As far as Brooklynites were concerned, the day ended perfectly. The day was Oct. 5, but it felt like the Fourth of July, in part because of the unseasonably 85-degree heat and humidity, but also because most of the afternoon was a two-and-a-half-hour civic celebration.
The Dodgers, a local nine-team team, rallied from an early 3-0 deficit thanks to the hitting of Jimmy Wasdell and Pete Reiser. Now, in the 9th inning, relief pitcher Hugh Casey grounded out Johnny Sturm for two, retired Red Rolfe with a come-from-behind grounder, and gave Tommy Henrich two fast-break hits. The Dodgers won 4-3 and were on the verge of tying the 1941 World Series at two games apiece.
Later in his career, Henrich would earn the enduring nickname “All Reliable,” thanks in large part to his exploits in another Yankees-Dodgers World Series. But here he waved helplessly at Casey's breaking ball, which everyone on both sides always agreed on, and whose water was wetter than the Gowanus Canal.
But there was a problem.
Not only did the spitter fool Henrich, he also fooled Dodgers catcher Mickey Owen. I flew to the backstop. Owen took it back. Henrich rushed to the front. And if you think Citi Field specializes in ominous premonitions…well, the New York National League's premonitions suggest that at this very moment, when the game the Dodgers believed they had already won was now in high doubt, at 4:35 p.m. It sprouted.
After two batters, the Yankees led 5-4 and were on their way to a 7-4 victory.
“It was over,” Owen said later, looking disappointed as he lay face down on the trainer table. “I beat the game, and I could have won the World Series.”
This was the moment when the Yankees and Dodgers became an integral part of baseball and American life. The first one was in New York. The teams participated in the Subway Series in 1941, '47, '49, '52, '53, '55, and '56. Then, as the Dodgers emphasized it in the West, it became a transnational phenomenon, rekindling the bicoastal rivalry in 1963, 1977, 1978, and 1981.
Now, the Yankees will face the Dodgers for the 12th time starting Friday night at Dodger Stadium. Shuttles between games on the old 6th Street El and 9th Street El lines are no longer available. It no longer cost between a quarter of a dollar and five dollars to attend a game, enough to accommodate the 33,813 people who packed into Ebbets Field to watch Mickey Owen pump out his chest.
Yankees vs. Dodgers has given us years and decades of unforgettable and precious snapshots, neatly pressed between the pages of memory and legend. It's a collection of scrapbooks that I keep.
You might not have been alive when Mickey Owen hit the ball. You weren't alive in 1947 when a little-known Dodgers outfielder named Al Gionfriddo stole a home run from Joe DiMaggio, and the great DiMaggio, in frustration, uncharacteristically kicked the dirt near second base. Maybe.
You might not have been alive when Billy Martin lunged from second base and caught Jackie Robinson's pop-up inches from the turf in the 1952 series, saving three runs. Or three years later, when Robinson stole home, umpire Bill Summers called him safe and Yogi Berra exploded. The fact that the Yankees won that game made Yogi angry over time.
But what it was like to watch Reggie Jackson hit three home runs inside Yankee Stadium on October 18, 1977, or what it was like to be there on October 4? Just like you can, it feels like you were too. In 1955, the day the next year finally arrived for the Dodgers, or October 5, 1949, when Henrich earned his nickname by hitting a walk-off home run off a hapless Don Newcombe in Game 1, giving the Yankees a 1-0 victory. day. .
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“When I was with the Dodgers, it was different than when I was with the Red Sox,” Yogi Berra told me in 2004. Since Yogi participated in so many matches, he was always proactive in such matters. “The Red Sox were like our kid brothers and we knew we would find a way. But the Dodgers were our equal. We looked at them all year. And we knew we had to be at our best. Most of the time, we were.”
On October 8, 1956, Don Larsen struck out Dale Mitchell, making it 27 wins and 27 losses, and remains the only perfect game in World Series history. And of course, Yogi was there nine years and five days ago, on October 3, 1947, catching Bill Bevens, an even more obscure pitcher than Larsen. He had previously held the Dodgers hitless 8/3 innings (despite 10 walks). At Ebbets Field, Cookie Labaguette hit the wall for two points to win the game.
(And, as a small but happy atonement, the game winner that day was none other than Hugh Casey.)
There was a time when Dodgers vs. Yankees felt like a permanent part of baseball's calendar, along with Memorial Day doubleheaders, Women's Day, and the All-Star Game. Of course, that was true in the '40s and '50s (culminating in 1951, when the Dodgers, Giants, and Yankees all finished in first place), and then in the late '70s, when many of baseball's biggest stars were born. (Reggie and Thurman, Fernando and Garvey) gathered at opposite ends of the country.
It wasn't a textbook ball. In 1981, there was a (possibly imaginary) elevator fight between George Steinbrenner and a few chatty Dodgers fans, after which George Steinbrenner apologized to New York on behalf of the defeated (and enraged) team. . In Game 6 of that year, Tommy John was removed in the bottom of the fourth inning of a game dominated by Bob Lemon.
(Rem should have apologized for that.)
In Game 4 of 1963, Joe Pepitone lost a throw from white-shirted Clete Boyer in the field box at Dodger Stadium and scored the final winning run in a Dodgers sweep. Then there was Gil Hodges' 21-for-21 no-hitter series in 1952, when, in a simpler, more civil era, there were no boos or talk-radio outrage, but instead prayers for the bat's soul. When Dave Winfield went 1-for-22 in the '81 series, his struggles ultimately led to him being nicknamed “Mr. Winfield.” His boss said, “May.”
But even timeless songs can have problematic lyrics. Some of the best movies have weak subplots. Even Fonzie literally jumped the shark once.
So most of the time we are allowed to remember and reminisce about the good things about Yogi jumping into Larsen's arms. Sandy Koufax made his name known to America by inciting 15 Yankees in Game 1 in 1963. Eight years later, another Sandy, Amoros, stole the game-tying two-run double from Berra in Game 7 of '55. Brian Doyle – owner of 32 career hits – had 7 hits in 16 at bats in the 1978 World Series, making him a .438 by anyone's calculations.
How much has Yankees vs. Dodgers changed over the years?
Now, when Reggie rounded the bases in '77 after hitting the last of his three home runs, the one that reached the Blacks off Charlie Huff at old Yankee Stadium, Steve Garvey later said, He revealed that it was the moment he realized that he had it all. When he officially lost the World Series, his reaction was as human and pure as the law would allow.
“I silently applauded in the glove,” he admitted.
Here are seven games out of the next nine nights that will make us all feel the way people felt every time the Yankees and Dodgers collided on the field. It's still okay to praise great things. Yankees vs. Dodgers qualify. enjoy.
