Dodgers-Giants rancor (continued)
Kidwiler Collection/Diamond Images/Getty ImagesJackie Robinson, scoring from third in 1950, played a big part of the New York rivalry.
The passage of time was no match for the feud, either, as the rivalry moved headlong into the 1960s. In '62, after the Dodgers and the Giants finished the regular season in a dead heat atop the NL standings, San Francisco won a three-game playoff between the archrivals to advance to the World Series.
In '65, the Dodgers edged the Giants by two games; in '66, it was the Dodgers by a 1½-game margin.
The rivalry carried over into another new decade, and in 1971, the Dodgers' valiant attempt to make up a 6 ½-game September deficit in the NL West went down to the season's final day. The Giants held on by defeating San Diego 5-1 in the finale to win the West by a game.
"Juan Marichal had to pitch on short rest, and I hit a home run," said Kingman, who was a 22-year-old rookie when the Giants beat the Padres. (Marichal is more notoriously remembered for hitting Dodgers catcher Johnny Roseboro on the head with a bat during an on-field dispute that resulted in a bench-clearing donnybrook in 1965.)
Another fantastic finish came on the penultimate day of the 2004 season. Steve Finley delivered a walk-off grand slam against Giants reliever Wayne Franklin, capping a seven-run ninth inning and giving Los Angeles a 7-3 win and the West title. The Giants' misery was compounded a day later when, despite a 10-0 win over the Dodgers, they were eliminated from playoff contention because the Astros won.
When the newest chapter of the passion play is written, emotions no doubt will run high. Tempers might even flare. It's the Dodgers and the Giants, after all.
"It's a heated rivalry," Johnstone said. "Regardless of what's at stake, whenever the Dodgers and Giants play each other, it's intense."
Johnstone developed a reputation for being one of baseball's clown princes during his 20-year big league career. He was known to join the grounds crew to help drag the infield and once visited a Dodger Stadium concession stand to purchase a hot dog in full uniform during a game. But when the Dodgers and the Giants got together, baseball ceased to be a laughing matter.
"Whenever we played the Giants," Johnstone said, "it was serious business. There was a different feeling at the ballpark when we were playing the Giants. Those games had bragging rights attached to them. You had to be on top of your game or you would lose.
"You never wanted to lose but really didn't want to lose to the Giants."
From the vantage of the other dugout, Kuiper stopped short of saying he actually hated the Dodgers but did admit to a strong dislike for the color blue. And he said there were plenty of people in the San Francisco Bay Area who disliked "a certain manager that liked Italian food."
Similar feelings persist between the teams and their followers today. Maybe it's because, other than dispensing a lot of grief and heartache to one another, the teams have settled little. The Giants hold a scant lead in the all-time series, 1,157 to 1,134.
In addition to the competitiveness, the fact that the stakes always seem to be raised -- with either a city championship, state bragging rights or a pennant on the line when the two teams meet -- has only served to inflame the rivalry.
Everyone needs a rival to make them better, and the Dodgers and the Giants will always have each other.
"They always brought out the best in us," Johnstone said. "And we always brought out the best in them because there was so much on the line."
To understand this rivalry, all you have to do is read between the lines.
Doug Ward is a Southern California-based freelance writer.
