PREVIOUS
PAGE
Yankees' Fall Classics 1921-2003
(Continued)
by Michael Aubrecht, Copyright
2004
1953: Brooklyn Dodgers (2) vs. New
York Yankees (4)
In
a classic rematch of the previous year's classic,
"The Bronx Bombers" and "Dem' Bums from Brooklyn"
returned for yet another "Subway Series". The
Yankees were poised for their fifth consecutive
championship title and the Dodgers were ready for
revenge. Brooklyn had given their cross-town rivals
a run for their money, but had come up short in
Game 7 thanks to a miraculous catch by Billy Martin
that stopped a late inning comeback. Many felt that
this was their year as the pitching staff had come
up big during the regular season. Carl Erskine led
the rotation with twenty victories, Russ Meyer went
15-5 and Billy Loes boasted a 14-8 record. Preacher
Roe posted an 11-3 total, boosting his three-year
mark to 44-8 and Clem Labine won ten games in
relief and eleven outings overall. The veterans
weren't the only ones contributing as rookie
pitchers Johnny Podres and Bob Milliken both
combined for a 17-8 mark. This solid line-up on the
mound enabled Charlie Dressen's team to win the
National League pennant race by a staggering
thirteen games over the newly moved Milwaukee
Braves.
The
'53 American League representative was the typical
Yankees team that featured strong performances on
both sides of the plate throughout the regular
season. Yogi Berra (who hit .296) and Mickey Mantle
(who batted .295) both combined for two-hundred
runs batted in and Gene Woodling (.306) and Hank
Bauer (.304) led the line-up in hitting. The
Yankees top five pitchers were even better with a
74-30 record. Whitey Ford, who had returned from a
military tour of duty, led the staff with eighteen
victories and veteran Eddie Lopat, who topped the
league with a 2.43 ERA.
Game 1 of the '53 Series began as
Game 7 in '52 had ended with Billy Martin knocking
the wind out of the Dodger's sails. The second
baseman nailed a three-run triple in the first and
went on to collect three more hits in the 9-5
opening victory. Berra and Joe Collins both hit
homers for the Yankees, and Jim Gilliam, Gil Hodges
and George Shuba contributed for the Dodgers. On a
side note, Shuba's shot was the first "pinch homer"
by a National League player in World Series
history, but the record did little to numb
Brooklyn's pain. Martin continued to plague the
Dodger's pitching rotation in Game 2 by adding a
game-tying, bases-empty homer in the seventh.
Mantle also continued adding to his ever-growing,
post-season stats with a two-run drive that nailed
down Lopat's 4-2 win over Preacher Roe.
Things changed dramatically in Game
3, as it was the Dodgers besting the Yanks on the
phenomenal arm of Carl Erskine. Brooklyn's leading
ace set a World Series record of his own with
fourteen strikeouts (four of them versus Mantle)
and MVP Roy Campanella finished the job with a
tie-breaking homer in the eighth that lifted
Brooklyn to a 3-2 victory. Hitting was the decisive
factor for the Dodgers in Game 4 as the
ever-present Duke Snider contributed two doubles
and a homerun along with Gilliam who had three
doubles of his own for the 7-3 victory.
Unfortunately, that was all they could muster and
the Yankees would have little resistance for the
rest of the contest.
Game 5 once again belonged to Billy
Martin and Mickey Mantle who both knocked one out
of the ballpark on the way to an 11-7, twenty-five
hit blowout (Mantle's was a grand slam). Game 6 was
a closer effort, but unbelievably, it would be
Martin again who would seal his second Series
victory in a row with the game-winning run in a 4-3
triumph. The combative second baseman had tallied
twelve hits (a record), eight RBIs and a staggering
.500 average against the Dodgers who had lost the
Series for the seventh time in seven outings. The
Yankees on the other hand, had won a record fifth
consecutive title, were fifteen for sixteen in
World Series appearances and had kept the trophy in
the American League clubhouse for the seventh year
in a row.
1955: Brooklyn Dodgers (4) vs. New
York Yankees (3)
For
the third time in four years, Brooklyn and the
Bronx went head-to-head in what was becoming as
common an occurrence in the "Big Apple" as traffic.
Whether the perennial champion Yankees, or their
long-time rivals the Dodgers and Giants, the World
Series (otherwise known the "Big Show") was
becoming a New York institution and some writers
joked that it should be given a permanent place on
Broadway. The "Subway Series" as it was christened,
was always a fan favorite and the '55 Series
promised more competition than the previous
meetings had. Of the Dodgers' seven World Series
setbacks, the last five had come at the hands of
the Yankees. However, this year, the "Bums from
Brooklyn" won ten consecutive games to start the
season, managed a 22-2 record in the first four
weeks and cruised to the National League pennant
with a 13½ game lead over the second-place
Milwaukee Braves. The Yankees had missed the
previous year's Classic (despite winning
one-hundred three games) and were replaced by the
Cleveland Indians. This season, they were back in
top form and ready to add to their ever-growing
collection of championships.
Don
Newcombe, a twenty-game winner during the regular
season, was called in for the Dodger start for Game
1. Despite a strong effort, the Yankees sluggers
maintained the Brooklyn aces' winless Series streak
as Joe Collins belted two home runs and rookie
sensation Elston Howard (the first black Yankee)
added a third. The Dodgers went down 6-5 and little
would change the following day as Tommy Byrne, a
thirty-five year-old lefthander, held the Dodgers
to only five hits and posted a 4-2, Game 2, winner.
Just as the Brooklyn faithful were on the verge of
giving up hope, an unlikely hero named Johnny
Podres took the mound. Podres had struggled to a
9-10 record for Brooklyn and was set to go up
against the Yanks' seventeen-game winner, Bob
Turley. A better script could not have been written
for the occasion as the young man (on his
twenty-third birthday) lit up Ebbets Field with a
clutch, 8-3 triumph that put his teammates back in
the hunt.
The
Dodgers' renewed momentum continued in Game 4 as
Roy Campanella, Gil Hodges and Duke Snider all
added homers for another 8-5 victory that tied the
Series up at two games apiece. Brooklyn's train
"kept a rolling" in Game 5 when rookie pitcher
Roger Craig worked six-plus innings for a 5-3
decision that put the Dodgers ahead for the first
time in the contest. Many fans had started to take
notice and some predicted that this was the
beginning of the end for the Yankees dynasty.
However, as history could have predicted, the
Yankees showed why they had more banners than
anyone and nailed starter Karl Spooner and
relievers Russ Meyer and Ed Roebuck for a 5-1, Game
6 win that was complimented by a supreme, four-hit
effort by Whitey Ford.
Dodgers' manager Walter Alston
opted for Game 3 hero, Johnny Podres to close the
deal in Game 7 while Yankees skipper Casey Stengel
selected Game 2 winner Tommy Byrne. Both pitchers
went head-to-head, holding each other scoreless for
four innings, until Campanella doubled and scored
on a single by Gil Hodges. The Dodgers continued to
pick up the pace in the sixth as Pee Wee Reese
added a clean single and Snider, attempting to
sacrifice, reached base safely when he brushed the
ball from Bill Skowron's glove while running down
the line. Campanella came through a second time
with a perfect bunt moving Brooklyn's base-runners
to second and third. In an effort to prevent
further damage the Yanks opted to intentionally
walk Carl Furillo as Bob Grim came in as relief.
Hodges fell victim to the fresh arm and lofted a
sacrifice fly. A walk to Don Hoak reloaded the
bases, but Grim and the Yankees escaped when George
Shuba, batting for Don Zimmer, grounded out.
Nevertheless, the Dodger's lead had grown to 2-0.
In the bottom of the sixth, Jim Gilliam moved from
leftfield to second, and reserve Sandy Amoros
replaced Gilliam in left. As the Bombers came to
bat, Billy Martin drew a leadoff walk and Gil
McDougald followed with a bunt single. Yogi Berra
sliced a long drive just inside the foul pole in
left field but Sandy Amoros charged the line and
made a spectacular glove-hand catch. The winded
outfielder followed with a picture perfect relay to
Reese - who went to Hodges - who caught McDougald
at 1st. The double-play was undoubtedly the most
crucial of the entire Series as it prevented the
Yankees from tying up the contest and having a
runner in scoring position with no one out.
Despite surrendering eight hits and
two walks, Podres managed to hold "the Pinstripes"
at bay and entered the ninth with a two-run lead.
Skowron started the Yankees' last at-bat by putting
back to Podres for the easy out. Next Bob Cerv
flied out to Amoros in left and Elston Howard
grounded to shortstop Pee Wee Reese who made the
schoolboy toss to Hodges to end the game. And then
it was over, the Dodgers had finally beaten the
Yankees for their first World Championship title.
The "Bums from Brooklyn" would win another National
League pennant the following year, but their days
were numbered and they would play only two more
seasons in the "Big Apple" before moving to sunny
California.
