One California family has waited 42 years for this year’s historic World Series matchup, a moment of feeling for them in trying times. Alex Rozier reports for the NBC4 News at 5 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 28, 2024.
The Dodgers postseason run has been an exciting time for so many baseball fanatics, but it’s been bittersweet for one Northern California family who really wanted to see the World Series matchup between the Yankees and Dodgers.
In the Bay Area -- right in the heart of San Francisco Giants territory -- Jerry Zivney’s been a lifelong Dodger fan. He always cheered on the team alongside his mother, Marise.
“We live and die with the Dodgers,” Zivney said.
But his dad, Ted, is a Yankees fan.
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“We’d go and see Yankee games when they played the A’s and we’d go see Dodger games when they played the Giants,” Jerry said.
The Zivney family waited 43 years for the two teams to face off again in the World Series. This year, their wait came to an end.
“I just was quiet and held my breath and when they won, I started crying," Jerry said. "The Yankees clinched the night before and I started crying because it came true."
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But this moment is bittersweet because Ted has Alzheimer’s and Marise passed away weeks before the re-match.
“Two weeks before the end of the season, she had a stroke and she went to the hospital. And they told us they were going to send her home, but she wasn't going to last long,” Jerry said. “But my mom held on and we watched the Dodgers beat Colorado 2-0 in the last game and she died the next morning at four in the morning.”
“This has been the worst month of my life,” he added.
Jerry said he spent most of the last month heartbroken. In the last few days, however, he started smiling again because the Dodgers have been leading the series with major help from his mom’s favorite player, Freddie Freeman.
“She loved Freddie so much. She said he had kind eyes and he was a wonderful person,” Jerry said. “She said he only needed to put a red cape on and he could pull it off. He was like Superman.”
And in Game 1, Superman hit a grand slam to win it. Jerry thinks he had an angel on his shoulder.
“Woohoo! Oh boy!! Mama, Freddie Freeman!! WOO!!!!!” Jerry said celebrating in a video after Freeman’s momentous home run.
So with his dad by his side, Jerry will watch the re-match they’ve been waiting for. He hopes his mom and Freeman can help the Dodgers win it all.
