In another time, in another sport, Brooklyn adopted Dixie Walker as one of its own, so completely that one of the essential baseball nicknames of all was born: “The People’s Cherce,” the third word an homage to the borough’s distinctive elocution.

Walker was never the best player on any of the nine Dodgers teams for which he played, an All-Star but never a superstar, but he was equal part excellent and irritant, a fireball whose energy was perfectly suited for Leo Durocher’s style, and an even better fit for the denizens of Ebbets Field who fell hard for him.

And thus was born a perfectly New York tradition:

The exceedingly admired athlete whose popularity isn’t merely a product of his dominance on the field, on the floor, on the ice. Joe DiMaggio was popular as is Aaron Judge; Lawrence Taylor was popular as is Jalen Brunson. Tom Seaver was popular as is Francisco Lindor. Those connections are easy to see: That’s a sextet of superstars at the very top of their game, at the very top of their sport.