1956: Brooklyn Dodgers (3) vs. New
York Yankees (4)
Once again, the eyes of the
baseball world were on the bright lights of New
York City (for the fourth time in five years) as
the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Yankees met on
familiar ground for the coveted World Series
championship. The "Bronx Bombers" had bested "the
Bums" in three out of the four meetings, but it was
the Dodgers who had the last laugh by winning their
first title off a dominant Game 7 in '55. Things
seemed to pick up right where they had left off for
Games 1 and 2 as eleven different members of the
Yankees pitching staff were crushed by Brooklyn's
bats. The result was a devastating 6-3 opener and
an equally crippling 13-8 loss that put the
defending champions up two games to none. However
as sports often shows us, adversity and pride can
turn a sinking ship around. Amazingly the Yankees
aces rebounded for five consecutive complete-game
performances from five pitchers who combined to
allow the Dodgers six runs and twenty-one hits in
45 2/3 innings. In Game 3, a three-run homer by
late-August acquisition Enos Slaughter and
eight-hit pitching by "The Chairman" Whitey Ford
had rallied the Yankees to their first victory,
while Tom Sturdivant's six-hitter and homers by
both Hank Bauer and Mickey Mantle highlighted the
American Leaguers' triumph in Game 4.
Despite their back-to-back
comebacks, Game 5 is the most notable Yankees
performance of the '56 Series (and perhaps one of
the most notable in all of baseball). The 64,000+
fans in attendance that day could never have
predicted that they were about to witness the birth
of a record that would stand into the next
millennium or that their ticket stubs would mature
into a $2,000.00 piece of sports memorabilia. The
Dodgers couldn't have predicted the beating they
were about to take either. During the first inning,
the Yankees' twenty-seven-year-old right-hander Don
Larsen went to his first and only "ball three"
count on Pee Wee Reese. From then on, the modest
pitcher and his pinstriped teammates worked
together on both sides of the plate to deliver an
instant classic. In the second inning, Jackie
Robinson smashed a line drive that was deflected by
Yankees third baseman Andy Carey to shortstop Gil
McDougald, who threw out Robinson at first. In the
fourth inning, Mickey Mantle hit a low line drive
into the right field seats (just inside the foul
pole) giving New York the 1-0 lead. In retrospect,
"home field advantage" and a little luck sometimes
pays off big. If the game had been at Brooklyn's
Ebbets Field, "The Mick's" hit would have likely
been off the right field screen for a mere
double.
In
the top of the fifth, Gil Hodges (a thirty-two home
run man during the regular season) drove a pitch
deep into left-center field and right into the
outstretched glove of a sprinting Mantle. The
spectacular effort has been christened by some as
"The Catch" and has been replayed in countless
highlight films throughout the years. The next
batter, Sandy Amoros, almost spoiled the
masterpiece with a line drive toward the right
field corner but it curved foul and just missed
being a home run. It was a sign of the inevitable
as the Dodgers would not get any other
opportunities. As the game progressed, so did the
anticipation of the crowd and the superstition of
the players. Most of the Yankees avoided the
pitcher completely in the dugout and even the
Yankees' skipper got involved in attempting to
preserve Larsen's marvelous momentum. As the ninth
inning came to a close, Larsen got a called third
strike on pinch-hitter Dale Mitchell to end the
game and set off a wild celebration that began with
catcher Yogi Berra leaping high into his arms for
one of baseball's most photographic moments.
Brooklyn's Clem Labine went against
Bob Turley for Game 6 and had his team's revenge
with an "almost as impressive" 1-0, ten-inning
shutout that ended after an Enos Slaughter error
turned Robinson's bottom-of-the-tenth drive into a
game-winning single. Don Newcombe, a standout on
the Dodgers' staff and Johnny Kucks, a Yankee
sophomore, matched for the decisive Game 7.
Newcombe had just become the first recipient of the
Cy Young Award after his twenty-seven victory
season in '56, but still had yet to dominate a
single postseason outing. Nothing changed in Game 7
as the veteran was knocked for a pair of two-run
homers by Berra (who hit a grand slam off him in
Game 2) and a bases-empty home run by Elston
Howard. Bill Skowron stepped up to the plate in the
seventh and finished the job with a grand slam of
his own off of Roger Craig who had replaced
Newcombe in relief. Kucks returned the favor and
held the defending champions to just three-hits in
a 9-0 triumph that completed the revival of the New
Yorkers' pitching staff and returned the Yankees to
post season glory.
No
game would compare to Game 5 though and no other
pitcher would even come close to Larsen's numbers.
The Yankee ace pitched another three years in New
York before bouncing from team to team over the
final seven seasons of a fourteen year career. He
retired in 1967 with a forgettable career record of
81-91, failing again to ever approach the heights
he achieved on that October afternoon in 1956.
Still, he is mainly remembered for being perfect
where perfection is simply not possible and his
record stands to this very day.
1957: Milwaukee Braves (4) vs. New
York Yankees (3)
As
predicted (and as usual) the New York Yankees
continued to dominate the American League on their
way to their twenty-second Fall Classic with what
seemed like a never-ending line-up of superstars.
Manager Casey Stengel had already become the most
successful skipper in postseason history and many
fans were beginning to wonder if "The Curse of the
Bambino" had rubbed off on the rest of the American
League. Their counterpart was an up-and-coming
franchise that lacked the familiar line-up card,
but equally dominated the National League on the
way to their third pennant. The Milwaukee Braves
were a definite contender and featured a "big gun"
outfielder named Henry Aaron. "Hank" as he was
called, tallied forty-four home runs, one-hundred
thirty-two runs batted in and batted .322 in only
his fourth season. He was backed up by third
baseman Eddie Mathews who knocked out thirty-two
home runs of his own and outfielder Wes Covington
who added twenty-one in ninety-six games.
Defensively the Braves were stacked with Del
Crandall behind the plate, Johnny Logan and Red
Schoendienst serving as the keystone combination
and Billy Bruton in centerfield. Burton was
eventually replaced after a knee injury by Bob
Hazle who batted a phenomenal .403 in forty-one
games. On the mound, Milwaukee's rotation boasted
fifty-six wins from Warren Spahn (who had twenty
wins for the eighth season), Bob Buhl and Lew
Burdette. The National League champs were a
well-balanced team indeed and a perfect candidate
to match up with the perennial champion
Yankees.
Game 1 opened in New York with
Series veteran Whitey Ford tossing a five-hitter
that ended as a 3-1 victory, but the Braves
answered back the next day with a Burdette 4-2 win.
Game 3 moved the Series to Milwaukee and an
unwanted "hometown hero" named Tony Kubek made a
triumphant return. The twenty year-old rookie, who
doubled as both a utility outfielder and infielder,
nailed two homeruns for the Yanks on the way to an
embarrassing 12-3 thrashing of the home team. Spahn
was determined to retrieve the respect the Braves
had lost in their own house and carried a 4-1 lead
in Game 4 going into the ninth. After retiring the
first two batters and holding a 3-2 count on Elston
Howard, the Milwaukee ace blinked and surrendered a
game-tying home run into the left-field stands.
Then, in the top of the tenth, Hank Bauer tripled
home Kubek, and the Yankees, (who were one strike
away from defeat), pulled ahead, 5-4. Nippy Jones
led off for the Braves as a pinch-hitter for Spahn.
Umpire Augie Donatelli called Tommy Byrne's first
pitch a ball, but the thirty-two year-old reserve
infielder argued that he had been struck on the
foot. In an effort to prove his point, Jones
retrieved the baseball, showed Donatelli a smudge
of shoe polish on it and was awarded his base.
Felix Mantilla was sent in to run for Jones and
scored on a Johnny Logan double off of Bob Grim.
With the game tied, 5-5, Eddie Mathews put his team
over the top by belting a home run to right for the
7-5 comeback.
The
Braves entered Game 5 with a renewed vigor and a
controversial pitcher who had evened the score in
Game 2. Lew Burdette had been criticized throughout
his career for using the "spitball" technique and
many fans had suspected that the right-hander had
prospered (eighty-five wins over six seasons) by
practicing the illegal toss. Despite the mounting
questions, Burdette bested Whitey Ford for another
clutch 1-0 performance. The Yankees Gil McDougald
almost changed the outcome with a leadoff drive to
deep left-field, but Wes Covington saved the day
with a wall jumping grab. Milwaukee then scored the
game's only run in the sixth. After two were out,
Mathews, Aaron and Joe Adcock all singled. For
Adcock, the timely hit was well overdue after a
long frustrating year at the plate. After slugging
thirty-eight home runs in '56, he had managed a
meager twelve homers in sixty-five games.
Game 6 remained anyone's for seven
innings until Hank Bauer launched a rocket off of
Braves reliever Ernie Johnson, who otherwise
pitched brilliantly in a 4 1/3-inning effort.
Milwaukee made it interesting with a 2-2 tie in the
top of the inning on a bases-empty homer by Aaron.
Earlier, Yogi Berra had belted a two-run shot for
the Yanks and Frank Torre had connected for the
Braves. Besides surrendering the two homers,
Yankees right-hander Bob Turley allowed only two
other hits. In a bizarre twist, one year and two
days after his perfect Game 5 against Brooklyn, Don
Larsen had another chance to be a hero in Game 7.
