The races for the Major League baseball's "Wild Card" playoff spots have my main attention more than any other sports news today. I am following them more than yesterday's injury to Michael Vick's hand or Tony Romo's recovery from injuries to play against the Redskins tonight. And more than NBA players and team owners lack of progress in getting a labor agreement to end pro basketball's lockout. Baseball may not be the "national pastime" any longer, but it still is my favorite sport.
Although football fever becomes a national epidemic in the fall, there are not many things more exciting than a late season pennant or playoff race. For instance, the 1951 playoff between the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants that ended with the Giants', "Miracle of Coogan's Bluff". I was not quite 2 months old at that time. There was also the Philadelphia Phillies' September collapse of 1964 and the Boston Red Sox's 1967 "Impossible Dream" season. And I remember driving between account calls listening on the radio as the Yankees' Bucky Dent broke the heart of Red Sox nation with his playoff home run in 1978.
Despite what some are calling a current decrease in its popularity, the sport of baseball is still alive. It is tightly woven into the fabric of 20th Century American History. The facts, individual and team accomplishments, and events of the sport's past remain vivid in the hearts and minds of many baby boomers; just like me.
This blog will be about baseball history and its link to the game today. Special focus will be on the years 1947 - 1975 when the face of the Major Leagues became no longer just white and it expanded west of the Mississippi and south of the Mason-Dixon Line. It was the time of first Crosly Field and theni Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati, of Busch Bavarian and Schlitz beer commercial jingles, and of home run sluggers not aided by PEDs. My favorite period of my favorite sport.
What are some of the fond memories of baseball do you have?
