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THE 40's: - 1941 - 1942
- 1943 -
1947 - 1949
Complete Composite Statistics and
Box Scores at Baseball-Almanac.com
1941 World Series
"Sure, it was my fault (the error
in the ninth inning of Game 4). The ball was a low
curve that broke down. It hit the edge of my glove
and glanced off, but I should have had him out
anyway. But who ever said those Yanks were such
great sluggers? They're the real bums in this
Series, with that great reputation of theirs."
- Mickey Owen
PINSTRIPE PERSPECTIVES: Events off
the field
The American decision to impose
sanctions on Japan, in response to the Japanese
invasion of Indo-China, convinced Japanese leaders
that war with the United States was inevitable.
While the Japanese government continued to project
peace under the disguise of negotiations in
Washington, plans went ahead for a surprise
military action that would catch the U.S.
completely off-guard. One (major) vulnerability
proposed for an attack was the U.S. Fleet's Pearl
Harbor base in Hawaii that was reachable by an
aircraft carrier force. Taking advantage of this
strategic "loop-hole" the Japanese Navy secretly
sent a naval battle group across the Pacific with
greater aerial striking power than had ever been
seen on the World's oceans. After sneaking almost
undetected past the military's radar, its planes
hit the heart of the shipyard just before 8 a.m.
killing over two-thousand four-hundred Americans
and destroying five of eight battleships and most
of the Hawaii-based combat planes.
The governments of American and
Great Britain declared the "Atlantic Charter" in
anticipation of the end of World War II. The joint
agreement expressed certain common principles in
their national policies to be followed in the
postwar period. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and
Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill signed the
announcement aboard a warship in the North Atlantic
off the coast of Newfoundland. It stated that
neither country sought any territorial, or any
other, sovereign enhancement from the war. It also
proclaimed the right of all people to choose their
own form of government and not to have boundary
changes imposed on them. In addition, the charter
expressed the hope that all countries would be able
to feel secure from aggression and recognized the
principle of freedom of the seas, expressed the
conviction that humanity must renounce the use of
force in international relations, and affirmed the
need for military disarmament after the anticipated
victory by Allied forces.
FALL CLASSIC: Brooklyn Dodgers (1)
vs. New York Yankees (4)
After a short, one-year absence,
the perennial champion New York Yankees returned to
the familiar territory of post-season baseball in
1941. Despite losing the American League pennant to
the Detroit Tigers the year before, the "Bronx
Bombers" were still favored after winning thirteen
of their last fourteen Series games and
twenty-eight of their last thirty-one games in
baseball's premier event. Joe McCarthy's franchise
however, entered the post-season with heavy hearts
after Yankee icon Lou Gehrig passed away on June
2nd in Riverdale, New York. The "Iron Horse" had
finally succumbed to a relatively unknown
affliction known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis,
which has since been renamed Lou Gehrig's Disease.
Despite their emotional scars, the power-laden
Yanks had managed another one of their dominant
pennant runs, winning the American League title by
seventeen games. Their cross-town and
"cross-league" rivals, the Brooklyn Dodgers were
determined to keep the World Championship title in
National League hands and were dependent on solid
pitching to keep the Yankees' sluggers in check.
The Dodgers' rotation certainly had their work cut
out for them as Joe DiMaggio, Charlie Keller and
Tommy Henrich all hit at least thirty homers in
1941, and Joe Gordon slammed
twenty-four.
Nothing changed in the Series
opener as the "Bronx Bombers" continued to get the
job done. Gordon remained a standout as he homered
and knocked in two runs for a 3-2 victory that
featured a Red Ruffing six-hitter. After losing to
the Dodger's Whitlow Wyatt 3-2 in Game 2, the
Yankees got a break and reclaimed the Series lead.
Brooklyn's Freddie Fitzsimmons was locked in a 0-0
stalemate with Marius Russo in Game 3 when, with
two out in the seventh inning, the Yankees pitcher
fired a line drive that caught Fitzsimmons square
on the knee. While shortstop Pee Wee Reese caught
the deflected ball to end the inning, Fitzsimmons
was obviously through for the day. Hugh Casey came
in as relief but was nailed for four hits and two
runs in the eighth. His teammates were only able to
get four hits off Russo and eventually lost 2-1.
