IF THE DODGERS HAD STAYED IN BROOKLYN

by D Fowler

Volume III

Brooklyn Dodgers Part 11 - The Trump Giants

The Yankees won pennants in 1974 and 1976, but no World Series. When Reggie, wanting to stay in the N.L., went to the Dodgers, George Steinbrenner started going crazy after free agents - though Wane Garland and his injury problems soured him on them to some degree; at least on pitchers.

Steinbrenner’s ego was still huge, but not as big as Trump‘s. When the first few months of 1979 saw plans for a new ballpark with huge T’s all around, the Yankees’ Thurm Munson was heard to say, "My goodness, I thought the world’s biggest hot dog was in Brooklyn, and the world’s biggest ego in the Bronx. But, now someone in New Jersey might just eclipse them both!"

That man was Donald Trump. He’d risen to prominence with his dad’s real estate business, and at the age of 32 looked to be the next great story of wealth, along the same lines as the Rockefellers.

When Stoneham started having trouble competing in New Jersey, there were rumors of a move to Toronto if things didn’t go well. However, hekept trying to sell locally, and Donald Trump, on his 30th birthday, promised that he’d try to have the funds in two years. Since the huge estate, as with so many wealthy men, would be languishing in the courts for a while anyway, the lawyers for it agreed.

The Senators, meanwhile, felt that Dallas, like Washington, was too much a football town, and so they moved to Toronto after the 1977 season, not Dallas/Arlington as in OTL, hoping to revive the generally last place club there. They began buying up quite a few free agents, though they also had some good young talent such as Dave Stieb and Jim Clancy coming up.

Donald Trump managed to obtain at least 50% of the loans he’d needed by then, but he still needed league approval. Because he was so young, and there had been concerns that he might be interested in the purchase of land for casinos as well, that was held up till early 1979. Once he promised not to invest in such land for five years, however, and other stuff checked out, the deal was approved.

Trump quickly went to town. He began intense marketing strategies and trying to get loans to build his own stadium; Roosevelt Stadium was aging fast, and a light tower had fallen the year before, weakening the structure. The new ball park, to open in in 1981, would feature an incredible array of things bearing Trump’s name, as well as an enormous "T" at each entrance.

The team quickly began to bear his mark, too. By Opening Day, 1981, they featured Vida Blue, obtained in a trade from the Seals, and free agent signees such as Joe Morgan, Dave Kingman, Frank Tanana, and Carlton Fisk, as well as Dave Winfield. Winfield - that had been "the unkindest cut of all" to Steinbrenner. But, being in San Diego, now in the American League, Winfield had seen too much of the problems with the Bronx Zoo and all those managerial changes in the last few years, problems heightened by the lack of world titles. He also wanted to try a new league, and yet he wanted the big city. Winfield would have an excellent year for the New York Giants in 1981.

The Tigers roared through the A.L. behind Sparky Anderson’s managing and Jack Morris, plus Kirk Gibson’s batting title. After beating the Yankees in 5 games in the divisional season mandated by the strike, they beat the Brewers in 5. Morris won one of the first two Series games he started, then bested Frank Tanana in a thrilling 10 inning game, 1-0, in Tiger Stadium. It was won when little-used John Wockenfuss blooped a single off Jim Kern with the bases loaded. Morris, of course, was on deck, and had told Sparky he was ready to go another ten. "I’m usually Captain Hook, but the look in that man’s eyes told me he probably could have." As it turned out, though many expected the Tigers to be a dynasty, they won only one more pennant, in 1984, besting the Dodgers in five in the World Series.

Trump, meanwhile, was ecstatic - his Giants had beaten the Dodgers in a classic division series, coming from behind in game 5 in Trump Stadium in an 8-7 game where Lasorda promised "never to rely so much on my bullpen again." His Giants, though they still hadn’t won a world title since 1954, were the talk of baseball.

