Sandy Koufax double-header, of sorts, against Chicago – sted of Super Bowl

For those of you who (like me) can’t even pretend to care about New England vs. Atlanta, or the Super Bowl in general, I’m sharing a couple of bits off a web site I have discovered that puts out old baseball radio broadcasts on YouTube for listening.

A football “championship” that means nothing to our local sports scene (because all it does is reminds us that the Chicago Bears are nowhere near talented enough to be in contention) needs an alternative. Unless you’re really watching just so you can see a Budweiser commercial that some are trying to claim has deep sociological meaning and is a political statement on the issue of immigration.

INSTEAD, HOW ABOUT a White Sox/Los Angeles Dodgers matchup, as in from the year 1959. Specifically, Game 5, where the White Sox facing elimination managed to stay alive in what was one of the strangest games ever – a 1-0 White Sox winner in which the only run was scored on a double play.

For those of you who absolutely can’t handle the thought of watching the Sox, I also dredged up a broadcast of an old Cubs game – one from 1957 in which the North Siders were in the borough of Brooklyn to take on the Dodgers at Ebbets Field.

That was the Dodgers’ last season out east, before they made the cross-country jump that led to them playing the first World Series ever in Los Angeles (and drawing a 92,706 crowd for that Game 5 – which, by the way, is still a record attendance).

For what it’s worth, Sandy Koufax was the starting Dodgers pitcher in both ballgames – going up against Bob Shaw for the White Sox and Dick Drott for the Cubs.

OF COURSE, BACK then, Koufax wasn’t the superstar he became in the mid-1960s. That World Series game was the first such game the Dodgers ever trusted him with, and he wound up on the losing end – although his Dodgers team ultimately won the World Series two days later in a game played at Comiskey Park. In '57, he was just the "bonus baby" everybody thought belonged in the minor leagues rather than Brooklyn.

As for the Cubs, I’m not going to spoil the outcome of the game. You can listen for yourself.

Although anyone with any sense realizes that because it’s the Cubs, of course they’re going to lose. But you will get to hear a moment when future Hall of Famer Ernie Banks manages to get a home run off future Hall of Famer Koufax!

Which I suspect will be sufficient to satisfy the hard-core of Cubbie faithful who decide to tune in.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: Personally, I’ll be checking out the Caribbean Series matchup Sunday night between the Granma Alazanes of the Cuban League and Mexicali Aguilas of Mexico’s Pacific League. The Caribbean Series is in its fifth day in Culiacan, Mexico, and will end

Tuesday with the championship game for bragging rights of Latin American baseball, which likely will be a better ballgame than anything the Patriots or Falcons do on the gridiron in Houston.

What a difference, a year makes

I couldn’t help but get my Sunday chuckle from the New York Post, which gave a subdued, if straightforward, attempt at portraying the Chicago Cubs’ National League championship (a first in 71 years) on its front page.

Particularly since I remember how over-the-top the paper was a year ago in making it clear the Cubs were meant to be walloped in the playoffs. Of course, then, the opposition was the hometown New York Mets.

SO MY QUESTION from a year ago remains – does this make Mr. Met the equivalent of a giant, smelly gorilla? With the Cubs being the equivalent of the fair Fay Wray (Jessica Lange or Naomi Watts, if you’re of younger generations)?

Or does this year’s play of the story mean that the Cubs’ win is acceptable because it came against the lowly Los Angeles Dodgers – for whom some aging Noo Yawkers have never forgiven for leaving their real home in Brooklyn?

The World Series begins Tuesday in Cleveland, and comes to Wrigley Field Friday through Sunday.

No weekend sporting conflict there, as the Chicago Bears don’t play again until Halloween (against the Minnesota Vikings), which will be a travel day with the teams returning to Cleveland for games six and seven – unless somebody actually manages to wrap this series up in under five games.

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EDITOR'S NOTE: What should we make of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, which on Sunday published a story telling how Hollywood would turn the Indians' 2016 season into a film with a truly-Hollywood ending -- the Indians beat the Cubs in the World Series, four games to two. Somebody somewhere is going to be seriously disappointed with the outcome a week or so from now.

EXTRA: Don Zimmer, R.I.P.

Popeye, or the Gerbil?

The man who led the Cubs to a National League division title in 1989? Or one of the most hated men in Boston baseball (along with one-time White Sox shortstop Bucky Dent) for blowing an American League division title in 1978?

THE MAN WHO provoked a brawl with (and got knocked on his butt by) Red Sox pitcher Pedro Martinez?

A long-ago Zimmer

Or the guy who was admired by so many baseball people because his career dating back to 1949 meant he never had to work a day in his life outside of the professional game.

That life came to an end Wednesday. He was 83, and was a senior adviser for the Tampa Bay Rays.

He also was the last guy who played for the Dodgers in Brooklyn to still be connected to pro baseball. And he had a couple of stints with the Chicago Cubs – both as a player in 1960-61 and as a manager from 1988-91.

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EXTRA: Who won’t Pat Quinn pay tribute to? Remembering a 67-yr-old Opening Day, and who made it unique

I’m used to the idea of political people finding off-beat things to pay tribute to – reflecting in the glory of others.

But Gov. Pat Quinn trying to gain himself some attention off the memory of Jackie Robinson? That’s a stretch!

BUT IS what Quinn chose to do on Tuesday – which is the 67^th anniversary of the Brooklyn Dodgers’ Opening Day in which Robinson made his appearance in the line-up as the first openly-black ballplayer in the U.S. major leagues in modern times.

“Jackie believed that ‘life is not a spectator support,’ and he lived his life with that in mind,” Quinn said, in his prepared statement. “He broke the color barrier in the major leagues, became the first black (Most Valuable Player) and took his team to the World Series” six times in 10 seasons as a ballplayer.

“At the same time, he fought for black athletes and Americans of all colors and creeds to be treated equally,” said Quinn. “This is why his number was retired by (Major League Baseball) and why he received two of our nation’s highest honors – the Congressional Gold Medal and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.”

Impressive, in its own way, and worthy of honors. Although I'm not sure how much is added to the Robinson legacy by having Quinn try to attach himself to it. Or how ridiculous the governor comes across for doing so.

Check out the pants number

ALTHOUGH I SUPPOSE things could be more ridiculous -- particularly if Quinn were trying to give such glory to the athletic legacy of one of our city's ballplayers. Who would he pick? Carmen Fanzone? Harry Chappas?

Or did you think that “42” that the Chicago White Sox have posted along with their other retired player numbers was meant to honor the memory of Ron Kittle?

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