By TJ Troup  |
The Polo Grounds (lower left) and Yankee Stadium (upper right)
Separated by the Harlem River. |
The word rivalry has been used many times in describing sports teams in competition.
So, let's begin with a definition: "competition for same objective or for superiority in the same field". The origin or root of the word is from middle french/latin word "rivus", and defined as "a person who drinks from or utilizing the same brook or stream as another".
Since this is from medieval times you can picture two knights from feuding castles eyeing one another as their horses drink from the same stream. Billy Shakespeare even used this word in his writing and would relish Billy describing the rivalry between the Giants and Dodgers. That said, let's begin our history lesson from the city of New York as these two teams battled many times to win the National League pennant.
Moving west in '58 and establishing themselves on the coast, and building permanent iconic stadiums the teams continued to battle each other and other top-notch teams. San Francisco has not won the pennant since 1954, and with the Dodgers success in '59 the Giants must have felt this is just not what we wanted or hoped for.
Pittsburgh and Cincinnati have won the last two National League pennants, and both have very strong teams in 1962, yet this is one of those seasons in baseball history where these two teams took the spotlight.
The expansion New York Metropolitans, and Houston Colt '45's are gonna lose, and add to that a Chicago Cub team that ranks as one of their worst in history, and pitched like an expansion team—thus San Francisco and Los Angeles have outstanding won/lost records for the first five months of the season.
When Koufax shut out the Giants in July the Dodgers had a 1/2 game lead and since he was dominating hitters on every team there was no reason to believe that San Francisco could or would win the pennant. Koufax injured his finger and was shelved till very late September, and of course, this gave the Giants an opportunity to pass the Dodgers in the standings.
Don Drysdale had already proven he was a quality pitcher, and he sure picked up the slack in the pennant race as he won 25 games and the Cy Young award, but San Francisco with astute trades had by far their best starting rotation in team history and on Monday, September 3rd headed south to Chavez ravine for the pivotal four-game series.
The Giants won three of four to gain momentum, and the key San Francisco victory was a Wednesday evening contest before 54,395 with young Juan Marichal on the mound.
The "Dominican Dandy" with bullpen help blanks the Dodgers 3-0. Marichal picks league MVP, Maury Wills, off of 1st base, and Willie Mays goes 3 for 4 with two doubles, and two key rbi's. Though both teams struggled down the stretch with records barely over .500 they finished in a flat-footed tie with 101 wins. When you peruse the individual hitting stats by both teams you come away with WOW!
So many men had outstanding seasons, yet the two that stood out for Los Angeles are Wills and league batting champion Tommy Davis. Not sure if I ever saw any hitter drive the ball off the left-field wall at Wrigley with quite the power that Tommy D. did during the year? San Francisco is so deep in hitting talent that Willie McCovey is a part-time player.
efore moving on to 2021 wanted to mention that a Cub rookie in a season of despair and disaster was my bright light that summer. Kenny Hubbs from June 14th until September 5th—78 games did not make an error, as he flawlessly handled 418 chances at second base to set a record. His death still resonates with me, since all Cub fans that remember him always ask what he could have accomplished in a possible Hall of Fame career?
This past weekend the Dodgers headed to San Francisco for the key series of the season so far, and as they have all year the Giants found a way to win two of three. Are both of these teams going to duplicate 1962 and finish with 101 wins and tie for the West?
That remains to be seen, yet will be checking the standings and box scores every day. Yesterday the Giants continued to win by beating Colorado, and the Dodgers earned a victory in St. Louis. October of '62 and was able with the time difference to watch the Dodgers battle the Giants in the three-game play-off on television—would be awesome to have that situation occur again, and we see San Francisco and Los Angeles battle in what is truly a "rivalry".
