him catching a foul pop fly and falling back-

wards to the ground, mobbed by team-mates, a hefty salary for five years. He did not accept it, taking, from all reports, an equal contract offer, perhaps even less than the Giants offered, from the Red Sox. Fans were disappointed, very sad to see him go, but still they loved (this time a small “L”) him.

What turned the tide, however, was the storm that Panda caused as he was walk-ing out the door. No one really knows why he left. Was it something about the original contract offer, so insulting to Panda and his agent, although it appeared

that the Red Sox offered him the same money for the same number of years? Did he want to play in a different, perhaps more baseball-iconic city? Did he want to run on to the field each day with David Ortiz? Did he want a new challenge? He is the only one knows the real answer.

Fans could accept that he wanted to move on. What they could not accept was that he trashed the entire organization upon his departure. He claimed, aston-ishingly, that he did not like anyone in the organization except manager Bruce Bo-chy, and then he threw in Hunter Pence as well.

Can anyone really believe that? I wonder how Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain and Buster Posey and Sergio Romo and all the others that were with him during the three championship runs felt about that. It is hard to believe, when watching the countless dugout scenes, post-game in-terviews, playoff celebrations and victory parades in San Francisco. I wonder how

How A Beloved Panda Alienated An Entire

Fan Base By Eric Gray

Photo Courtesy: NYTimes.com

11

his fellow countryman, Gregor Blanco, felt about that. Blanco, when asked about it, was very discreet, very tactful in his answer.

So this is how a panda managed to alienate his loving, manic fan base. I love and follow three baseball teams (let’s talk about that another time), the Giants, Mets and Red Sox. Normally, when a player I love is traded or signs with another of those clubs, at least I feel like I can enthusiastically keep rooting for him.

When Angel Pagan came to the Giants from the Mets, I was happy. When Bill Mueller ultimately signed with the Sox (after a stay in Chicago), I was happy. When the Giants traded promising pitch-er Zach Wheeler to the Mets, well, if they had to trade him, at least it was to a team I loved. When Panda signed with the Red Sox, it was okay, until he opened that big

fat panda mouth and started spitting out more bamboo than the mind can imagine could possibly have been ingested.

At that point, well, I found myself actually rooting against him and hoping he would fail, thereby hurting the team that I follow closely.

Think about going to a zoo to just be completely charmed by the new attrac-tion, the panda. Imagine watching him for a few minutes, thoroughly entranced by that face, the slow movements, the total and absolute cuteness. Then, think about him turning around, back towards you¦.you fill in that panda’s next move.

THAT is how THIS panda found a way to alienate his entire fan base. Lots of players come back and play a final year with the team with which they rose to glory. Barry Zito (funny, no, to have Zits in this piece twice, and appropriately so?)

is the latest high profile example. I would bet a lot of bamboo shoots that

Panda will never play another home game in San Francisco, and wonder if he will somehow be on the disabled list next year when the Red Sox come to town, or go on it after the series, with migraines from the deafening boos emanating from the stands. Oh, Panda, what have you done?

There have been hundreds of books written on Babe Ruth over the decades. Most books provide either a detailed biography of his life, while others focus on his importance on changing baseball and establishing the New York Yankees as the premiere team in Major League Baseball.So, in Ralph Peluso's “512”, he

takes readers down a different road about Ruth's life with a re-freshing a new approach through historical fiction. There is no denying Ruth's in-

credible talent as hitter, but many people forget that he was one of the best pitchers in baseball for the Boston Red Sox before com-mitting full time to playing out-field after his trade to the New York Yankees. Peluso's fictional narrative asks the

question: what if Ruth had chosen to focus on pitching rather than hit-ting?Peluso's books is filled with de-

tailed historical research, and com-bined with an elegant narrative, he is able to show the life of Babe Ruth in ways that other writers have not been able too. If Ruth had chosen to become a

pitcher instead of making the switch to full-time outfielder, Ruth still would have been one of the great-

est ballplayers to grace the game. His success as a young left-handed pitcher, along with his character and talent certainly would have resonat-ed with fans in the same way. Could he have broken Cy Young's 511 ca-reer win mark?This is the beauty of alternative

history. It allows one to make their assumption on specific events and use historical background to support their view of it.By Peluso's background on the

development of the game and the details about Ruth's life, it makes for a convincing argument that Ruth would have surpassed 511 wins.

For those already familiar with Ruth, “512” maybe a little disap-pointing in that Peluso does not bring in any new information about his life, but at the same time, his narrative paints an ele-gant picture of a man who is typi-cally seen as an overweight player with god-given talent.Peulso's narrative shows more

of an empathetic view of Ruth in those earlier years that would shape who he was when he be-came the face of baseball in the 1920's.Even though today's game has

evolved from those seen in its golden period, Ruth remains the one player that supersedes the game.

Ruth's single-season home run record stood until 1961 and his career home runs were eclipsed by both Hank Aaron and Barry Bonds, Ruth's undeniable skills as a pitcher is one not to be forgotten as well, and Peluso's story helps us remem-ber Ruth as the complete player.

Book Review: “512” by Ralph Peluso By David

Warren

Eric Gray is from Plainview, New York, and got his BA from SUNY New Paltz. He

moved to San Francisco and spent his career with the Department of Labor overseeing job training programs for disadvantaged youth. He has been

married for 36 years to Lynn, and their two children, Rachel and David.

