The Absent Uncle: It’s the playoffs!

Since it is October, that means it is time for the almost never-ending playoffs in professional baseball. Way back, you only had the pennant winners from the American and National Leagues playing in the World Series. No Wild Card best of three, no Divisional Playoff Series best of five, no ALCS and NLCS best of seven, leading up to the World Series, which now ends in November most years. 

My first real introduction to this “Fall Classic” was in 1965 when the Minnesota Twins took on the Los Angeles Dodgers. The World Series before 1965 meant little to me as a kid rooting for our local state heroes, but 1965 changed all of that. Now Pascual, Killebrew, Allison, Battey, Green, Hall and all the rest had the chance to become World Champions.

It was a long season all summer, and early fall, only two teams continued to play on for the glory of the “World Championship”.

Unbeknownst to me, at the same time a kid in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles was also discovering baseball and hero-worshipping another set of players: Koufax, Drysdale, Wills, the two Davis’s were among his favorites. He hung on every word from the great Vin Scully (who I later became a fan of as well) listening on his transistor radio similarly to me listening to Ray Scott, Herb Carneal, and Halsey Hall on WCCO.

The Twins lost in seven games, much of it due to the mastery of Sandy Koufax, and seemingly the Twins bats going silent in clutch situations. The last game was played on Oct. 14, unlike this year when the schedule (dictated by the TV networks) will finish Nov. 1.

I see the value of having a total of 12 teams go into the playoffs and each have a chance to win the whole thing. So many more kids get to listen and watch their heroes march forward into victory – or like me – into final defeat. And MLB gets to sell more tickets and games on TV, and I bet hope for no early snow if the games happen to be played in the East.

That 1965 World Series formed a part of the basis for a friendship that started in college (we both went to San Diego State in the mid to late 70’s) and the friendship that continues to this day. We have a yearly beer bet (high stakes!) on our favorite team finishing ahead of the other’s chosen team (he has won far more than me with his beloved Dodgers, but has moved on from them over the past 10 or so years) but you know – hope springs eternal every year.