Dr. Coppenger and the Brooklyn Dodgers

This short story and book recommendation was contributed by Dr. Coppenger. The book he refers to is by Doris Kearns Goodwin, Wait Till Next Year (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997).

About a month ago, Sharon and I were enjoying a meal at a fellow faculty member’s home, and talk moved to books we’d been reading for pleasure. He said he was well into Doris Kearns Goodwin’s account of her childhood in metropolitan New York. The title reflected her love of baseball—Wait Till Next Year (a refrain you hear from folks whose team is sinking in the standings). In this case, the Brooklyn Dodgers were her obsession. (And yes, she was appalled when they moved to Los Angeles in the late 1950s.) Early on, she learned from her father how to “keep score” of all the particulars, whether a pitcher’s earned runs, a shortstop’s errors, or an outfielder’s stolen bases. She scribbled in ‘K’ for a strikeout, ‘BB” for a walk, and ‘SF’ for a sacrifice fly ball. Through this scribal effort, she bonded with her father, and, together, they followed the fortunes of such Dodger greats as Duke Snider, Pee Wee Reese, and the first black player in the Major Leagues, Jackie Robinson.

Turns out, in those days I was following the Dodgers right along, dismayed that they kept running into a brick wall called the Yankees (and sometimes the Giants, who also later moved to the West Coast). But then, in 1955, they won the World Series. I was as thrilled and astonished as I was years later when, after a hundred-year drought, my Chicago Cubs beat Cleveland to take the trophy. As I tweeted at the time, I was then expecting dogs to go home with cats.

Incidentally, I saw the Dodgers play in LA when my dad took us along to California in connection with his Navy Reserve chaplain’s duty at the Marine Corps’ Camp Pendleton. They were still playing in LA Coliseum before moving to their permanent home at Chavez Ravine. Their opponents that day were the Milwaukee Braves, who later moved to Atlanta. After the game, I was able to get autographs from both teams, including one from the Dodgers’ Duke Snider.

So, I love the baseball lore, and accounts of the cultural milieu we shared. She’s five years my elder, but close enough for camaraderie.

As a bonus, I got a close-up look at the Catholicism in which she was tutored. She took it quite seriously, including the warnings about visiting a Protestant service and the calculations regarding years in Purgatory for this or that offense. It scared her, and I imagine that few priests would proffer such stern declarations today, especially after Vatican II.

Doris is an engaging writer, one who appears frequently on TV to offer up political commentary. She’s clearly of a more liberal persuasion, but I appreciate her efforts to spell out her perspective. She’s been hit with some plagiarism charges along the way, but her scholarship is undeniable.

The aforementioned NSA prof loaned me his copy, and when I returned it at a faculty meeting, another prof exclaimed that he’d been given a copy as a present, and he was delighted that the word of this book’s charm and merit was getting around.