October 4th, 1955
World Series, Game 7
Brooklyn Dodgers at New York Yankees
Yankee Stadium, New York
“Wait
‘til next year” had been the rallying cry of the Brooklyn Dodgers for too many
years. The team had never won the World Series and they had lost their last
five appearances (1941, 1947, 1949, 1952 and 1953) to the New York Yankees. And
don’t forget their heart-breaking loss to the Giants in the tie-breaker playoff
in 1951. “Dem Bums” had always let their fans down in the end and 1955 looked
like it would be no different.
The
Series started in the Bronx with the Yankees winning the first two games by
scores of 6-5 and 4-2. The Dodgers had responded by winning all three games at
Ebbets Field with the scores being 8-3, 8-5 and 5-3. The Yankees evened the
series in Game 6 with a 5-1 win, setting up the seventh and deciding game.
Johnny
Podres would be the starting pitcher for Brooklyn while the Yankees would send
Tommy Byrne to the hill. Both pitchers shut down the opposition for the first
three innings and it was the Dodgers who got on the scoreboard first.
In
the top of the fourth, Gil Hodges singled to left field with two out, scoring
Roy Campanella. Two innings later, Brooklyn would up their lead to 2-0 on a
sacrifice fly by Hodges, scoring Pee Wee Reese.
Podres,
who had been sailing along through the first five innings, ran into some big
trouble in the bottom of the sixth. He walked Billy Martin to lead off the
inning. Gil McDougald followed with a single putting two runners on with none
out. The Yankee batter was Yogi Berra and he hit a fly ball down the left field
line that looked sure to be extra bases and would tie the game. But
left-fielder Sandy Amoros, ran as fast as he could and dived to catch the ball.
The Yankee runners, sure the ball would fall and making their way to the plate,
were now trying to scamper back to their respective bags. Martin made it back
to second, but McDougald was tagged before he could make it back to first. A
weak ground out ended the inning and the rally was stymied.
The
Yankees had runners on base in each of the seventh and eighth innings, but
failed to push any runs across. The Dodgers failed to score in any of those
innings and after the side was retired in the top of the ninth, the Dodgers
took their two-run lead to the bottom of the inning.
Dodger
fans must have been holding their collective breaths, hoping against all hope
that Brooklyn would finally win a World Series. Bill Skowron was the first
Yankee batter and he grounded the ball back to the mound. Podres grabbed it and
threw to Hodges for the first out. Next up was Bob Cerv and he flew to Amoros
for the second out.
The
last hope for the Yanks was Elston Howard and he grounded the ball to Reese at
short. Pee Wee scooped up the grounder and threw to Hodges for the final out.
The Dodgers were finally champions.
All
across Brooklyn, fans turned off their radios and left their homes and filled
the streets to celebrate. THIS was next year!!!
It
would be the only time the Dodgers won the World Series while in Brooklyn.
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