Despite trailing two games to one, Brooklyn's
pitching rotation was doing its share while holding
the Yankees' sluggers to less than stellar stats.
Through the first four games of the Fall Classic,
the "Bombers" had managed a single home run off the
Dodgers and in their thirty-four innings of Series
at-bats preceding the fateful ninth of Game 4, the
Yanks had scored only ten runs.
Things seemed to be headed in the
Dodgers' favor with a 4-3 lead and two out in the
ninth (with no Yankees on base) when an error of
catastrophic proportions turned the momentum of the
game and inevitably, the Series. As a probable
third strike on Henrich crossed the plate, the
Dodger's catcher Mickey Owen mishandled it. Instead
of sealing the Series tying victory, the error kept
the Yankees alive, resulting in a four run rally
that snatched the sweet taste of victory from the
mouths of Brooklyn and left them with the bitter
taste of a 7-4 defeat. The frenzied Ebbets Field
crowd (who was poised for celebration) suddenly
stood in disbelief as they watched their team
implode. First, Henrich stole first on the Owen
error. Then DiMaggio followed with a single, and
Charlie Keller shot the Yankees ahead with a
two-run double. After a walk to Bill Dickey, Gordon
further quieted the Dodgers' faithful with another
two-run double. The Yankees' Johnny Murphy then
turned in his second consecutive inning of 1-2-3
relief, and New York had handed Brooklyn a
devastating defeat.
Owen said after the game, "Sure, it
was my fault. The ball was a low curve that broke
down. It hit the edge of my glove and glanced off,
but I should have had him out anyway. But who ever
said those Yanks were such great sluggers? They're
the real bums in this Series, with that great
reputation of theirs." It mattered little as the
Yankees finished them off the following day when
Ernie "Tiny" Bonham put the Dodgers out of their
misery, tossing a four-hitter in Game 5. Henrich
(who had dodged a bullet in his previous outing)
homered in the Yankees' Series-clinching 3-1
triumph. Despite winning their ninth title, the
"Bronx Bombers" had certainly failed to live up to
their nickname at the plate. Surprisingly, the
World Champions had managed only two home runs and
averaged a mediocre .247 in the Series. Still, they
managed to knock off their cross-town rivals (in
what would eventually become known as the "Subway
Series"), who got even less offensive production
with one homer and a miserable .182
average.
BOMBER BYTES: from
Baseball-Almanac.com
This was the first Subway Series
between the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Yankees,
who had already faced the cross-town New York
Giants five times, and the Series was now 1-0 in
favor of the Bronx Bombers.
The New York Yankees pitching staff
only allowed nine earned runs and finished with a
team earned run average of 1.80.
Joe Gordon tied the 5-Game World
Series record for walks (seven) & batting
average (.500) while simultaneously setting the
record for slugging average (.929).
1942 World Series
"We'd thrown a scare (ninth inning
of Game #1 after being no-hit for eight innings)
into the Yankees and even though we'd lost, we
couldn't wait to get back out on the field the next
day." - Ernie White
PINSTRIPE PERSPECTIVES: Events off
the field
Under Executive Order #9066, more
than 120,000 Japanese and persons of Japanese
ancestry living in western U.S. were moved to
"relocation centers," (some for the duration of the
war). After voluntary evacuation was prohibited,
the Army forcibly moved approximately 110,000
evacuees, most of whom were American citizens, to
ten relocation centers in the Western states.
Smaller numbers of Germans, Italians, and other
nationalities were also forcibly relocated.
Although food and shelter was provided and wages
were paid to those who wished to work, living
conditions were poor and induced several
uprisings.
