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Let’s Revisit the 1941 World Series…and the Mickey Owen Passed Ball!

Gary Livacari

Mickey Owen's passed ball in the 1941 World Series is one of the most WS incidents

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Let’s Revisit the 1941 World Series…and the Mickey Owen Passed Ball!

With the start of the 2023 World Series just around the corner, I’ll be revisiting some of the more famous World Series from years gone by. With today being the eighty-second anniversary of one of the more infamous plays in World Series history (October 5, 1941), I’ll start with an updated chapter from my book, Memorable World Series Moments. We’ll revisit the 1941 World Series made notable by a misplay that is still talked about many years later, the Mickey Owen passed ball.

Errors and miscues are always magnified in the World Series, and they can last forever, tarnishing the reputation of even the best players. So let’s hope this year everyone plays well and there are no goats…

…As there was in 1941!

Click on link to see the composite boxscore from 1941 World Series and boxscore of individual games

Mickey Owen the “Goat” of the 1941 World Series

Mickey Owen’s passed ball in the 1941 World Series made him the goat.

“That was a tough break for Mickey to get. I bet he feels like a nickel’s worth of dog meat!” –Yankee Tommy Henrich, the beneficiary of Mickey Owen’s passed ball.

Nineteen forty-one was a great season, one of the most memorable in baseball history. It saw Ted Williams hit .406, Joe DiMaggio hit safely in 56 straight games, and the Dodgers win their first pennant since 1920.

This was also the year of the first “Subway Series” between the Dodgers and the Yankees. The two teams would meet a total of seven times from 1941 to 1956, with the Dodgers’ only victory coming in 1955. After the Dodgers departed Brooklyn for Los Angeles, the two teams met an additional four times in the Fall Classic, most recently in 1981.

In the 1941 World Series, the Dodgers faced off against Joe McCarthy’s powerful Yankee team that was loaded with star power: Joe DiMaggio, Bill Dickey, Phil Rizzuto, Red Ruffing, Lefty Gomez, Charlie “King Kong” Keller, Joe Gordon, and Tommy Henrich. Leo Durocher’s underdog Dodgers countered with stars of their own, including Billy Herman, Joe Medwick, Dolph Camilli, Pee Wee Reese, and Pete Reiser.

Unfortunately, Mickey Owen became the “goat” of the Series, committing one of the most notorious misplays in World Series history. His passed ball occurred in Game Four; and, like the Lombardi “Snooze” in 1939, it was another World Series incident with Joe DiMaggio at the center of the action.

Mickey Owen

The Yankees led the series 2-1 entering Game Four at Ebbets Field. In the top of the ninth, with the Dodgers leading 4–3, two outs, the bases empty, and a full count on Tommy Henrich, the Dodgers were one strike away from victory, one strike away from evening the series at two games apiece. Relief pitcher Hugh Casey, hoping to atone for a poor performance in Game Three, wound up and delivered a sharp breaking curve.

Henrich swung and missed! Umpire Larry Goetz raised his right hand singling “Strike Three!” The game was over!

…Or was it? 

With 33,813 Flatbush faithful ready to erupt into a victory celebration, the infamous passed ball reared its ugly head. Mickey Owen chased after it all the way to the backstop. The crowd gasped – sensing disaster – as Henrich made it easily to first without a play. A great Yankee team was given a second chance, with Joe DiMaggio, no less, on deck.

AND THEN THE WHEELS CAME OFF…
 
As if following a script, the reliable DiMaggio kept the Yankee hopes alive with a single. Charlie Keller then delivered a clutch double to drive in both Henrich and DiMaggio, the Yankee Clipper coming all the way around from first. Suddenly, the Yankees led 5-4. But they were not yet done. Bill Dickey walked and then scored along with Keller on Joe Gordon’s double.
 
To the Dodger fans, it seemed like a bad dream, one of those ghastly nightmares from which there’s no escape. And yet it had happened so fast. Hardly before anyone had a chance to fully register what they had just witnessed, the score was 7-4 in favor of the Yankees. Somehow the passed ball had ignited a two-out, four-run Yankee rally.
 
In the bottom of the ninth, the shell-shocked Dodgers offered little resistance and meekly went down in order before the stunned Ebbets Field faithful. Instead of the Series being tied, the victory put the Yankees in the “cat-bird seat,” as Red Barber would say, one game away from a World Series victory.
 
It was all over but the crying for Brooklyn. Building on their momentum, the next day the Yankees easily beat the demoralized Dodgers 3-1. Just like that, the 1941 World Series was over and the Yankees were again the World Champions.
 
After the game, a crestfallen Mickey Owen could only lament what had just occurred. He “manned up” and put the blame squarely on himself:
 
“It wasn’t a strike. It was a low inside curve that I should have had. But I guess the ball struck my glove and by the time I got hold of it I couldn’t have thrown anybody out at first. It was an error.”
 
In the morning papers, the great sportswriter Red Smith described the reaction of the Brooklyn fans:
“Their mouths were open, their breath was indrawn for the last, exultant yell – and then ‘The Thing’ happened. Mickey Owen missed the ball, and defeat was somehow snatched from the jaws of victory.”
 
A great Yankee team had won the World Series for the fifth time in six years and their ninth championship overall. As for the Dodgers? They would have to wait until 1955 for a bit of revenge.
 
Well…all we can say is, “That’s baseball!” Let’s hope all goes well this year…with good luck to all involved, and no “goats!”

Gary Livacari

Photo Credits: All from Google search

Information: From my book, Memorable World Series Moments; and excerpts edited from the 1941 World Series Wikipedia page.

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