sports// no. 6

Pandemic Parallels

» The last World Series to be played entirely on one site has much in common with this year’s

Craig Allan
Staff Writer

 

lhe World Series is underway between

the Los Angeles Dodgers and the
Tampa Bay Rays. This World Series is one
of the most unique in baseball history, as
the entire series will be played at Globe Life
Field in Arlington, Texas. This is due to the
coronavirus pandemic that has crippled
large crowd events. This is the first time a
World Series has been played entirely in

 

one park since 1944. The 1944 series has
many parallels to 2020; set in the backdrop
of a global crisis, it featured two teams that,
much like the Dodgers and Rays, were also
polar opposites in money and support.

The 1944 World Series was held in
Sportsman Park in St. Louis, between
the St. Louis Browns and the St. Louis
Cardinals. Despite sharing the same
building, the two teams could not be more
different. The Cardinals were a baseball
powerhouse, tied with the New York Giants

for most World Series championships by a
National League team, and looking to take
the lead. The Browns were the perennial
losers of baseball. Not only did they not
have a World Series championship in their
entire 44-year history, they were the only
team in all of baseball that had never been
to a World Series.

The reason for this can be found back
in 1920, when the Browns opened their
new stadium, Sportsman Park, and the
Cardinals agreed to pay them rent on the
facility. For the Browns, this looked like a
win. They had their own stadium, and their
crosstown rival was paying them to use it.
However, this was not the case; because the
Cardinals were no longer paying money for
the costly repairs and maintenance ona
ballpark, they were able to use that money
to pay for players. In 1926, Sportsman's Park
hosted its first World Series, but it was the
Cardinals who would not only be playing in
their first World Series—they would go on
to win the championship.

Little did the Browns know, they had
subjected themselves to a vicious cycle of
losing. They needed money in order to get
good players, but in order to get money
they needed fans to come to the games; in
order to get fans to come to the games, they
needed to put a good product on the field;
in order to put a good product on the field,
they needed money to pay good players,
etc. The vicious cycle of losing went around
in an unbreaking loop, that is, until 1944.

Nineteen-forty-four was the height
of World War II for the United States.

Abbotsford star gets off to
tremendous start 1n the NFL

» BC local already setting records

Mo Hussain
Sports Reporter

 

ne of the key reasons as to why the

Pittsburgh Steelers have gotten off to
such a great start this season is because of
BC Native Chase Claypool, who has played
lights out since being drafted 49th overall
by the Steelers in this years NFL draft.

The 22-year-old rookie has ran over
300 yards in his first five games, and set
an NFL record as the first Canadian-
born player in NFL history to score four
touchdowns in a single game.

In an interview on the Pat McAfee
show, Claypool gives a big credit to his
Canadian supporters for helping motivate
him to play at a high level: “I see all of the
love after every game that people show me.
It drives me forward and it allows me to
have the success that I have. I’m happy that
I can represent the way that I have so far,”
said Claypool.

Claypool grew up in Abbotsford BC,
and there were some that could tell from a
young age that he had potential to make it
far. “He was an anomaly as a child from day
one,” said Chel Sanghera, Vice President
of the Fraser Valley Football Community

Association. “My husband would say,

‘Td call a play, and then Chase would do
something I wouldn't think. I thought he'd
only get this far and then he'd be at the end
zone already.”

Claypool played community football
for the Abbotsford Falcons, and then
moved onto Abbotsford Secondary where
he familiarized himself with the American
rules. One of the big hurdles that Claypool
had to deal with on his road to professional
success was that there weren't many before
him that had actually made it to the NFL. “I
feel like there’s so many athletes in America
that have played this sport since they were
four or five years old,” said Jacob Carvery,
Claypool’s stepbrother in an ESPN article—
he helped Claypool train in his younger
days. “It gives a lot of kids from Canada
hope to one day do the same,” he said.

However, with the help of Sanghera
and a coach for his Stepbrother, Eddie Ferg,
word about his talents managed to get to
the right people and Claypool ended up
committing to Notre Dame university in
2015.

At Notre Dame, Claypool finished
seventh in Notre Dame history in
career receptions, scored the sixth most

touchdowns in a season as a player for
Notre Dame in 2019, and was awarded the
Camping World Bowl MVP in 2019.

Fast forward to today, and Claypool is

theotherpress.ca

Because of this, many of the era’s greatest
players like Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio
volunteered for the war effort. With the
league’s talent drained, the Browns had
an opportunity; in a situation emblematic
of their folly as a team, they were the least
affected by the draft, as many of their
players were deemed unfit for service. This
gave the sad sack team some of the most
experienced players in the game and led
to them claiming the American League
pennant.

Ifthe Browns could win this series,
maybe they could win the hearts of St.
Louis. Unfortunately, it was not meant
to be, as the Cardinals took the series
and became the National League’s most
successful team. For the Browns, they
would go on for a few more years which
featured stunts, and silliness, but most
of all, losing. In 1953, the Browns sold
Sportsman’s Park to the Cardinals and
moved to Baltimore.

Seventy-six years later, many
similarities can be seen between both
series. A World Series played in a neutral
site due to an out-of-control world event;
the Dodgers, a team with the second
highest payroll in the league going up
against a Rays team with the third lowest
payroll; a Rays team unable to get fans to
the point that there is even talk of them
relocating to Montreal. This is the battle
of the have and the have-nots. Maybe the
Rays can win, and do what the Browns
couldn't, or maybe this is just a mirage.
Only the future will tell.

starting to show signs as a breakout star in
his first couple of games as an NFL player,
and it will be interesting to see what the
future holds for him as a Canadian icon.

 
 

Photo of Chase Claypool (83) by MGoBlog on Flickr