However, they would soon fall on their faces. Tanana would start to slump badly, as did Vida Blue. Frank Robinson’s managerial magic just wasn’t quite enough as the division got a whole lot tougher over a whole season. The Phillies, challengers in both halves, the much improved Dodgers, the surprising Atlanta Braves, and the still good but not great Montreal Expos all finished ahead of them in ‘82, though at 80-82 they were still respectable for a fifth place club. The Pirates, in fact, were last at 78-84! The Cardinals had gotten back at the Astros for the division series loss in a big way, almost going wire to wire before beating the Brewers in the World Series.

In 1983, Trump had begun to gain other interests. He had made other investments, but baseball wasn’t netting him anything financially. He wanted to invest in casinos and other things in Atlantic City, but he also was interested in a rival to the NFL someday. He couldn’t do that with his full effort without getting rid of the Giants. And, the Giants, like a once-favorite toy, had just begun to be less interesting; especially after the drug problems that surfaced with a few of his players.

Trump had tried a few underhanded deals in the last year or so to get involved with gambling through shadow corporations and the like, but baseball officials were too wise, and were catching on. He decided the best thing to do, in early 1984, was to sell the now last place club. Doubleday Publishing would take over the club, and try to turn the club around, building back a very sagging minor league system. The Giants would not see the World Series again until 1997, when they would finally win a world title, this time over the Orioles.

The Orioles, meanwhile, won their last after twenty years of dominance in 1983. They beat the Seals, whose owners of 20+ years, RKO Radio, were also having financial woes. The 1980s would be another year of transition for baseball, and a time when they would take advantage of the declining interest in football. A decline brought about by the USFL coming at just the right time...the NFL’s own strike year.

Of course, the Seals boasted some excellent talent - Willie Upshaw, Damaso Garcia, and so on - having their best years in ‘83, and Chili Davis did a great job in the outfield, as they snuck past the Astros in a great pennant race. They would end up being bought by Bob Lurie and renamed "California" to show them from the entire Bay Area - a good idea, as the 49ers would soon be so dominant on San Francisco sports pages that the club would be glad to be drawing lots from Oakland, too.

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Brooklyn Dodgers - Part 12 - 1984 - Where are they now?

35 years after the Point of Departure, let’s look at where some franchises are, then players, and finally, others. (Other sports and in one case, another player.)

The DETROIT TIGERS will not be a dynasty. However, after their second world title in four years, this time over Brooklyn in 5, they have cemented Sparky Anderson’s spot in Cooperstown. However, the great up the middle nucleus was supported by a great bench both world title years, and that will not be the case next year. Jack Morris’ 2nd 20+ win season looks good for him as a pitcher of the ‘80s, though.

Same is true of FERNANDO VALENZUELA. In OTL he was 2-3 in April despite giving up only one earned run or so all month. Here, he was 5-0 this month, and 20-9 overall. BUDDY BELL coming from Toronto as a free agent let them move Pedro Guerrero to 1st, Greg Brock to an odd platoon status with leftfielder Candy Maldonado, and the Dodgers from a poor defensive club to a pretty good one. Fernando won the decisive Game 4 over the CHICAGO CUBS, winners of 93 versus the Dodgers’ 86. However, they also won’t repeat as pennant winners. In 1985 the DODGERS will lose a tough game 7 to John Tudor in St. Louis to lose the pennant after Orel Hershiser’s gutsy game 6 complete game win. Valenzuela will hurt his arm late in 1987, only be back in middle 1988, and the Dodgers wouldn’t win a world title till 1988, when another phenom, Orel Hershiser, would be the star pitcher. Expansion has just made it too hard to be a real dynasty anymore.

The PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES missed out on OTL’s 1964 collapse, and even won another pennant in 1977 along with their world title in 1980 in the ATL. However, the club that went 9-20 in September and lost their last 9 in OTL’s 1984 would suffer a similar collapse. While they manage a little better than their .500 mark in the ATL, they slip from first by 3 games to 3rd, 3 games out, over the last ten days of the season. The Pirates, with better depth than OTL (they should have reversed their record given their runs for and against), manage to push into 2nd with 84 wins before next year’s big collapse.

