by Stewart Wolpin, 1995

Elliott Gould’s touching tribute to the Brooklyn Dodgers championship season of 1955.
from “Bums No More !”

Foreword

Brooklyn 4, New York
6801 Bay Parkway

Take the Sea Beach at 22nd Avenue and get the smell of Canarsie to Coney Island at the other end of the line. Or, go the other way and cross the bridge between Pacific and Canal and end up in Manhattan.

Brooklyn 4, New York
6801 Bay Parkway
P.S. 247, Seth Low Park, the Marlboro Theater, Jack and Irv’s Luncheonette, The Brooklyn Dodgers, The Bums, the Flock, my team, my time, my life. Roosevelt, Einstein and Spinoza. Branch Rickey, “luck is the residue of design.” “Nice guys finish last”, Leo Durocher, Leo the Lip. Dixie Walker, the People’s Choice, Harold Pee Wee Reese, Spider Jorgensen. The Brooklyn Dodgers. Ebbets Field, Bedford Avenue. Our ticket to the big show. Frenchy Bordagaray, Rex Barney, Hilda Chester, an old Goldie, Red Barber, Sports Extra, Ed Head, the Knothole Gang, Happy Felton. The underdog, the most unlikely team on earth to represent the national pastime and us and me.
Jackie Robinson, #42, the first !
Campy, Duke, Hodges, Erskine, Furillo, The Preacher, Labine, Newcombe, Cox, Podres, Amoros, Pistol Pete, Junior, Branca and Loes, the rookies Koufax and Drysdale coming up. Excitement, dreams, something to care for, something to root for, a reason to get involved. The Brooklyn Dodgers.

Brooklyn 4, New York

Where I come from.
Elliott Gould
June 9, 1994
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“Bums no more !” by Stewart Wolpin 1995 – Reproduced for discussion purposes only. No copyright infringement intended.