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Jack Roosevelt Robinson was an American professional baseball player who became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the modern era. Robinson broke the color line when he started at first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947. The Dodgers signing Robinson heralded the end of racial segregation in professional baseball that had relegated black players to the Negro leagues since the 1880s. Robinson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962.
The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West Division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn, which in 1898 became a borough of New York City, the team joined the NL in 1890 as the Brooklyn Bridegrooms and assumed several other monikers before finally settling on the name Dodgers in 1932. From the 1940s through the mid-1950s, the Dodgers developed a fierce crosstown rivalry with the New York Yankees as the two clubs faced each other in the World Series seven times, with the Dodgers losing the first five matchups before defeating them to win the franchise's first title in 1955. It was also during this period that the Dodgers made history by breaking the baseball color line in 1947 with the debut of Jackie Robinson, the first African American to play in the Major Leagues since 1884. Another major milestone was reached in 1956 when Don Newcombe became the first player ever to win both the Cy Young Award and the NL MVP in the same season.
The Boys of Summer is a 1972 non-fiction baseball book by Roger Kahn. After recounting his childhood in Brooklyn and his life as a young reporter on the New York Herald Tribune, the author relates some history of the Brooklyn Dodgers up to their victory in the 1955 World Series. He then tracks the lives of the players over the subsequent years as they aged. The title of the book is taken from a Dylan Thomas poem that describes "the boys of summer in their ruin".
Wesley Branch Rickey was an American baseball player and sports executive. Rickey was instrumental in breaking Major League Baseball's color barrier by signing black player Jackie Robinson. He also created the framework for the modern minor league farm system, encouraged the Major Leagues to add new teams through his involvement in the proposed Continental League, and introduced the batting helmet. He was posthumously elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1967.
Edwin Donald "Duke" Snider, nicknamed "the Silver Fox" and "the Duke of Flatbush", was an American professional baseball player. Primarily a center fielder, he spent most of his Major League Baseball (MLB) career playing for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers (1947–1962), later playing one season each for the New York Mets (1963) and San Francisco Giants (1964).
Ebbets Field was a Major League Baseball stadium in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, New York. It is mainly known for having been the home of the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team of the National League (1913–1957). It was also home to five professional football teams, including three NFL teams (1921–1948). Ebbets Field was demolished in 1960 and replaced by the Ebbets Field Apartments, the site's current occupant.
The Montreal Royals were a minor league professional baseball team in Montreal, Quebec, during 1897–1917 and 1928–1960. A member of the International League, the Royals were the top farm club of the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1939; pioneering African-American player Jackie Robinson was a member for the 1946 season. The 1946 Royals were recognized as one of the 100 greatest minor league teams of all time.
The 1953 World Series was the championship series in Major League Baseball for the 1953 season. The 50th edition of the World Series, it matched the four-time defending champions New York Yankees against the Brooklyn Dodgers in a rematch of the 1952 Series, and the fourth such matchup between the two teams in the past seven seasons. The Yankees won in six games for their fifth consecutive title—a mark which has not been equalled—and their 16th overall. It was also the last of seven consecutive World Series wins by teams from the American League, the longest such streak for the AL in series history. Billy Martin won World Series MVP honors as he hit .500 with a record-tying 12 hits and a walk-off RBI single in Game 6.
The 1955 World Series was the championship series to conclude the 1955 Major League Baseball (MLB) season. The Series matched the National League (NL) pennant winner Brooklyn Dodgers against the American League (AL) pennant winner New York Yankees, with the Dodgers winning the Series in seven games to capture their first championship in franchise history. It would be the only Series the Dodgers won while based in Brooklyn, as the team relocated to Los Angeles after the 1957 season. This was the fifth time in nine years that the Yankees and the Dodgers met in the World Series, with the Yankees having won in 1947, 1949, 1952, and 1953; the Yankees would also win in the 1956 rematch.
Walter Francis O'Malley was an American sports executive who owned the Brooklyn / Los Angeles Dodgers team in Major League Baseball from 1950 to 1979. In 1958, as owner of the Dodgers, he brought major league baseball to the West Coast, moving the Dodgers from Brooklyn to Los Angeles despite the Dodgers being the second most profitable team in baseball from 1946 to 1956, and coordinating the move of the New York Giants to San Francisco at a time when there were no teams west of Kansas City, Missouri. In 2008, O'Malley was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame for his contributions to and influence on the game of baseball.
