Otis Livingston, Sports Anchor
I have to admit when the Brooklyn Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in 1958 it worked out pretty good for me. Growing up in the Los Angeles area, I was happy to be on the receiving end of this baseball gift. I enjoyed quite a few games in Chavez Ravine eating Dodger dogs watching my favorite player Steve Garvey. I saw a couple of World Series championships in 1981 and 1988.
Recently, at the premiere of HBO’s “Ghosts of Flatbush“, I got the chance to see the other side of the Dodgers move to the left coast up close and personal. Brooklyn dodger fans spoke about how much “Dem Bums” leaving Brooklyn in 1958 tore the heart out of the city. I heard about how many fans to this day have never rooted for another team. It was no coincidence the viewing was held at the Brooklyn Academy Of Music located at Flatbush Avenue and Lafayette Avenue. That was the site Dodger Owner Walter O’Malley wanted to buy land to build a domed stadium to replace Ebbets Field. O’Malley took the team to Los Angeles after he was denied the opportunity to build there by Robert Moses.
HBO’s brilliant documentary chronicled the beginning of the organization, the quest for the title, Jackie Robinson’s breaking baseball’s color barrier, the team finally beating the hated Yankees, and then the move to the West Coast.
I could feel the passion of the fans through the interviews. Baseball was their lives in Brooklyn back then. The Brooklyn Dodgers were the air they breathed.
The evening as a whole was electric. There was a buzz in the air during the cocktail reception. I saw Ralph Branca, the great Brooklyn Dodger pitcher, who gave up “The Shot Heard Round The World” to New York Giants slugger Bobby Thomson in the 1951 pennant playoff series. Branca was a charming man who didn’t have any bitterness about being labeled the goat of the series. I spoke with Joan Hodges, the wife of the late Brooklyn Dodger first baseman Gil Hodges. Joan talked about her desire for him to get into the Hall of Fame. We also talked about Gil’s tremendous love, affection, and admiration for Jackie Robinson.
Then there was the moment I had waited for: The sight of Rachel Robinson, Jackie’s wife and baseball royalty. When she walked into the room every head turned. She was the person who stood beside her husband Jackie Robinson as he took the slings and arrows of a bigoted society while making history. She was there when insults were hurled at him. They both handled it all with such grace and dignity. She exuded class then and now. She an amazing woman who still looks great at the age of 85. Mrs. Robinson got the loudest ovation when the VIPs were introduced before we viewed the film.
The “Ghosts Of Flatbush” really hit home how important the Brooklyn Dodgers were. Every moment being relived, the good with the bad, and for most of the show it was bad. The gentleman sitting next to me put his hands in his face before Branca’s pitch was hit out of the ballpark. He teared up as Bobby Thomson ran around the bases. I could feel the roar reverberate through my body when the Dodgers finally slayed the Yankees in 1955. It was like watching it happen in real time. For many of the Brooklyn fans those days are burned in their minds as if it were only yesterday. There weren’t many dry eyes in the house when the film concluded.
HBO got it right again! Sure I’m glad for my Steve Garvey led Dodgers. I’m happy that I got to experience those days, but I wish those Brooklyn fans could’ve had their days back. In a way they did, even if just for one night.
