When I first started attending college in Buffalo in the mid-1980s, I was charmed by a number of Buffalo-centric pastimes, one of which was watching television the way only someone from Buffalo can.
Buffalo is close to Canada so there was plenty of Canadian programming available. But Buffalo also featured an independent station called WUTV-29.
This station aired a variety of entertainment programming that mostly included cartoons, old television show reruns and old movies and science fiction shows. It was both wonderfully off the beaten path and comfortably familiar.
Later in the '80s, WUTV became affiliated with Fox programming and, then, UPN. It's a Fox affiliate now, I believe. I haven't watched the channel since I moved away from Buffalo, but I think, while the station still offers some charm, it is not the independent wonder it once was.
It was the little things on that channel that brought me back to watching Saturday morning cartoons in the 1970s. The fact that it would preface a return to a show with a bumper that said "now back to our program," was all it took to keep me coming back to the channel.
Today, I watch very little television and most of my nostalgia is now wrapped up in baseball cards and other paper media. Lately, I've been on a World Series programs kick, brought on by the Dodgers' appearance in the 2017 World Series.
I wrote a post about World Series programs involving the Dodgers last month. I mentioned that I was trying to obtain the programs for Series that involved the Dodgers since I started following baseball.
Getting the 2017 program was job one. And, yesterday, that job was completed.
This beast barely fit into the mailbox. It was sent by Steve of Collating Cards. His boss is a Dodger fan (excellent taste there) and traveled to Dodger Stadium where he picked up some programs. One of the bad boys was sent to me!
These days they are making World Series programs that are 256 pages large! Holy smokes. Actually, it's bigger than that because there is a special 16-page section each for the Astros and Dodgers that is numbered separately. So 288 pages!
Fortunately, there is plenty of time before baseball starts up again, so I have reading material that will come in handy when basketball -- bleah -- is my only sports viewing option. I'm still not ready to relive the disappoint of the Series, but I'm at least at the stage where I know I will want to one day.
To avoid those still raw memories, the mailbox took care of me once again:
This is the 1974 World Series program, which was issued to commemorate the Series involving the Dodgers and A's.
I mentioned back on that WS program post that it was the only Dodger-related WS program that I didn't own since the time I started following baseball. But the always perceptive mr. haverkamp answered my call with a beautiful verson of the program that arrived the day after the World Series ended. It looks almost brand new!
The WS programs back in '74 were a mere 64 pages. I'll have no problem tackling that.
Just for comparison, I'll give a rundown of the index for the '74 program and the '17 program:
1974
4 - The World Series
9 - Commissioner's Message, League Officials
12 - Henry Aaron
14 - NBC and the World Series
16 - Manager - Genius or Goat
18 - National League All-Star Team
19 - Pirates highlights
24 - Dodgers highlights
28 - Dizzy Dean: Legend in his own time
29 - National League statistics, rosters
31 - Lou Brock
33-35 - Scorecards
36 - American League statistics, rosters
38 - A's highlights
42 - Most Valuable Player awards/Cy Young awards
43 - Orioles highlights
47 - American League All-Star team
49 - Hall of Fame
50 - The All-Star Game
52 - Wonderful World of Professional Baseball, National League
58 - American League
64 - World Series umpires
2017
5 - Welcome from Commissioner
7 - Major League Baseball executives
10 - Top of the Order
47 - 2017 Season in Review
65 - Opportunity Knocks (front office-WS teams)
76 - Sudden Impact (Cody Bellinger)
81 - From Rookies to Kings
91 - Legends of the Fall
99 - What's in a (Nick)Name?
107 - Expect the Unexpected (2016 WS review through stats WE and WPA)
119 - In Command (strikeout pitchers)
127 - Scorecard section
129 - World Series roster section
130 - Astros roster
134 - Postseason 2017 (ALCS)
138 - Dodgers roster
142 - Postseason 2017 (NLCS)
(01-16): Astros special local section
(01-16): Dodgers special local section
146 - Starting Pictures (look at best photos of 2017 season)
166 - Good ... Better ... Betts (Mookie Betts)
173 - Call of Duty (baseball during wartime)
180 - Let's Play Ball (youth, scholastic, minor league baseball)
191 - Fantasy baseball drafting for 2018
200 - Eminent Domain (home field advantage in WS)
209 - Velocity (top players in speed categories)
219 - September Sprints
226 - It Takes a Village (Cooperstown)
232 - Best Seats in the House (ballpark vantage points)
244 - World Series Memories and WS matchups each year
256 - Teeing Off
A whole bunch more reading in 2017! And less time to do it! (No wonder nobody wants to read about me writing about programs).
Anyway, I'm thrilled to add these to the collection and now I can show all the programs for Dodgers World Series from 1974 to 2017:
I'm going to try to rededicate this offseason to reading all of the books and periodicals that I have been neglecting for so many years. I'll start with these programs and then hit the bookshelf.
The internet is a huge distraction these days, but I think I can conquer it.
Fortunately, I don't have WUTV-29 around to distract me even more.
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