Unfortunately, in a rare instance for the Yankees,
history did not repeat itself and the young righty
didn't even make it through the third-inning. After
Mathews tagged him for a two-run double, Larsen
allowed the Braves to score four times. Del
Crandall tacked on another run in the eighth giving
Burdette his second shutout and a World
Championship title.
In
the end, the questioned pitcher had not only
clinched the Series for Milwaukee, he had done so
with three complete-game victories (with or without
his "spitball"). Aaron had remained the Braves top
standout throughout the postseason with three home
runs, seven runs batted in and a spectacular .393
average. Although the Yankees had continued to add
American League pennants to their collection, they
had now lost two out of three World Series and both
teams would find themselves in a classic rematch
the following year.
1958: Milwaukee Braves (3) vs. New
York Yankees (4)
Almost a year to the day, the
defending champion Milwaukee Braves and perennial
champion New York Yankees met again for the second
time in as many years. The National League
champions had surprised everyone the previous year
after overcoming an early deficit to dominate their
American League rivals for the remainder of the
Series. For the first time, (in a long time) the
Bronx Bombers were not the heavy favorites after
losing two of the last three Fall Classics. It was
new territory for Casey Stengel's Yankees and they
were determined to even it up. Many New York sports
writers had already turned on their home team and
several quoted predictions of the end of baseball's
greatest dynasty.
Game 1 featured Warren Spahn going
against Whitey Ford for a quick 4-3 opening
victory. Things were not as close in Game 2 as the
Braves' Lew Burdette (a three complete-game winner
in '57) showed his talents on the other side of the
plate with a three-run blast that capped off a
seven-run rally in the first. He continued his
balanced attack by holding the Yankees to just two
runs and three hits going into the ninth. Things
changed quickly however, as he was shelled for four
hits resulting in three runs. The Yankees Hank
Bauer had a late-inning homer and Mickey Mantle
added his second of the day. Over the course of his
career "The Mick" would go on to set the all-time
World Series home run record that still stands to
this day. Both efforts went in vain though as
Milwaukee went on to a crushing, 13-5 triumph. The
third outing took the Series in a completely
different direction as Don Larsen and Ryne Duren
both combined for a 4-0 shutout that left the
hitters on both benches high and dry. Bauer in
fact, was the only slugger to generate any offense
with a bases-loaded single and a two-run homer that
extended his Series hitting streak to seventeen
games. The record wouldn't last long though as
Warren Spahn would outdo the Yankees outfielder the
very next day.
Down three games to one, New York
was nearing the end of an era and the Braves were
on the verge of clinching their second consecutive
title. Burdette returned to face Bob Turley (a
twenty-one game winner) in a final showdown. Backed
by Gil McDougald's bases-empty homer in the third,
Elston Howard's spectacular snatch (and double
play) off Red Schoendienst's sixth-inning liner and
a six-run rally against Burdette and reliever Juan
Pizarro in the bottom of the sixth, Turley emerged
a 7-0 winner by giving up only five-hits and
chalking up ten strikeouts. Things remained in
their favor the following day as the Yanks squared
the Series with a 4-3, ten-inning victory in Game
6.
For
the second straight year, Larsen would be chosen as
the Yankees' starting pitcher in Game 7. And for
the second straight year, he lasted exactly three
innings before hitting the showers. A short-rested
Turley returned in relief and after escaping a
bases-loaded situation in the third, held a 2-1
lead over Burdette and the Braves entering the
Milwaukee sixth. With two out, though, Del Crandall
belted a game-tying home run. After both clubs were
held scoreless in the seventh, Burdette retired the
first two Yankees in the eighth. Fortunately for
New York, the Braves luck was about to run out.
First, Yogi Berra tagged the Milwaukee ace for a
double. Then, Elston Howard followed suite with a
go-ahead single. Andy Carey singled off of third
baseman Eddie Mathews' glove and finally Skowron
crashed a devastating home run to left-center, The
Yankees were ahead, 6-2, and the score did not
change. With Turley yielding only a single run and
two-hits in 6 2/3 innings of relief, the Yankees
managed to beat the odds for their eighteenth World
Series title.
The
surprise comeback had not only restored the Yankees
to their previous stature, it had also tied a
record as they became only the second team (1925
Pittsburgh Pirates) to rally back from a 3-1
deficit to win baseball's most prestigious crown.
Hank Bauer (who was a nine-Series veteran) led with
most runs scored (six), most hits (ten), most home
runs (four) and most runs batted in (eight). He
also topped the Yankees sluggers with a .323
average. Despite less-than-stellar stats in his
first four Classics (seven for fifty-seven with a
.123 avg.), he combined for eighteen hits, six home
runs, fourteen RBIs and a .290 average against the
Braves in '57 and '58.
1960: Pittsburgh Pirates (4) vs.
New York Yankees (3)
After a thirty-five year hiatus,
baseball's first modern National League champions
(1901), the Pittsburgh Pirates finally returned to
the Fall Classic. Their opponent, the American
League's New York Yankees had participated in eight
of the last ten contests and only had to wait one
year to get back to the big show. Pittsburgh had no
problem knocking off their "postseason cobwebs" and
started strong with an opening 6-4 lead against the
perennial champs in Game 1 at Forbes Field.
However, their initial momentum was cut short as
the Yanks dominated Games 2 and 3. Mickey Mantle
did more than his share (two home runs and five
runs batted in) and his teammates followed close
behind totaling nineteen hits off of six different
Pirate pitchers. The result was a 16-3 victory in
the Steel City and a 10-0 shutout back home in the
Bronx. Bobby Richardson took Mantle's example in
the opener and added a grand slam off of reliever
Clem Labine in the third and a two run single
giving him a record six RBIs. "The Mick" responded
with two more home runs of his own and three other
hits, while Whitey Ford tossed his usual four
hitter.
A
determined Pirate team went back to the basics and
gave the ball to first-game winner Vern Law for
Game 4. The National League's Cy Young Award
winner, combined with relief ace Roy Face to beat
back the Yankees, 3-2 in an outing that was decided
on Bill Virdon's single in the fifth that scored
two of Pittsburgh runs. Attempting to avoid a
comeback, New York made a controversial decision
and decided to go with Game 1 loser, Art Ditmar,
who had only lasted 1/3 of an inning. Some believed
(in retrospect) that Stengel had thought the "Bucs"
would underestimate the young pitcher, giving him
the advantage. Unfortunately the Yankees skipper
was wrong as Bill Mazeroski took him for a
key-double in the Pirate's three run, second
inning. Face returned with 2 2/3 innings of hitless
relief after replacing starter and winner Harvey
Haddix to nail down the 5-2 triumph, which put
Pittsburgh in the lead.
It
was a completely different story in Game 6 as the
day belonged to the "Bronx Bombers". Richardson had
two triples, Johnny Blanchard added two doubles,
Roger Maris and Yogi Berra (and Blanchard) all
collected three hits each and before it over, the
Yankees finished with seventeen hits and twelve
runs. Whitey Ford added to the "Buccos"
embarrassment by shutting them out again and many
felt that it was all but over. Despite forcing
another opportunity at their own Forbes Field,
Pittsburgh had clearly been dominated by New York
who outscored them a staggering 38-3 in the Series.
However, Game 7 would erase those numbers and leave
fans in both agony and ecstasy.
Vern Law and the rest of the
Pirates showed why they were still there by rolling
over New York to take an early 4-0 lead. However,
the Yankees came back with key performances at the
plate by Bill Skowron, Mantle and Yogi Berra who
shot to a 5-4 lead going into the eighth inning.
They continued to lead 7-5 and looked to be in
great shape as reliever Bobby Shantz appeared at
the top of his game. Fortunately for the Pirates,
appearances can sometimes be deceiving.
Gino Cimoli led off the Pittsburgh
eighth with a pinch-single and Bill Virdon hit a
sharp grounder toward Yankees' shortstop, Tony
Kubek. After the speeding ball took a bad hop and
struck Kubek in the throat (resulting in a single),
Joe DeMaestri was summoned to replace him as both
Pirates remained on base. Dick Groat followed with
another single cutting the lead to 7-5 and Roberto
Clemente kept the rally going with an infield hit
that scored Virdon and advanced Groat to third. Now
trailing 7-6, Pittsburgh had two runners on base
and Hal Smith at the plate. Smith, who entered the
game in the top of the eighth after Pirates catcher
Smoky Burgess had left for a pinch-runner in the
previous inning, sent shock waves through the
Pittsburgh crowd by blasting a timely home run over
the left-field wall.
