In October twenty-twenty-three, I could not wait to hear presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin give a lecture at Baylor University on her best-selling book, Leadership in Turbulent Times. But since the major league baseball playoffs were underway – and my Texas Rangers were in the thick of it – in the back of my mind were Goodwin’s favorite leaders on the baseball diamond: legendary Brooklyn Dodgers Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella, Pee Wee Reese, Duke Snider, and Gil Hodges.
After Goodwin’s lecture, I stood patiently in line hoping I would have the nerve to talk a little baseball and have her sign my copy of “Wait Till Next Year.” This book is her marvelous memoir of growing up a Brooklyn Dodgers fan. In her Long Island neighborhood, families and friends, shopkeepers and butchers, teachers and priests divided their baseball loyalties between the Dodgers, Giants, and Yankees.
The book begins with a pivotal moment that cements Goodwin’s lifelong love of baseball. Her father gave her a bright-red scorebook.
Goodwin listened faithfully to Dodgers games on the radio, keeping score as her father had taught her, and when he returned home from work, Goodwin would dramatically recount a narrative of the game, thanks to the guiding hand of the scoresheet. No wonder she is such a gifted storyteller.
In “Wait Till Next Year,” Goodwin places readers firmly on the rollercoaster of being a baseball fan. When she recounted the 1951 playoffs between the Dodgers and Giants, I felt her heartbreak as Bobby Thompson hit the shot heard round the world, snatching the pennant from the Dodgers. Goodwin said she threw her scorebook down and never completed that last page.
But in1955 the Dodgers were back in the World Series against the Yankees.
In game 7, the Dodgers leading 2-0 in the bottom of the ninth, Goodwin writes that she prayed, Please, God, only three more outs. The Dodgers took care of business, and Goodwin got to hear Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully say: “Ladies and gentleman, the Brooklyn Dodgers are champions of the world.”
To be truthful, I didn’t read Goodwin’s book until after the Texas Rangers won the 2023 World Series, and I may have prayed that same prayer, Please, God, only three more outs. When Goodwin Dodgers finally won the championship, I felt her every single word and every single emotion when your team is world champion.
And her sorrow was palpable as the Dodgers would leave Brooklyn for L.A. only two years later.
If you are, or aren’t, a baseball fan, Doris Kearns Goodwin’s “Wait Till Next Year” is a touching memoir that reminds us, There’s always another season, there’s always another chance.
