A TALE OF THREE CITIES: NEW YORK, L.A. AND SAN FRANCISCO IN OCTOBER OF ‘62 (65 page)

BOOK: A TALE OF THREE CITIES: NEW YORK, L.A. AND SAN FRANCISCO IN OCTOBER OF ‘62

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The retirement of Koufax after that had the
immediate effect of making Los Angeles mediocre in 1967 and 1968.
They had a successful rebuilding movement in 1969 and 1970. The
Giants continued to lose for the same reasons as before, only now
it was the pitching of St. Louis and Bob Gibson that beat them
instead of the pitching of Koufax, Drysdale and Los Angeles. San
Francisco finished second to the Cardinals in 1967 and 1968, then
came in number two behind Atlanta in the 1969 National League
West.

In 1971, San Francisco got hot early and
pounded their way to the lead behind the pitching of Marichal and
Perry; the slugging of McCovey; and an aging Mays in his "last
hurrah." After the Giants' celebrated "June swoon," the Dodgers'
youngsters, who struggled at first, made a mighty run before
falling a game short on the last day of the season.

After the season the Giants made one of the
worst trades in baseball history, sending Gaylord Perry to
Cleveland for Sam McDowell. The Giants of the 1960s and 1970s made
a series of such disastrous moves, which also included Orlando
Cepeda to St. Louis in 1966 for Ray Sadecki, and George Foster to
Cincinnati for Frank Duffy and Vern Geishert.

McDowell was an alcoholic who could barely
walk. Perry won Cy Young awards at Cleveland and San Diego, and
over 300 games in his career. Cepeda was the 1967 National League
Most Valuable Player, and led the Cardinals (1967-68) and the
Atlanta Braves (1969) to victory over the Giants. Foster hit over
50 home runs for Cincinnati in 1977. Geishert and Duffy were
journeymen at best.

In 1972 and 1973, Los Angeles was
competitive but Cincinnati's "Bed Red Machine" could not be
derailed. In 1973, the Giants featured one of the most potent
offensive clubs of the era, led by Bobby Bonds and a
still-effective McCovey, but they to, could not compete with the
Reds.

From 1974 to 1981, however, the San
Francisco Giants became a joke. Only in 1978 did they show life.
The team was a joke, the stadium a joke, the uniforms were a joke,
and they almost moved to Toronto before meat-packing executive Bob
Lurie bought them from the buffoon Horace Stoneham.

During this period, the Dodgers were very
close to being the class of baseball. At a time of great upheaval,
in sports and in society, the Dodgers' traditional ways stood above
all floundering competitors. Only the Yankees, who made a comeback
after an 11-year downturn, matched Los Angeles. In 1974, 1977 and
1978, the Dodgers beat and eventually replaced the Big Red Machine
as the best team in the National League. They lost the World Series
in each of those seasons (Oakland '74, New York '77-'78), however,
but managed to win the 1981 Series against New York, concluding a
convoluted, strike-shortened season.

Dodger Stadium towered
above all stadiums. In every way, the Dodgers out-classed the rest
of baseball, from their farm system, their travel, their fans, and
their performance on the field. The Giants, in the mean time, were
wretched. Candlestick stank, their teams were pitiful, fan
attendance was bad, and interest was nil. Giants fans sank further
and further into the abyss, yelling foul epithets at Dodger manager
Tommy Lasorda, throwing garbage on the field, and displaying zero
class. In fact, their reaction to their superiors was nothing less
than
class envy
,
the reaction of unimpressives to those who are better than they
are.

This was reflected in the general manner of
the Bay Area fan to Southern California teams. USC and UCLA
continued to dominate California and Stanford. Fans at Berkeley
dumbly waved their credit cards while the Trojans stomped the
"Golden" Bears. The Stanford band stupidly gave Nazi salutes while
Troy dismantled the Tree, or the Cardinal, or whatever they
became.

