WOW: Watch Color Footage of the 1938 World Series at Wrigley Field
This is truly incredible, and it’s such an amazing view to a world that existed 80 years ago at the very same ballpark we know and love.
Flagstaff Films is a documentary company that, among other things, periodically shares old and rare sports clips on Twitter, and the latest series of 16 short videos from the 1938 World Series has me blown away. The series is forgettable for Cubs fans (the Yankees swept the Cubs 4-0), but it was nevertheless quite a moment in baseball history. It was a series that featured, among others: Joe DiMaggio, Lou Gehrig, Dizzy Dean, Stan Hack, and Gabby Hartnett. It was the last time these two giant franchises faced each other in the World Series.
And now you can literally watch some of it – the games and the atmosphere and throng around it – in color. My God:
Rare Color, Special Series-The 1938 World Series (Episode 2 of 16) Crowds build outside Wrigley Field before Game 1(from the Flagstaff Films baseball home movie archive) pic.twitter.com/xQ3XGvmGzt
— Flagstaff Films (@Flagstafffilms) December 20, 2018
Rare Color, Special Series-The 1938 World Series (Episode 3 of 16) Wrigley Field bursting at the seams before Game 1 (from the Flagstaff Films baseball home movie archive) pic.twitter.com/nIoNI8Jo0z
— Flagstaff Films (@Flagstafffilms) December 20, 2018
Rare Color, Special Series-The 1938 World Series (Episode 11 of 16) Start of Game 2-Lefty warms up (from the Flagstaff Films baseball home movie archive) pic.twitter.com/rGEYIEdDdz
— Flagstaff Films (@Flagstafffilms) December 20, 2018
Rare Color, Special Series-The 1938 World Series (Episode 12 of 16) Game 2 action featuring Dizzy, Lefty and Lou (from the Flagstaff Films baseball home movie archive) pic.twitter.com/wXlsQfK77S
— Flagstaff Films (@Flagstafffilms) December 21, 2018
Rare Color, Special Series-The 1938 World Series (Episode 13 of 16) Various action from Game 2, Wrigley Field (from the Flagstaff Films baseball home movie archive) pic.twitter.com/7eyWkT2YYo
— Flagstaff Films (@Flagstafffilms) December 21, 2018
Rare Color, Special Series-The 1938 World Series (Episode 14 of 16) Various action from Game 2 featuring Joe D and Lou at bat (from the Flagstaff Films baseball home movie archive) pic.twitter.com/BFU4NZh1de
— Flagstaff Films (@Flagstafffilms) December 21, 2018
The craziest thing to me is just how recognizable it all is. I’m tickled by this stuff. Sure, the marquee and the center field scoreboard look a little different than they do today, and contours in parts of the park have been updated, but more or less, you could watch these videos and you’d know exactly where everything is happening, inside and outside the park. Even people lining up to get in looks the same!
That’s just a selection of the 16 home videos they have. Check out the Flagstaff Films Twitter feed for more.