Bob
Friend, an eighteen game winner for the Pirates and
the "Bucs" starter in Games 2 and 6, came on in the
ninth to try to protect the 9-7 lead. The Yankees
Bobby Richardson and pinch-hitter Dale Long both
greeted Friend with singles and Pirates manager,
Danny Murtaugh was forced to lift the veteran
pitcher in favor of Harvey Haddix. Although he
forced Roger Maris to foul out, Haddix gave up a
key single to Mantle that scored Richardson and
moved Long to third. Berra followed suite hitting
short grounder to first, with Rocky Nelson stepping
on the base for the second out. In what, at the
time, stood as a monumental play, Mantle, seeing he
had no chance to beat a play at second, scurried
back to first and avoided Nelson's tag (which would
have been the third out) as McDougald raced home to
tie the score, 9-9. The Yankees were still
alive.
Ralph Terry, who had gotten the
final out in the Pirates' eighth, returned to the
mound in the bottom of the ninth to finish the job.
The first man he faced was Bill Mazeroski. With a
count of one ball and no strikes, the Pirates'
second baseman smashed a historical long drive over
the wall in left ending the contest and crowning
the National League as champions. As the Pirates
erupted in a wild celebration, the Yankees stood in
disbelief knowing that they had clearly dominated
the series, but were unable to finish the task. The
improbable champions were outscored, 55-27, and
out-hit, 91-60, but in the end the home team
prevailed. Years later, Mickey Mantle was quoted as
saying that losing the 1960 series was the biggest
disappointment of his career. For Bill Mazeroski,
it was the highlight.
1961: Cincinnati Reds (1) vs. New
York Yankees (4)
The
1961 season witnessed one of the most amazing
performances in all of baseball as Yankees
teammates Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris went
head-to-head for the all-time, single-season
homerun record set by another slugger in pinstripes
named Babe Ruth. Both men were extremely gifted
athletes on both sides of the ball and their
friendship and competitiveness was second to none.
The press had dubbed them "The M&M Boys" and
their story is an incredible example of what impact
sports can have when two teammates who are as
opposite as can be, come together to create
something special. In the previous season, in his
first game in Yankee pinstripes, Maris singled,
doubled, and smacked two home runs. His MVP numbers
included a league leading one-hundred twelve runs
batted in and thirty-nine home runs, only one
behind league-leader Mantle although he missed
eighteen games with injuries. However, in 1961,
Maris stayed healthy and played in one-hundred
sixty-one games, (his career high). As he and
Mantle made their charge at Babe Ruth's home run
record, the Yankees considered switching Maris (who
batted third) and Mantle (fourth), to give "The
Mick" (clearly the fan favorite) a better shot.
Many experts feel that if the switch had been made,
Maris almost certainly would not have broken the
record.
Regardless of the decision, Mantle
fell back in the middle of September when he
suffered a serious infection in his hip. Maris kept
it up and went into the one-hundred fifty-fourth
game of the season in Baltimore with fifty-eight
homers. He gave it his best shot that night,
hitting No. 59 and then launched a long foul on his
second-to-last at bat. Unfortunately, in his last
at-bat (against Hoyt Wilhelm) he hit a
disappointing, checked-swing grounder. Despite the
setback, Maris remained determined and finally
passed "The Bambino" on the last day of the season
against the Red Sox's Tracy Stallard. Fittingly, it
went about 340 feet into Yankee Stadium's right
field porch. Maris also finished the regular season
with back-to-back MVP honors, driving in a league
leading one-hundred forty-two runs. As expected
Ford C. Frick ruled that since Maris had played in
a one-hundred sixty-two game schedule (as opposed
to Ruth's one-hundred fifty-four game schedule),
his record would be listed officially with a
qualifying asterisk; this decision stood until
1991. Although, he never experienced the same
hitting streak, his consistency as a power hitter
continued and he hit two-hundred seventy-five home
runs during his twelve year career.
As
expected, the rest of the '61Yankees were at the
top of their game (winning one-hundred nine) while
attempting to forget the devastating loss in the
previous years Series after the Pirates Bill
Mazeroski hit "the shot heard round the world" in
Game 7. New York, which had surprisingly dismissed
Casey Stengel after the '60 Series, was now under
the guidance of Ralph Houk. The new skipper was a
former reserve catcher and coach for the Yanks who
practiced a slightly more modern philosophy than
his long-time predecessor. Whitey Ford continued to
dominate on the mound and finished with an amazing
25-4 record and relief ace Luis Arroyo had a
masterful season going 15-5, with a 2.19
ERA.
Their rivals, the Cincinnati Reds
had climbed to the top of the National League on
the solid arm of Joey Jay (a .500 career pitcher in
Milwaukee but a twenty-one game winner in
Cincinnati). Many fans felt that it would be a
showdown between pitchers and did not anticipate
any high-scoring events despite the lumber wielding
line-ups. Whitey Ford proved the predictions right
in the first game while holding the Reds to two
measly singles for a 2-0 victory at home in the
Bronx. Jim O'Toole had pitched extremely well
throughout the opener, but fell victim to the '61
Yankees signature otherwise known as the home run.
After all, they had belted two-hundred forty during
the regular season and boasted the newly crowned
"King of Swing" in Maris. The Red's newest ace, Jay
was given the start for Game 2 and promptly
answered back with a 6-2 masterpiece of his own.
After trading runs early on, the Reds pulled ahead
on catcher Elston Howard's passed ball, which
followed singles by Elio Chacon and Eddie Kasko.
Johnny Edwards extended the lead to 4-2 with a
run-scoring single in the sixth and a throwing
error by Yankees reliever Luis Arroyo as well as an
RBI double by Edwards netted the Reds their final
two runs in the eighth.
Game 3 returned the contest to
Cincinnati for the first time in twenty-one years
and the home team looked to maintain their momentum
with a 2-1 lead going into the eighth inning. Bob
Purkey had tossed an impressive four hitter, but
was nailed by Johnny Blanchard, who had contributed
mightily to the Yanks long ball rally with
twenty-one homers (in only two-hundred forty-three
at-bats) during the regular season. The
pinch-hitter / reserve catcher / outfielder stepped
up in place of Bud Daley and belted his
twenty-second home run deep into the right-field
bleachers. Maris, who was hitless in ten Series
at-bats led off the ninth and hammered his
sixty-second of the year into the same seats as
Blanchard. As the Reds took their turn, Arroyo was
sent in to finish the job and induced pinch-hitters
Dick Gernert and Gus Bell to ground out, ending the
game.
Whitey Ford returned in Game 4 to
build on his Series scoreless-inning streak of
twenty-seven and eyed up another one of Babe Ruth's
records of twenty-nine. The Yankees veteran had no
problem adding five more innings before leaving in
the sixth with an ankle problem. By then his team
had a four-run lead thanks to Clete Boyer's two-run
double in the sixth. Jim Coates who had replaced
the "The Chairman" tossed four innings of one hit
relief while Mantle, who was limited to six Series
at-bats, was replaced by Hector Lopez, who hammered
a two run single in the seventh on the way to a 7-0
final. In Game 5, the "Bronx Bombers" picked right
up where they had left off scoring five runs in the
first-inning. In the fourth, they added five more
and steamrolled over the Reds 13-5 for the closing
win and the title.
Although the "The M&M Boys" had
managed only three hits and two RBIs in twenty-five
at-bats, Blanchard and Lopez compensated with ten
runs while going 7-19. Lopez had even gone further
with an amazing seven RBIs in nine at-bats. As
predicted originally, pitching was the determining
factor in the '61 Series as Ford, Coates and Daley
went twenty-five innings without surrendering a
single earned-run.
1962: San Francisco Giants (3) vs.
New York Yankees (4)
Over the last few decades, the
defending champion New York Yankees had made an art
out of dominating the American League on the way to
their twenty-fifth Fall Classic. It was becoming
all-too-predictable and the early 1960's were
looking a lot like the 50's when the "Pinstripes"
played in eight out of the ten world championships.
On the other side of the ball, the National
League's representatives were a familiar opponent
to the Yanks as well as former "roommates". The
Giants had finally recaptured the National League
pennant for the first time since moving across the
country to San Francisco (after the 1957 season)
and it seemed fitting that the prelude to this
"Subway Series" revival was a playoff between the
Los Angeles Dodgers who used to call Brooklyn their
home.
Series veteran Whitey Ford was
given his usual Game 1 start by the Yanks sophomore
manager Ralph Houk and extended his World Series
consecutive-innings scoreless streak to
thirty-three before San Francisco got on the
scoreboard in the second inning. The Giants Billy
O'Dell kept pace with "The Chairman" through six
innings, but finally surrendered to Clete Boyer and
his fellow "Bombers" in the closing innings for a
6-2 loss. Jack Sanford got revenge the following
day though with a three hit, 2-0 shutout that
evened the contest at a game apiece. Billy Pierce
continued the cycle in Game 3, blanking the Yankees
through six innings until the newly crowned
single-season homerun leader, Roger Maris, broke
through the deadlock with a two run single in the
seventh and eventually scored on a force-out
grounder. Yankees closer Bill Stafford almost blew
it in the ninth after giving up a two run blast of
his own to Ed Bailey, but managed to pull it
together for the 3-2 victory.
Game 4 featured a rare break-out
performance at the plate by the Giants' Chuck
Hiller. An unlikely threat to the Yankees power
pitching, the second baseman had hit only twenty
home runs in his eight year Major League career.
