Los Angeles Dodgers legend Fernando Valenzuela dies
Three days before the Los Angeles Dodgers face off against the New York Yankees in the World Series, the star of the last Dodgers team to beat the Yankees in the Series, Fernando Valenzuela, died at 63 years old.
In a revival of what was once the greatest rivalry in team sports, the New York Yankees will play the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2024 World Series for the first time in 43 years. A rivalry that used to be a near annual occurrence in the days of Eisenhower and then revived itself in the 1970s is making its return to the Bronx and Chavez Ravine. As the recently departed James Earl Jones said in Field of Dreams, a hokey baseball flick that Jones elevated, “This field, this game—it’s a part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good, and it could be again.” (If this sounds Trumpian, and in another actor’s mouth it might, Jones makes about the peace and joy of youth, not a longing look at more reactionary times.)
image by (Billie Weiss / Getty Images)