The worst nightclub fire disaster
in history occurred when the infamous Coconut Grove
of Boston caught fire claiming the lives of
four-hundred ninety-two patrons and injuring
one-hundred sixty-six others. It is believed that
the fire originally started in the Melody Lounge
when a sixteen-year-old bar boy named Stanley
Tomaszewski, lit a match to replace a light bulb
that had been removed by a patron. What exactly
happened next is still unclear, but artificial palm
trees and drapery quickly caught fire and it took
only fifteen minutes for flames to engulf the
entire building.
FALL CLASSIC: St. Louis Cardinals
(4) vs. New York Yankees (1)
In 1942, it was business as usual
for the perennial champion New York Yankees. "Joe
D" and the rest of the second generation "Bronx
Bombers" lit up the American League on the way to
their thirteenth pennant. On the National League
side it was the up-and-coming St. Louis Cardinals
who were making a name for themselves as a worthy
opponent. Manager Billy Southworth's Redbirds had
proven conclusively during the 1942 season that
they had what it took to win championships.
Trailing the National League-leading Dodgers by ten
games on August 5, they rallied down the stretch
(winning forty-three of their last fifty-one games)
to finish with a two-game margin over New
York.
Yankee veteran Red Ruffing stole
the show in the Series opener, while not allowing a
single hit until he had two down in the eighth
inning. Centerfielder, Terry Moore managed a weak
single, but it mattered little, as the Cardinals
problems were just as bad on both sides of the
ball. The Yankees were holding down a 7-0 lead with
no errors while St. Louis was desperately trying to
send a man home and had four. Then it happened.
Just as they had to win the National League pennant
late in the season, the Redbirds rallied again.
First, Stan Musial, the Cardinals' left fielder,
fouled out to open the ninth inning. Catcher Walker
Cooper followed with a single, but first baseman
Johnny Hopp flied out. The next batter,
pinch-hitter Ray Sanders, walked. Then, the
Cardinals lashed five consecutive hits that
produced four runs. That brought Musial back to the
plate with the bases loaded. Lucky for St. Louis,
Spud Chandler was on the mound and the closer
forced Musial into a game-ending grounder to first
base. Despite falling one run short of another
miraculous comeback, the Cardinals had clearly
shaken their World Series jitters, and showed the
Yankees that they were indeed, a worthy
contender.
Game 2 featured Cardinal Newcomer
Beazley, who posted a 2.13 ERA on his way to 21
victories during the regular season. Beazley held
onto a 3-0 lead going into the eighth inning, but
gave up a run-scoring single to Joe DiMaggio and a
two-run homer to Charlie Keller. Now with the game
tied, it was the Yankees' turn. Unfortunately for
St. Louis, their rally would fall short, thanks to
Enos Slaughter's double and Musial's single in the
bottom of the eighth inning. Slaughter ended the
game with a clutch throw from right field that
nailed pinch runner Tuck Stainback at third base in
the ninth inning. In the end, the Cards had evened
the Series with a 4-3 triumph and they were just
getting started. Things continued to go St. Louis'
way as Ernie White dominated Game 3 by shutting out
the Yankees on six-hits for the 2-0 victory. It was
total team effort though, as the left hander was
supported by the great fielding skills that had won
one hundred six regular season games for the Cards:
Moore made a great catch in the sixth inning and
Musial and Slaughter both made clutch
"homer-saving" catches in the seventh.
Mort Cooper, who won twenty-two
games, threw ten shutouts and posted an ERA of
1.78, returned against Hank Borowy the next day.
Unfortunately nothing had changed for the Game 1
loser. He lasted only 5 1/3 innings, as he was
victimized by a St. Louis five-run sixth inning.
His rival, Borowy only lasted into the fourth, an
inning in which St. Louis got two-run singles from
Whitey Kurowski and their struggling pitcher and
tallied six runs in all. In the seventh inning,
Walker Cooper (Mort's brother) knocked a timely RBI
single and snapped the 6-6 tie. Marty Marion added
a run-scoring fly and reliever Max Lanier not only
proceeded to pitch shutout ball the rest of the
way, but he also singled home an insurance run in
the ninth inning. Once again the Cardinals had
found their resolve and held on for the 9-6
victory.