They are huge Giants fans.He can be followed on Twitter, if he ever

decides to post something,@ericcgray1

David Warren earned his B.A and M.A from the University of Nevada, Las Ve-gas in History. His passion for history and baseball has helped gain an even

larger appreciation and desire to learn about the early twentieth century years

of baseball.You can follow David on Twitter:

@davidwarren25

12

Superman: When Fiction and History Are One

By Dan Hughes

People love heroes. Both fictional and historical. It’s rare to be able to find a his-torical hero that also has a connection to a fictional hero. Sometimes people don’t realize the connection until it’s too late. In baseball, Jackie Robinson is seen as a hero. Larry Doby integrated the Amer-ican League and has heroic stories to share as well. But what about the minor leagues? What about the integration of all teams?

It took twelve years for every MLB team to roster at least one African-American player, after Jackie. And those heroes ar-en’t getting any younger. Of the 18 players recognized as a team’s first African-American player, only five (Monte Irvin, Nino Escal-era, Chuck Harmon, Ozzie Virgil and Pumpsie Green) are alive today. There is still so much to be learned about that era. Stories never told, players whose career poten-tial was never fully realized, due to the racism of the time. Heroes one and all.

But what of those who maybe didn’t get as much press, but were heroes none-theless?

While I won’t even be-gin to pretend that I know anything about the kind of struggles that these players faced in the early days of baseball’s integration, I can only imagine that those who played for minor league clubs, in smaller towns across the country, had to work even harder to be recognized not only by the fans, but by their own teammates.

Art Pennington was born May 18, 1923 in Memphis, Tennessee and now resides in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where my mother has lived for the past six years, and how I came across Art’s story. He started playing for the Chicago American Giants of the Negro Leagues in 1940, at the age of 17.

Over the years, Pennington played across North and Central America, in-cluding stops in Mexico and Cuba. But part of what makes him one of these heroes, was his 1949 season, playing in the Pacific Coast League for the Portland Beavers in Portland, Oregon and for the Salem Senators in Salem, Oregon....my hometown.

I had the pleasure of being able to in-terview Art, with my mother Jeri Hines acting as my proxy.

Art was known as “Superman” in the baseball world. I figured there would

be some story from a fellow teammate that accompanied the nickname. Not so. Stories suggest he was given the name at the age of 11 when he helped lift a car. So he possessed superhuman strength perhaps? Deriving his strength from Earth’s yellow sun? “My mother gave me that nickname,” Pennington said. “I was a baseball player, a football player, in any sport I played she called me that. Some-one would ask her, “Why do you call him that?” and she would say “because he’s that good.””

Good barely begins to describe how “Superman” was viewed in the Negro Leagues. A young, versatile fielder (he played every position but catcher) with

some power, Pennington hit his stride in 1945, batting .359 and slugging .500 as the first baseman for the American Giants. He finished fourth in the Negro American League (NAL) in average, tied for second with Jackie Robinson with five homers, led the league with 16 doubles and stole 18 bases, just three behind the league leader, Sam Jethroe.

After the 1945 season, Jackie Robinson was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers and assigned to their minor league affiliate in Montreal. Of course, many people were surprised that it was Robinson and not Josh Gibson, who was widely recognized as the best player in the Negro Leagues at the time. You could have even made the argument for Pennington, since at a younger age than Jackie, Pennington had hit for a higher average, stole more bases and hit the same number of home runs.

“He was a good ballplayer,” Pennington recalled of Robinson. “Jackie was a good ballplayer.” When asked if he was sur-

prised that Jackie was the one chosen to break baseball’s color barrier, Art just smiled and quickly said, “No,” as he chuckled and shook his head. “No.”

Pennington had a terrific year in 1945. He surely would have earned a call-up to the pros if he had been in a minor league organization now-a-days. Art did get a promotion of sorts for the 1946 season. He was offered a chance to play in the Mexican League for a significant pay raise ($8,000 a season vs. $600 a month with the American Giants). Over three seasons in Mexico, he played for multiple teams and batted .300. He called his time there, “the most fun” he had playing ball. There was less racism in Mexico, he could eat

where he wanted, stay in whatever hotels he wanted. He felt like “an equal”.

While he was in Mexico, he married a light-skinned Spanish-born Mexican woman. Little did he real-ize at the time that it would cause him more trouble when he went back to the States.

In 1949, at the request of his parents, Pennington, his wife and two daughters returned to America and rejoined the American Giants. In 57 games, Pen-nington hit .345 and his solid play would not go unrewarded. In July of that year, the Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast League purchased Pennington’s

contract from the Chicago American Gi-ants (pictured). Pennington had his shot at a Triple-A club. He was one step away from the Major Leagues.

“There weren’t many colored there, very few.” Pennignton said about the Beavers. A statement that was not only true of the Beavers at the time, but the city of Port-land and the state of Oregon in general as well.

Pennington was the first African-Amer-ican member of the Portland Beavers (they had previously signed two players of Latin descent) and only the seventh in the PCL at that time.

According to Amy Essington in her upcoming book “Segregation, Race and Baseball: The Desegregation of the Pacific Coast League, 1948-1952”, “Having three players of color on one team at one time came second only to San Diego in 1949 who had four on their roster.”

