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1947 World Series Photo Gallery
Click on any image below to see photos in full size and to start Photo Gallery:
The Thrill of Victory…and the Agony of Defeat, Part One:
Cookie Lavagetto – The Unlikely Hero of the 1947 World Series Game Four!
We’re all familiar with the photo of a distraught Cookie Lavagetto sitting alongside Ralph Branca who is sprawled out on the steps of the Polo Grounds clubhouse. The Giants had just snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in the 1951 playoff series against the Dodgers and advanced to the World Series. Branca had thrown the pitch that Bobby Thomson hit for what came to be known as the “Shot Heard ‘Round the World.”
This photo will be the subject of Part Two of this series and can be seen in the photo gallery above. But just to show how fickle the winds of baseball can be, just a few short years before, Cookie was the hero of Game Four in the 1947 World Series. In the featured photo, we see Cookie being hoisted onto the shoulders of his jubilant teammates. Unfortunately, the joy was short-lived, as the Yankees ultimately prevailed in the World Series. Here’s a few words about what was surely a memorable moment for Cookie:
There’s nothing better in the great game of baseball than being a World Series hero – even if it’s only for a day! That day came for one Harry Arthur “Cookie” Lavagetto on October 3, 1947, during the fourth game of the 1947 World Series between the New York Yankees and Brooklyn Dodgers played at Ebbets Field. Here’s the scene:
Bill Bevens was on the mound for the Yankees and was ahead 2-1 with runners on first and second with two out in the bottom of the ninth. Bevens was one out away from a World Series victory. The two base runners were put on by Bevens’ ninth and tenth walks of the game. But there’s a lot more to the story than that…
Oh So Close!
Bevens was on the verge of entering the record books. He was just one out away from a World Series “No-No” – something that had never occurred before. Just
one out away from World Series immortality. In desperation, Dodger manager Burt Shotton summoned 35-year old Cookie Lavagetto off the bench to pinch-hit for Eddie Stanky.
Lavagetto was at the very tail end of his major league career. As a matter of fact, this was his last game. With the count 0-1, Cookie cracked an opposite-field double off the right-field wall. Not only did it break up the no-hitter, it also scored the two runners, giving the Dodgers a thrilling, come-from-behind, 3-2 walk-off win. It was Lavagetto’s only hit of the series – eventually won by the Yankees in seven games – and was his last as a major leaguer. What a way to go out!
Cookie’s Career
Nicknamed “Cookie” after an owner of the Oakland Oaks, his first professional team, Lavagetto played ten years in the major leagues for the Pirates (1934-36) and Dodgers (1937-41, 1946-47). Lavagetto lost four years in his prime due to military service during World War II. Over his career, he hit .269 in 1043 games, with 40 home runs, and 486 RBIs. His best season was 1939, when he hit .300 with 87 RBIs.
After his playing career ended, Lavagetto became a coach for Charlie Dressen in Brooklyn (1951-53) and Washington (1955-56). He succeeded Dressen as Senators’ manager in 1957. Despite last-place finishes in 1957, 1958, and 1959, he was still at the helm when the franchise moved to Minnesota in 1961, becoming the Twins’ first manager. Fired during the 1961 season, he finished his managerial career with a 271-384 (.414) record. Lavagetto returned to the coaching ranks with the Mets under Casey Stengel (1962–63), and Giants (1964–67) under Al Dark and Herman Franks.
Yes…the baseball fates can be very fickle, as we learn from the career of Cookie Lavagetto!
Gary Livacari
Information: Excerpts edited from Cookie Lavagetto Wikipedia page; Stats from Baseball Reference
Thanks, Gary! Much as we hate to bid adieu to an extraordinary baseball historian and writer (Dr. Gutman), that other Bill and you are experts at taking your readers back-back-back, in time, and to the cherished cathedrals of our favorite sport — as this retrospective from 75 years ago so clearly shows.
It could be phantom memory on my part, but I think Lavagetto’s final career at-bat (as you say) was also the last at-bat Bill Bevens ever had to contend with, at least in the major leagues. Dr. Schaefer, who was 27 or 8 at the time, will remember for sure, but I want to say the ’47 Series marked the last appearance by Al Gionfriddo as well. (Speaking of “back-back-back”!)
There’s an ancient recording of His Master’s Voice Red Barber, making the call as Bevens saw his no-hitter go up in flames and watched the Dodgers score the runs needed to beat him, in which The Old Redhead explains that Lavagetto would require the intervention of security personnel for protection against his own teammates, who were presumably irate that he had wrecked an historic moment for the Yanks’ pitcher. In actuality, of course, they were pouncing and pounding on their hero in celebration of his winning hit.
You seem to have in mind a slight series of vignettes highlighting “the thrill of victory; the agony of defeat” such as this one. Great! If so, however, please feel more than welcome to skip 1951 altogether in your search for a fitting next chapter. (Sir William E. Schaefer will thank you for it, and it’s on behalf of his tender sensibilities that I make this charitable request.)
Best regards,
Michael
Great story Gary. Cookie Lavagetto – such a memorable name and that play made for him having a more memorable career than might have been the case otherwise. Seeing the Oakland Oaks as a PCL team reminded me of Rick Barry who I saw play on Long Island as a member of the charter franchise ABA Oakland Oaks!
Mark
We’ll miss very much the prolific and excellent writing of Bill Gutman, Gary. But your unique website is still a haven for baseball fans everywhere who crave highlights of memorable games and moments.
Michael K is right about Al Gionfriddo’s last game in the majors. But Bill Bevens pitched 2.2 scoreless innings in game seven for the Yankees, to help nail down their WS victory in ’47.
Red Barber’s call of the famous Lavagetto hit is a classic. In his gentle southern way, “Heah comes the tying run…and heah comes the winning run! And the Dodgers are killin’ Lavagetto!”
Yes, I do indeed have tender sensibilities but it’s Keedy who considers “1951” anathema. So, when you go there Gary, pour it on!
Haha! You guys are all great! Thanks!