Those numbers didn't matter though as he nailed a
bases-loaded homer off of Yankees reliever Marshall
Bridges in the seventh. It was the first grand-slam
ever in a World Series outing by a National Leaguer
and snapped the two all tie that resulted in a San
Francisco victory at Yankees Stadium. In a strange
twist the winning Giants reliever was none other
than Don Larsen who (exactly six years earlier to
the day) pitched his record-setting perfect game
for the home team against the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Ralph Terry, who had gone 0-4 in Series outings
finally managed to cross over in Game 5. As with
the rest of the outings, both teams were locked in
a tie late in the game. This time, it was Tom
Tresh's turn to take the lead. The New York rookie
hammered a three run, eighth-inning homer off
Sanford who lost the game despite putting up ten
K's in 7 1/3 innings. After a five day absence (due
to travel and three rain delays) the Series
returned with the Giants well rested and ready to
even the score. Billy Pierce's three hitter and
Cepeda's three hits and two RBIs netted San
Francisco's the crucial 5-2 triumph that held the
Fall Classic at a 3-3 standoff.
Terry, who had given up the
deciding blast to Bill Mazeroski in the 1960
heart-breaker, returned for the start in Game 7 and
responded by holding the Giants to just two hits
(and a 1-0 lead) going into the ninth. The Yankees
pitcher had found some redemption winning
twenty-three games during the regular season in '62
and was on his way to a complete-game victory.
Pinch-hitter Matty Alou led off the inning with a
perfect bunt for base one, but Terry answered back
by striking out both Felipe Alou and Hiller. Willie
Mays, who had just completed a phenomenal
forty-nine homer, one-hundred forty-one RBI season,
rose to the occasion and blasted a double to right
field. Maris made a sprinting grab and managed to
reach cutoff man Bobby Richardson to hold Alou at
third. Despite the great defensive stand by the
Yankees, clean-up man, Willie McCovey and Orlando
Cepeda were due up next. During the regular season,
McCovey had tallied twenty home runs and fifty-four
RBIs while Cepeda added thirty-five homers and
one-hundred forty-four runs batted in. Houk elected
to keep Terry in, believing the right-hander would
handle the Giants lefty. With a one ball, one
strike count on McCovey, Terry brought the heat,
but the Giants slugger sent the offering toward
right field. Second baseman Richardson moved
slightly to his left and desperately reached up
with his glove snagging the ball and another World
Series title.
Once again, the mighty Yanks had
been able to hold off a worthy opponent despite
failing to win consecutive games at any point in
the Series and getting .174 and .120 batting marks
from two of their biggest threats, Roger Maris and
Mickey Mantle. Their less-than stellar stats were
certainly a compliment to the Giants pitching staff
as the "The M&M Boys" had posted one-hundred
seventy-eight home runs combined in the last two
seasons. It mattered little though as the American
League's dynasty had proven that they were back and
ready for more.
1963: Los Angeles Dodgers (4) vs.
New York Yankees (0)
The
National League champion Los Angeles Dodgers had
rebounded from a late-season collapse in 1962 and
went on to win the National League pennant with a
six game lead over the St. Louis Cardinals. The
biggest factor in the team's comeback was an
all-star pitching combination featuring a young
lefty named Sandy Koufax and a right-hander named
Don Drysdale. Koufax had struck out a staggering
three-hundred six batters in three-hundred eleven
innings and his counterpart had won nineteen games
with a 2.63 ERA. Veteran Johnny Podres had added
fourteen wins of his own (five of them shutouts)
and ace reliever Ron Perranoski made sixty-nine
appearances while going 16-3 with a 1.67 ERA. Their
opponents, to no surprise, were their long-time
rivals the New York Yankees, who in classic "Bomber
style", boasted four sluggers with twenty or more
home runs and an equally qualified pitching
rotation. Whitey Ford had twenty-four victories and
Jim Bouton, Ralph Terry and Al Downing prospered as
well winning the American League pennant by
10½ games. It was the seventh meeting in the
Fall Classic between the two ball clubs with the
American Leaguers leading the marathon 6-1.
Koufax went against Ford in the
opener and quickly set the pace by striking out his
first five batters including Tony Kubek, Bobby
Richardson, Tom Tresh, Mickey Mantle and Roger
Maris. Before the Yankees had a single hit off the
rising left-hander, his team was up 4-0. Former
Yankee Bill Skowron (who had been obtained after
the '62 Series) singled home a Dodger run in the
top of the second and John Roseboro cracked a three
run homer later that inning. He added another run
in the third and Koufax continued to dominate at
the mound. After four innings, the Yankees were
still waiting for their first base runner and
things would not get much better. After sitting
down Mantle, the Dodger ace forced Maris to foul
out, but allowed the "Pinstripes" to load the bases
on consecutive singles by Elston Howard, Joe
Pepitone and Clete Boyer. The threat quickly
disappeared though as Hector Lopez (batting for
Ford) became the eleventh K victim. After striking
out pinch-hitter Phil Linz in the eighth, Koufax
had moved one K within Carl Erskine's single Series
game strikeout record of fourteen. The record would
have to wait though as a late-inning homer by Tresh
stalled the impending celebration, but it was only
a matter of time. The first three of New York's
final four outs in Koufax's 5-2 triumph came on a
grounder, a liner and a fly ball. The last out of
the game was record-breaking strikeout No. 15, with
pinch-hitter Harry Bright submitting the
score.
Podres attempted to keep Los
Angeles's momentum alive in Game 2 and combined
with two out relief from Perranoski to beat the
Yankees, 4-1. Willie Davis set the pace at the
plate with a two run double in the first and was
followed by Skowron's homer in the fourth. Adding
to the Yankees frustration was the Series-ending
injury to outfielder Roger Maris who was hurt
running into a rail in pursuit of a Tommy Davis
triple. With a two-games-to-none lead, the Dodgers
returned to their newly christened west coast
palace known as Dodger Stadium. Don Drysdale made
the homecoming even sweeter with a three hit, 1-0
victory that ended with nine more strikeouts for
the Yankees. Bouton had completed the outing while
holding his own, but surrendered the critical
game-winning run in the first on Jim Gilliam's
walk, a wild pitch and a single by Tommy Davis, who
had just captured his second straight National
League batting championship.
In
a classic rematch of the Series opener, Ford and
Koufax went at it again as one pitcher tried to
complete a sweep and the other attempted to keep
his team alive. Both adversaries held each other
scoreless until the fifth inning when the Dodger's
Frank Howard launched a rocket homer to left.
Mantle evened the score with a blast of his own in
the seventh after going a miserable one for
thirteen in Series at bats. Maury Wills, known
primarily for his speed (one-hundred four steals in
'62) regained the lead for the Dodgers in the
bottom of the inning and from there on it was all
Los Angeles. First, Gilliam led off the eighth with
a high-bouncer that resulted in a critical Yankees
infield error between Pepitone and Boyer who had
missed to connect on the throw. Then, Willie Davis
came in with a sacrifice fly to deep center field
that scored his leadoff man. Finally, Koufax stayed
in to finish the job and went on for the six hit,
eight K, 2-1 triumph that not only swept the
Yankees, but also ended their latest consecutive
Series winning streak at two.
1964: St. Louis Cardinals (4) vs.
New York Yankees (3)
After another devastating loss in
the previous year's Classic, a different New York
Yankees team returned to represent the American
League in 1964. Yogi Berra had replaced Ralph Houk
at the helm and under his guidance, the Yanks
managed to barely win the American League pennant
by a single game over the Chicago White Sox. It was
the fifteenth World Series for the former Yankee
catcher as Berra had first appeared in the contest
in 1947 and went on play in a record seventy-five
games before his last outing in 1963. Many of his
former teammates had remained in New York as Mickey
Mantle prepared to play in his twelfth postseason
exhibition, Whitey Ford entered his eleventh and
Bobby Richardson posted his ninth appearance. Roger
Maris, who was only in his fifth season as a
Yankee, had never missed the World Series since
donning the blue pinstripes. Their opponents, the
St. Louis Cardinals had just missed the previous
year's contest by finishing six games behind the
Los Angeles Dodgers (who had dethroned the
once-mighty Yankees in a four game sweep) and were
determined to follow suite. Much like their
American League rivals though, the Cards had a lot
of luck to thank for their latest post-season
opportunity. First the Nationals lost their General
Manager in mid-August, but managed to climb from
fifth to first (with considerable help from the
Philadelphia Phillies, who blew a 6½ game
league lead with twelve games to play).
Whitey Ford, always a postseason
standout, held onto a 4-2 lead going into the sixth
inning of the opener, but St. Louis right fielder
Mike Shannon hammered a long two run homer off the
veteran lefty and when catcher Tim McCarver
followed with a double, the thirty-five year-old
Ford was through for the day, and (because of arm
problems) the Series. The 9-5 loss of Game 1 as
well as their #1 ace should have been a sign for
what was to come as the Yanks were now experiencing
a new kind of streak… a losing one. The opening
fiasco was their fifth consecutive loss in World
Series play and for the first time (in a long time)
the Yankees were the underdogs.
