It's 1934 in Brooklyn

 Oh Brooklyn, brave Brooklyn.

It's 1934 and we're in the heart of the Great Depression.  Across America, millions are out of work; millions more toil for reduced wages.  Here in Brooklyn it's the dockworkers, the longshoremen, the factory workers, garment workers, the cops on the beat, that make up the working class.  Life is difficult; the daily grind tends to wear a person down.  But they're lucky to have a job and they know it.  Despite the challenges, they have a special solace - Brooklyn Dodgers baseball at Ebbets Field.

"How ya think tha Dodjuhs will do this year?," Frank Bertuzzi asks his customers at his butcher shop.  "They finished sixth last year, can they do betta?"

One aspect of the team that fans are curious about is the new Manager, Mathew Williams.  He's been around the game a long time and is a fine baseball mind.  Can he light a fire under these boys, these Bums, and win a pennant?  He's signed for the long-term, so we will get the chance to see.

The American flag flies high and majestic at Ebbets Field during these weeks leading up to the season.  The field is an emerald green, freshly cut.  But things are quiet, no one is around, and Mathew Williams stares silently from the dugout in his street clothes, preparing himself for the season.  He knows the entire borough is trusting him to bring a pennant home.  He is happy the fans are so interested; this is going to be one hell of a place to manage.

Williams takes a cab over the bridge, over to the Lower East Side to have a drink.  The cab driver is an easy-going Italian.  The buildings whiz by in a gray haze, the temperature outside a cool fifty degrees.  Finally, the cab driver pulls over next to some dive bar.  Williams pays his fare and enters the bar.

 Some popular swing music is playing from a radio as Williams settles down at the bar.  Bartender asks, "What cha havin'?" 

"Uh, a rum and coke please," William's says.

Coca-Cola has already become a very popular drink in the 1930's.  It costs 5 cents a bottle.

Williams sits there drinking his cocktail, thinking about the strange trajectory of fortune that led him here.  But he clears his mind of such thoughts and begins to focus on the task at hand.  He needs to figure out his lineup.  He has a lot of similar bats that he needs to place.  Back at his apartment he will tinker with it.  He wants to be prepared.  Opening Day is less than two weeks away.  But for now he just sips his drinks and listens to the big band music.  

Yes, it's the 1930's in America.  Over the next few months, we will travel by train as far west as St. Louis.  We will see this great land.  We will drink, we will have fun!  We will dance with disreputable women.  We will travel this country making money by playing ball!  This is a front row seat to the Big League Life.

Here's to the Brooklyn Dodgers in Season 1 of the Strat-o-Matic RePlay! Cheers! 🍻.