Roosevelt Stadium was a baseball stadium at Droyer's Point in Jersey City, New Jersey. It opened on April 23, 1937 and was the home of the Jersey City Giants of the International League, the Triple-A farm team of the New York Giants, from 1937 to 1950 and later hosted other high-minor league baseball teams. It also hosted 15 Major League Baseball home games for the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1956 to 1957, plus championship boxing matches, top-name musical acts, an annual championship drum and bugle corps competition known as "The Dream" (1946–1983), professional wrestling matches, important regional high school football games, college football games, minor league football games, soccer matches and even NASCAR races. The stadium was demolished in 1985 and replaced by the Society Hill housing development.
Emil Joseph "Buzzie" Bavasi was an American executive in Major League Baseball who played a major role in the operation of three California baseball franchises from the late 1940s through the mid-1980s.
In 1955, the Brooklyn Dodgers finally fulfilled the promise of many previous Dodger teams. Although the club had won several pennants in the past, and had won as many as 105 games in 1953, it had never won a World Series. This team finished 13.5 games ahead in the National League pennant race, leading the league in both runs scored and fewest runs allowed. In the World Series, they finally beat their crosstown rivals, the New York Yankees. It was the Dodgers' first and only World Series championship won while located in Brooklyn.
The 1957 Brooklyn Dodgers season was overshadowed by Walter O'Malley's threat to move the Dodgers out of Brooklyn if the city did not build him a new stadium in that borough. When the best the mayor could promise was a stadium in Queens, O'Malley made good on his threats and moved the team to Los Angeles after the season ended. The Dodgers final game at Ebbets Field was on September 24 as they finished their 68th and last NL season, and their 75th overall, in Brooklyn in third place with an 84–70 record, 11 games behind the NL and World Series Champion Milwaukee Braves.
The 1956 Brooklyn Dodgers edged out the Milwaukee Braves to win the National League title. The Dodgers again faced the New York Yankees in the World Series. This time they lost the series in seven games, one of which was a perfect game by the Yankees' Don Larsen.
The Brooklyn Sports Center, in retrospect known as the Dodger Dome, was a proposed domed stadium for the Brooklyn Dodgers, designed by Buckminster Fuller to replace Ebbets Field. Meant to keep the Dodgers in New York City, it was first announced in the early 1950s. The envisioned structure would have seated 52,000 people and would have been the first domed stadium in the world, opening roughly a decade before Houston's Astrodome. The Dodgers instead moved to Chavez Ravine in Los Angeles.
The Newport News Dodgers were a minor league baseball affiliate of the Brooklyn Dodgers between 1944 and 1955. They played in the Piedmont League and were based in Newport News, Virginia. The teams played at Peninsula War Memorial Stadium on Pembroke Avenue in Hampton, Virginia. The stadium was built by Brooklyn Dodgers President Branch Rickey. The Dodgers played there from 1948-1955. Previously, Newport News teams played at Builders' Park on Warwick Road (1944-1947) and prior to that at a ballpark on Wickham Avenue on the East End of Newport News. The Piedmont League folded after the 1955 season, ending Newport News' franchise.
James A. Mulvey was an American motion picture industry executive and a co-owner of the Brooklyn / Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball from 1938 until his death. He derived his stake in the Dodgers from his marriage to Marie "Dearie" McKeever, daughter of one of the franchise's longtime co-owners. Together, the Mulveys controlled their 25 percent share of the team until Dearie's death in November 1968; James and their heirs continued as co-owners until selling their stock in 1975.
The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1883 as the Brooklyn Grays, next year in 1884 becoming a member of the American Association as the Brooklyn Atlantics before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the club moved to Los Angeles, California, where it continues its history as the Los Angeles Dodgers. The team moved west at the same time as its longtime rival, the New York Giants, moved to San Francisco in northern California as the San Francisco Giants.
John Lawrence Smith was a German-born American chemist, pharmaceutical industry executive, and sportsman. He was born Johann Schmitz in Krefeld, Prussia, in the German Empire. When he was three years old, his family emigrated to the United States and settled in Stonington, Connecticut. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1908 and the family legally changed its name to Smith in 1918.
References
- ↑ Martinez, Kiko (February 6, 2018). "Oscar-Winning Director of 'O.J.: Made in America' Ezra Edelman to Helm Roberto Clemente Biopic". Remezcla . Retrieved February 4, 2021.
- ↑ Pergament, Alan (July 11, 2007). "'Dodgers' documentary on HBO is a winner". The Buffalo News . Retrieved February 4, 2021.
- ↑ Nemetz, Dave (August 8, 2007). "Sports Movie Review: Ghosts of Flatbush". Bleacher Report . Retrieved February 4, 2021.
- ↑ Hinckley, David (July 11, 2007). "Dem bums, how we loved em'!". New York Daily News . Retrieved February 4, 2021.