TOMMY JOHN is about to retire after 1984. The greater number of innings pitched by starters than in Otl’s 1980s has sapped his newly rebuilt arm, but also, there just aren’t that many teams. He will come back in 1987 and win some ball games for the expansion MIAMI MARLINS, but only a dozen over two seasons.

1987's expansion will also give new life to BERT BLYLEVEN. Right now he toils for the hapless Cleveland Indians, as will Steve Carlton and Phil Niekro later. However, after a horrible 1986, he’ll be released, only to end up with DALLAS as an expansion pick. He’ll then be traded in 1989 to the Angels, who will overtake the Padres in a very good pennant race, before losing to the CALIFORNIA REDWOODS in the World Series; this is the former San Francisco Seals club.

PETE ROSE is still chasing Ty Cobb’s hit record, which he’ll break in late September of 1985. However, he is not managing the Reds. Frank Robinson, a star on the first of two clubs named the Big Red Machine, was brought back after leaving the Giants. He is playing Rose, his teammate in the ‘60s, at first base every day, of course, but winning the ‘85 N.L. West in a close race over the Stars means Robinson will be there through 1987, with a distant third and then second place finishes in ‘86 and ‘87. He will leave in favor of Lou Pinella after the first part of 1988. Hence, while Rose will be shown to have a gambling problem and bet on baseball in 1988, after his playing days, he will only be barred from ever coaching or owning a club, and will still be allowed in the Hall of Fame.

JOE MORGAN and TONY PEREZ are not so lucky. Morgan can’t find someone to hire him in 1984, and so he retires. Perez does after having very little playing time the first two months of ‘84. The lack of a designated hitter rule in the majors is costing quite a few players a few added years on the ends of their careers.

ROD CAREW is hanging on. With no DH, he can’t help but float around this year and next, and he is signed by Boston in 1986 just so he can collect that 3000th hit. He ends up pinch hitting in game 6 of the 1986 World Series, though, and then remaining in for defense when Lee Gutterman fans Mookie Wilson of the Stars with men on first and third and the Sox leading 5-3. The Red Sox win the World Series 4 games to 2. However, Carew looks like Mays did in ‘73, all washed up. It is cases like his that cause people to cry out for a DH, but which only lead to expansion instead, at least for now.

REGGIE JACKSON, after a horrible 1983 which may have cost the Dodgers a division title, after he helped them to one in 1982 before the loss to the Cardinals, was traded to Toronto for Buddy Bell before the 1984 campaign. He has played right field for them and has hit a few home runs, but though his contract runs through 1986, he envies the young players on the club who were included in the trade. He also has had troubles adjusting to A.L. pitching after so long in the N.L.. After a 1985 as frustrating as 1983 was, he will call it quits. He’s made the Hall for certain, and there are really no more worlds to conquer.

TOM SEAVER, after being released by the Braves the same time as Phil Niekro, latched on with the White Sox. But, the ball club is horrible, and though pitchers are much luckier in their efforts to stay in the big leagues at advanced ages, he is hoping to get traded to a contender someday. He will, pitching for the Red Sox and eventually, because of various factors, being able to contribute to their World Series title.

NOLAN RYAN is 10 years removed from winning the Cy Young award in one of the closest votes ever over Catfish Hunter, his teammate on the Stars in 1974. He pulled a Steve Carlton from the ‘73 season in 1978, losing 20 games, as the Stars by then were decimated. However, he has found new life in Houston, and will wind up with 325 wins for his career, which will last through 1993.

