After a miraculous fifth-inning comeback in game five, the Los Angeles Dodgers captured the MLB World Series Title in a 7-6 victory over the New York Yankees. The series served as the Dodgers’ eighth world championship and their fourth World Series victory over the Yankees. The two opponents have been no stranger to competing against one another, with the Dodgers’ last championship against the Pinstripes coming in 1981.
Led at the time by Ron Cey, Pedro Guerrero and Steve Yeager, the Dodgers quickly handled the Pinstripes in six games. Eerily similar to the team’s most recent World Series victory over the Yankees, the Dodgers’ roster proved to be too much for the New York team to handle.
The 1981 matchup proved to be a historical one for both the sport and the world, as it gave millions of fans a duel for the ages. Coincidentally, the year 1981 also proved to be an essential one for UTSA, as The Paisano launched its very first issue earlier that year.
Celebrating its 43rd anniversary, The Paisano has decided to use the Fall Classic matchup between the Dodgers and Yankees to reminisce on the newspaper’s early days and humble beginnings. An eight-page black and white issued newspaper, the Paisano’s first printing debuted on Jan 27, 1981. Nearly nine months before the historic Dodger-Yankee World Series, the newspaper covered a multitude of topics such as dorm propositions, women’s seminars and educational program issues.
A nostalgic reading, the tabloid calls to mind a time when newspapers and print journalism ruled the news world. The clustered yet organized formatting of multiple stories brings childlike joy to writers and readers everywhere who long for the prominent return of print media. Though the newspaper was in its infancy, The Paisano’s first issue exuded professionalism and credibility. These attributes have remained essential within the student-led organization, serving as pillars for each contributor and staff writer to follow.
The emboldened black ink pressed onto the newsprint paper seems to jump off the page, grabbing the reader’s attention and captivating them with important university and local news. While the paper’s column formatting remains very similar to its modern rendition, its slightly crooked columns and small faults give the paper a sense of bittersweet nostalgia. Everything down to the issue’s very last page, in which designs were drawn to determine a permanent logo, gives readers a small glimpse into the sentimental past of print journalism.
Though the two entities share very few similarities, both The Paisano and the Dodgers have continued to share a long-standing history of professionalism within their field. The two are forever linked together, as the Dodgers’ 1981 banner year served as the iconic newspaper’s birth year.
