Who did people root for prior to expansion?

[stkuhl]

My Dad's cousin in Northwest Oklahoma was a Yankees fan in the 50's. I asked him why he wasn't a Cardinals fan and he said it was because of the Saturday Game of the Week. 60+ years later he can still name the starting 8 for the Yankees.

[akleinb611]

A lifelong New Yorker, I was born in 1955, so I'm just a little too young to remember the Dodgers and the Giants in New York, but my father was a die-hard Giants fan and he worshipped at the alter of Willie Mays. So, when I was six and began paying attention to baseball (and when I began collecting baseball cards), I was a Giants fan too.

Rooting for the Yankees was never an option.

The following year, the Mets came along, and I began to drift in their direction. My father compromised by taking me to Mets games when the Giants were in town. He didn't fully convert until 1972 - when Willie Mays was traded to the Mets.

Long-distance relationships are so complicated.

Alan Kleinberger

[Yoda]

Growing up in the NYC suburbs when baseball was the sport to follow and play, there were 3 NY teams and woe-be to the kid who was a NY Giants fan found wandering in the Dodger's neighborhoods after dark. Sort of like The Hell's Angels and Pagans love affair.
I literally cried that the team I loved was going . How could I still love the Dodgers when they were being displaced and 3k miles away? 'Dem Bums" should know that Flatbush is burning and Ebbets Field is screaming.

[AustinMike]

Originally Posted by stkuhl

My Dad's cousin in Northwest Oklahoma was a Yankees fan in the 50's. I asked him why he wasn't a Cardinals fan and he said it was because of the Saturday Game of the Week. 60+ years later he can still name the starting 8 for the Yankees.

I turned 6 in 1960 and found baseball. We lived near Shreveport, LA. The Saturday Game of the Week is also what turned me into a Yankee fan. In 1961, when Post cereal had their baseball card promotion, I sent my dime in to get the 10 card set of the Yankees. Being the Number 1 team at the time probably didn't hurt either.