At this point the Dodgers have been from LA for 54 years, but that doesn't mean both cities can't still cling to that history like the last helicopter out of Saigon. The California team will wear throwback Brooklyn uniforms for six games this year, and are having the fans vote on which style the team should wear. Perhaps the team just wants to be allowed in city diners again. more ›

Though they left Brooklyn just before the 1958 season, the L.A. Dodgers (a name that now makes as much sense as the L.A. Lakers or the Utah Jazz) just can't let the people of Brooklyn be. Brooklyn Burger's logo features the iconic "Brooklyn" lettering used by the team when they were still on the east coast, and now the Dodgers are suing owner Alan Buxbaum, accusing him of trying to convince customers that the burgers were made by the baseball club. The baseball club in L.A. Let it go guys, you're not from Brooklyn anymore. more ›

The man behind the "shot heard 'round the world"—the game-ending homer that won the New York Giants the pennant over rivals the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1951—died in his Savannah, Georgia home today after years of declining health at the age of 86. Bobby Thomson was a Giants outfielder from 1946-1953, nicknamed "Staten Island Scot" because of his Glasgow roots and Richmond County residence. The three-run homer he hit off Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Ralph Branca was a timely miracle in an already miraculous season for the New York Giants, and made him an instant celebrity even beyond the sports world. more ›

Today, everyone on the field at a Major League Baseball game — players, coaches, umpires — will wear #42 in honor of Jackie Robinson breaking baseball's color barrier on April 15, 1947. It's the second consecutive year that MLB is honoring the former Brooklyn Dodger. Robinson helped integrate baseball by becoming the first African-American player in the modern era of baseball. Rachel Robinson, Jackie's widow, his daughter, Sharon, and his grandson, will be at Yankee Stadium today, where baseball will honor the Hall of Fame 2nd basemen with a ceremony before the game. Baseball will auction off one signed jersey from each team with proceeds going to the Jackie Robinson Foundation. more ›

The dashing actor John Forsythe, who played Blake Carrington on Dynasty and was Charlie's voice on Charlie's Angels, passed away yesterday at age 92, after a battle with cancer. The NY Times reports that Forsythe (born John Lincoln Freund) "graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn" and dropped out of UNC Chapel Hill "after three years because of a particularly successful summer job as an announcer for the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field. People liked his voice so much that he easily moved into radio acting." He also was an original members of the Actors Studio and performed on Broadway as well as TV, but chose to concentrate on TV: "I’ve had a good time. But if I had been willing to starve so that I could play Hamlet, I might have been a better actor than I am today," he once said. more ›

A baseball fan threatened to kill a stranger who was wearing a Los Angeles Dodger's hat in a Brooklyn diner yesterday. According to the Post, 38-year-old suspect Marcos Esteban — who was born 14 years after the Dodger's abandoned Brooklyn — menaced the Los Angeles fan with a boxcutter for wearing the wrong ballcap to the eatery, which is near the corner of Myrtle Avenue and Skillman Street. more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: person under a train at 71st St. and 16th Ave. in Brooklyn, a stabbing on 112th St. and Lexington Ave. in Manhattan, and a bank robbery at Ave. of the Americas and West 18th St. in Manhattan.
• The Times wonders if people will be hoarding pre-rate-increase Metrocards the way token buyers used to stock up before a fare hike.
• A 17-year-old from Mt. Vernon was being held at Rikers Island after he was accused of statutory rape for having sex with a 14-year-old girl, and the judge who sent him there ordered that he should be put under suicide watch. The teenager was put into the jail's general population instead and he hung himself within 24 hours.

Watching the Brooklyn Dodgers documentary on HBO made us dig for some more footage on YouTube. The team had many nicknames, one being the Trolley Dodgers, and their fans were often dependent on the trolley system to get to the games. The above film shows a Brooklyn trolley at 5th Avenue and Flatbush, 5th Avenue and Bergen Street and finally 5th Avenue and 9th Street, with some great shots of the people and area at the time. One commenter on the video points out that at the 2:30 mark the Avon Theater is shown (which in that day would show double features and cartoons for "25 cent a pop"). more ›

If you're itching for some baseball during this season's All-Star break, and hate the Yankees too much to endure a rebroadcast of last night's premiere of The Bronx is Burning, The New York Sun recommends an HBO documentary on the Brooklyn Dodgers that will premiere tomorrow night. "Brooklyn Dodgers: The Ghosts of Flatbush" chronicles a decade of seasons (plus one) for the team and the borough it belonged to, from 1947 to 1957. more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a bank robbery on Broadway in Manhattan, a water search between 19th and 26th Aves. in Queens, and an injured officer on Albany and Clarkson Aves. in Brooklyn.
• One would think that Albany pols were immune from shame, but Gov. Spitzer wants to make a tour of it, in an attempt to embarrass Joseph Bruno.
• The latest group to organize against a Wal-Mart invasion in their community: Orthodox Jews.
• Yesterday was the 50th anniversary of the Brooklyn Dodgers' last game at Ebbet's Field. Damn You Walter O'Malley.
• Rising worldwide demand for sushi + diminishing supplies of tuna = raw deer and horse meat on your rice.
• Well-orchestrated fake orgasms will soon be relegated to only New Yorkers' apartments, when places like Katz's Deli go out of business forever.
• If one wants to register for federal aid related to April's massive nor'easter, the deadline is at 8 p.m. tonight.
• Flatbush Avenue is Brooklyn's Broadway - and it's booming with development
• The shelf life of valid Metrocards was just extended from one year to two years, so start searching your sock drawers.

Sixty years today at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, Jackie Robinson made his debut for the Brooklyn Dodgers. When Robinson took the field to play first base against the Boston Braves, he became the first African-American player in modern era of Major League Baseball. Despite enduring constant harassment by fans and other players during his first year, Robinson won Rookie of the Year honors from the Sporting News and Major League Baseball. In what would become a Hall of Fame career, Robinson was a six-time All Star (1949-1954), the NL MVP in 1949, and made six World Series appearances with the Dodgers. more ›

Yesterday, the Mets organization and various city and state officials broke ground on the new Mets stadium, Citi Field. more ›

The Brooklyn Historical Society's endless renovation gets the Times treatment today, with the Paper of Record calling the buliding "beautiful" but a "money pit. And how - the renovation was originally projected to cost $14 million over 18 months, but it's ending up at $23 million for four years of work. The article seems like a desperate (but very worthy) plea for more donors, but what Gothamist is taking from it that more people should visit the BHS. It's open only on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays (it'll open five days a week later this year), but it's an invaluable resource to learn more about the biggest borough. more ›

April 11-20 is Brooklyn's restaurant week -- Dine in Brooklyn. Close to 200 Brooklyn restaurants will offer three-course meals for a mere $19.55, in honor of the 1955 World Champion Brooklyn Dodgers. The website lists participating restaurants, broken down by neighborhood (how convenient!). Winner of the Time Out New York Eat Out Award for Best New Brooklyn Restaurant, Stone Park Cafe in Park Slope, is on the list and many restaurants are offering lunch specials as well. So, if you're one of those people who treat Brooklyn like a second-class city, get off your borough-phobic ass and go dine in Brooklyn. You won't regret it. more ›

Dan Shanoff, Sports Columnist more ›