Elitism in the Defense of the Giants is No Vice

Grammar needs work--elitist, much? (pinterest image)

We take a break from debt-ceiling histrionics--apparently there's an agreement to postpone the reckoning day for almost two months--to talk about news that's equally important--The Giants will meet the Dodgers in playoff baseball: [bold added]

The Dodgers beat the Cardinals 3-1 on Wednesday night to earn the right to fly to San Francisco and face the winningest team in the majors. Game 1 of this rivalry revelry is Friday night, and history’s in the making at Oracle Park...

It’ll be the first Giants-Dodgers postseason series since 1889 when the Giants played in New York and the Dodgers were in Brooklyn and known as the Bridegrooms, a best-of-11 series in which the Giants’ John Ward was that century’s Mr. October. You can look it up.

Fast forward 132 years, and baseball’s two premier teams will meet in a best-of-five Division Series to determine bragging rights not only in 2021 but in the latest chapter of the game’s greatest rivalry, with apologies to Yankees-Red Sox.

"Brooklyn Bridegrooms"--be careful, autofill assumes you're typing "Brooklyn Bridge"--is not the most ridiculous name that preceded the Dodgers monicker. In fact the entire history of the club's names, much like Elizabeth Taylor's, is a subject for hilarity.

The Dodgers were originally founded in 1883 as the Brooklyn Atlantics, taking the name of a defunct team that had played in Brooklyn before them. The team joined the American Association in 1884 and won the AA championship in 1889 before joining the National League in 1890. They promptly won the NL Championship their first year in the League. The team was known alternatively as the Bridegrooms, Grooms, Superbas, Robins, and Trolley Dodgers before officially becoming the Dodgers in the 1930s.

The New York Giants were first known as the Gothams, a centuries-old respectable name for the Big Apple, and unlike the Dodgers, had no past or trolleys to run away from. (People run towards San Francisco cable cars.)

The Dodgers, with their huge Southern California fan base showering the team with riches, are loaded with All-Stars and future Hall-of-Famers, but we know where you came from, Grooms, Superbas, and Trolley Dodgers.

Los Angeles is not in the same ballpark as San Francisco, and we're not just talking baseball.