Despite Portland’s progressive nature, racism was prominent. In the 1940’s,

Mandatory Credit: artpenningtonbaseball.com

13

Portland only had between 2,000 and 4,000 African-American citizens, or less than 5% of the city’s population. That number rose slightly after World War II, but was never a large part of the population.

He was forbidden from staying in the same hotel as his wife, forced to take separate cabs and trains, denied access to “white-only” nightclubs and restaurants that his wife was granted access to. The sting of that racism was felt by Penning-ton. All of that had to have had at least some effect on his play.

His time in Portland was short-lived.

Pennington played in only 20 games with the Beavers and struggled with a slash line of .208/.417/.226, a far cry from his consistent numbers both in the NAL and in Mexico.

The racism he had been able to escape from for three years in Mexico, took it’s toll on, knocking him down, but not out. “I didn’t care too much playing in the North,” Pennington said. “Freedom was there you see, but, I don’t know. They had a league of their own and it just wasn’t right. It just didn’t seem right. Different than other places I played.”

He was sent to the Salem Senators, a B

League club in the Western International League (WIL), in August of 1949.

Pennington became the first Afri-can-American ballplayer in the 10-year history of the WIL and his arrival was met with fascination and applause, de-spite the area’s more conservative popula-tion and inherent racism.

Pennington responded with a return to form. In 18 games, Pennington hit .308 and was offered a winter contract to play in Caracas, Venezuela for a reported $3,500 a month.

Pennington returned to the NAL for the 1950 and 1951 seasons and then returned

Newspaper clippings from

the Oregon Statesman

detailing the signings of Art

Pennington both by the Portland Beavers (left)

and Salem Senators

(right).

to the minor leagues when the NAL dissolved after the ‘51 season. He spent the next six seasons playing primarily for teams in the Illinois-Indiana-Iowa League and in the Dominican.

It appeared in 1953 that Pennington was finally going to het his chance in the ma-jors. He had an agreement in place with the St. Louis Browns, but there were some complications.

“A lot of bull went on...and I got tired of it,” Pennington said. It is believed that Art’s marriage to Anita, was the sticking point, as it was illegal in many states for a black man to be married to a white wom-an. So, he went back to the Dominican to play.

When he retired after the 1959 season, the family stayed in Cedar Rapids, where he had played a few years earlier. “My wife had a job here, she worked at J.C. Penney’s or somewhere.” Pennington got a job working for Rockwell-Collins, working for them for over 25 years, retir-ing in 1985.

Pennington then tried his hand in pol-itics, running for Sheriff of Linn County, mayor and safety commissioner, losing each race along the way. Pennington said “I knew I wasn’t going to win, but I just liked to go out there and tell them about [prejudice]”.

Fighting for what he felt was right, put-ting himself out there, knowing he’d fail, just to get his word to the people. Sounds like a certain hero who fought for “truth, justice and the American way.” At the turn of the twenty-first century, his play-ing days long behind him, Pennington

now seemed somewhat content to stay hidden in the less-documented past of the Negro Leagues.

However, a cruel twist of fate had other ideas for Superman. Pennington made the national news in June 2008 when his Cedar Rapids home suffered major flood damage and he lost most of his personal baseball memorabilia. Friends banded to-gether to help him recover what he could. Still, he lost his car, his clothes and even one his dogs to the massive flood.

A year later, he was back in the place he had called home for over 50 years, thanks in part to Topps. The trading card com-pany gave him an undisclosed amount of money for including him in the 2009 Allen & Ginter set and for him signing 250 of the cards.

He has autographed many more through the mail that fans have sent, usually ac-companied with $10, $15 or even $20 per autograph request.

Today however, at the age of 92, he re-sides in an assisted living facility in Cedar Rapids. It’s unclear if this is a temporary stay or an extended one. “No, I don’t get to leave here,” he says before rolling right into a story about how he started playing ball in Cedar Rapids.

Age, seemingly his only Kryptonite, is starting to finally slow him down. His storytelling a little slower, his train of thought a little scattered, but with the same wit and humor that he managed to hold onto through his trying times in Or-egon and elsewhere around this country.

A man who once hit a home run off Dizzy Dean in an exhibition game, and a

grand slam off of the future dictator Fidel Castro (in Havana, Cuba- 1947) has truly lived a life filled with unbelievable stories. Some, I’m sure he still hasn’t shared and we unfortunately may never hear.

Like his namesake, his world is dying. There are very few former Negro League ballplayers left and we run the risk of for-getting about these heroes if their stories - all of their stories - aren’t passed along properly.

Art Pennington spent his life doing what he felt he was meant to do, both with playing baseball and also with educating people on prejudice. Using his powers for good, he truly lived up to his nickname.

Art Pennington

IS Superman.

Dan Hughes has been writing at various outlets since 2003.

Dan lives in Salem, Oregon with his beautiful wife of 16 years, Amy, as well

as his three amazing kids. When Dan isn’t writing, he’s coaching his 13-year old son’s team or rooting on

the Braves and Mariners. You can follow Dan on Twitter at

@DEgan4Baseball

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Overshadowed:Great Moments

Lost In The Moment By Jacob Winters

Throughout history, there are unforget-table moments that never die or cease to amaze. There are other largely important events that aren't as well documented or remembered, sometimes because of other occurrences that are more jaw dropping Baseball is no different.

