A Mets fan friend said something to me during the throes of their most recent tough stretch that gave me pause and made me think:
“I wish,” he said, “that the Dodgers never left Brooklyn.”
And that notion does invite pondering a definite sliding-doors moment and a worthwhile alternate history discussion — especially since he was born in 1967, 10 years after the Dodgers fled for the West Coast. It’s not like he has a surplus of watercolor memories of fond afternoons spent inside Ebbets Field.
But if you are a Mets fan, as he is, it does make a certain amount of sense:
Nor would they be in L. A., either, but O’Malley figured in for a dime in for a dollar — and he wound up printing dollars once he made the move west, and the Dodgers really haven’t stopped printing them since.
If the Dodgers stayed in Brooklyn, there is no groundswell to bring National League baseball back to New York because it never would have left in the first place. So the Mets would never have been a glint of anyone’s eye, let alone an expansion team in 1962. Now, understand: We are not trying to marginalize the Mets or their history. There are a lot of teams in a lot of sports that don’t have a whole history worth of snapshots that the Mets assembled in 1969 and 1986 alone. The Mets are also 62 years old now. They have a longer modern National League history now than the Dodgers did in 1957.
Still, what the Dodgers have done is a matter of public record. After winning their only title in Brooklyn in 1955, the Dodgers have added six more in L.A. — 1959, 1963, 1965, 1981, 1988 and 2000. So there’s that. But they have been overwhelmingly competitive for all 67 years they’ve been in L.A. There were lulls — notably the Frank McCourt Era. But there is little question now that the Dodgers are one of the two or three franchises in the sport that would be referred to as “model.”
Now, maybe there is something about being in Southern California that added a little something extra to the past 67 years. And anytime you dabble in alternate history there’s a chance that any one flap of a butterfly’s wings can cause all the rest of the dominoes to fall in a different way.
And, again, most of the people who walk among us as Mets fans were born that way. It is fair to point out that they never knew life with the Dodgers as a part of National League New York.
Still, all you need to do is look at the standings. And the history books. And you can understand the occasional lapse into wistfulness.
Yell all you want about Caitlin Clark not being on the women’s Olympic team. That’s still not nearly as grievous a snub as Jalen Brunson being left off the men’s team.
I’m late to “Loot” on Apple TV+, but it is a genuine hoot.
David Wright had a happy reunion with his close friend Daniel Murphy in London this weekend. Wright and Murphy, along with fellow alumni Mike Piazza and Mookie Wilson, are representing the Mets at the London games vs. the Phillies.
“I’m in California and Murph is in Florida, so we don’t get to see us that much,” Wright said. “Our wives are close too, so it should be a fun few days. I’ve never been to London, so I am looking forward to going as a tourist, too.”
Connor McDavid is in the Stanley Cup Final, and to me that’s plenty good enough reason to watch every game of the Stanley Cup Final.
Matthew McMillan: We may want to see Roy Hobbs destroy that light tower and Jimmy Chitwood swish that final shot, but in the best baseball movie of all time, Kelly Leak was called out at home plate (though I still say he was safe). And it was exactly as it was supposed to be, so Tanner Boyle could deliver that immortal closing line.
Vac: Hard to argue with anyone who wants to make a case for “The Bad News Bears.”
Michael Gijanto: So Mika Zibanejad thinks the Rangers “deserve” to be there (in the Final?). As Clint Eastwood says to Gene Hackman before sending him to his reward in “Unforgiven,” “Deserve’s got nothin’ to do with it!”
Vac: Maybe they should hang that above the entrance of every arena and stadium in the area.
@bg23on28: I know I’m being small but I will never forgive Tiki Barber for throwing Tom Coughlin under the bus. I’m no longer a season ticket holder so if they honor him, nobody would have to put up with my booing.
@MikeVacc: I know folks are still mad at Tiki for this stuff, but it’s been 17 years. I don’t think he deserves a capital sentence.
George Stein: Ed Westphal’s 18 should be the next Islanders number retired alongside all the living players whose numbers are already hanging agree.
Vac: There were a lot of terrific alternates suggested for all nine teams. This one is probably right: terrific player and one of the voices of the glory years after he retired. A worthy choice.