In
an attempt to jumpstart his team, Berra gave the
Game 2 ball to an up-and-coming rookie named Mel
Stottlemyre who went against Cardinal ace Bob
Gibson. Stottlemyre had thrown strong down the home
stretch (after getting called up from Richmond in
August) and was a deciding factor for New York in
the close American League pennant race. Both
pitchers stood firm until Gibson left the game and
his relief surrendered four ninth inning runs for
an 8-3 loss that put the "Bombers" back in the
race. Game 3 followed the same script as veteran
Curt Simmons and the Yankees' Jim Bouton were
locked in a 1-1 tie through eight innings. Manager
Johnny Keane used a pinch-hitter for Simmons in the
ninth as the Cards threatened, but failed, to
score. Barney Schultz, a clutch reliever for St.
Louis, entered the game in the bottom of the ninth
and threw one pitch, which Mantle promptly launched
into the right-field stands for the 2-1 win. Ray
Sadecki started Game 4 against the Yanks Al
Downing, but was taken for three quick first inning
runs. Downing faired better and protected the lead
going into the fifth, but the lefty was nailed by
Ken Boyer for a grand-slam in the following inning.
With relievers Roger Craig and Ron Taylor combining
for 8 2/3 innings of two hit, scoreless relief, St.
Louis went on to even the Series with a 4-3
victory.
Bob
Gibson returned for Game 5 and was one out away
from a 2-0 victory when the Yanks' Tom Tresh ripped
a two run homer that tied it up. Gibson prevailed
however, after Tim McCarver came up huge with a
three run blast off of Yanks reliever Pete
Mikkelsen for the 5-3 victory. Game 6 witnessed yet
another nail-biter as the contest remained tied 1-1
going into the sixth. This time it was the Yankees
coming up big with two consecutive home runs by
Mantle and Maris and a grand slam by Joe Pepitone
off reliever Gordon Richardson in the eighth. When
it was over, New York had won 8-3 while staying
alive and forcing a final Game 7.
Stottlemyre and Gibson both
returned for the climatic finale and held each
other scoreless through three innings. Then the
Cardinals broke loose for three runs in the fourth
and three more in the fifth, touched off by a home
run by Lou Brock. Brock (a mid-June acquisition
from the Cubs) proved to be a brilliant investment
during the regular season after stealing
thirty-three bases and batting .348 in one-hundred
three games. Mantle responded with a three run
homer in the sixth and Clete Boyer and Phil Linz
both followed "The Mick's" lead in the ninth.
Despite their efforts, Gibson stood tall and
finished the complete-game with a 7-5 Cardinal
triumph.
The
Boyer brothers had both come up big for their
respective teams and set a record as the first set
of brothers to hit home runs in the same Series.
Ken had contributed two for St. Louis and Clete
added one for New York (with one for each coming in
the same game). For the Cardinals, it was the end
of a long postseason drought as they had not
appeared in the Fall Classic since 1946. For the
Yankees, it was the end of an era as the perennial
champions were about to start a drought of their
own. Within two years, the American League dynasty
would fall from first to last and it would be
several years before returning to their former
glory (twelve years). It was the last World Series
appearance for many regulars including Mantle (who
set the all-time Series home run record at
eighteen), Ford, Richardson, Kubek and Boyer.
Howard would appear in the Classic once more (with
the Boston Red Sox) and Maris was destined to play
in two more with the Cardinals. Both managers were
also fired after the Series, but in a strange
twist, it would be the unemployed Cardinals skipper
Johnny Keane who resurfaced in a Yankees uniform as
Yogi Berra's replacement.
1976: Cincinnati Reds (4) vs. New
York Yankees (0)
The
1976 season witnessed the return of baseball's most
successful postseason-dynasty to the Fall Classic.
After a twelve year hiatus, the New York Yankees
had rebuilt themselves back into the American
League champions of old. After the team was
purchased by a cunning-businessman named George
Steinbrenner (in 1972) they filled several gaps
with some shrewd trading and finished in third
during the '75 season. This year, former "Bronx
Bomber" Billy Martin was at the helm and his crew
consisted of several standouts including Thurman
Munson, Chris Chambliss, Graig Nettles, Sparky Lyle
and Jim "Catfish" Hunter (who had made good on his
threat to Oakland).
It
seemed fitting that the perennial champions were to
face the defending champions as the Cincinnati Reds
returned for their second consecutive Classic.
Manager Sparky Anderson may not have had a ship,
but he did have "The Big Red Machine" and it ran on
cylinders like Tony Perez at first, Joe Morgan at
second, Pete Rose at third, Dave Concepcion at
shortstop and George Foster, Cesar Geronimo and Ken
Griffey on the grass. They also boasted one of the
best pitching rotations in all of Major League
baseball. Gary Nolan led the pitching staff with
fifteen victories, Pat Darcy won fourteen, and Fred
Norman and Jack Billingham each won twelve games.
Their bullpen was just as good with Don Gullett,
Santo Alcala and Rawly Eastwick who each tallied
eleven victories for a combined 33-12 record. The
Reds had also remained one of the most consistent
ball clubs in the league winning one-hundred eight
games in '75, ninety-eight in '74 and ninety-nine
in '73.
Cincinnati hosted the Series opener
at Riverfront Stadium and showed their hometown
fans who was in charge. Morgon launched a
first-inning homer, Perez added three hits of his
own and Gullett and reliever Pedro Borbon combined
on a five hitter for the 5-1 victory. Game 2 looked
much the same as Perez snuck a two out single in
the ninth to score Griffey for the 4-3 win. Hunter
had retired the Reds' first two batters, but New
York shortstop Fred Stanley's throwing error on
Griffey's roller put the National League champs
back in business. The Yankees may have been back as
well, but the dust and cobwebs were certainly
showing. As the Series returned to the "not-so
familiar" surroundings of Yankee Stadium (due to
the two year long modernizing process that had sent
the Yanks to Shea from '74-'76) the Reds continued
to dominate the home team. Perhaps "The Babe" was
displeased with his new décor as the "Big
Red Machine" became the "Bronx Bombers" for a day.
With the American League's designated-hitter rule
being used in the Series for the first time, Dan
Driessen cracked a homer and went three-for-three
while helping the Reds to a third, 6-2 victory. On
the other side, shortstop Jim Mason managed the
only home run for the Yankees (in his only career
at-bat ever in a Series).
Now
on the verge of elimination, New York was
determined to extend the contest, but the visiting
team had a different idea. After blasting them for
two and three run homers, the defending champions
cruised to another title with a 7-2 sweeping
triumph. Yankees fans were devastated (after all,
losing in the Bronx was unacceptable) but
Steinbrenner wasn't done yet and they would have
their dynasty back, eventually. Cincinnati became
the first National League team to win back-to-back
crowns since the New York Giants had in '21 and
'22. Seven of their hitters batted above .300, led
by Bench's .533 and Foster's .429. Amazingly,
Anderson did not make a single change during the
entire Series among his nine regulars, forsaking
the use of a pinch-hitter or a pinch-runner and
never making a switch in either his batting order
or fielding alignment. On the mound, his rotation
boasted a combined 2.00 earned-run average and the
franchise's two year totals consisted of
two-hundred ten regular-season victories, a 6-0
record in Championship Series play, and two
consecutive World Series triumphs. The mistaken
fans at Yankees Stadium had witnessed the play of a
dynasty, unfortunately for them though, they
weren't wearing pinstripes.
1977: Los Angeles Dodgers (2) vs.
New York Yankees (4)
After an embarrassing sweep by
baseball's newest dynasty, the Cincinnati Reds, the
American League champion New York Yankees returned
to the Fall Classic determined to make amends for
the previous year's disappointing finale. The
bruised egos and mounting stress had taken its toll
on the Yankees organization during the regular
season as Billy Martin and Reggie Jackson erupted
into a huge argument at Boston's Fenway Park for
what the manager termed as "lack of hustle". The
fight that followed in the dugout was caught on
national-television cameras broadcasting the
Saturday afternoon game and both men were blasted
in the papers. Both managed to settle their
differences, but the damage to their reputations
had already been done. The Los Angeles Dodgers,
guided by rookie Manager Tommy Lasorda, dethroned
the defending champion Reds in the National League
West and steamrolled over the Philadelphia Phillies
in the Championship Series. Like the Yankees, Los
Angeles featured a potent line-up that included
Steve Garvey (thirty-three home runs), Reggie Smith
(thirty-two), Ron Cey (thirty) and Dusty Baker
(thirty) who set the record as the first ball club
to boast four players who hit thirty or more home
runs in the same season.
As
the West Coast and East Coast remained locked in a
bitter 3-3 tie going into the twelfth inning of
Game 1, Paul Blair checkmated the Dodgers with a
clutch single that scored Willie Randolph for the
opening victory. Los Angeles had revenge the
following day after Cey, Smith and Steve Yeager all
cracked early inning homers off Catfish Hunter.
