CAMPY GIVES SOUL TO SERIES.

Byline: MATT McHALE

It was easy to look down at the Dodgers and Yankees on Friday night and see the ghosts of childhood and history.

No matter how many times you blinked, Mickey Owens still dropped the third strike that cost Brooklyn the 1941 World Series. On the same mound where Jeff Weaver was facing his former team, Bob Welch threw his 10th and final fastball to blow away Reggie Jackson and end Game 2 in 1978.

There was Robinson stealing home, Sandy into his windup, Nettles robbing Reggie Smith behind the third-base bag.

Maybe no one under the age of 30 knows or cares that until Friday, the two teams hadn't played in 23 years.

But they should.

The reason is Roy Campanella.

On May 7, 1959, 18 months after he was paralyzed in an auto accident, the Dodgers' legendary catcher was celebrated in front 93,000 teary fans at the Coliseum.

It came after the fifth inning of an exhibition between the Dodgers and Yankees. The lights went down and candles were lit. Campanella was wheeled to home plate by captain Pee Wee Reese.

That night, Los Angeles became one of baseball's great cities.

Three times in 1959, the Dodgers drew more than 90,000 fans. They went on to win three World Series in the next seven years.

The Yankees took a plane in from Kansas City, the closest American League city at the time and more than 1,500 miles away. They didn't do it for money, they did it out of respect for Campanella, who was the National League MVP three times. If Jackie Robinson was the fire of those Dodgers teams of the late '40s and '50s, Campanella was their soul.

When asked how much money Campanella could command in today's market, former general manager Buzzie Bavasi once said, ``You'd have to sell him part of the team.''

In short, he was the cleanup hitter Frank McCourt still dreams about.

In later years, Campanella said his fondest memory of that night in 1959 was the way Los Angeles embraced him even though he never played here - he played for the Brooklyn Dodgers - and few of those fans ever saw him play in person.

He was born in Philadelphia, lived in Queens, N.Y., and retired to the San Fernando Valley. But he always maintained the good natured spirit of small-town America. He often said, ``To play baseball, you had to have a lot of little boy in you.''

It came through with everyone he met, whether he was being interviewed by CNN or the rookie beat reporter from the Pasadena Star-News. Trying to figure out the 10 greatest moments of the Yankees-Dodgers rivalry (which ran in Friday's edition) was a cherished challenge the past few days.

But a lot has been forgotten. They've only been back to the Series once and haven't won a playoff game in 16 years. Hard to believe but there was even more uncertainly about the team in 1959.

The Dodgers were a team in search of an identity. They left jilted Brooklyn for the West and were phasing out veterans such as Reese, Gil Hodges and Duke Snider from their glorious past.

Today, they are in first place, but it is hard to name five of their players.

Then, as now, the Yankees were baseball's mightiest team. They were defending World Series champs with Hall of Famers throughout the lineup. Mickey Mantle and Whitey Ford have been replaced by Jeter, A-Rod and Mariano Rivera.

Despite his vision, team owner Walter O'Malley never was a fan of putting games on television. The only ones on TV in those days were the nine from San Francisco.

But the radio made a star of Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully. His voice could be heard throughout the ballpark like some communal transistor radio. Summer nights with those teams and that voice were about as good as it gets. Scully, now in his 55th year with the team, mostly does television now. But with the next two games on national TV, he will be doing radio only.

Enjoy.

Oh, and did we mention the Dodgers won the World Series in 1959?

It all started the night they honored Campy.