A lifelong Dodger fan and a diehard Yankee fan recall watching the 1981 World Series from Dodger and Yankee Stadiums. Alex Rozier reports for the NBC4 News at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024.
As the first game of the World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees draws near, baseball fans who remember the last time the two iconic teams played in the World Series in 1981are walking down on the memory lane.
While many fans are memories of that series, a few people are lucky enough to say they attended games, including NBC4/Telemundo 52 Media Manager Ben Delgado.
“Every time I go to a Dodger game I look up at that same spot where I sat during that game,” Delgado said.
Ben was 11 years old at the time. He grew up watching games with his mom, who passed away that summer. A few months later his neighbor invited him to his first game at Dodger Stadium – World Series game 3.
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“My neighbor, in October of that year, the 23rd, asked my sister who was taking care of me at the time if he could take me to the game,” Delgado said. “It was really nice that he took me to that game.”
Also in 1981, Mike Cimicata was 9 years old in New Jersey, and his dad took him to three games of that series at Yankee Stadium.
“It was very exciting. I was very privileged to get to go,” Cimicata said. “My dad was great about bringing us to games.”
Cimicata is a lifelong Yankee fan, but he now lives in Los Angeles. He said his core memory from that series is watching the Dodgers win in game 6, taking the series.
“I was 9 years old, tearing up in the upper deck of Yankee Stadium watching the Dodgers celebrate winning the World Series on the home field of my team,” Cimicata said.
But these are new teams and a new time.
If you need any proof of that, just wait until you hear how much they paid for tickets in 1981: $15.
With tickets going for more than a $1,000 per seat now, both guys say they likely won’t be at the stadium this year, but they still plan to cheer on their teams.
“It’s a great matchup. I feel like for a lot of us this is the matchup that we really wanted,” Cimicata said.
“I’m so excited and such a big Dodger fan, and I’m just thinking we did it then, we can do it again,” Delgado said.
More World Series memories will be made when baseball’s giants meet again.