Burt Hooton faired much better on the mound and
tossed a five hitter that evened the Series with a
6-1 triumph. However, New York would jump ahead to
a three game lead as the Pinstripes bested Tommy
John for a 5-3 decision in the third outing and
lefthander Ron Guidry added a 4-2 win in the
fourth.
Game 6 was certainly the most
memorable in the 1977 World Series thanks a
spectacular performance at the plate by Reggie
Jackson. The Yankees newest "Bomber" was making his
eighteenth appearance and it proved to be his
greatest as he became only the second player in
history to smash three home runs in a single Series
game (Babe Ruth did it in 1926 and 1928). In
addition, the five home runs in one Series and four
consecutive blasts over a two Series-game period
was unprecedented.
As
Thurman Munson stood on first, Jackson nailed
Hooton on his first pitch sending the Yanks ahead
with a 4-3 lead. Later in the fifth with two outs
and Willie Randolph on first, Reggie launched
another rocket off of Elias Sosa that landed in the
right-field seats. Finally, he electrified the home
team crowd of 56,407 by leading off the eighth with
the historic blast into the center-field bleachers.
"Mr. October" indeed. Riding on the five RBIs of
their slugging champion, the Yanks showed a glimpse
of what was "Yankee baseball" and held on for the
8-4 victory that earned their twenty-first World
Series title. It was the first crown for the "Bronx
Bombers" since 1962.
Jackson's MVP performance against
the Dodgers tallied a staggering .450 average with
five home runs and eight runs batted in. His
offense was the key to the Yankees win as their
rotation (minus Torrez who finished 2-0, 2.50 ERA)
lacked "the hustle" that Martin liked. Don Gullett
and Hunter both went 0-1 and allowed a combined
fourteen earned-runs in seventeen innings.
1978: Los Angeles Dodgers (2) vs.
New York Yankees (4)
As
the World Series celebrated its 75th Anniversary,
two teams that shared many chapters in its story
met for a classic rematch of East vs. West. The
defending champion New York Yankees had struggled
for several years on the way to recapturing their
twenty-first crown while the Los Angeles Dodgers
were still stinging from the previous year's
defeat. Both teams boasted strong pitching staffs,
top-notch sluggers and several All-Stars in their
line-ups. Many experts had predicted a close, seven
game Series that would be decided in the closing
minutes, but things did not appear that way in Game
1. LA's Davey Lopes drove in five runs on two home
runs and Dusty Baker added his own against twenty
game winner Ed Figueroa and the entire New York
bullpen. Tommy John got the first Series victory of
his career after tossing shutout ball for six
innings in the 11-5 opener. The only encouraging
performance from the Yanks was the familiar play of
"Mr. October" Reggie Jackson, who picked up right
where he had left off in '77 with a home run and
two singles.
Little changed the following day as
the Dodger Stadium crowd was treated to it's second
win in a row thanks to Ron Cey, who knocked in all
of Los Angeles's runs with a single in the fourth
and a three run homer in the sixth. Rookie pitcher
Bob Welch saved the 4-3 game in the ninth after
Jackson took the plate with two men on base. As the
count went to 3-2, Reggie, who had fouled off three
two-strike pitches, swung mightily at Welch's
fastball and missed. Now up two games-to-none, the
National Leaguers were thinking sweep as the
contest shifted to Yankee Stadium.
Game 3 promised to be a pitchers
duel as both team's brought out their "big guns".
Don Sutton (a fifteen game winner) started for the
Dodgers against Ron Guidy (25-3, 1.74 ERA, nine
shutouts) and both aces struggled despite their
spectacular stats. Guidry allowed seven walks and
eight hits while Sutton surrendered five runs and
nine hits in 6 1/3 innings. Roy White started the
Yankees rolling with a first inning homer, but
Graig Nettles was the star with outstanding play in
the field. With two out and one man on base in the
third, Nettles stopped the Dodgers by throwing out
Reggie Smith after making a diving stop of his
bullet down the third base line. In the fifth, with
base runners on first and second with two out, he
snagged another line-drive by Smith over the bag
and held the power hitter to an infield single. On
the next play, with the bases loaded, he nabbed a
hard grounder by Steve Garvey and forced Smith out
at second. Finally in the sixth, he finished them
off with another brilliant stop on a two out,
bases-loaded shot down the line while getting
another force at second. In the end, Los Angeles
couldn't beat the infielder and his team walked
away with a 5-1 triumph.
Game 4 featured another
controversial call that was becoming the norm in
modern baseball. Tommy John entered the sixth
protecting a 3-0 lead (thanks to Smith's fifth
inning homer), but a series of events turned the
tide of the game and inevitably the Series. After
White led off with a single, Thurmon Munson walked
and Jackson followed with a run-scoring base hit.
Lou Piniella came up next and knocked a sinking
liner toward Bill Russell. As the Dodgers shortstop
went to play the ball it glanced off of his glove
and fell to the ground. Munson, who had hesitated
in case the ball had been caught, took off for
third, but Russell went to second attempting to
catch Jackson and complete a double-play at first.
Sensing this, the Yankee stopped midway down the
base path and, with Russell's throw in flight,
turned toward first baseman Steve Garvey colliding
with the ball. Munson scored the Yank's second run,
but the Dodgers argued (to no avail) that Jackson
had intentionally interfered.
New
York went on to tie it up in the eighth, after
Blair rounded the bases on a single, sacrifice and
double by his fellow teammates. After Goose Gossage
(twenty-seven saves, 2.01 ERA) retired Los Angeles
(in order) in the top of the tenth, the Yankees
struck for the game-winning run in the last half of
the inning after Piniella scored White for the 4-3
victory. Bob Lemon, who had replaced Billy Martin
in July, started Jim Beattie in Game 5 and the
rookie benefited from the "Bronx Bombers" at their
finest. Bucky Dent, Mickey Rivers and Brian Doyle
all collected three hits and Munson drove in five
runs for an eighteen hit, 12-2 romping that put the
Yankees one game away from their twenty-second
World Championship.
Hunter was given the call for Game
6 and, with two innings of relief help from
Gossage, the two emerged 7-2 winners and World
Champions. Dent and Doyle both repeated their three
hit efforts with the shortstop's three run homer
proving the deciding factor while Jackson topped it
off with a seventh inning homer off of Welch, who
had fanned him in Game 2. In addition to their
first back-to-back championships since '61-'62, the
Yanks set another postseason record as the only
title winner ever to trail before winning six
straight.
1981: Los Angeles Dodgers (4) vs.
New York Yankees (2)
One
of the greatest post-season rivalries (dating back
to 1941) was reset for the second Fall Classic of
the 1980's. The New York Yankees had been in the
hunt for more World Series Championships than any
other team in professional baseball and the
Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers were their favorite
prey. In the ten Series meetings between the two
clubs, New York had prevailed as champs on eight
occasions (6-1 against the Brooklyn Dodgers and 2-1
against the Los Angeles version). Both teams had
last met in 1978 when the Yankees lost the first
two outings then rebounded to beat the Nationals in
four consecutive games for the crown. After a new
two tiered playoff system was introduced (due to a
players strike that interrupted the regular season)
the Yankees had won a tight divisional-playoff over
the Milwaukee Brewers (3-2) and went on to sweep
the Oakland A's in the American League Championship
Series.
As
Game 1 started, New York showed the hometown crowd
why they still were "The Greatest Show on Earth".
Bob Watson opened it up with a three run homer in
the first (off Jerry Reuss) and his teammates
collected single runs in the third and fourth
innings, for a 5-1 lead going into the eighth. A
confidant Yankees skipper Bob Lemon replaced
starter Ron Guidry with Ron Davis, who
unfortunately walked the only two batters he faced.
Attempting to divert a comeback, Goose Gossage was
brought in, but he also yielded a run-scoring
single to pinch-hitter Jay Johnstone and a
sacrifice fly to Dusty Baker. Despite the setback,
he managed to get out of the inning thanks to third
baseman Graig Nettles who made a clutch, diving
grab of a Steve Garvey line drive that appeared
headed for the far left-field corner. After Ron Cey
followed with a ground out, the nervous bullpen
leader and his amazing infielder emerged as 5-3
winners.
Tommy John (a former Dodger who had
crossed to sign with the Yanks after the '78
season) was given the start against his former
mates in Game 2. Together with Gossage, he managed
to hold Los Angeles to four meaningless hits on the
road to a 3-0 victory. Shortstop Larry Milbourne
garnered New York's only extra-base hit, (a
fifth-inning double that drove in the first run) as
the Yankees extended their Series winning streak
against the Dodgers to six games.