DAVE WINFIELD has a much better hitters’ park than what he had in San Diego, or what he could have had with the Yankees. However, he still is on a poor team after the 1981 season. His contract runs for 10 years, then he will see what he can do about getting on a winner; because the Giants are in a very tough division for the most part, and except for a 1989 second place finish when the Expos almost collapse, they won’t be too good; 1989 is when he’s out with back problems, anyway.

MINNIE MINOSO can celebrate. In 1983, his last year of eligibility, he made the Hall of Fame; the lack of a DH kept him from coming back in 1976 and 1980. Partly due to his great Negro League playing ability before he joined the majors, he was honored. Of course, he still did play in a way - Veeck talked him into being a White Sox player during a Sox-Yankees game on a couple episodes of "Welcome Back, Kotter" in 1979, when the emphasis was shifting from Kaplan totally toward baseball and Washington’s playing. In fact, he played the scout that signs Washington for the Dodgers in the final episode.

The LOS ANGELES STARS were gutted by Charlie Finley when he was too poor even in L.A. to keep paying them. However, in an ironic twist, a number of Hollywood stars including Travelena and John Travlota - who also played on Kotter - end up as minority owners when the Stars are sold in 1980. The club will rebuild with hometown greats like Eric Davis and Darryl Strawberry and the pitching of people like Dwight Gooden to win the pennant in 1986 and the World Series in 1987.

HERSCHEL WALKER has not had the USFL to jump to. Instead, he won a 2nd straight Heisman award, and then got drafted by the Houston Oilers. Walker would not be the next coming of Earl Campbell. He would, however, be a key part of the Oilers’ Super Bowl season in 1989, where they would lose huge to those 49ers.

DONALD TRUMP could still be considering a springtime league. But, with the time he spent on the Giants, he won’t have time to start up the New Jersey Generals till 1986. However, the league will then shift to the fall for 1987, where players will have somewhere to go rather than back to the NFL when the NFL hires the replacement players. As stars such as Jerry Rice do this, the NFL loses income, and the players’ union ends up not being broken like in OTL. Instead, the NFL will end up granting players a free agent system like OTL’s early, but with no salary cap for a few years, until people get tired of the 49ers’ dynasty winning in ‘88, ‘89, ‘91, ‘92, and ‘94, and losing the Super Bowl to the Dolphins, who get quite a few defensive players as free agents, at the end of the 1990 season. That’s 5 straight Super Bowls, 4 wins, and another after a year off!

With the NFL’s labor woes continuing, it’s easier for the NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION to jump to the number one spot in peoples’ hearts in the late 1980s. However, it will be a much closer three-way tussle for fans’ hearts in the late 1980s and early 1990s than in OTL.

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Brooklyn Dodgers Part 13 - .400 and 4

The Padres had gone pretty far downhill from their 1st place finish in 1984, when they lost the ALCS to the Tigers in 3 straight. However, Tony Gwynn had hit .353 that year, and seemed to be on the way to becoming a storied hitter in his own right, just like the man San Diego tried to lure away from the Red Sox in 1958, Ted Williams.

In 1986, with labor woes seemingly solved, the owners’ part of a compromise reached with players led to expansion, expansion set for 1987. Dallas - a perfect rival for Houston, called the Texas Rangers - received an N.L. team, and Miami, Seattle, and Denver were the other picks.

In 1985, Bob Lurie had bought the San Francisco Seals. He decided to incorporate Oakland, which had been vying for the White Sox, but had been rebuffed, by moving the team to a place somewhat centrally located for citizens of the entire Bay Area. He called the new ballclub the "California Redwoods." With Jose Canseco coming up in 1986 and Mark McGwire the next year, it seemed like a fitting name - as one scribe put it, "He’s got players on his team as big as redwoods!"

