Scroll Down to Read Today’s Essay
Subscribe to Baseball History Comes Alive for automatic updates.
As a Free Bonus, you’ll get access to my Special Report: Gary’s Handy Dandy World Series Reference Guide!
“1955 World Series” Photo Gallery
Click on any image below to see photos in full size and to start Photo Gallery:
Congrats to the Dodgers!
Now Let’s Recall the Classic 1955 Dodger-YankeeWorld Series!
There’s nothing like the sheer joy and utter jubilation that a World Series victory can bring! And no, I’m not intentionally trying to ruin the day of our many Yankees fans who frequent this page (sorry, Don Stokes!). Nor am I trying to send our many Dodger fans into a state of euphoria (including Michael Keedy!).
It’s just that with the exciting conclusion of the 2024 World Series last night – and congrats to the Dodgers! – I thought the time was right to recall one of the best WS ever – from the Dodgers’ perspective!: the 1955 Fall Classic – another memorable clash between the Dodgers and the Yankees.
The Series was played from September 28 to October 4, 1955. Those of us who grew up with baseball in the Golden Era of the 1950s will never forget it (even this long-suffering Cub fan!).
The Drought Finally Comes to an End!!
“The Yankee Stadium clock reads 3:45 on Tuesday, October 4, 1955, freezing for all time the greatest single moment in Brooklyn Dodger history.” -From the book, Through a Blue Lens
The photo above is from 3:45 P.M., October 4, 1955, at Yankee Stadium, as Dodger pitcher Johnny Podres jumps for joy after Elston Howard grounds out to Pee Wee Reese at short. Pee Wee’s toss to Gil Hodges nabs Howard as the Series comes to an exciting and dramatic conclusion. In the seven-game series, they finally beat the Yankees while winning their first and only World Series title in Brooklyn.
In the photo, we see catcher Roy Campanella rushing to the mound ready to celebrate the final out with Podres. The first base umpire making the decisive call is Frank Dascoli, while umpire Augie Donatelli races in from his right-field position to observe the action firsthand.
Also ending at that time was the Dodgers’ prolonged World Series drought. The sixth try against the Yankees proved to be the charm for the Dodgers. They had lost to the Yankees in 1941, ’47, ’49, ’52, and ’53 (and would lose again in 1956). With this victory, they became the first team since the 1921 Giants to win the World Series after losing the first two games.
The Dodgers, managed by Walter Alston, went 98-55 (.641) in the regular season; while Casey Stengel’s Yankees came in at 96-58 (.623). The Bronx Bombers had missed the previous year’s Fall Classic despite winning 103 games. Their string of five consecutive World Championships had been broken and they were chomping at the bit to reclaim their rightful crown in 1955. It was not to be.
The Bums had won ten consecutive games to start the 1955 season, managed a 22-2 record in the first four weeks, and then cruised to the National League pennant with a 13½ game lead over the second-place Milwaukee Braves.
Games One-to-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 and Sandy Amorós contributed a two-run shot that helped the Dodgers beat the Yankees for the third straight day.
Sandy Amoros’ great catchGame Six: Whitey Ford scattered four hits while pitching a complete game, allowing a single run on Carl Furillo’s RBI single, as the Yankees forced a Game Seven with a 5–1 win.
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 in World Series history.
A fluke play occurred early on in the game that many feel set the tone for the ultimate outcome:
The Yankees could only muster one hit with runners in scoring position, which ironically was a base hit awarded to Gil McDougald in the third inning, when Phil Rizzuto was hit by a groundball while running the bases. Instead of batting in Rizzuto for a 1–0 Yankees lead, McDougald was thus ruled out to end the inning. Psychologically this may have marked a turning point for the Dodgers, who had never beaten the Yankees in a World Series. Pitcher Carl Erskine saw this play as “an omen,” as such unfortunate miscues had usually been “the things that happened to us.”(1)
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 flew out to Amoros in left, and Elston Howard then grounded to Pee Wee Reese who tossed to Gil Hodges to end the game.
The Brooklyn Dodgers Are World Series Champions!
The Dodgers had finally beaten the Yankees for their first World Championship title! The series MVP was, no surprise, Johnny Podres who went 2-0 with two complete game shutouts (Game Three and Game Seven). His ERA for the series was a minuscule 1.00.
There were plenty of future Hall-of-Famers in the Series. Their recognizable names flow easily from the nostalgic recesses of our memories: Dodgers Walt Alston (Mgr.), Roy Campanella, Sandy Koufax, Pee Wee Reese, Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider, Tom Lasorda, and new inductee, Gil Hodges. Yankees Casey Stengel (Mgr.), Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, Mickey Mantle, and Phil Rizzuto. The TV announcers were Hall of Famers Mel Allen and Vin Scully. It was the first World Series televised in color. “Old-timers” reading this will also remember the umpires: Bill Summers, Lee Ballanfant, Jim Honochick, Frank Dascoli, Red Flaherty, and Augie Donatelli.
I’ll Take the Old Days…
I hope you enjoyed this little excursion into the past…back to the days when, speaking for my generation, baseball was the great game we remember from our youth. Back then, the game still had the wonderful, endearing “charm” that we often find lacking from today’s money-infested version. I’ll take the old days of baseball any time!
I know my Dodger fan readers are happy with me today. But the Yankee fans…well, probably not so much!
Gary Livacari
Photo Credits: The Brooklyn Collection of Barney Stein; Others from Google Search
Sources: (1) Excerpts and quotes edited from the 1955 World Series Wikipedia page; Game summaries from same source; the 1955 World Series page on Baseball Almanac; and The Blue Lens, the Brooklyn Dodger Photographs of Barney Stein.
We’d love to hear what you think about this or any other related baseball history topic…please leave comments below.
Subscribe to Baseball History Comes Alive to receive email updates. FREE BONUS for subscribing: Gary’s Handy Dandy World Series Reference Guide. The site has over 1500 fully categorized baseball essays and photo galleries, now surpassing the one million hits mark with over 1,232,000 hits: https://wp.me/P7a04E-2he
(Please note: If you were previously a subscriber to the website, you may have to resubscribe due to recent technical issues. Just use the green “Follow Us” icon below to resubscribe).