Game 1 winner, Red Ruffing,
returned for Game 5 against the youngster Beazley.
Phil Rizzuto, (who had hit a total of seven home
runs in his first two big-league seasons with the
Yankees), launched a Beazley fastball into the left
field stands in the first inning. St. Louis tied it
in the fourth inning when Slaughter matched Rizzuto
with his own homer to right, but St. Louis slipped
back into the lead in the bottom of the inning on
DiMaggio's run-scoring single. The resilient
Redbirds forged another deadlock in the sixth
inning when Walker Cooper's fly ball scored another
and the teams went to the ninth tied 2-2. Then,
like Rizzuto, Kurowski stepped up to the plate and
delivered with a game (and-Series) winning homer
into the left-field stands. He had gone
three-for-fourteen at that point in the Series,
after batting .254 with nine home runs during the
regular season in his first extended big-league
play. The surprise Cardinals had dethroned the
mighty Yankees and won the World title back for the
National League. The devastating loss was the first
since 1926 for the Yankees, who had won in all
eight of their appearances in the Fall
Classic.
BOMBER BYTES: from
Baseball-Almanac.com
During Game 1, Red Ruffing took a
no-hitter into the eighth inning until Terry Moore
hit a two-out single. Ruffing lost the gem, but
became the first pitcher to win seven (7) World
Series games.
Every player - except for Harry
Gumbert - on the 1942 St. Louis Cardinals roster
was a "product" of the teams' farm system, which
was put in place by Branch Rickey.
Despite having four (4) future Hall
of Fame players on the field & eight (8)
consecutive World Championships under their belt,
the Bronx Bombers lost to the same team who
defeated them sixteen (16) years earlier during the
1926 World Series.
1943 World Series
"Certainly (Spud) Chandler is a
good pitcher, but there are good pitchers in the
National League, too. We expect to see good
pitching in the World Series. The Yankees wouldn't
have won the pennant without good pitching, but the
same is true of our club. We have good pitching
too." - St. Louis Manager Billy
Southworth
PINSTRIPE PERSPECTIVES: Events off
the field
In Washington D.C., the Pentagon
was completed making it the largest office building
in the world. The revolutionary, five-sided
building consisted of five concentric pentagons
connected to each other by immense corridors
covering an area of thirty-four acres and was
intended to consolidate the various offices of the
U.S. War Department and now the Department of
Defense.
In January, U.S. President Franklin
Delano Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston
Churchill held a WWII meeting known as the
"Casablanca Conference" in French Morocco to form a
joint declaration that pledged that the war would
only end with the unconditional surrender of the
Axis Powers.
The withholding tax on wages was
introduced in 1943 and was instrumental in
increasing the number of taxpayers to sixty million
and tax collections to $43 billion by
1945.
FALL CLASSIC: St. Louis Cardinals
(1) vs. New York Yankees (4)
In a classic-rematch of the
previous year's contest, the St. Louis Cardinals
and New York Yankees once again found themselves
competing for the World Championship title. The
underdog Redbirds had dethroned the mighty Bombers
in 1942 and the devastating loss was the first
since 1926 for the Yankees, who had won in all
eight of their appearances in the Fall Classic.
Both teams had maintained their dominance
throughout the 1943 season, despite losing several
key players to military service. The Cardinals were
without Howie Pollet (who left in August) and the
Yankees lost Joe DiMaggio, Phil Rizzuto and Red
Ruffing to tours of duty. On the home front, the
Card's Stan Musial had a tremendous season, winning
the National League batting title with an
incredible .357 average. He was also backed up by
the finest pitching in the National League as
Pollet, Max Lanier and Mort Cooper ranked 1-2-3 in
the league in ERA at 1.75, 1.90 and 2.30,
respectively. The Yanks still boasted Charlie
Keller and Joe Gordon, who provided power at the
plate with thirty-one and seventeen home runs,
respectively. First baseman Nick Etten, (acquired
from the Philadelphia Phillies) proved to be a
significant addition as well and drove in a
team-high one hundred seven runs and Spud Chandler
led the pitching staff with twenty wins. Even
without "Joe D" and the gang, Joe McCarthy's team
still won the American League pennant with a
13½-game difference over second place
Washington.