As 1986 closed with Gutterman’s save - and Oil Can Boyd’s game 6 win - giving the Red Sox their first world title since 1918 - the Brewers were in a tussle; they didn’t want to go to the A.L. East. While they hadn’t built up a huge rivalry with the White Sox in OTL after only a couple years, they had here. And yet, no other club was close enough travel-wise to go to the East. So, what about the N.L. West, the Brewers’ owner asked. The Reds could go to the East, and Montreal could go to the A.L.. They needed a change of scenery, anyway, after losing Raines to the Dodgers and Dawson to the Cubs via free agency, and Carter to the Stars via a trade in 1985.

The Expos declined - they suggested Marlins end up in the A.L.. They weren’t that close to Atlanta, after all. And, the Braves, Dodgers, and Phillies had had a nice little division rivalry going before the Braves totally flunked out of the league the last two years.

In the end, Seattle wanted the A.L. because that’s where Emil Sick’s club was. Texas wanted the N.L., and Miami and Denver didn’t care. So, the Marlins were placed in the A.L., while Denver went to the N.L. as the Denver Bears. The league finishes that year (*=pennant winner, **=World Series winner)

A.L. East: Detroit, Toronto, New York, Boston, Baltimore, Miami, Cleveland

A.L. West: Milwaukee*, Kansas City, Minnesota, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Diego, Seattle

N.L. East: Montreal, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh , New York, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Atlanta

N.L. West: Los Angeles**, St. Louis, California, Chicago, Houston, Denver, Texas

The Expos’ first division crown is the biggest news in the N.L., but even bigger is the amazing season of Tony Gwynn. With four new teams, 20+ new pitchers, and a juiced up ball according to some, Tony Gwynn winds up with a .404 mark. Of course, his club’s talent is diluted enough he only winds up with 218 hits in 540 at bats, he gets walked enough.

"There’s a rabbit in that ball," said one manager. "You can hear the heart beating. But, you know, if they wanted to juice it up for the home runs, they got something even greater than that in return. Not only Hawk’s (Dawson’s) 50 homers for the Cubs, but the first .400 hitter in 46 years. That’s really amazing. But, you know, the A.L. caught up to and passed the N.L. in terms of batting back in the early ‘80s, finally. And, this just proves that the A.L. is now the real offensive league."

Other factors adding to Gwynn’s season are what was done to Jack Murphy Stadium. With the Padres known to be lacking good pitching, the Padres moved the fences way back, improved the sight and angles for the hitters, reduced foul ground, and tried to become like the Athletics in Kauffman Stadium. The good weather also played a part.

"I won’t do this every year," Gwynn advised everyone.

Ted Williams, for one, didn’t care. "He did it once; now the monkey’s on his back for the rest of his life," he quipped. "He’ll be the one everyone asks when it’ll happen again."

(Lacking a few pitchers’ parks that he played in in OTL, 9 games apiece in the Astroldome, Dodger Stadium, and Candlestick, and 18 against those very good staffs, also played a big part.)

The Brewers’ desires were granted, as they won a pennant, but they lost in five to the super Stars. It would, however, be their last pennant to the present day. Gwynn, after the bump due to expansion, would settle into a more normal batting pattern, but he’d still finish with a .341 average for his career, after a super last part of his career, just as Hank Aaron had before retiring in 1976 with 746 home runs.

And, with Brooklyn’s win over the Twins the next year, baseball was alive and well on both coasts, doing at least better than it would have in the box office, and even getting the nod over football when it comes to spending the entertainment dollar.

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Brooklyn Dodgers Part 14 - The Last Shall Be Last?

The year is 1993.

The Chicago Cubs kept Greg Maddux, got a surprise big year out of Bryan Harvey, and soared to 92 wins before upsetting the N.L. East winner in the NLCS in 7 games. Then, they won not only their first pennant since 1945, they won their first World Series since 1908, beating the defending champion Blue Jays in 5 games. "The Jays had okay pitching last year when they beat Dave Stewart and his California team for the Series, but this year they had nothing," one commentator said after a wild 14-10 game 4 win. The next game, Greg Hibbard tossed a complete game win and Sammy Sosa and Glenallen Hill each went deep as the Cubs won 3-1 and took the Series.

