Wednesday, October 14, 2015

World Series: Did You Know?

Game five of the 1949 Fall Classic, not game four of the 1971 October Fest, was the first to be played under the lights. The game in '71 was the first to start under the lights.

The game, the usual Yankees / Dodgers tilt, saw Brooklyn at home trying to send it back to the Big, Bad Bronx for games six, or maybe even seven. It was 3-1, New York, but this one had been a tight one all the way. Game five, however, looked like a route.

The Yankees didn't want to return home, and made it clear with their start to this one, right in enemy territory. The Dodgers had a habit of coming back. New York had won game one, 1-0. Brooklyn took the second, by the same score.



Game three was at Ebbets Field and New York eked out a 4-3 win. A 6-4 win in game four was almost a Yankee collapse, as they took a 6-0 lead before the Dodgers clawed back with four runs. Here, in game five, it was 10-1 after 5 1/2. New York had knocked Rex Barney out. Anyone else who dared take the mound was in for a long day.

But Brooklyn, with their small park, wasn't about to go away quietly. They scratched across one run in the bottom of the sixth to make it 10-2. Then, they really woke up the next inning.

Jackie Robinson, playing in his second World Series, knocked another in with a sacrifice fly to make it 10-3. Gil Hodges scored three more with a three-run home run. That made it 10-6. It's such a little park. A four-run lead wasn't safe. Case and point. Joe Page, the Yankee relief ace, came in to fan Luis Olmo to finally end the inning. But Brooklyn had two more innings to go.

Erv Palica pitched the top of the eighth for Brookly. He couldn't afford to allow any more runs. Quickly, he got Tommy Henrich and Yogi Berra. But then Joe DiMaggio walked. Bobby Brown singled The Yankee Clipper to second. Palica got Gene Woodling to fly out to end that.

Page, though, was equal to the task. He was out there to settle this nonsense. He got Brooklyn 1-2-3 in the bottom of the eighth, to put New York three outs away. Could they add anything more to the cause in the top of the frame?

Paul Minner was one to pitch. After getting Cliff Mapes on a fly to Olmo in left, it was Jerry Coleman with a double. Joe Page batted for himself. After all, who would stop the Dodgers in their half? But all Page could do is ground back to the mound. Coleman stayed at second. Phil Rizzuto lined to Gene Hermanski in right. Time to turn the page to Joe for the last of the ninth. It was an eventful one. Because at some point during all this, the lights were turned on at Ebbets Field. The Dodgers seemed to wake up again, and come on strong.

Eddie Miksis batted for Spider Jorgensen, and lashed a double to put Page on the edge. Joe settled down and got the dangerous Duke Snider out on a swing and a miss for strike three. A home run here could make it 10-8, and Page didn't want that. He followed crowning Duke Snider by fanning Jackie Robinson for the second out. The game, however, continued when Hermanski walked. Gil Hodges was up. He knew how to go yard. If he did, the Dodgers were within a run. New York scored twice in the top of the first and were up 5-0 before Brooklyn scored its first run. So it had been all New York. However, Brooklyn was fighting back.

Page fanned Hodges to end it. The Dodgers ended up with as many hits (11) as the Yankees, but in the end, it was New York with a five-game triumph. Even though it had been short in terms of games, New York didn't turn the lights out until the last of the ninth on Brooklyn. The Dodgers were awake through it all and just didn't see the light of reality that their rivals were taking them down.



Night baseball had made it's way to the World Series. Game four of 1971, as mentioned earlier, was the first to start after the sun's descent. By 1985, all games were being played at prime time. The Fall Classic should be played with stars on the field and in the sky, right?


References


Fonseca, Lew, director. World Series Of 1949. A.G. Spalding And Bros. / Major League Baseball, 1949.

Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. (14 Oct. 2015).

"1949 World Series ‐ New York Yankees vs Brooklyn Dodgers | Enlighten Me." Enlighten Me. 2013.  http://enlightenme.com/1949-world-series/. Web. (14 Oct. 2015).

Youtubehttps://www.youtube.com/. