Dodger-Giant Games

[64Cards]

I have a few questions about when the teams were still in NY and they played one another 22 times a year.

Did the visiting team players meet at their home stadium and all take a bus over or did they just drive or take the subway over from their homes, apartments, etc. to the visiting teams clubhouse?

How many fans from the visiting team would show up in the oppositions ballpark? I know the PG had a much larger capacity, plus the Dodgers seemed to have a larger fan base, so I would guess there would be more Dodger fans in the PG than Giant fans at Ebbets. Did groups of them tend to congregate in ceratin sections?

Were the games hyped in the various NY media outlets or playing each other 22 times, was it something that wasn't a real big deal, except when it was September and the race was close? Also, did the Giant-Dodger games usually have the best attendance?

[shlevine42]

I'll let Dodger Deb and my Brooklyn colleagues talk about the travel logistics and visiting fans, and restrict my comments to this:

From April through September, regardless of where they stood in the league standings, every Dodger-Giant encounter was the biggest deal in town. A mini-World Series. A @#$%&* WAR!!!

And when they were fighting each other for the pennant (see 1951), the city came to a standstill.

And they didn't need the media to hype the event. The two teams -- and their fans -- hated each other with a bitterness unmatched in baseball (or sports) history, and even if they weren't fighting for the pennant, they were battling for bragging rights...for the pleasure of beating their most hated rival.

There's simply never been anything like it in sports.

[Bklyn Boy since 1936]

No one could've given a better answer to ALL your questions, 64C, than DODGER DEB and shlevine42 did. They hit the nail on the head in every aspect ... and then some. 'nough said.

[theAmazingMet]

Funny story retold by Duke Snider regarding a carpool to the Polo Grounds with Pee Wee and another player (slips my mind). While driving to the PG for a game Pee Wee gets pulled over by a highway cop, who proceeds to recognize Pee Wee, proclaims to be a Dodger fan and lets him go with a warning. The next game at the PG it was Duke's turn to drive. Believe it or not he gets pulled over by a highway cop who recognizes him and proceeds to write a ticket. The second cop was a Giants fan.

[DODGER DEB]

Funny story retold by Duke Snider regarding a carpool to the Polo Grounds with Pee Wee and another player (slips my mind). While driving to the PG for a game Pee Wee gets pulled over by a highway cop, who proceeds to recognize Pee Wee, proclaims to be a Dodger fan and lets him go with a warning. The next game at the PG it was Duke's turn to drive. Believe it or not he gets pulled over by a highway cop who recognizes him and proceeds to write a ticket. The second cop was a Giants fan.

That is a true story, tAM. WE joked and laughed about this story for years.

The other players in the car were Carl Erskine and Rube Walker. Those four players almost always rode together to the ballpark.

c.