In a repeat of the previous opener,
the Cardinals fell behind, thanks to the pitching
of Spud Chandler. Spud threw a seven-hit, 4-2
winner that featured a key 2-2 tie breaker in the
sixth inning on singles by Frankie Crosetti and
rookie third baseman Billy Johnson, a wild pitch by
Lanier and another single by Bill Dickey. The big
story in Game 2 was the bittersweet play of the
Cardinals' Cooper brothers, who were mourning the
death of their father who had passed away the day
before. Mort pitched a one-run ballgame for eight
innings and Walker singled in three at-bats and
laid down a sacrifice bunt. Both brothers were
backed up by Marty Marion, who belted a
third-inning homer with the bases empty, and Ray
Sanders, who powered a two-run shot in the fourth.
Despite the Nationals best efforts, the Yankees
rallied for two runs in the bottom of the ninth
inning and wound up the 4-3 winners.
Al Brazle, a twenty-nine year old
rookie who won eight-of-ten decisions in the
regular season and boasted a 1.53 ERA, kept the
Cards' hopes alive for a repeat of '42 (in which
St. Louis won four straight to take the title) by
pitching masterfully through seven innings of Game
3. Unfortunately, the left-hander was unable to
maintain his momentum in the eighth inning as the
Yankees scored five times. Joe DiMaggio's
replacement in center field, converted pitcher
Johnny Lindell, started the rally with a double on
the error of Harry Walker who misplayed the ball.
Pinch-hitter George Stirnweiss bunted, and first
baseman Sanders threw to third baseman Whitey
Kurowski in an effort to cut down Lindell. The
throw was in time, but Lindell crashed into
Kurowski and knocked the ball loose. After a fly
ball moved Stirnweiss to second, Crosetti was
walked intentionally to load the bases. Johnson, a
.280 hitter in his first season with the Yankees,
proceeded to foil the strategy by clearing the
bases with a triple. Gordon and Etten added
run-scoring singles later in the inning, pushing
the score to 6-2. Johnny Murphy finished the job by
working a 1-2-3 ninth inning in relief of winning
pitcher Hank Borowy.
Nothing changed in Game 4 as Marius
Russo put on a one-man show. A 5-10 pitcher for the
Yankees in '43, Russo held St. Louis to seven hits,
doubled and scored the winning run in the eighth as
New York won 2-1. As the Series headed to Game 5,
the Yankees were thinking revenge and were one win
away from having it. The Cardinals on the other
hand, were only thinking about survival and
selected Mort Cooper to go against Chandler the
next day. The Redbirds put up a great offensive
effort, knocking the Yankee pitcher for ten hits,
but were unable to score on any of them. The
Bombers only needed one hit; a two-run homer from
Bill Dickey in the sixth that sealed their fate
with a 2-0 triumph. The American Leaguers had their
revenge and manager Joe McCarthy had his seventh
(and final) World Series Championship.
BOMBER BYTES: from
Baseball-Almanac.com
The only St. Louis Cardinals
victory took place during Game 2, an event that
went without celebration due to the death of Mort
& Walker Cooper's father (Robert) on the same
date.
Murry Dickson, who helped close the
door on the Cardinals in Game 5 by allowing no hits
while on the mound, was on a ten (10) day pass from
the United States Army.
1947 World Series
"Belted (by Joe DiMaggio)! It's a
long one, deep into left center. Back goes (Al)
Gionfriddo, back, back, back, back... He makes a
one-handed catch in front of the bullpen! Oooooh,
doctor!" - Announcer Red Barber in Game 5 of
the 1947 World Series
PINSTRIPE PERSPECTIVES: Events off
the field
Captain Chuck Yaeger, an American
test pilot, became the first to break the sound
barrier after he accelerated his X-1 test plane to
six-hundred seventy miles per hour, at an altitude
of 42,000 feet. The specially designed aircraft was
dropped from a modified B-29 bomber leftover from
World War II.
