Over the years I've managed to collect quite a few baseball souvenirs. Most involve the Dodgers, but I've also got plenty from other teams. Checking through some of these treasures I came across the following. Below you'll find the covers of the Brooklyn Dodgers yearbooks from 1952, 1954 and 1956. In 1952, you can see a great Willard Mullin cartoon of the Brooklyn Dodger bum thinking about the proverbial "Next Year." In 1954, you can see that Walter O'Malley was already thinking about a new ballpark and in Brooklyn. And in 1956, the Dodgers were celebrating their first ever World Championship. Finally, I've included the cover of the yearbook of the New York Mets from 1964, their first season at Shea Stadium, the ballpark that symbolized the ballpark that might have been for the Dodgers.

Cartoonist Willard Mullins' Bum could dream, couldn't he?

Now the Bum was dreaming about more than simply winning the World Series. He wanted a new home in downtown Brooklyn.

At long last, the Brooklyn Dodgers were Champions of the World. 1955!

In 1964, having played two seasons at the old Polo Grounds in Manhattan, the New York Mets moved to a brand new Shea Stadium in Flushing, Queens. While it wasn't in Brooklyn, it represented the ballpark that Walter O'Malley had wanted for the Dodgers. By that time, however, Dodger Stadium was already two years old.

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