Getting out the reading material

This program will have to be mine at some point. I have tried to obtain a World Series program for each time the Dodgers have gone to the Series since I became aware of professional baseball.

Obviously, I've been a bit out of practice, given the 29-year-gap between Series appearances by the Dodgers, and I had to look up whether MLB even made World Series programs anymore.

Fortunately, they do. Because there is nothing more that I want to do when my team opens the World Series than have some reading material by my side.

To mark tonight's start of the World Series, I pulled out the programs in my collection for the previous four World Series involving the Dodgers. To hammer home exactly how long it's been since I've been able to watch my team in the championship stage, here are the ads on the back cover of each of those programs:

1988

1981

1978

1977

What a wonderful wild world of wood paneling and nicotine.

I was pleased to see that today's World Series programs feature the clubs playing in the Series because that wasn't the case starting in the 1970s and lasting through the early 2000s. During the '80s, programs featured every playoff teams' rosters and mug shots and a generic cover.

That's the 1988 World Series program for the Dodgers vs. the A's. For fun, I thought I'd dig up a few ads for each of these four programs.

My scanner hates publications, especially inside pages, so you're going to have deal with crooked and cut off images (it's a good thing this isn't a magazine blog because I'd probably give up in a week).

There is nothing that says the 1980s quite like videocassette tapes and rainbow contrails.

Here is the 1981 program. Lot of extra space on that cover there.

The salute to John DeLorean is very amusing in light of what became of him a few short years after this ad appeared. Meanwhile, I still miss Joe and Tony calling the game and the Rolaids Relief Award hat.

The 1978 World Series program -- the 75th anniversary of the Series -- I ordered through an ad, I believe in Baseball Digest, along with the 1977 World Series program.

Shaving was very serious business in the '70s. My memories of baseball commercials in the '70s are of beer, cars and lots and lots of shaving commercials. It almost intimidated me as a 12-year-old. Holy crap, is this what I'm going to have to go through? Which blade? Which handle? Which foam?

This program is a personal favorite. I remember treasuring it, just because it was the first World Series in which I watched the Dodgers.

That's one way to look at it, McDonald's.


In my quest to get all the Dodgers World Series programs since I started following baseball, I still don't have the 1974 program, which technically is just before I began watching the sport.

But I do have a card of the program (yes, finally, a card on this post):

This was sent to me recently by Josh at Royals and Randoms. I really need to get cracking on this insert set.


So, I have all my reading material out and I'm sure I'll be consulting it during the World Series, however long it lasts.

I hope you enjoy the games. I will try to do the same.

It gets tricky when your team is involved.