Secretary of State George C.
Marshall announced the goals of his Economic
Recovery Plan, otherwise known as "The Marshall
Plan" which stated that "the United States should
do whatever it is able to do to assist in the
return of normal economic health in the world". The
idea of providing aid in the reconstruction of war
torn nations provided markets for American goods,
created reliable trading partners, and supported
the development of stable democratic governments in
Western Europe. Congress's approval of the Marshall
Plan signaled an extension of the bipartisanship of
World War II into the postwar years.
FALL CLASSIC: Brooklyn Dodgers (3)
vs. New York Yankees (4)
The 1947 season is remembered not
for the performance of any particular team, but
that of an individual named Jackie Robinson. The
Brooklyn Dodger's newest prospect became the first
black player to break baseball's color barrier and
the rookie infielder brought the Negro leagues'
electrifying style of play to the majors. Although
he was still subject to resistance among the
ignorant, Robinson quickly became baseball's top
drawing card and a symbol of hope to millions of
Americans. Jackie made quite a first impression
with a .297 batting average, twelve home runs and a
league-leading twenty-nine stolen bases in his
first season.
The defending World Champion St.
Louis Cardinals gave the Dodgers the best challenge
in the National League pennant race, but ended up
five games behind Brooklyn. Number 42 wasn't the
only standout in Dodger blue as the "Bums from
Brooklyn" also got solid production from their
outfield. Pete Reiser totaled a .309 average in one
hundred ten games, Carl Furillo hit .295 with
eighty-eight runs batted in and Dixie Walker
tallied .306 and added ninety-four runs batted in.
On the mound, Ralph Branca finished with a 21-12
record, Joe Hatten went 17-8 and Hugh Casey nailed
down ten victories in relief.
The '47 Yankees, rallied down the
stretch with a nineteen-game winning streak that
began in late June and went on to win the American
League pennant by a twelve-game margin. Despite
lacking the usual "Bronx Bombers" mystique (with no
player attaining one hundred runs batted in) and
only one, Joe DiMaggio, reaching the twenty-homer
level, the Yanks managed to counter the missing
offense with great pitching. Allie Reynolds won
nineteen games in his first season with the club
(after being obtained from Cleveland). Spud
Chandler led the league with a 2.46 ERA. Rookie
Spec Shea and ace reliever Joe Page both had
fourteen wins. And two new acquisitions, Bobo
Newsom and Vic Raschi each won seven
games.
Shea drew the start for Game 1 and
got the Yankees off to a strong start with a 5-3
opening victory, despite a great four-inning effort
by the Dodgers' Ralph Branca that imploded in the
fifth. Reynolds maintained the Yanks momentum in
Game 2 with a 10-3 triumph that featured a
fifteen-hit rally by the Bronx Bombers. Leftfielder
Johnny Lindell led the charge with two RBIs in each
of the first two games. Back at Ebbet's Field, the
Dodgers struck back with a crucial 9-8 win, thanks
to a six-run second inning in which Brooklyn got
two-run doubles from Eddie Stanky and pinch-hitter
Carl Furillo. The Yankees almost came back after
"Joe D" hit a two-run blast in the fifth, Tommy
Henrich doubled home a Yankee run in the sixth and
Yogi Berra added his own homer in the seventh.
Unfortunately, it was too little - too late and the
Dodgers held on for the victory.
Manager Bucky Harris chose Bill
Bevens (winner of only seven-of-twenty decisions in
'47) for Game 4 and the unlikely hero pitched one
of the most amazing 9 2/3 innings in World Series
history. Although he permitted a fifth inning run
(on two walks, a sacrifice and a ground ball), he
entered the ninth with a no-hitter and a 2-1 lead.
