Sunday, September 13, 2009

Meet The Los Angeles Dodgers

Technically speaking, it was the Los Angeles Dodgers that started to commercialize baseball. When the team was formed in the late 1800, amateur baseball leagues have gained popularity amongst the people who loved the game.

The Dodgers got its name from the Brooklyn nickname “trolley dodger”. This term refers to anybody from Brooklyn, New York, because they tend to dodge the trains and the cars on the borough as they try to play on the streets. Initially, the team was known as the Brooklyn Trolley Dodgers.

The archrivals of the Dodgers are the Giants. And their rivalry can be traced way back centuries ago. The Dodgers and the Giants are both from New York. If the Dodgers are from Brooklyn, the Giants are from Manhattan. They practically have the whole state torn apart. When the teams were transported from New York to California, the rivalry was merely transplanted. In 1958, the Dodgers became the seeds from Los Angeles while the Giants represented San Francisco.

But before being the Los Angeles Dodgers as they are known today, the team was named the Brooklyn Robins in the early 1900’s. This is because of team manager Wilbert Robinson who had restored the team’s reputation in the league. He did so by motivating the team to reach the World Series in the years 1916 and 1920.

Wilbert Robinson was replaced by Max Carey when he retired in 1931. The team was almost named as the Brooklyn Canaries then, which was after Carey this time, whose last name was really Carnarius. However, that didn’t happen. Instead, their original name Brooklyn Dodgers was restored.

During the 1930’s, the Dodgers were even more determined to rebuild the team and become strong contenders to the title. Larry MacPhail, the Dodger’s general manager during that time, was joined by Branch Rickey in forming a team that is composed by Jackie Robinson, Gil Hodges, Pee Wee Reese, Roy Campanella, Carl Furillo, and Duke Snider. All together, they won five pennants from 1941 to 1953. However, they were beaten by another New York team, the Yankees, in all of those series. The resilient team and the eager fans never lost hope though. And with their eyes on their goal, their slogan became “Wait til next year!” The “next year” came in 1955, when the Dodgers beat the Bronx Bombers to obtain the much awaited championship title.

When Walter O’Malley gained majority ownership of the team in 1950, he started thinking of buying a land in Brooklyn to build a stadium that is way better and more accessible than the Ebbets Field where the Dodgers are playing. Being a real estate businessman, he tried to look for the most suitable place until he decided that the piece of land that he needs exactly is not in Brooklyn. That is when he started to consider Los Angeles, California.

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[Via Recreation & Sports]

ะพ 7:49 AM

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