Spotlight on the World Series: The 1957 Classic!

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Spotlight on the World Series: The Classic 1957!

Congratulations to the Dodgers for advancing to the 2018 World Series. As a National League Central fan, I was pulling for the “Brew-Crew,” but you have to hand it to the Dodgers…they played well when they had to. It’s not easy to win a Game Seven on the road!

Anyway, even though a fine Brewers team has been eliminated, I thought it’d be fun to revisit the classic 1957 World Series, when Milwaukee was the home to the National League Braves, managed by Fred Haney. Their opponent in the ’57 series was Casey Stengel’s defending World Series champion New York Yankees.

The Braves won the series four-games-to-three, behind series MVP Lou Burdette’s three complete game victories (amid ongoing suspicions he was throwing a doctored ball). The hitting star of the series was, no surprise, Hank Aaron, who posted a .393 average with three home runs and seven RBIs. Hank was coming off an MVP 1957 season, hitting .322 with 44 home runs and 132 RBIs.

The Braves (95-59), were a well-balanced team, winning their first pennant since moving to Milwaukee in 1953. In addition to Aaron, their lineup included Eddie Mathews at .292-32-94 for the 1957 season; and Wes Covington who belted 21 dingers in just 96 games. They were strong defensively with Del Crandall behind the plate; and shortstop Johnny Logan and second baseman Red Schoendienst up the middle. After a mid-season injury to regular centerfielder Billy Bruton, Bob Hazle hit an amazing .403 in 41 games. Their pitching staff included the great Warren Spahn with his eighth 20-game win season; plus starters Lew Burdette and Bob Buhl (the three starters combining for 56 wins); and reliever Don McMahon.

The Yankees (98-56) were stacked as usual with many familiar stars:  Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Billy Martin, Gil McDougal, Bill Skowron, Elston Howard, Enos Slaughter, Tony Kubek, Hank Bauer, Jerry Coleman, and Joe Collins; plus pitchers Tom Sturdivent, Whitey Ford, Bobby Shantz, Don Larson, and Bob Turley.

Here’s some interesting facts and highlights from the series:

• Of the previous ten World Series, the Yankees had been in eight and won seven. This was also the first World Series since 1948 that a team from New York did not win.
• This was the Braves third pennant (1914, 1948, 1957), and second World Series championship (1914 and 1957). They repeated as National League pennant winners in 1958, but lost the series in a rematch to the Yankees.
• New York Times sportswriter Red Smith wrote of series MVP Lew Burdette and his reputation for throwing a “wet one”: “There should be three pitching statistics for Burdette – Wins, Losses, and Relative Humidity.”
• Game One in New York resulted in a 3-1 Whitey Ford five-hitter victory; the Braves answered back the next day with a Lew Burdette 4-2 win.
• The star of Game Three for the Yankees was Milwaukee-native Tony Kubek, returning to his home town. The twenty year-old rookie hit two homers as the Yankees’ thumped the Braves 12-3.
• Game Four is remembered for Nippy Jones’ controversial hit-batsman call when Jones showed umpire Augie Donatelli a shoe polish smudge on the ball he claimed hit him on the foot and was awarded first base. The play was instrumental in the Braves’ eventual win in 10 innings, with Eddie Mathews hitting a walk-off homer.
• Lew Burdette bested Whitey Ford 1-0 in Game Five, notable for Wes Covington’s leaping catch at the wall in deep left field on a ball hit by Gil McDougal.
• The Yankees won Game Six, a 3-2 squeaker, with all the runs scoring as a result of home runs: Yogi Berra (a two-run shot), Hank Bauer, Frank Torre, and Hank Aaron.
• Don Larsen had a early exit in Game Seven, with the Braves scoring four times in the third. Burdette tossed his second shut-out and earned his third complete game victory, giving the Braves their first World Series championship since 1914.
• The series featured 10 future Hall-of-Famers: Hank Aaron, Red Schoendienst, Warren Spahn, Eddie Mathews, Casey Stengel, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, Mickey Mantle, Enos Slaughter, plus umpires Jocko Conlon and Nester Chylak.
• Our “senior” readers will remember the other umpires in the series: Joe Paparella, Bill McKinnley, Augie Donatelli, and Frank Secory.
• Mel Allen and Al Heifer were the NBC TV announcers; while Bob Neal and Earl Gillespie handled the radio side.

Congrats to the “Brew Crew” from this Cub fan for a great 2018 season that fell just a tad short of a return trip to the World Series!

Gary Livacari 

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Photo Credits: All from Google search; featured photo from Getty Images

Information: Excerpts edited from 1957 World Series Wikipedia page

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