Bruce Edwards started the Dodgers' half of the
inning by flying out, and Furillo drew a walk. Then
Spider Jorgensen fouled out, bringing Bevens within
one out of the first no-hitter in World Series
history. Reserve outfielder Al Gionfriddo was sent
in to run for Furillo and Pete Reiser came in as a
pinch hitter for reliever Hugh Casey. Gionfriddo
proceeded to steal second and Reiser was walked
intentionally, despite the fact that he represented
the potential winning run. To add yet another
change, Eddie Miksis was sent in to run for Reiser,
who was bothered by a recurring leg injury. Eddie
Stanky was the next in the lineup, but Burt
Shotton, (who had stepped in as the Dodgers'
manager after Leo Durocher was suspended) replaced
him with veteran Cookie Lavagetto. The "Chess like"
strategy of Shotton's multiple player moves proved
brilliant as Lavagetto walloped Bevens' second
pitch and Gionfriddo and Miksis sped home ending
the potential no-hitter and evening the Series at
two games apiece.
Down, but far from out, the
perennial American League Champions responded in
true Yankees fashion by "shaking it off " and
answering the call with a 2-1 tie-breaker on a Spec
Shea four-hitter. Surprisingly, Brooklyn jumped to
a 4-0 lead in Game 6 at Yankee Stadium, but fell
behind 5-4, and then regained the lead with a
four-run, sixth capped off by Pee Wee Reese's
two-run single. Then, with two on and two out in
the bottom of the sixth inning, Joe DiMaggio made a
valiant effort to tie the game with a rocket
launched toward the left field bullpen. Just as it
appeared the ball might drop over the fence,
Gionfriddo (inserted into the game as the Yankees
came to bat) made a phenomenal glove-hand catch
near the 415-foot mark sealing the
victory.
Once again, Brooklyn had come from
behind to tie the Series forcing a Game 7. Things
appeared to go their way at the start of the Series
finale when Brooklyn seized a 2-0 lead and drove
Shea from the mound in the second inning. The rally
was short lived though, as the Yankees scored a run
in the second inning, two in the fourth and had
tremendous relief pitching from Joe Page. The
Yankees ace went on to throw five scoreless innings
while allowing only one hit in the 5-2, Series
ending triumph. For several standouts including
Lavagetto, Gionfriddo and Bevens, it would be not
only their last World Series, but also their last
Major League games.
BOMBER BYTES: from
Baseball-Almanac.com
On October 3, 1947 (Game 4), Bill
Bevens pitched a complete game one-hitter. The only
hit of the game came with two outs in the ninth
inning off the bat of Cookie Lavagetto.
During Game 3, Yogi Berra pinch-hit
for Sherm Lollar in the seventh inning and hit the
first ever World Series pinch-hit home run (it was
off Ralph Branca).
The 1947 World Series also
accounted for three other Series "firsts" as it was
the first to ever be televised, the first with a
black player on a roster, and the first to produce
total receipts over the $2,000,000 plateau. A
breakdown of those receipts: Gate Receipts =
$1,781,348.92, Radio Rights = $175,000.00 and
Television Rights = $65,000.
1949 World Series
"If we're going to win the pennant,
we've got to start thinking we're not as good as we
think we are." - Casey
Stengel
PINSTRIPE PERSPECTIVES: Events off
the field
On April 4th, foreign ministers
from Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Great
Britain, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the
Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and the United States
formally signed the North Atlantic Treaty to create
a worldwide coalition known as NATO. The alliance
became necessary between nations of Western Europe
and the United States to help deter the Soviet
Union from further aggressive posturing. Article 5
of the treaty stated that an attack against one
member of the coalition would be considered an
attack against them all.
The American monopoly on the
development of nuclear weapons ended on September
23rd after President Truman announced that the
Soviet Union had successfully detonated their first
atomic bomb. The "Us" vs. "Them" mentally that
followed touched off an arms race that would last
into the 1990's.