1932 World Series, Game Three: Yankees vs. Cubs

Wrigley Field: Chicago, Illinois

This was truly a David versus Goliath World Series, as was usually the case when the Yankees made it to the World Series in the 1920's and 30's.

Just to give you an idea of how much better the Yankees were, here is their starting lineup from Game Three:

Earl Combs CFJoe Sewell 3BBabe Ruth LFLou Gehrig 1B

Tony Lazzeri 2BBill Dickey C

Ben Chapman RFFrank Crosetti SSGeorge Pipgras P

Of the eight everyday players in that lineup, six would go on to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall Of Fame (Combs, Sewell, Ruth, Gehrig, Lazzeri, and Dickey) and six would go on to have at least one All-Star season (Ruth, Gehrig, Lazzeri, Dickey, Chapman, and Crosetti.)

They also had three Starting Pitchers who would become Hall Of Famers (Lefty Gomez, Red Ruffing, and Herb Pennock) and three who would be selected to an All-Star team (Gomez, Ruffing, and John-ny Allen.)

This isn't to say that the Cubs weren't a force to be reckoned with.

Billy Herman 2BWoody English 3B

Kiki Cuyler RFRiggs Stephenson LF

Johnny Moore CFCharlie Grimm 1BGabby Hartnett C

Billy Jurges SSCharlie Root P

Their lineup featured three future Hall Of Famers (Herman, Cuyler, and Hart-nett) and five future All-Stars (Herman, English, Cuyler, Hartnett, and Jurges.) They also featured future Hall Of Fame starter in Burleigh Grimes and All-Star Lou Warneke.

However, there was was no question about who the better team was.

The Yankees took the first two games at Yankees Stadium handily. 12-6 and 5-2 respectively.

When the series moved to Chicago, the Yankees got out to an early lead in Game Three as Babe Ruth clubbed a three run homer in the top of the first.

However, by the top of the fifth the game was knotted at four. Charlie Root was still pitching for the Cubs and managed to get the first batter, Joe Sewell, to ground out to shortstop Billy Jurges. The next batter was Ruth and as it would turn out, the proceeding events would never be forgot-ten.

As legend would have it, with a 2-2 count, Ruth pointed to deep center field, indicating that he'd hit the next pitch over the center field fence. And so he did, clubbing his second home run of the game, giving the Yankees a 5-4 lead and creating one of the most legendary de-bates in the games’ history.

On the other hand, most people for-get what happened next. Cubs manager Charlie Grimm allowed Root to pitch to Gehrig, who had homered already in the third inning. As it would turn out, Grimm would regret his decision as Geh-rig would swat another home run to right field to tack on an insurance run.

The Yankees would go on to win 7-5 due to the heroics of both Ruth and Gehrig and would go on to finish off the sweep with a 13-6 win in Game Four.

Unfortunately, one of their performanc-es would launch into immortality, even though Gehrig would lead both teams in batting average (.529), OBP (.600), Slug-ging (1.118), OPS (1.718), hits (9), home runs (3), and RBIs (8).

This wasn't a new phenomenon for the Iron Horse as he had always been over-shadowed by the overwhelming personal-ity and greatness that was Babe Ruth.

After the Bambino left the Yankees following the 1934 season, Gehrig was finally the star of the team. However, it would only last for a short period of time. Starting in 1936, Joe DiMaggio would immediately captivate New York and be-come the face of the franchise.

Gehrig would go on to play until 1939,

when he was tragically stricken with ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), which would cut both his career, and life, short.

His career numbers were astonishing. He hit .340/.447/.632 with 493 home runs and 1995 RBIs. He also won two MVP awards (1927 and 1936) and the 1934 American League Triple Crown (though not the MVP.)

The 1932 World Series was just another example of an under appreciated star who deserved way more credit than he got.

1975 World Series: Reds vs. Red Sox

Unlike the 1932 World Series, this one featured two seemingly equal juggernaut lineups, both of which featured multiple Hall Of Famers. Also, neither team had won championships in a while. The Red Sox hadn’t won in 57 years (and would have to wait another 29 years.) The Reds’ drought was a bit less extreme (only 35 years), but still long enough.

The series opened at Fenway Park, where the Sox won 6-0 behind a complete game shutout by ace Luis Tiant.

Things looked promising for the Fenway faithful again in Game Two. The Sox led 2-1 into the ninth with Bill Lee cruising through eight innings. However, he was

replaced on the mound by Dick Drago after giving up a leadoff dou-ble to Reds catcher Johnny Bench in the ninth.

Tony Perez was able to move Bench to third base on a groundout, but George Foster was unable to bring him home with a fly out

to left field. There were two outs.Fortunately for the Reds, Dave Concep-

cion beat out an infield single to score Bench and tie the game.

Concepcion proceeded to steal second base and score on a Ken Griffey double. The Reds would hold on to win 3-2 and knot the series at one game a piece.

The excitement continued when the series moved to Cincinnati’s Riverfront Stadium for Game Three. The Reds held a 5-2 lead into the seventh, but Boston scored one that inning and tied the game in the ninth to send it to extra innings.