It had been the best pitched game of the Sereis. Some feared this win by what seemed like a perennial last place club (at least 2nd division) might be the last game for a long time.

Large market clubs had been dominating. Except for the Twins over the Pirates in 1991, and the Reds over the Red Sox (themselves a pretty big market) in 1990, the series since 1987 had been won by large market clubs, and many pennants had been won by them since the late ‘70s. 1989's California over Los Angeles Angels, 1992's Toronto over California (how different it would be if there were two teams in the Bay Area - maybe it could support 2, but nobody knew; it seemed more like a very good 1 ½ team market, big enough to be a large market but not quite big enough for 2 clubs). 1988's Brooklyn win, 1984's Dodger loss, and of course the Stars’ two Series. The National League and, to an increasing extent, the American League were being overrun by larger market clubs. (Think the late ‘90s early)

Small market teams like Pittsburgh, upset at losing Barry Bonds and Bobby Bonilla to the Giants, who had lost to the Cubs in seven in the NLCS, wanted change. Therefore, without the threat of a rival league like the NFL had had in ‘87, the owners decide to lock out the players. They hadn’t had to in 1990 because there was some semblance of peace with the new teams and so many new jobs. But, now it was war.

George Steinbrenner, Peter O’Malley, and Gene Autry let it be known they would start signing big names if and when they could. Seattle, which had shown such promise, finishing only 9 games behind the White Sox, was so scared they started contingency plans for trading away some of their big name players. Dick Jacobs had started a neat trend of signing his good young ballplayers to long term deals, but he knew that the O’Malleys would be able to top anything, as would other richer owners, after a few years.

Haggling went on from November 1st, a few days after the Series, through what should have been the start of spring training. The players also wanted a lot more, of course, and in the midst of it all, a plan was hatched for Seattle’s ownership, if the worst occurred, to sell the club to wealthy Arizona people and move it to Phoenix. Of course, they were a little reluctant down there because Trump had taken out lots of loans to finance his Giants in 1980 and 1981 and get them a pennant. And, he’d really hurt the club for a while; they had only now really recovered.

Owners know that without a 2nd league for players to go to, they would probably be hurt just as bad as the NFL was with replacement players, if not worse. So, they don’t plan on that. However, their position is still not very secure as March winds down. With basketball the only thing people are thinking about, and not even any free agent signings yet, the public mind is starting to be taken off Maddux’s great 22-11 season, and 2nd straight Cy Young, off of Sosa’s rising stardom, and off of the Cubs’ great year.

In fact, some fear the public may never think of baseball again. That’s a stretch, but baseball still has a problem.

Finally, the lockout which had also become a strike began to show some signs of thawing. Players didn’t get all they wanted, but when the season finally began in mid-June - with an All-Star game in late August - they had gotten much of it.

Tony Gwynn hit .392 in the 104-game season, and the Expos won the pennant before losing to the Yankees in the Series. Then, they sold off so many players, they wound up at 61-101 the next season, while the Dodgers bested the Indians in 5 games. Tommy Lasorda retired after the season, and some wondered if he, the record-breaking Cal Ripken Jr., and others might not be the last of their breed, as the three New York teams plus others made it very hard for others to compete.

The Padres did something similar in 1996 after a close division win over the Mariners and then a pennant win over Cleveland. (They lost to John Smoltz, he of the 30-4 season, the last 30-game winner ever, people said, in 4 straight in the Series.) When Albert Belle went to the Yankees, it seemed like the wheels had started to come off baseball’s financial apple cart. The Braves bested the Padres in four, and lost to the Yankees in 6 in 1998. And in ‘97, another rich club, the Giants, had won the Series, with the Orioles practically as wealthy because of their ownership.