49er fans tended towards drunkenness and
semi-violence. Candlestick went through re-construction in 1970-71,
in order to accommodate the Niners' move from Kezar Stadium. No
improvement to the fetid place was effectuated. In the mean time,
the glory halls of Los Angeles towered above them; the gleaming
Dodger Stadium, the almost-as -good Anaheim Stadium, the "Fabulous"
Forum, sparkling Pauley Pavilion, and the historic Coliseum.

In 1982, the mouse roared. The Atlanta
Braves got off to a fast start, but Los Angeles caught them and
turned the National League West into a pennant race in September.
The Giants managed to stay close but fell out of it on the last
weekend. On the final Sunday, with the Dodgers needing a victory to
stay alive, ex-Red Joe Morgan, a Bay Area native and future Hall of
Famer, broke Dodger hearts with a "walk-off home run," giving the
division to the Braves over L.A. Candlestick went wild. It was
considered revenge for a decade of indignities, not the least of
which was the Dodgers' general feeling that San Francisco was no
longer a rival, a competitor; that neither the city nor their team
was worthy of much concern.

For Los Angeles, there had been "bigger fish
to fry." Their real rivals had been Cincinnati, Philadelphia,
Pittsburgh, Oakland and the Yankees, teams they needed to beat in
order to capture the division, the pennant, or the World Series.
Oakland's part in this equation was a particular thorn in San
Francisco's side. The East Bay town had always been considered low
rent in comparison to high-falutin' San Francisco, but in the 1960s
and 1970s the A's became a dominating three-time World Champion
(1972-74); the Raiders (1976 World Champions) the most exciting,
dynamic organization in pro football; and even the Warriors moved
from The City to Oakland, where they won the 1975 NBA title.

Aside from the Giants' abysmal performance
throughout most of the 1970s, the 49ers were, if it was possible,
even worse. Their main rivals, the Los Angeles Rams, dominated
them, although they also developed a habit for losing "the big
one." In basketball, the Warriors' single NBA title was
overshadowed by the dominance of the Los Angeles Lakers, who in
1972 won 33 straight games, a league-record 69 in the regular
season, and their first World Championship since moving from
Minneapolis.

Aside from the major colleges, Southern
California dominated at the high school and junior college levels,
with few exceptions. Among those exceptions were the baseball
dynasty under coach Al Endriss at Marin County's Redwood High
School, and the unlikely football dominance of the City College of
San Francisco under coach George Rush.

Joe Morgan's 1982 home run had the effect of
breathing new life into the rivalry between the Giants and Dodgers,
and was part of a major revitalization in interest not just between
the two baseball teams, but a sports power shift between the north
and the south.

After 1982, the Giants again fell on hard
times, but in 1987 under manager Roger "hum baby" Craig and young
first baseman Will Clark, the club rebounded to win the division
crown. In 1989, they won the division, beat the Chicago Cubs in the
National League Championship Series, then lost in four straight in
the "earthquake" World Series against Oakland.

Attendance improved, and the Dodgers-Giants
rivalry certainly heated up again, although Lasorda wryly noted
that Giants fans reserved their patronage, money and vitriol for
all things "Dodger blue" while showing little interest in the rest
of the Giants' schedule.

In the mean while, the Dodgers experienced
great heights under Lasorda. Attendance went up and up and up,
eventually topping the previously-unheard-of 3 million mark. They
contended almost every year, winning division crowns in 1983 and
1985, and in 1988 defeating the powerful A's in a five-game World
Series featuring ace pitcher Orel Hershiser breaking Don Drysdale's
all-time scoreless innings streak with 59 before shutting down
Oakland twice. Most Valuable Player Kirk Gibson's home run off of
Oakland relief ace Dennis Eckersley goes down with Bobby Thomson's
"shot heard 'round the world" as one of the most dramatic moments
in baseball history.

Los Angeles finished second to Cincinnati in
1990 and came within a game of Atlanta (again) in 1991, knocked out
in some measure by the Giants' "ambush," motivated as they were
nine years earlier to spoil their rivals' season. In 1992, however,
both teams were abysmal.