Having played ten postseason games
before the World Series ever started (five against
the Houston Astros in the divisional playoffs and
five more against the Montreal Expos in the
Championship Series) Dodger manager Tommy Lasorda's
team had come too far to give up now. Their
postseason marathon was nearing the home stretch
and they were falling behind fast. The skipper had
been eagerly awaiting the chance to introduce their
new rookie sensation Fernando Valenzuela to the
Yankees and Game 3 provided the perfect
opportunity. A good fit to face the Bombers; the
lefty had pitched five shutouts in his first seven
games and wound up with eight total in a 13-7
season. Despite his outstanding numbers, the
inexperienced twenty year-old surrendered nine hits
(including homers to Watson and Rick Cerone) and
seven walks, but somehow managed to hold on for the
5-4 win on Cey's three run blast in the first,
Pedro Guerrero's RBI double in the fifth and Mike
Scioscia's run-producing double-play grounder that
followed.
Bob
Welch drew for the start for Game 4, but failed to
retire a single batter as Los Angeles fell behind
6-3 early on. The Dodgers managed to tie it up in
the sixth after Jay Johnstone hammered a two run
pinch-homer and Davey Lopes (who reached second on
a rare Reggie Jackson error) stole third and scored
on a Bill Russell single. The comeback ignited a
spark in LA's line-up and they continued to burn
the Yankee rotation in the seventh on Steve
Yeager's sacrifice fly and Lopes' run-scoring
infield hit that put them ahead 8-6. "Mr. October"
who was attempting to make amends for the costly
fielding error in the sixth, erased the memory with
a beautiful tape-measure homer to right-center in
the eighth. Although it shortened the gap, it was
all the Yanks could muster and the home team went
on to tie the Series up with an 8-7 victory.
Guidry and Reuss returned to face
each other again in Game 5 with Reuss coming out on
top 2-1 after Guerrero and Yeager both slugged
back-to-back homers in the seventh-inning. As the
Series shifted back to the Bronx, both teams
remained deadlocked in a 1-1 tie in the bottom of
the fourth when Lemon elected to use a pinch-hitter
in place of starting pitcher John. The decision
proved devastating as New York failed to score in
the inning and John was rendered ineligible for the
rest of the contest. As reliever George Frazier
came in to pick up the pieces, he was quickly taken
for three runs in the fifth. Guerrero later added a
two run single and a bases-empty home run while his
five runs batted in highlighted the Dodgers'
Series-clinching 9-2 triumph. Losing pitcher
Frazier had suffered his third consecutive defeat,
equaling the Series record established by Claude
Williams of the 1919 Black Sox. Like the Yanks had
done to them in '78, the Dodgers had come behind
from a 2-0 deficit to defeat New York in four
straight. Many Yankees fans blamed Lemon for
sacrificing John so early in the game and as a
result, the Series. The decision would prove costly
on many fronts and his tenure with the "Pinstripes"
would soon be at an end.
1996: Atlanta Braves (2) vs. New
York Yankees (4)
The
1996 season witnessed what would eventually become
the fourth installment of the New York Yankees
dynasty. To date, the Bronx Bombers had already
dominated three separate decades en route to
thirty-three Fall Classics and twenty-two World
Championship titles. This year's Yankees dominated
the American League throughout the entire regular
season on the arms of one of baseball's top
pitching staffs that featured Andy Pettitte, David
Cone and the game's best closer in Mariano Rivera.
New York's newest skipper Joe Torre had also risen
to a "folk-hero-like" status after returning the
franchise to the Fall Classic after succeeding Buck
Showalter who had repeatedly fell short. A true
"hometown hero", Torre had grown up in the Flatbush
section of Brooklyn and made his name as an
All-Star catcher and infielder for both the St.
Louis Cardinals and Atlanta Braves. Both his
experience and demeanor made him a natural for
managing, and he was a good one, for the Mets,
Braves and Cardinals. After being fired three
times, Yankees owner George Steinbrenner offered
him the job despite critical response from his
colleagues. The daring decision would prove as one
of Steinbrenner's best as Torre would later go on
to become one of the most successful managers in
baseball history.
The
defending World Champion Atlanta Braves also
boasted an equally dangerous rotation with Greg
Maddux, Tom Glavine, Steve Avery, Denny Neagle and
John Smoltz (some of who had controlled the
previous Series with a combined 2.67 ERA). In
capturing their fifth straight divisional crown,
the Braves set a Major League record with five
consecutive first-place seasons. Their pitching
staff recorded several major league marks including
most strikeouts (1,245) and fewest walks (451) and
the '96 team also set several franchise records
including most home wins (56), best team batting
average (.270), third all-time in homeruns
(197).
Despite the rich postseason history
of New York victories, Atlanta still remained the
heavy favorite. Later, the "upset" caused by the
Yankee underdogs would lead to the uncovering of a
major gambling scandal at Boston College after the
University's athletes were forced to "go public"
after being unable to pay off their wagers to
illegal bookies.
Game 1 recalled the '95 opener with
an astonishing ten separate pitchers making
appearances on the mound with Smoltz and Pettitte
starting. Fred McGriff mirrored his last debut as
well with a homer and teammate Andruw Jones
followed as the youngest player (nineteen) in World
Series history to hit a home run. One inning later,
he became only the second player in World Series
history to hit a second homer (in his first two at
bats) and Atlanta and its newest sensation sent the
Yanks packing with a 12-1 massacre. The opening
loss was especially devastating to Pettitte who was
christened "Sigh Young" in the New York papers the
following day.
The
Braves continued their momentum in Game 2 as Maddux
and company held New York to seven meaningless hits
for a 4-0 win that put the National League champs
up two-games-to-none. Despite their efforts, the
injury plagued Yankees were falling fast and a
sweep appeared on the horizon. David Cone set out
to right the sinking ship for New York in the third
outing and combined with relievers Rivera (the
95-mph set-up man), Graeme Lloyd and John Wetteland
to deal Glavine his first loss with a clutch, 5-2
Game 3, decision.
Game 4 clearly belonged to the
hitters and topped the opener with thirteen
different arms taking the mound. Surprisingly,
neither rotation performed well as both were
battered for a combined twenty-one hits. Things
clearly appeared to be in Atlanta's favor until Jim
Leyritz stepped up to the plate and ignited a new
era in New York Yankee baseball. Amazingly Leyritz,
was sure that he wasn't going to play and spent
much of the game working out in the weight room as
the Braves built a 6-0 lead through five innings. A
startled Leyritz finally entered the game as a
defensive replacement for Joe Girardi in the sixth
inning after New York had cut the deficit to 6-3.
Despite surrendering eight homers during the
regular season, closer Mark Wohlers was given the
call in the eighth by Bobby Cox to finish the job
for the Braves. After two runners reached base,
Leyritz stepped into the box and worked the count
to 2-2, fouling off two blistering fastballs in the
process. The next swing sent a hanging slider over
the wall for a 3 run homer and a Series-tying
triumph. Most baseball analysts believe that single
at-bat was the turning point of the Series while
many Yankee fans believe it was the turning point
of the franchise.
Now
squared at two-games apiece, the Braves had blown a
two game advantage and were winless in two
consecutive meetings. Things didn't get any better
the following day as the Yankees dealt a bitter 1-0
loss to the home team (in the last ballgame ever to
be played at Atlanta Fulton County Stadium) and
Pettitte finally had his revenge after shutting out
the Braves with a five hit effort over
Smoltz.
As
the Series returned to "The House that Ruth Built",
Atlanta had gone from two-up to down-one and were
now on the brink of elimination. Maddux was the
Braves' obvious choice in Game 6 but the future
Hall Of Famer fell short after surrendering three
early runs in a single inning. With the Braves
still trailing 3-1, Gold Glove center fielder
Marquis Grissom reached first on a one-out hit and
broke for second when a pitch to Mark Lemke bounced
a few feet away from Yankees catcher Joe Girardi.
Television replays clearly showed Grissom beat the
throw, but umpire Terry Tata called him out.
Grissom understandably reacted in anger, coming
close to bumping Tata before two Atlanta coaches
pulled him away and an equally upset manager ran
onto the field to continue the argument. Still
screaming on his way back to the dugout, Cox was
ejected by third-base umpire Tim Welke.
Despite the controversy and loss of
their skipper, Atlanta managed to rally in the
fourth when the Braves had their best chance to get
back in the game. DH Terry Pendleton came to the
plate with the bases loaded, one out and a run
already in. He managed to work the count to 3-1
against Jimmy Key, and then hit a three-hopper
right to Derek Jeter for an easy double play. That
would be all the Braves could muster as the Yankees
went on to win the game (and the Series) with a 3-2
victory.
The
performances by both teams on the mound (throughout
the contest) as well as the repeated one run
differentials reinforced the modern theory that
pitching had finally overpowered hitting as the
deciding factor in World Series baseball. Over the
years, hitters had become bigger, stronger and
faster, but the pitchers that faced them had also
evolved into an elite athlete capable of throwing
90+mph fastballs and a variety of specialty pitches
with the precision of a surgeon. The New York
Yankees had assembled a roster that fit both
categories and they would continue to dominate the
Fall Classic four out the next five years. The
disappointing Atlanta Braves would also continue to
dominate Divisional titles (but unfortunately, not
much more).
CONTINUED
ON NEXT PAGE
|