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Today Vince Jankoski revisits the 1960 World Series. Vince takes a deep dive into some of the more subtle reasons the Yankees lost the 1960 World Series to the Pirates despite besting them in virtually every offensive and pitching category. Vince offers some explanations that I had never before considered. I think they may surprise you, as they did me! -GL
Let’s Revisit the 1960 World Series!
The 1960 World Series was arguably the most one sided series ever. The New York Yankees outscored the Pittsburgh Pirates 55-27 – and lost the Series in seven games. Go figure.
Led by second baseman Bobby Richardson the Yankee batters mauled the Pirate pitching staff. Richardson was Series MVP, hammering out eleven hits and one walk in 31 plate appearances. The normally light-hitting Richardson went on a slugger’s tear. His two doubles, two triples, and a home run gave him a slugging average of .667. Batting mostly from the seventh or eighth spot in the lineup, he knocked in 12 runs, nearly half his total for the entire season.
Richardson was not the only New Yorker to hit well in that series. Catcher Elston Howard hit .462; shortstop Tony Kubek hit .333; center fielder Mickey Mantle hit an even .400 with 3 home runs; first baseman Bill Skowron hit .375 with two dingers; Yogi Berra, playing left field, batted .318 with a homer. Substitutes Johnny Blanchard (5 for 11) and Hector Lopez (3 for 7) also hit well. Even the pitching staff contributed with four hits.
New York outbatted Pittsburgh .338 to .256, outslugged the Bucs .528 to .355, and had a much lower ERA 3.54 to 7.11. The Yanks won games by scores of 16-3, 10-0, and 12-0. Yet they lost. Why? Conventional wisdom and baseball lore have it that the Yanks lost because Ralph Terry hung a curve ball to Bill Mazeroski leading off the bottom of the ninth inning of Game Seven with the score tied. There is more to it than that.
Let’s Take a Deeper Look…
First, how did the Series get to seven games? Manager Casey Stengel misused Whitey Ford, that’s how. Ford had an off-year by his standards, 12-9, 3.08 ERA, albeit with a league-leading four shutouts. But Whitey Ford in the World Series is still Whitey Ford in the World Series. He is your ace. He is a Hall of Famer. He is your go-to guy. He starts the first game of any World Series.
It was not to be. Inexplicably, Stengel used Ford for two innings in middle relief in a meaningless game on the last day of the season — New York won the pennant by eight games. The move guaranteed that Ford would be unavailable to start Game One of the Series. Consequently, Ford was limited to two starts in Games Three and Six, instead of three starts had he been used in Games One, Four, and Seven. He threw shutouts in both of his starts. Assuming Ford had two shutouts in his arm and used them in Games One and Four instead of Games Three and Six, the Yankees win both of those games. The Bombers scored 16 runs in Game Two and 10 runs in Game Three. They win both of those games regardless of who pitches. New York sweeps the Series. Right?
Casy Stengel’s Dubious Decisions…
Instead of Ford, Stengel called on Art Ditmar to start the opener. Ditmar retired only one batter before being knocked out of the box, and replaced by Jim Coates in a 6-4 Pirate win. In Game Four, Ford was unavailable, having pitched a complete game in Game Three. Stengel went with Terry. Making his first World Series appearance, Terry pitched respectably, but lost to Game One winner Vern Law 3-2 to even the Series. Ditmar started Game Five. This time he managed to retire four batters before being yanked in favor of Luis Arroyo. The Pirates won 5-2. Ford pitched a complete game in Game Six, making him unavailable to hurl the finale the next day. So, the honors were left to Bob Turley. Turley was a fine moundsman. He won the Cy Young Award in 1958, when only one award was given in the entire major leagues. However, on this day, Turley didn’t have his stuff, exiting after facing one batter in the second inning. No Ford, no win.
Another reason for the Yankee loss was the condition of the Pittsburgh infield. In the bottom of the eighth inning of Game Seven with no outs, the boys from the Bronx leading 7-4, and Gino Cimoli on first base, Pirate center fielder Bill Virdon hit a Bobby Shantz offering on the ground to shortstop Tony Kubek. It was a sure double play – something that Kubek and his keystone partner Richardson had done hundreds of times during the nine years that they played together. It was not to be. The ball hit something, probably a pebble, took a bad hop, and struck Kubek in the throat. Announcer Mel Allen originally thought the ball hit Kubek in the face, but the video shows Kubek holding his throat. In any event, Both Cimoli and Virdon were safe. Over his objection, Kubek was removed from the game in favor of Joe DiMaestri.
The next batter, Dick Groat, singled passed a diving Clete Boyer at third, scoring Cimoli. The score was now 7-5, still with no one out. Coates replaced Shantz. Bob Skinner sacrificed Virdon and Groat to third and second, respectively. Then, Coates got Rocky Nelson to fly out to Roger Maris in short right field. Virdon tagged at third but elected not to challenge Maris’ great arm. It was a wise move. Maris’ near perfect throw to the plate would have surely nailed Virdon, and ended the inning. Virdon scored anyway on Roberto Clemente’s subsequent single. Groat advanced to third on the play. The Pirates closed to within one run. The next batter, catcher Hal Smith homered for a 9-7 Pittsburgh lead. Ralph Terry replaced Coates and got Don Hoak to fly out to left field, ending the inning. But for the bad hop on the Virdon grounder, the Yankees go to the ninth inning with a 7-4 lead.
That’s Not All…
New York was not finished. They scored twice in the top of the ninth to tie the score, bringing us to the third reason the Yankees lost the Series: the Ralph Terry hanging curve ball delivered to Bill Mazeroski, leading off the bottom of the ninth. I can still see Yogi Berra looking on as the ball cleared the left field fence at Forbes Field.
There is one final, to date, unexplored reason that the Yankees lost the Series in which they were so dominant: Terry’s catcher. When Terry threw the fateful pitch, his backstop was neither Howard, who had been struck with a pitch the day previous and did not play in Game Seven, nor Berra who was in left field. Rather, it was Johnny Blanchard. Berra caught in 63 games that year including several games in which Terry pitched. However, he played every series game in left field. By contrast, Blanchard caught only 28 games during the regular season — only twice when Terry pitched. Stengel could have moved the vastly more experienced Berra to catcher and inserted Hector Lopez in left field for Game Seven as he had done at times during the regular season. Would Berra have called for the same curve ball? Would his target have been different? Would Terry have been more confident with a Hall of Fame catcher instead of the inexperienced Blanchard? Stengel’s failure to move Berra to catcher might be another reason the Yankees lost the Series.
Vince Jankoski
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