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The 1955 World Series
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There’s nothing like the jubilation a World Series victory can bring!
The photo above is from October 4, 1955 as Dodger pitcher Johnny Podres jumps for joy after Elston Howard grounds out to PeeWee Reese. Catcher Roy Campanella converges on the mound to celebrate the final out in Game Seven of the 1955 World Series. The Dodgers had finally beaten the Yankees in seven games and had won their first and only World Series title in Brooklyn.
The sixth try was the charm for the Dodgers. They had lost to the Yankees in 1941, ’47, ”49, ’52, and ’53 plus losses in 1916 and ’20. They became the first team since the 1921 Giants to win the World Series after losing the first two games. The Series was played from September 28-October 4, 1955. The Dodgers, managed by Walter Alston, went 98-55 (.641) in 1955, while Casey Stengel’s Yankees came in at 96-58 (.623). The “Bums” 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 1954 Fall Classic despite winning one-hundred three games.
Games One-Sixth Summaries:
Game One: The Yankees won behind two homers from Joe Collins and one by rookie Elston Howard in his first World Series at bat. Carl Furillo homered for Brooklyn and Duke Snider hit his first of the Series.
Game Two: Tommy Byrne tossed a five hit complete game victory and singled in New York’s final run during the Yanks’ big four-run fourth inning, putting New York up 2–0.
Game Three: Johnny Podres went all the way and won with home run help from Roy Campanella. A limping Mickey Mantle hit his only home run of the Series.
Game Four: Brooklyn evened the Series at 2–2 as Roy Campanella, Gil Hodges and Duke Snider all hit home runs.
Game Five: Duke Snider hit two home runs (four in the Series) and Sandy Amorós helped the Dodgers beat the Yankees for the third straight day.
Game Six: The Dodgers scored one run in the fourth and sixth innings on a single and sac fly, both by Gil Hodges. With runners on first and second and one out, left fielder Sandy Amorós made a dramatic game-saving catch of a deep fly ball down the left field line off the bat of Yogi Berra in the sixth inning, to start a double play.
The Decisive Seventh Game
In the crucial seventh game, the Dodgers scored in the fourth when Campanella doubled and Hodges singled him home. In the sixth, Reese, Snider, and Furillo loaded the bases and Hodges’ sacrifice fly off Bob Grim brought in the second, and final run, of the game. Podres scattered eight hits and two walks, but the Yankees couldn’t score. The closest they came was Berra’s fly ball to left on which Sandy Amoros made a sensational catch – one of the most memorable plays in World Series history. The Dodgers entered the ninth with a two-run lead. Bill Skowron started the Yankees’ last at-bat by hitting one back to Podres for an easy out. Next Bob Cerv flied out to Amoros in left and Elston Howard then grounded to Pee Wee Reese who tossed to Gil Hodges to end the game. The Dodgers had finally beaten the Yankees for their first World Championship title.
The Series MVP was Johnny Podres. The TV announcers were Mel Allen and Vin Scully. It was the first World Series televised in color. The umpires were Bill Summers (AL), Lee Ballanfant (NL), Jim Honochick (AL), Frank Dascoli (NL), Red Flaherty (AL: outfield), Augie Donatelli (NL: outfield).
There were plenty of future Hall-of-Famers in the Series: Dodgers: Walt Alston (Mgr.), Roy Campanella, Sandy Koufax, Pee Wee Reese, Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider, Tom Lasorda. Yankees: Casey Stengel (Mgr.),Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, Mickey Mantle, Phil Rizzuto.
-Gary Livacari
Photo Credits: The Brooklyn Collection of Barney Stein; Others from Google Search
Information: Excerpts edited from the 1955 World Series Wikipedia page; Game summaries from same source; also from the 1955 World Series page on Baseball Almanac.
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