In Brooklyn last week, two Pittsburgh sportwriters grabbed a cab after the ball game. They asked the cab driver what he thought of his Dodgers. The elaborately bored driver replied curtly: "In Brooklyn we're even turning off the television sets."
The day before, Ebbets Field had been three-quarters empty. That day, it had an unusually small Saturday crowd of 12,821. In effect, the Dodgers were being boycotted.
Why? Why had the fans suddenly soured on last year's pennant-winning heroes? By last week, after an eight-game losing streak, the Dodgers had skidded right down into the National League cellar. But that wasn't the main...