4.12.2008

Ask me to name the starting lineup from that team. Seriously.

It took more than two weeks to arrive, but my Los Angeles Dodgers 1988 World Series Collector's Edition DVD set is here.

Seven discs (!) including all five Series games, games 4 and 7 of the NLCS and bonus features, including the trophy, MVP and rings presentations, a short film on Gibson's home run, another on Orel Hershiser's record 59-inning scoreless streak, locker room interviews and more.

In total, it's 17 hours and 50 minutes devoted to perhaps the most unlikely World Series champion ever, the 1988 Los Angeles Dodgers. (Fuck you, 1969 Mets)

I was six, but I still remember it vividly. Watching the NLCS late into night, my elbows sore from laying on our wood floor, head-in-hand, four feet from the TV. Gibson's home run is the stuff of legend, and although I don't specifically remember it, I do remember running around the house, screaming.


Greatest moment in Dodger history. Maybe LA sports history. Hell, LA history. No, make that all of history.

I wasn't a hard sell, but having my home team win the World Series when I was six forever endeared me to baseball. Over the next 20 years, I've been to opening day and I've been to Vero. I've been lucky enough to have dinner with Tommy Lasorda, and hear, face-to-barbecue-sauce-covered face, the legendary tales from the man himself. I've seen the Dodgers at home (don't get me started on Dodger Stadium) and on the road in Anaheim, Las Vegas, Atlanta and, later this month, Miami.

Twenty years after they won their last world championship (and playoff series, for that matter), I still have faith, and I'll probably have a bit more after I break in my new DVDs.


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