Carl Erskine died this week. Most people wouldn’t know who Carl Erskine was. But I did. He was one of the last Boys of Summer – a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers who graced Ebbets Field and pitched masterfully for “Da Bums of Flatbush”.
I was about 8 when I became a Dodger fan. They were playing in the 1953 World Series and their shortstop was named Pee Wee Reese. I liked the name for some reason and decided to root for the Dodgers. I grew up to bleed Dodger blue and had pictures of Duke Snider hanging on my bedroom walls. Every morning I met the paper carrier and tore into the sports page to see if the “Dook” had homered. And often he did.
Erskine was the ace of the Dodger pitching staff. He won 20 games in 1953 and fanned 14 of the Damned Yankees in game three of the Series that year.
Carl Erskine played with guys like Roy Campanella, Carl Furillo, Gil Hodges, Jackie Robinson, Don Newcombe along with Snider and Reese as one of the revered “Boys of Summer.”
With Erskine gone, only Sandy Koufax remains as the lone surviving Dodgers player from the 1955 World Series team.
Baseball once ruled the world of sports. The NBA and NFL were afterthoughts. From the beginning of spring training until the end of the World Series in September (when it should end), baseball was king and the Dodgers, the Boys of Summer, were my heroes.
