World Series Special

Top 5 Reasons This World Series is Special | BrandStack Podcast - 003

The transcript below was provided by Substack and cleaned up by ChatGPT.

Hey Gang,

The World Series is about to get started, and I wanted to share an interview I did with a legendary player who wore both the Yankees and Dodgers uniforms and pitched in the last three World Series between the two teams. Does anybody know who that player might be? We'll come back to that in just a few minutes.

Why The 2024 World Series is Special

But first, I wanted to share why I think this World Series is so special and why there's so much interest in the series between the Yankees and the Dodgers.

Massive Star Power

Number one, it's got massive star power. The MVPs and best players in each league are in it: Aaron Judge of the Yankees, Shohei Otani of the Dodgers. You've also got other stars like Juan Soto and Garrett Cole on the Yankees' side, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman on the Dodgers' side, although Freeman isn't in top form right now. These are among the biggest names in the game. It's going to be exciting to have all these stars under the bright lights.

Two Best Teams in Baseball

Number two, it's the two best teams in baseball. The Dodgers and Yankees both finished with the best record in their league during the regular season. Nothing that happened during the playoffs changed the perception that these are the two best teams, and we've got a matchup of the best of the best.

Broadway vs Hollywood

Number three, it's New York and L.A. You're talking about the two biggest media markets in the U.S., so the hype and the media attention is going to be massive, and the TV audience should be much bigger than usual for a World Series.

Storied Rivalry

Number four, it's a storied rivalry. Great tradition and history, going back to when the Dodgers were in Brooklyn and the two teams would meet in the Subway Series, the World Series, as it was called when two New York teams were playing. You're talking, again, about some of the greatest players in the history of the game: Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Jackie Robinson, Sandy Koufax—although Koufax was more so in the 60s after the move to L.A. There's only been one perfect game in the entire World Series, and that was Don Larsen of the Yankees beating the Dodgers in Game 6 of the 1956 World Series. There's also the famous play where Jackie Robinson steals home off Whitey Ford, and Yogi swore till his final day that he got the tag down and got Robinson out, but he argued to no avail, and Jackie Robinson was safe. That was the 1955 series, the one World Series between the Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers, in which the Dodgers broke through and won the series. I believe they were 6-1, the Yankees against the Dodgers in the World Series when the Dodgers were in Brooklyn. The Yankees lead 8-3 overall between the two teams.

It’s Been 43 Years

And number five, this doesn't happen very often. These two teams haven't met in the World Series in 43 years. The last three times they met—'77, '78, and '81—the Yankees won in '77 and '78, and the Dodgers won in '81. If memory serves me correctly, in both '78 and '81, the team that won the first two games ended up losing the series and losing the next four straight games. Of course, the biggest memory, the greatest memory most people have who were around for those series, was Game 6, 1977, when Reggie Jackson hit three home runs off of three different Dodgers pitchers. Again, the Yankees won in '77 and '78. The Dodgers bounced back and won in 1981.

The Interview

So I want to bring up an interview that I did. I did this back in 2017 in October, just before the World Series back then. It was with a player who starred on both teams, was an all-star, and one of the best pitchers in the game at the time. He ended up on the losing side in all three series. He was a Dodger in the '77 and '78 series, then he changed his allegiance and went over to the Yankees. He was on the losing side in '81. One of the key moments I remember from the '81 series involves the Yankees. He started Game 6, I believe, and he was pulled for a pinch hitter in the third inning, which was a strange decision, being that he was one of the Yankees' better starters, and their bullpen had lost a lot of games in that series.

Who is It?

But anyway, the player we're talking about is Tommy John. To a lot of people who know the current game but might not know some of the history of the game, Tommy John isn't just the guy who the elbow surgery was named after. He was actually a pretty great pitcher in his day. He won 288 games, the most by any pitcher who's never been elected to the Hall of Fame.

When Tommy John had his injury, this was a new surgery, a procedure that had never been done before. Tommy knew he was risking his career when he had the surgery by Dr. Frank Jobe. He came back from the surgery, pitched better than ever, and ended up pitching until he was 46 years old. Now it's a common surgery that pitchers, even position players, often have early in their careers. They have an injury, get Tommy John surgery, and go on to have long and successful careers. But it was remarkable at the time that not only did Tommy come back and was a terrific pitcher in his 30s, but he ended up pitching until he was 46.

Tommy was an all-star several times with both the Dodgers and Yankees. He also pitched for the White Sox and several other teams. With the White Sox, he was an all-star, I believe, as well. And again, he pitched in those three World Series between the two teams. He won 20 games several times. Anyway, to watch the video interview with Tommy John, just scroll down to the embedded video below and check it out. It was from Livestream Stars 2017, and I think you'll enjoy it.

Have a great day!