The Dodgers and Yankees are playing in the World Series for the first time since 1981. That 1981 World Series will remain my favorite World Series of all time…for me. Yes the 1988 team gets mentioned more because of the homerun that Gibson hit but the 81 team was more talented and the end of those great 1970s teams of Cey, Garvey, Lopes, Yeager, Smith, Baker, Hooton, Fernando, and more.
I was 14 years old in 1981. I had seen the Dodgers lose to the Yankees in 1977 and then again in 1978. I was a heartbroken kid and oh how I hated Reggie Jackson. Those Yankee teams were great though but the one that I was most jealous of the Yankees of having was Thurman Munson. He didn’t look like a Yankee…he was never clean cut and he was more squatty than the Yankee archetype. In 1979 he would get killed while landing his plane. The man should be in the Hall of Fame.
In 1981 after a players strike in the middle of the season…the season started up again. We had two winners from each division and they played in an extended playoff. The Reds which had the best overall record did not play in the playoffs which was unfair. They lost the first and second half… but the other teams played by the same rules. The Dodgers won the first half, knowing they were in the playoffs, let up in the second half and they had to beat The Houston Astros (who were then a National League team) and then get through the much tougher Montreal Expos. They beat Montreal in the last game with a Rick Monday homer which is referred now as “Blue Monday” because it happened on a cold Monday.
In the World Series they played the Yankees. The Yankees took the first two games at home and then they traveled to Dodger Stadium. I was thinking…oh no…here we go again but then my hero Ron Cey…the guy that I idolized came to the plate in the 1st inning of the 3rd game and hit a 3 run homerun. From then on the Dodgers had the momentum. The 4th game was and is still the very best World Series game I’ve ever watched. The Yankees had a 6-3 lead going into the sixth until Jay Johnstone pinch hit a 2 run home run…then on a Reggie Jackson error…Davey Lopes got a double and scored…they went on to win that one and game 5 in a pitchers duel. They moved back to Yankee Stadium and I was ready…the Dodgers blew the Yankees out when Yankee manager Don Lemon stupidly pulled Tommy John in the 4th inning. The floodgates opened on the Yankees bullpen…
Why do I know this series so well? I watch it at least once a year since I got a bootleg copy of it in the late 90s. Now it’s on youtube…the complete series. When the Dodgers won I felt youthful exaperation slipping away…I couldn’t believe that the team I had followed since I was 10…was a champion. After that year they got rid of Lopes and the following year Garvey and Cey would soon be gone. My team was missing many of it’s key parts.
When I turned 15 a few months later after the win…music started to enter my life along with high school. My thoughts diverted to learning new songs on guitar and girls were there. I left baseball behind until 1988 and The Dodgers beat the mighty Oakland A’s…winning a World Series they had no business in winning. I’ve never left baseball since. It took 32 years but they finally won another WS.
In 2020 The Dodgers won the World Series and my son was watching with me. He said dad I’ve been waiting so long. I told him no son…I’VE been waiting since 1988. I hope the new Dodgers do well in this series and they have enough pitching to get them through. I will be watching and wondering how many are watching that watched the Dodgers and Yankees of my youth?
If the Dodgers had their starting pitching of 3 months ago I would be a little more assured but they surprised me in two series so lets see what they have.
Max
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