SAVAGE VIEWS – IN THE BEGINNING

February 2, 2023

I was 17 when “Dem Bums” abandoned Brooklyn for the greener pastures of Chavez Ravine.  I don’t remember not being a Dodgers fan.  I was probably around 6 years old when I started following the team.  During the entirety of my fandom, the core team of Robinson, Reese, Snyder, Campanella, Hodges and Furillo stayed intact.  For a twelve year period, my favorite team was made up of five future Hall-of-Famers plus Furillo who boasted a lifetime BA of .299.  Left field and third base were the only two positions not fielded by home grown talent, although Junior Gilliam came up in ’53 and was the semi-regular second baseman moving Robinson to LF and 3^rd base.   What’s remarkable about these seven players is that as a team they walked much more often as they struck out.  Only Hodges and Snyder had careers where they struck out more than they walked.   

What’s also remarkable is that over the twelve-year period, this team, one of the best ever, only won six pennants and a solitary World Series.   I can only imagine what the payroll would be for this historic team including Newcombe and Erskine in today’s climate.

In 1958 I switched my allegiance to the Pittsburgh Pirates and I pretended to follow them for the next few years.  It was an entertaining team made up of such luminaries as Roberto Clemente, Bill Mazeroski, Dick Stuart, Bill Virdon, Vern Law and Bob Friend.  They were actually a pretty good team and in 1960 beat the Yankees in the World Series.  Unfortunately, after losing the WS, the Yanks fired Casey Stengel.

In 1960, MLB proposed expanding the American and National leagues by two teams.  The Angels and Washington Senators were added to the American League and Houston and the Mets were added to the National league.  It was Bill Shea who was instrumental to getting MLB to act when he set wheels in motion for a new Continental League.   Joan Whitney Payson, a former minority owner of the Giants, became the owner of the new franchise  with M. Donald  Grant as Chairman of the Board.  George Weiss was named GM, after a Hall of Fame career with the Yankees.  Incredibly, it was under Weiss that the Mets drafted Steve Chilcott over Reggie Jackson.

One of the first moves by Weiss was hiring Casey Stengel as Manager.  This set the tone for the next seven years of ineptitude.  Starting with Casey at the helm, the Mets brought on board a number of familiar names well past their prime.  The list included Duke Snyder, Gil Hodges, Yogi Berra, Gus Bell, Don Zimmer, Clem Labine and a host of others.  Of course, all this was done under the guidance of M. Donald Grant – one of the most despised men ever to run a franchise.  

The decision to hire the over the hill gang of ex Dodgers, Giants and Yanks made watching a game a painful experience.  But we had Casey to entertain the media by acting the clown. Then again, having Bob Murphy, Lindsey Nelson and Ralph Kiner in the booth made things easier to swallow.

 

Ray