Twenty-five members of the 1955 Dodgers, the team that finally broke through and won a World Series for Brooklyn, signed an Official National League baseball (above), which now resides in Dr. Richard Angrist’s collection. Brooklyn ace Johnny Podres beat the Yankees twice in that Series, wrapping it up with a 2-0 shutout in Game 7, and unleashing pandemonium in the borough. Podres recalled, “I can remember that the champagne was really flowing. All you had to do was hold out your glass and somebody would be there to fill it up … I doubt if there had ever been a night like that in Brooklyn.”

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