ABSTRACT
In many ways, New York City's rich baseball history is kept alive by guys well past their prime, still wearing uniforms and kicking around local ballparks. Yankees Manager Joe Torre and Mets Manager Willie Randolph, who both played high school baseball in Brooklyn, grew up taking bad hops at the Parade Ground. So did Lee Mazzilli, the Yankees' bench coach, and Omar Minaya, the Mets' general manager. Dirt fields are their common ground. In many ways, New York City baseball is embodied by Brooklyn. It was there, in the 1940's and 50's, that the Dodgers firmly established the image of the Subway Series in their repeated attempts to beat the Yankees. Shawon Dunston's tour of Brooklyn baseball stops at the high rises where he used to throw rocks, the street corners where he used to throw snowballs, and the legendary sandlot where he put that powerful throwing arm on display.