However, Cincinnati would win it in the tenth on an RBI single by second base-man Joe Morgan. The Reds led the series 2-1.

Mandatory Credit: youtube.com

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The Red Sox wouldn’t go quietly, taking game four by the score of 5-4 to tie the series.

Unfortunately for the Sox, Reds starter Don Gullet was able to give Cincinnati the momentum in Game Five, shutting down Boston’s lineup by allowing only two runs in 8.2 innings pitched. The Reds won handily 6-2.

Due to bad weather in Boston, Game Six would be delayed several days. In fact, it was played five days after Game Five.

The Reds held a 6-3 lead into the bot-tom of the eighth inning, but the Red Sox weren’t done yet. With two on and two out in the inning, Bernie Car-bo pinch hit for pitcher Roger Moret and crushed a three-run, game tying homer to center field.

The game would remain tied until the bottom of the twelfth when Red Sox catcher Carlton Fisk hit a walk-off home run off the left field foul pole, sending Fenway Park into a frenzy.

Though Fisk’s walk-off would be remembered as one of the most legend-ary moments in baseball history, many forget about the heroics of Carbo. Why? That’s up for debate. Maybe it’s because Fisk would go on to be elected to the Hall Of Fame and Carbo wouldn’t, though he had a solid big league career.

Another aspect of this series that is over-shadowed by Fisk’s home run is the fact that Cincinnati would win Game Seven to take the series.

1986 World Series: New York Mets vs. Red Sox

Though it's remembered for one specific play, the 1986 World Series was riveting all around.

The Mets were coming off a 108 win season and a game seven victory over the pitching-rich Houston Astros.

Even though their win total was not as impressive, the Red Sox were coming off a great season as well, winning 95 games and coming back from a three games to one deficit in the ALCS against the Cali-fornia Angels. They took that momentum with them to Shea Stadium.

The Sox took the first game 1-0 on the back of Bruce Hurst's gem. The Mets only managed four hits.

Boston took a different route in Game Two. Even though Roger Clemens didn't make it out of the fifth inning, the Red Sox slugged their way past Dwight Good-en and the Mets 9-3.

Boston hadn't won a championship in 68 years at that point, so when the Sox headed back to Beantown with a 2-0 lead, the Fenway faithful was elated. However, the Mets had other plans.

New York came out swinging in Game Three, scoring four runs in the top of the first. The Mets would win 7-1.

Game Four was a similar story, as the Mets scored three runs in the fourth inning (including a two-run home run by Gary Carter), two in the seventh (on a home run by Lenny Dykstra), and an-other in the eighth (another Gary Carter home run) to win 6-2 and tie the series at two games a piece.

The Sox managed to win Game Five 4-2 and push the Mets to the brink of elimi-nation.

Game Six would go on to be a classic. The pitching matchup was that year's American League Cy Young Award win-ner, Roger Clemens, against Bob Ojeda.

After nine back-and-forth innings, the game remained tied at three. However, Red Sox center fielder Dave Henderson led off the tenth inning with a solo home run to left field to give the Red Sox a 4-3 lead and silence the Shea Stadium crowd.

The Sox would scratch across an insur-ance run before the inning was over to take a 5-3 lead.

The champaign was set up in the visi-tor's locker room and the Sox were ready to celebrate. They needed only three more outs.

Wally Backman led off the bottom of the tenth for the Mets against Calvin Schiral-di. He lofted a fly ball to left field which landed in the glove of Jim Rice. One out.

The next batter, Keith Hernandez clubbed a Schiraldi pitch to deep center field, but Dave Henderson ran it down just in front of the warning track. Two outs.

The Mets last hope was Gary Carter. He managed to line a 2-1 pitch in front of Rice in left field to keep the game alive and bring the tying run to the plate in the form of pinch-hitter Kevin Mitchell.

After a first pitch strike, Mitchell lined a single to center field to chase Carter to third base. The Sox still needed just one more out.

Third baseman Ray Knight was the next batter. After falling behind 0-2, he took the third pitch and dunked it into center field to score Carter and bring Mitchell to third. Mookie Wilson would be the batter.

Red Sox manager John McNamara had seen enough of Schiraldi and went to his bullpen, summoning Bob Stanley, a move he would grow to deeply regret.

Wilson managed to work a 2-2 count through seven pitches. On the next offer-ing, Stanley threw it too far inside and the ball zoomed past catcher Rich Gedman, scoring Mitchell and tying the game. Also on the play, Knight moved into scoring position.

On the very next pitch, Wilson rolled a ball towards first baseman Bill Buckner, a seventeen-year veteran who would retire

with over 2,700 career hits.Unfortunately for Buckner, all people

would remember about him was that roller, as it rolled under his glove and into right field, allowing Knight to score and the Mets to win 6-5 and force a game seven.

Though they fell behind 3-0, the Mets took the seventh game 8-5 and won the series.

As for overshadowed aspects: The back-and-forth of this series has rarely been matched. Also, the career of Bill Buckner, someone who could arguably be a border line Hall Of Fame candidate, was largely undermined.

Yes, sometimes it’s hard to remember every game or everything that happens before or after a historic hit or play. It’s understandable. However, we can’t com-pletely forget or we have no context for what happened.

None of these legendary moments are overrated or less important, but they were just one part of an even bigger story. Con-sider this a reminder of what that bigger story is.