New York called the 1950s its "golden age"
of sports. In addition to the three center fielders - Willie Mays,
Mickey Mantle and Duke Snider - the combined 14 pennants and nine
World Championships won by the Yankees, Dodgers and Giants, it was
the decade of Frank Gifford and the "New York Giants defense,"
which also included the 1957 Colts-Giants NFL championship game,
considered by many to be the best in pro football history.

For fan intensity and
passion, it may be impossible to ever match the rivalries of New
York in the post-World War II period, but nothing in New York
remotely compares to the
real
golden age in sports. The years vary depending
upon one's interpretation. Perhaps it started in 1958, when the
Giants and Dodgers came west; or in 1959, when the Dodgers won the
World Series; in 1962, the year of the great pennant race and
play-offs; or in 1963, when L.A. beat the Yankees in four straight
in the World Series.

Perhaps it was a narrower
period, from the late 1960s until the early 1980s; or perhaps it
lasted longer, until 1997 or maybe even until the 2000s. The
geographical boundaries of this new golden age are much larger than
the boroughs of Brooklyn, Manhattan and the Bronx that defined New
York's golden age. This was
California's
golden age, and it
encompassed Los Angeles and San Francisco; Orange County and the
East Bay; Northern California and the Southland.

Unquestionably, for a young sports fan
coming of age in the state of California during the late 1960s and
early 1970s, there has never, ever been a better time and place.
Nobody who loves sports could possibly have asked for better, more
exciting teams to root for. 1962 was a particularly good California
sports year; 1972 was even better. Consider that in that season the
Oakland A's won the World Series, the Los Angeles Lakers won the
NBA title; Southern Cal won the football National Championship; and
UCLA won the NCAA basketball title.

But it expands well beyond that. The golden
age includes:

Los Angeles Dodgers: World Champions (1959,
1963, 1965, 1981, 1988); National League champions (1966, 1974,
1977, 1978).
San Francisco Giants: National League
champions (1962, 1989, 2002).
Anaheim Angels: World Champions (2002);
division champions (1979, 1982, 1986, 2004, 2005, 2007).
San Francisco 49ers: World Champions (1981,
1984, 1988, 1989, 1994).
Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders: World Champions
(1976, 1980, 1983).
Los Angeles Rams: National Football
Conference champions (1979); perennial contenders
(1960s-1980s).
Southern California Trojans: National
Champions (football 1962, 1967, 1972, 1974, 1978, 2003, 2004;
baseball 1963, 1968, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1978, 1998);
Heisman Trophies (Mike Garrett, 1967; O.J. Simpson, 1968; Charles
White, 1979; Marcus Allen, 1981; Carson Palmer, 2002; Matt Leinart,
2004; Reggie Bush, 2005).
UCLA Bruins: National Champions (basketball
1964, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1995);
perennial powerhouse (football, 1960s-1990s).
Stanford: Rose Bowl champions (1971, 1972);
Heisman Trophy (Jim Plunkett, 1970); National Champions (baseball
1987, 1988).
California Golden Bears: National Champions
(basketball, 1959); College World Series (1980, 1988, 1992).
Los Angeles Lakers: World Champions (1972,
1980, 1982, 1985, 1986, 1987, 2000, 2001, 2002).
Golden State Warriors: World Champions
(1975).
College baseball National Champions: Cal
State Fullerton (1979, 1984, 2004); Pepperdine (1992).
Southern California (track and field,
tennis, women's basketball); UCLA (volleyball, track and field,
water polo); Stanford (tennis, women's sports).
1984 Los Angeles Olympics; Pebble Beach
golf; Los Angeles Kings, Anaheim Mighty Ducks, California Golden
Seals, and the San Jose Sharks.
Concord De La Salle High School (151
straight football wins, 1992-2003; five national championships);
Long Beach Poly (football); Santa Ana Mater Dei (football,
basketball); Los Angeles Verbum Dei (basketball); Los Angeles
Crenshaw (basketball); Larkspur Redwood (baseball); Lakewood
(baseball); San Mateo Serra (baseball); Fullerton J.C. (football);
City College of San Francisco (football); Mission Viejo
(swimming).