fall classic time

the world series begins tonight, and for the 26th year in a row, the los angeles dodgers will not be participating.  this continues to be the longest pennant drought in the history of the franchise, not just since they moved to los angeles, but since they joined the national league in 1890.  the club won the pennant that year, and then again in 1899 and 1900.  in the world series era, they first won the pennant in 1916 and then again in 1920.

the 20 year drought following 1920 had been their longest as a franchise until a few years ago.  after the team's 1941 appearance in the world series, they won 2 more pennants in the 1940's, followed by 5 in the 1950's (including their first world championship in 1955, and their first in los angeles in 1959).  in the 1960's, the team won 3 pennants and two world series, and they matched that pennant total in the 1970's, although without any hardware to show for it.  in the 1980's, the dodgers appeared in the 1981 and 1988 world series and won both, beating their rival yankees and the heavily favored a's, respectively.

thanks to 2004 topps, i have a card that reminds me of what the program looked like for the 1988 series, the last one the dodgers participated in

this comes from the fall classic covers insert set.  i also have an actual copy of the program, purchased prior to the start of game 1 in the right field pavilion.  that was a good time.

here's the card that showcases the program from the la dodgers' first world series trip - a matchup with the white sox in 1959

it is much more specific to the series than that '88 version

here's the 1963 card

that was the series in which the dodgers swept the yankees

here's 1965's program

space! a nice touch to have two astronauts (twins, i presume) on the minnesota rocket. the dodgers beat the twins in 7 games.

i get a kick out of the 1966 program

the orioles were the dominant team in that fall classic, sweeping the dodgers and shutting them out three times in doing so.

sometime between 1966 and 1974, the programs began to get generic.  perhaps it had to do with the switch to division play and the lengthier postseason.  anyway, here's the card for the '74 series (walter alston's last) in which the dodgers lost to the a's

that was slightly before my time as a fan, but i was fully aware by the time the dodgers won the 1977 pennant.

this is what the program looked like in 1977

and here's what it looked like in 1978

too bad there wasn't a good ol' fashioned dodgers vs. yankees graphic on those.

same goes for the 1981 program

way generic - in fact, it looks like a cardinals' or reds player on the cover.  yuck. although the guy on the 1988 program kind of looks like a brewer.

i was hoping to end this post with the 2014 world series program cover and salute the dodgers for breaking their pennant-less drought.  oh well - wait 'til next year!

and one more thing - go royals!