By 1999, something had to be done. Yes, the Red Sox had won the ‘99 Series, but had gambled a lot that Roger Clemens would be like Tom Seaver and others of the ‘80s had been, and the Sox also traded off lots of their future. They bested the Braves and Randy Johnson in 7.

Finally, with the Indians defeating the Giants in 2000, people thought that just maybe there had been a turnaround. The Tribe had won a great pennant race over the Red Sox and Yankees, and when they then won the pennant over Chicago, it seemed just like old times. In fact, it felt like 1948, the year before the point of departure for our story.

Some small market teams would continue to struggle, unfortunately.

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Brooklyn Dodgers Part 15 - Final Moves

The 2000 season ended with the Twins finally moving to Tampa, while the Seattle ball club struggled in its new ballpark. The California clubs seemed secure, but even the Padres could move to Phoenix soon. And, the Expos, still stung by the sell-off after their pennant in ‘94, were having trouble. Maybe Phoenix would be a good fit for them instead.

Whichever it was, the Yankees and Curt Schilling losing to t he Cardinals in a thrilling 7 games in 2001 didn’t hide the fact that baseball was facing severe financial trouble. The Dodgers and Giants helped, in a way, because now there was enough competition for free agents’ services that there wouldn’t be any chance of one ball club hogging everything. Between three New York and three of four California teams, and two Chicago teams that were at least passable, and maybe even Boston and Atlanta, there were plenty of choices for baseball’s premier players. So, maybe the game could survive this.

On the other hand, there was talk that, after a couple seasons of horrible attendance, even with their great 2002 season, the Twins might have to fold. A couple other clubs were also in danger of folding. If the Tampa Twins couldn’t make it, and Miami, which was struggling, also bowed out, then maybe they would just take the Expos and...some other club and get it down to 24 teams again.

No, that didn’t seem right. The great 1998 season with all those home runs, the wonderful pennant races lately, everything was working well for baseball, right?

Well, there was still the problem of pitchers hitting - everyone kept saying the Designated Hitter was a good idea, but owners just hadn’t gotten around to looking at it like that. And, there was the fact smaller market teams still couldn’t hold fans’ attention long. Not only that, but the great gains financially by baseball in the ‘70s and ‘80s had now been lost.

Some even lamented that if the Dodgers had moved west, baseball might be in better shape economically. Sure, they said, we never would have had the PCL expansion, we never would have gotten up to 28 teams. We’d be more spread out, and happier as a sport.

Still others point to the fact that baseball needs three teams in New York. They say without that, the sport might have died. Nobody, after all, seemed to pay a lot of attention to the 2002 World Series on TV. Sure, it was a nice set of games, and the Cardinals repeating as league champs for Darryl Kile before succumbing to the Angels’ first world championship run in 2002 was a great story. But, they were not grabbing everyone’s attention and headlines the way a New York team would do it. And yet, if a New York team had won a lot of straight titles, fans would get too bored. So, in conclusion, they argue that it’s good to have the Dodgers and Giants there to dominate things, with the Stars, Angels, and Yankees sometimes.

The shift of several franchises to different leagues for the 2003 season to allow the Twins and Marlins to compete in a cross-state rivalry was the best scenario that could be come up with for the time being. Denver would be just as good or bad in the A.L. versus N.L. West, and maybe cross-state rivalries were the thing that was needed. Baseball was on shaky ground financially, and nobody was sure what would work; only that expansion to include the PCL had worked once, the shakeup or threatened shakeup of franchises had seemed to have some effect for the good before, and so it could again.

Nobody even knew if it would be better or worse had the Dodgers and Giants fled west. However, it was a great game, and always would be.