Jacob Winters was born and raised in New York City and is a life long

baseball fan. As early as he can remember, he ob-

sessively read about historical games, seasons, players, and stats.

He is a co-host of the upcoming podcast Big Apple Bosses.

Follow him on Twitter @wintersball

Mandatory Credit: goodmenproject.com

16

Brooklyn’s Secular Cathedral: Brooklyn’s Effect on the

Mythology of the Dodgers (Part 1)By Christine Sisto

This is the first part of a five-part series exclusive to Baseball Magazine by guest contributor Christine Sisto.

During the 1952 Brooklyn Dodg-ers-New York Yankees World Series, Gil Hodges, who was one of the best hitters in the league, second in home runs in the National League the year before, hit a slump. During the Series, he had struck out almost every time he stepped in the batter’s box. In fact, he was 0-for-21.

Therefore, Father Herbert Redmond of St. Francis Roman Catholic Church in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York preached during his homily, “Keep the Ten Command-ments and say a prayer for Gil Hodg-es.”

Events like this were commonplace among Brooklynites while the Dodg-ers played at Ebbets Field in Flatbush, Brooklyn. The Dodgers were, and continue to be, nearly fifty-five years after their move to Los Angeles, an integral part of Brooklyn identity. However, what few Brooklynites and, even Brooklyn intellectuals, often fail to realize is that Brooklyn was also an indispensable part of the Dodgers’ identity.

A September 1953 article in the now defunct newspaper, Brooklyn Eagle, starts its discussion of the Brooklyn Dodgers’ championship season with a description of all Brooklyn has to offer.

The author mentions the Brooklyn Bridge, Coney Island, and the bor-ough’s many beautiful churches and synagogues.

The author writes, “But no institution in our midst has done more to spread the fame of Brooklyn to the outermost parts of the earth than the Brooklyn Dodgers Baseball Club.”

Another article in the same news-paper states, “The borough has made itself known in many ways but in no way so well as by the doings of the Brooklyn Dodgers.

No one could explain just why this is so, why the local ball club creates so much excitement, but that’s the way it is.”

I will prove that the Dodgers were so famous because, “Few communi-ties have as much home-town pride as Brooklyn.” In other words, the Dodg-

ers were so famous because they were Brooklyn’s team.

The Dodgers’ fame was augmented, and able to reach its current myth-like status, due to a number of simultane-ous factors. The first of these factors is the action on the field.

The Dodgers were famous for their skill and for their slip-ups. As Dodg-ers’ biographer Roger Kahn says in his famous book, The Boys of Summer, “You may glory in a team triumphant, but you fall in love with a team in defeat.” The second of these factors was Jackie Robinson and the social and political role he played in 1940s and ‘50s America.

The third of these factors was the uni-fying effect the team had on the cul-turally diverse borough of Brooklyn. These features of the Brooklyn Dodg-

ers made the world listen, and more importantly, watch.

As I will demonstrate, though, the team never would have been as famous if they were not the Brooklyn Dodgers because the Brooklyn identity reso-nates with most Americans.

Furthermore, because of this identity, the aforementioned factors would not have had such an everlasting effect if they had been the home team of any city other than Brooklyn.

The final action that solidified the Brooklyn Dodgers’ myth-like character was the move to Los Angeles in 1957, resulting in aged fans of the Brooklyn team making statements like the fol-lowing: “The Dodgers were the ghosts of baseball when it was perfect.”

Baseball—Made in Brooklyn

Brooklyn’s love affair with baseball began long before the Brooklyn Dodg-ers were an official team. Although American myth dictates that Abner Doubleday created the rules of baseball in Cooperstown, New York, which is the current home of the National Base-ball Hall of Fame and Museum, base-ball actually began in New York City and Brooklyn.

Organized baseball clubs began to spring up in the New York area around the 1820s, when the Erie Canal was built, which transformed New York farming into the “industrial and com-mercial center of the country.”

Brooklyn, taken from the name of a village in Amsterdam, called Breuckel-en, was originally populated by Dutch

immigrants. With the late nineteenth century immigration boom, people from all different countries immigrat-ed to the United States. The majority of these immigrants settled in Manhat-tan, most infamously in the Lower East Side.

Because there were no bridges in these years, Brooklyn was settled more slowly. As generations passed, those with smaller incomes spilled over into Brooklyn, until Manhattan and Brook-lyn had developed two distinct person-alities.

The former became a mostly aristo-cratic, upper class group because of the preponderance of businesses in the area. Brooklyn became an immigrant, hard-working, middle class, mostly be-

Photo Courtesy: 19cbaseball.com

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cause of its humble origins as a farm-ing community.

From these identities arose a rivalry that exists to this day: Manhattan vs. Brooklyn. By 1855, both cities, be-cause at this time, Brooklyn was still a separate city, had four baseball clubs. New York had the Knickerbockers, Eagles, Empires, and Gothams.

Brooklyn had the Excelsiors, who played in South Brooklyn on the site of the famous Revolutionary War Battle of Brooklyn on the corner of 3rd Street and 5th Avenue. They also boasted the Putnams, who played in Williams-burgh, the Eckfords, who played in Greenpoint, and the Atlantics, who played in Bedford.

