A Met victory would be sweet revenge for Brooklyn...
Millions of Brooklynites will never forgive Walter O'Malley for taking their Dodgers away from them - never as in Never ! It hardly matters that it's been 49 years ago, Brooklyn will never forget nor forgive. Nothing can ever heal their pain but a Met victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers would help. Game 1 of the playoffs between the two teams starts today at Shea Stadium...
While a few die-hard fans continued to root for the Dodgers from a distance of 3,000 miles away, most of the Dodger fans in Brooklyn would become Met fans when the franchise was born in 1962. The Mets and Dodgers are hardly a rivalry because the 2 teams don't meet that often but to rub it in a bit, what happened on this date in 1955, just 2 years before O'Malley skipped town is a constant reminder of what the borough could've had for years to come - world champions. On October 4th, 1955 the Brooklyn Dodgers won their 1st World Series by beating the dreaded Yankees. The Daily News had a sketch of a bum and the headline screamed "WHO'S A BUM ?". At long last, after years of suffering, Brooklyn had a world championship...
The Los Angeles Dodgers come into Shea Stadium to face the Mets, decimated by injuries to their starting pitching. They don't even know who'll start for them today. They went from big favorites to win this series to barely being favorites for game one and the best-of-five series. They have an uphill battle now but should they beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, they will make the borough of Brooklyn very happy...
Ten Timeline Memories...
- [1957] The Space Age begins as the Soviet Union launches Sputnik, the 1st man-made satellite, into orbit...
- [1963] The Los Angeles Dodgers sweep the Yankees in 4 games behind the brilliant pitching of Sandy Koufax who strikes out 15 in the 1st game, wins another game and is named World Series MVP...
- [1964] Boston Patriot place-kicker Gino Cappelletti goes 6 for 6 in field goal attempts and kicks 3 extra points in a 39-10 victory over Denver (how many of you remember Gino's "Point After" restaurant ?)...
- [1965] Pope Paul VI becomes the 1st reigning pontiff to travel to North America when he flies to New York for an address to the U.N. General Assembly...
- [1967] The Red Sox are in the World Series for the 1st time in 21 years but they lose game 1, 2-1 to the St. Louis Cardinals (the only game I missed seeing at Fenway)...
- [1976] Barbara Walters joins Harry Reasoner at the anchor desk of the "ABC Evening News" (as we would later find out, this was not a match made in network anchor heaven)...
- [1986] Speaking of network anchors, "What's the frequency Kenneth ?". That was the question posed to Dan Rather as he was about to be mugged in Manhattan (but then again maybe Dan just thought he was mugged)...
- [1994] South African President Nelson Mandela is welcomed to the White House by President Bill Clinton...
- [2002] John Walker Lindh, the so-called "American Taliban" receives a 20-year sentence and some grooming tips from Vidal Sassoon...
- [2002] Richard Reid pleads guilty in Boston for trying to blow up a trans-Atlantic flight with a shoe bomb (Reid is now serving a life sentence)...
"Happy Trails": 1970] Janis Joplin's body is found in a Hollywood hotel room. Janis who had just finished her "Pearl" LP died of a heroin overdose at 27...
#1 on this date: 1959] "Mack The Knife" - Bobby Darin...1965] "Yesterday" - The Beatles...1980] "Another One Bites The Dust" - Queen...
Released on this date: 1969] "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" - Crosby, Stills & Nash...
Debuted on this date: 1931] "Dick Tracy" in the Detroit Daily Mirror...
Premiered on this date: 1956] "Playhouse 90" (the drama anthology series has a 5-year run)...1957} "Leave It To Beaver" (the "Beave" makes his debut in a series that runs for 6 seasons)...
[To ensure accuracy of dates and content, multiple reference sources are used in the timeline]...
"Happy Birthday...happy birthday":
Alicia Silverstone (30), Susan Sarandon (60), Patti LaBelle (62), LaBelle's Nona Hendryx (62) and Charlton Heston (83)...
Timeline Countdown: 17 Days until World Series, 88 days until 2007 and 93 days until NFL playoffs...
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