My Turn: Dodging baseball after Brooklyn exit

Watching TV with Dad was an education for me. The Brooklyn Dodgers held a high place in his heart, and I learned all the plays and baseball vocabulary from him. Pee Wee Reese, Roy Campanella, Duke Snider, Don Newcombe, Joe Black, Leo Durocher, Preacher Roe were just a few of our favorites.

I close my eyes and see my dad on the living room floor, pillow under head and close up to our CBS Columbia TV set. He had to view each play near the screen; no instant replay back then.

“Watch this, Ellen, it’s a homer for sure.” He was usually right. Dad loved baseball. We never went to a live game. Ebbets Field was too far for us. When the Dodgers left New York, that was it for Dad. He lost all confidence in the team. I’m sure he felt it was a betrayal. Did Dad support another team? No! But he’d watch the Yankees, once in a while, just to see them lose. His loyalty to baseball was over.