By 1856, baseball had become extremely pop-ular in the New York metropolitan area, and more and more teams sprung up. As the game became standardized, mostly thanks to Brook-lyn sportswriter Henry Chadwick, who devel-oped the first scoring system and invented box scores, the teams’ promoters had the idea to organize a series of games between the New York and Brooklyn teams.

Here the rivalry that some may argue, lasts to the present day, was born. In these games, the top teams chose their nine greatest players to compete in a best-of-three series. Over 2,000 people came to watch the first game. The second game drew over 5,000 people, and Brooklyn tied the series with a score of 29 to 8.

New York finally won the series, giving them bragging rights as the better city with the best baseball players, probably in the country, due to baseball’s small scope at the time.

The Brooklyn Dodgers’ origins began in the 1890s. The team went through many names, though, before “Dodg-ers” stuck. Originally, the team was informally referred to as “the Flock,” and it went through many names after that, from the “Bridegrooms,” at a time when most players on the team were wed, to the “Superbas,” after the name of a popular musical.

The team finally picked up the name “Trolley Dodgers,” because of pedes-

trians’ constant battle to avoid being struck by the electric trolley cars, which were ubiquitous in Brooklyn at the time. The name was eventually shortened to “Dodgers” and later, from 1914 to 1931, changed to “Robins,” and then to “Kings” until, finally, back to the Brooklyn Dodgers.

This team would quickly come to em-body the “differentness” of Brooklyn.

Brooklyn Identity

In 1942, the film Wake Island pre-miered in American movie theaters. The movie was an enormously popular pro-war propaganda film. William

Bendix starred in the film as a tough-talking, heavily accented Brooklyn soldier.

After Wake Island, a character similar to Bendix’s, with the same accent and goofiness, became a staple in war films, which were common during World War II. Soon the Brooklyn accent, and thusly Brooklyn, became a joke to most Americans, so much so that an organization called the “Society for the Prevention of Disparaging Remarks ” was formed.

By 1946, the Society boasted 40,000 members and halted nearly 3,000 smears against Brooklyn in the media

that year. The Brooklyn accent was, and still is, one of the most recognized signifiers of Brooklyn separateness.

Language has always been a great unifier, and divider. Examples abound in history of kings and caliphs choos-ing one national language in order to unify their kingdom, and set it apart from others. Brooklyn was no differ-ent. Having a distinct accent further separated Brooklyn from the greater metropolitan area.

War films from the 1940s and lat-er popular shows, most notably The Honeymooners from the 1950s, intro-duced the world to Brooklyn through the accent. In The Honeymooners,

Jackie Gleason and Art Carney’s characters, Ralph Kramden and Ed Norton, respectively, personified the Brook-lyn accent— a working class, non-college ed-ucated child of immi-grants, who was “just trying to make ends meet.”

This depiction of Brooklynites was not far from the truth. Brooklyn was a city— and after 1898, a bor-ough— of immigrants. Although Brooklyn did have a small aristocracy of descendants of the original families who settled there, these fami-lies were the minority. Immigrants, especially after the 1920s were the majority.

Brooklyn had sec-tions for different cultures. The Irish, Italians, Poles, Swedes and Germans lived in Bensonhurst. Afri-can-Americans resided in Bedford-Stuyvesant.

The Russians were in Greenpoint. Syrians, West Indians, and Newfound-landers lived in Prospect Park West and Jews were in Williamsburg, Ben-sonhurst, and Crown Heights.

The Jewish experience epitomized immigrants in Brooklyn. In 1901, the Brooklyn Eagle ran a story under the headline, “Is America the Jews’ Prom-ised Land?” By 1900, one million Jews had come to the United States, and 300,000 of them had settled in the New York area.

By 1910, over one million Jews were living in New York and census data showed that “there were more Jews

Photo Courtesy: NY Daily News

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living in Brooklyn than in any other city in the world.”

Although there were different sections for the different races, “there was a rela-tive tolerance that was unmatched per-haps anywhere in America,” as Reverend Gardner C. Taylor of Bedford-Stuyve-sant has said. Dorothy Burnham, a civil rights activist, reflecting upon her child-hood in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn says, “I had white friends and black friends. There was no obvious discrimination at school that I remember, though there were no black teachers in either elemen-tary or high school, and sometimes the white kids were treated a little better than the black children. But it wasn’t obvious.” Brooklyn “represented the idea that we can all get along.” Although they were relatively tolerant of each other, the ethnic sections were separate.

As a 1950s New York Times article says, “Ask a Manhattanite where he lives and he’ll tell you, ‘New York.’ A Brooklynite, however, will say at least, ‘Brooklyn,’ but is more likely to answer, ‘Greenpoint’ or ‘Columbia Heights’ or whichever one of the twenty-one distinct communities it is in which he lives.”

Residents had more allegiance to their respective neighborhoods than they did to Brooklyn as a whole. They had no sense of unity, an issue that the Brook-lyn Dodgers would remedy, as will be discussed later.

