![]() ![]() Gradually, they became familiar, and memorable. So we heard them again and again during the game. And the fans around us, quite knowledgeable, seemed to know the names, as well. It was certainly true then.īut we heard the names as delivered over the public address system. In fact, that famous cliche was uttered without irony by those selling scorecards at the ballpark. It was difficult for some of us to tell them apart without a scorecard. No names were worn on the players’ backs. It felt as if we were being initiated into some sort of brotherhood of experienced baseball fans. It indicated that we were not merely witnesses to that day’s game, but were watching tradition play out around us. It was in a way reassuring to hear the cries. It was no use to ask why fans had taken up the cry of “Swish.” People just did it. He was a someone, a survival from the past, from the years of peace.Ĭhildren want to know why things are. He had been a genuine star before wartime conditions prevailed. There was another reason for a sense in the stands that something beyond the routine was afoot when Nicholson’s name was announced. It became Ebbets Field practice to cry ”Swish“ as Nicholson took his vigorous practice cuts just after stepping into the batter’s box. Students of baseball lore indicate that the cries originated from those sitting around us, the fans of Brooklyn. In fact, my recollection is that as soon as Nicholson’s name was announced as the next batter, the fans began to delight each other with cries of “Swish …. They knew it was an opportunity to cry “Swish …” with a hissing, whooshing delight that bespoke some rapid movement of the air, something like a powerful gust of wind. When he swung and missed, people all around us emitted a cry of “Swish …” – with great delight.Ī swing and a miss from Nicholson was a signal to those seated all around us to join in a communal gesture. On those occasions, the response of fans was dictated by a popular tradition. Sometimes he connected, but on other occasions, he took that powerful swing and missed. Nicholson was a large and powerful man, a 200-pound, 6-footer, who had a correspondingly powerful swing. What I remember best of the game I saw, what was unforgettable, were the times at bat for Bill Nicholson, a right fielder for the Cubs. But I saw them play the Dodgers in the fateful year of 1945. I was not quite old enough at that time to recall the finer points of play. In 1945, I saw them play at least once in Brooklyn, and possibly more. ![]() This meant that residents of New York had 22 chances a year to see the Cubs in their gray road uniforms, which as I remember, looked much like the ones they wear today. It had been that way for years, and it continued that way until the New York Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers moved to California. Thus, if fans wanted to see a big league game played as close as possible to big league standards, the Cubs were the team to see.Īs baseball was then constituted, six of the National League teams played 22 games a year in New York City. It seemed clear to fans that the Cubs somehow had the best of the players who were filling the rosters of major league teams. Few students of the game described the brand of baseball played in those two years as the best that the sport could offer.īut the Cubs were exempt, or almost exempt, from that blanket judgment. Few were released in 1945 in time to join their old teams. ![]() Most of the stars who had distinguished themselves in the 1930s and early ‘40s were in the service by 1944. World War II did not end until August of that year. In 1945, although eight teams each played a full 154-game schedule in the American League – and the same number in the National League – even if you lived in a city with a team, it was difficult to see Big League Baseball. Of all of the teams fielded that year, in largely wartime conditions, the Cubs came as close as anyone could expect to playing at the big-league level. We certainly did not know that they would not reach the series again until this year.īut in 1945, when I saw the Cubs play, circumstances that prevailed throughout the nation made it particularly worthwhile to see them. In the summer of 1945, we could not know that the Chicago Cubs would play in the World Series that year. ![]()
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