2003 divisions with order of finish (*=pennant winner, **=Series winner)

A.L.: East: Boston, New York, Toronto, Montreal, Baltimore, Cleveland, Detroit

A.L. West: Kansas City*, Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago, Denver, San Diego, Milwaukee

N.L. East: New York**, Atlanta, Miami, Tampa Twins, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh

N.L. West: California, Chicago, Houston, St. Louis, Los Angeles, Cincinnati, Texas

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World Series results, 1949 on:

1949: Brooklyn over New York (A) in 6

1950: New York (A) over Philadelphia (N) in 6

1951: New York (A) over New York (N) in 7

1952: Brooklyn over Cleveland in 7

1953: Brooklyn over Cleveland in 5

1954: New York (N) over New York (A) in 5

1955: Brooklyn over Chicago (A) in 5

1956: Cleveland over Cincinnati in 6 (Mantle w/61 homers for Redlegs)

1957: Milwaukee over New York (A) in 7

1958: new York (A) over Milwaukee in 7

1959: Brooklyn over Chicago (A) in 5

1960: Pittsburgh over New York (A) in 7

1961: Cincinnati over New York (A) in 5

1962: Cincinnati over Los Angeels (A) in 4

1963: Brooklyn over New York (A) in 4

1964: Cincinnati over Baltimore in 6

1965: Brooklyn over Minnesota in 7

1966: Baltimore over New York (N) in 4 (Rainiers to D.C. before season)

1967: St. Louis over Boston in 7

1968: Detroit over St. Louis in 7

1969: Baltimore over Atlanta in 6 (Cubs lose NLCS in 5)

1970: Baltimore over Cincinnati in 5

1971: Pittsburgh over Baltimore in 7 (L.A. (N) first division title, same w/A’s, though w/84 wins)

1972: Cincinnati over Detroit in 6

1973: Los Angeles (N) over Baltimore in 7 (Dodgers beat Braves by a game in N.L. east, Athletics take Orioles to 5 games this time; Ryan’s first huge year w/23-13 mark for Stars)

1974: Los Angeles (N) over New York (A) in 5

1975: Cincinnati over Boston in 7

1976: Cincinnati over New York (A) in 4 (After this season, Reggie leaves Stars and signs with Dodgers)

1977: Kansas City over Philadelphia in 7 (Senators move to Toronto, feel Dallas also too much a football town, Toronto really growing area)

1978: Brooklyn over Kansas City in 6

1979: Pittsburgh over Baltimore in 7

1980: Philadelphia over Kansas City in 6

1981: Detroit over New York (N) in 7 (Morris wins 1-0 in 10 innings in game 7 over Frank Tanana, going the distance)

1982: St. Louis over Milwaukee in 7

1983: Baltimore over San Francisco in 6

1984: Detroit over Brooklyn in 5

1985: Kansas City over St. Louis in 6

1986: Boston over Los Angeles (N) in 6

1987: Los Angeles (N) over Milwaukee in 5; (Expansion - N.L. gets Dallas and Misami, A.L. gets Denver and Seattle, Brewers move to A.L. East; Gwyn hits .405)

1988: Brooklyn over Minnesota in 5

1989: California over Los Angeles (A) in 7 (Padres trade for veterans like Joe Carter to try and secure playoffs, but it isn’t enough)

1990: Cincinnati over Boston in 4

1991: Minnesota over Pittsburgh in 7

1992: Toronto over California in 6

1993: Chicago (N) over Toronto in 5 (Cubs keep Maddux, beat Giants in tough 7 game series, win first world title in 85 years)

1994: Chicago (A) over Montreal in 6

1995: Brooklyn over Cleveland in 6 (Tommy Lasorda retires, going out a winner)

1996: Atlanta over San Diego in 7

1997: New York (N) over Baltimore in 6 (Griffey Jr. finally gets into a Series for Orioles, who drafted him a decade before)

1998: New York (A) over Atlanta in 4 (Braves get back at Cubs for beating them in ‘93)

1999: Boston over Atlanta in 7

2000: Cleveland over New York (N) in 5

2001: St. Louis over New York (A) in 6

2002: Los Angeles (A) over St. Louis in 7

2003: New York (N) over Kansas City in 6