FALL CLASSIC: Brooklyn Dodgers (1)
vs. New York Yankees (4)
After nine unsuccessful seasons
with Boston and Brooklyn (where he never finished
higher than fifth place), manager Casey Stengel
finally had success in the minors, while coaching
Oakland to the Pacific Coast League pennant in
1948. Shortly after, he was called up to replace
Bucky Harris as the Yankees skipper in what would
become the start of a long-standing... and winning
relationship. New York had fallen from first place
to third under Harris and responded to Stengel's
appointment by winning their sixteenth American
League pennant in dramatic fashion. Stengel's team
trailed Boston by one game, as manager Joe
McCarthy's Red Sox arrived at Yankee Stadium for a
season-closing two-game set. But the Yankees swept
them in classic "Curse of the Bambino" fashion.
Across town the Brooklyn Dodgers were "cutting it
close" as well while managing to beat the St. Louis
Cardinals (by one game) in the National League
pennant race.
Don Newcombe, who had a 17-8 record
as a Dodgers rookie in 1949, drew the start and did
all he could to spoil Stengel's debut. Through
eight innings of Game 1, Newcombe struck out eleven
Yankees, walked no one, surrendered only four hits
and had not permitted a run. Pitching rival Allie
Reynolds wasn't far behind with nine strikeouts,
four walks, two hits and no runs. Reynolds managed
to retire the order in the ninth inning on a
grounder, popup and fly ball, but Newcombe was not
as lucky, as the Yankees' Tommy Henrich put one
over the right field stands for the win. The
Dodgers answered the close Yankees' triumph the
next day with a Game 2 nail biter of their own.
Preacher Roe out pitched Vic Raschi for the 1-0 win
and Gil Hodges' single drove home Jackie Robinson,
who had doubled in the second inning.
The tensions continued in the third
game as both teams remained locked in a 1-1
stalemate through the eighth inning. Former
National League slugger Johnny Mite, (purchased in
August from the New York Giants), knocked a
bases-loaded single off Dodger starter Ralph Branca
in the top of the ninth inning for the 3-1 Yankee
lead and Jerry Coleman followed with a run-scoring
single off reliever Jack Banta. New York's Joe
Page, having pitched 4 2/3 innings of scoreless
relief since taking over for Tommy Byrne in the
fourth, shouldered that lead into the Dodgers' half
of the inning. Page was rocked for two home runs;
the first was a one-out shot by Luis Olmo, who hit
one homer for Brooklyn in the regular season, and
the second was a two-out smash by Roy Campanella.
But no one was on base either time, and Page and
the Yankees hung on for a 4-3 victory.
In Game 4, the Yankees drove
Newcombe from the mound with a three-run fourth
inning (Cliff Mapes supplied the key hit with a
two-run double) and then got three more in the
fifth when Bobby Brown drilled a bases-loaded
triple off Joe Hatten. Brooklyn answered with four
runs in the sixth inning off Eddie Lopat. Reynolds
came to the rescue by retiring Brooklyn's final ten
batters and New York, a 6-4 winner, was one victory
from their twelfth World Series title.
Determined to finish the job, the
Bronx Bombers ended all the trends and came out
swinging in Game 5. The Yankee sluggers scored in
five of the first six innings and promptly built a
10-2 lead. Gil Hodges' three-run homer in the
Dodgers' four-run seventh inning cut into the
deficit, but Page's relief work in place of Vic
Raschi shut down Brooklyn's batters. In the end,
the Yankees prevailed 10-6 with Coleman driving in
three runs and Brown and DiMaggio both collecting
two RBIs each. "Joe D", (who missed half of the
season because of an injury, but still batted .346
with sixty-seven RBIs in seventy-six regular-season
games), struggled overall in the Series, but added
a bases-empty homer in the fourth. Although it was
the Yankees twelfth World Series title, it was
Casey Stengel's first and there were many more to
come.
BOMBER BYTES: from
Baseball-Almanac.com
Joe Page of the New York Yankees
won Major League Baseball's first ever Most
Valuable Player Award during the 1949 World
Series.
On October 5, 1949 (Game 1), Don
Newcombe threw a complete game five (5) hitter and
allowed only one (1) run. He also struck out eleven
(11) New York Yankees during that single game to
tie the record for most strikeouts during a World
Series game by a losing pitcher.
END 40's
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