October 5th, 1953
World Series, Game 6
Brooklyn Dodgers at New York Yankees
Yankee Stadium, New York
In
Ken Burns’ documentary “Baseball,” the seventh inning (or episode if you will)
was entitled ‘The Capital of Baseball.’ It’s in reference to the dominance
displayed by all three teams that played in the city of New York during the
1950s. It seemed that either the Yankees, Giants or Dodgers played in the World
Series every season. From 1949 until 1958, all ten Series featured a New York
team and in six of those, the Yankees faced either the Giants or Dodgers.
1953
was one of those years and it was the Dodgers who were looking for their first
championship. They had never had any luck in the Series, having never won. And
when the Yankees took the first two games at Yankee Stadium by scores of 9-5
and 4-2, it looked like it would remain status quo.
But
the Dodgers battled back to win the next two games at Ebbets Field by 3-2 and
7-3 scores. The Yankees took the final game in Brooklyn, 11-7, and took their
three games to two lead back to the Bronx for Game 6.
On
this Monday afternoon, 62,370 New Yorkers would enter the turnstiles of The
Stadium and they were in for one exciting ball game. The Dodgers would send Carl
Erksine to the mound while the Yankees countered with the Whitey Ford.
The
Dodgers put two runners on base in the top of the first, but Ford escaped
without allowing a run. The Yankees would give him some support in the bottom
half of the inning when Yogi Berra hit a ground rule double scoring Gene
Woodling. Hank Bauer would score the second Yankee run on an error by second
baseman Jim Gilliam.
The
Yanks would add to their lead in the second when Phil Rizzuto scored on a
sacrifice fly by Woodling. Ford, meanwhile, was cruising along. The “Chairman
of the Board” would shutout the Dodgers through the first five innings.
But
Brooklyn finally got to Ford in the sixth. With one out, Jackie Robinson
doubled, then stole third. He would score on an RBI groundout by Roy
Campanella. But Ford settled down and didn’t allow another run through the
seventh inning. He was replaced by Allie Reynolds in the eighth, and the
reliever only allowed a single in the inning before retiring the side. The
Yankees were three outs away from their fifth consecutive World Series
Championship and took their 3-1 lead to the ninth.
With
one out, Reynolds walked Duke Snider. The next batter, Carl Furillo, connected
on a Reynolds’ pitch for a game-tying two-run home run, Furillo’s third hit of
the day. The Yankee pitcher struck out the next two batters, giving the Yankees
a chance to win the game in the bottom of the ninth.
Bauer
led off with a walk. One out later, Mickey Mantle hit a slow roller to third
base. While Mantle was always hobbled with a bad knee, he was fast enough to
beat out the infield base hit. The Series-clinching run was now at second with
Billy Martin at the plate. And the Yankee second baseman came through with a
single up the middle. Bauer rounded third and scored standing up, giving the
Yankees a 4-3 victory and another World Championship.
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