Sometimes second place hurts just as bad as last.

You’ve got to feel for Chicago Cubs fans. Their Cubbies haven’t won the World Series in a hundred years. But Brooklyn Dodger fans suffered in the 1940s. The difference is, they actually made the Series four times in seven years. And lost, every time, to the neighboring New York Yankees. 

One Dodger fan grew tired of waiting for his team to win. You’re listening to Robert Merrill’s “Brooklyn Baseball Cantata” from 1948. It’s an imagined account of a Dodgers World Series victory over their cross-borough rivals.

Born Moishe Miller in Brooklyn, Robert Merrill was more than just a baseball fan. He was also a world-famous baritone who sang with the Metropolitan Opera in New York for 31 years.

The Cantata turned out to be a lucky charm…but sadly, not for the Dodgers. Starting the very next year, the Yankees rattled off five straight World Series victories, a record that stands to this day.