Despite the separation among them, immigrants were the basis of Brooklyn’s identity and “differentness.” No other city in the country was as populated by immigrants as Brooklyn, and Brook-lynites took pride in this. They also took pride in their middle class status and separateness, which they personified in the Brooklyn “Bum.” This depiction was a cartoon that eventually became a character at Ebbets Field, first drawn by Willard Mullins in the 1940s. The “Bum” was a cartoon clown, who looked almost poor, wearing dirty, patched-up clothes. As Carl E. Prince explains:

The “Bum” was never meant to deni-grate the lowly. It represented at heart a lingering Depression mentality that exalted the virtue that it wasn’t what you had that mattered, but how you looked at things. In this way, it was a Dodger-focused, widely understood symbol of working-class pride… one of the Bum’s roles was to mock perceived “upper class” pretensions.

Even the name “Bum” depicted this “lingering Depression mentality.” This title had a similar effect as the cartoon clown. It represented a pride in not being upper class. In fact, the name was so popular that the Brooklyn Dodgers themselves were affectionately called

the “Bums,” or, in Brooklyn vernacular, “Dem Bums.”

Brooklynites were proud of the fact that they were middle class, because in their eyes, they and their ancestors had worked hard to achieve this status. However, much of this pride came from the still lingering rivalry with Manhat-tan that began so long ago.

Because Manhattan was upper class and Brooklyn was working class, Brook-lyn had a sense of inferiority to its neighbor across the East River, resulting in a sense of cultural isolation.

As sportswriter Joe Williams put it, the situation comprised “an elegant smug New York versus a plain, pro-vincial Brooklyn.” Brooklynites saved

themselves from drowning in Manhat-tan’s wave of culture, by declaring that they were different because they were hard-workers, unlike the aristocrats of Manhattan who had never driven a bus or made shoes for a living, and because they were not afraid to be rambunctious, unlike the stiff, boring upper class.

“The Brooklyn fans glory in their ec-centricity.” A New York Times article stated, “The Brooklynites resent Man-hattan getting all the credit… When anything comes along distinctly Brook-lyn, they rally behind it because it is an expression of themselves.” This “any-thing” became the Brooklyn Dodgers, who spread the message of Brooklyn all over the country.

A 1952 article in the Brooklyn Eagle stated that “We have no doubt that many products have greater acceptance when the consumers learn that they come from Brooklyn.” This trend survives to the current day. When one travels to other countries one sees products with Brooklyn in the title, such as the Euro-pean Brooklyn Gum.

The female name, Brooklyn, was the 34th most popular baby name in 2010. According to the U.S. Patent and Trade-mark Office, more than 300 products are trademarked with “Brooklyn” in the name. Randall Ringer, president of the New York American Marketing Associ-ation states, “Brooklyn is a great brand for authentic products, solidly middle class with a sense of humor.” In describ-ing the branding of Manhattan, Ringer explained, “Manhattan is a strong brand. More upscale than Brooklyn… Manhat-tan is an international brand, Brooklyn is American.”

This success of Brooklyn products demonstrates that the rest of America identifies with the borough. Ameri-

cans believe that, if one works hard, one will succeed in life. Brooklyn was a testament to this national myth. Im-migrants, who often came to the United States relatively poor, settled in Brook-lyn and worked hard in order to support their families and raise their status from working class to middle class.

As Brooklyn Dodgers fan and Brook-lyn resident, John Sexton said, “Brook-lyn was the borough of hope. Brook-lyn was the borough of immigrants.” Brooklyn was the epitome of the Ameri-can dream.

Brooklynites knew this, but in such a segmented community, they had no way to communicate that with each other. After all, although they were separated

by their respective cultures, they did have much in common. Brooklynites shared a language, were the children of immigrants, or were immigrants them-selves, felt “ill-judged by outsiders,” and suffered from an inferiority complex from sophisticated Manhattan.

The Brooklyn Dodgers communi-cated all of these things to the outside world, but more importantly, to other Brooklynites, uniting them. The follow-ing factors that will be discussed made America take notice of the Dodgers, and thus, Brooklyn, and once they looked, they realized that the Brooklyn identity spoke to all of middle America.

The idea that “ball clubs invariably duplicate the temperament of the cities in which they play” is crucial to under-standing the Brooklyn Dodgers’ cultural impact.

The three following factors that aug-mented the Dodgers’ fame are all linked to the Brooklyn identity and would not have succeeded if this personality was not part of the team. Like any other baseball team, the Brooklyn Dodgers gained notoriety for the way the team played. However, before the arrival of general manager Larry MacPhail in 1938, Brooklyn did not play well.

Instead they became known for their amazing slip-ups, a skill that would stick with the Dodgers for decades, even when they became a winning team.

Christine Sisto does social media and writes for National Review. She is from Brooklyn, NY, but lives in Washington DC. She graduated from the George

Washington University in 2012, double majoring in Middle East Studies and History. When not talking baseball,

Christine enjoys arguing about politics.

As Brooklyn Dodgers fan and Brooklyn resident, John Sexton said, “Brooklyn was the borough of hope.

Brooklyn was the borough of immigrants.” Brooklyn was the epitome of the American dream.

In the next issue of

Available November 10, 2015

- The 2001 Seattle Mariners through the eyes of catcher Tom Lampkin

- Why the Braves should leave the Ty Cobb statue behind

- Wait ‘Till Next Year: The Phillies’ 97-year title drought

- Former Dodgers GM Fred Claire reminices about Baseball Mag.

- Art by former big leaguer John D’Acquisto

- And much more

Nov.2015

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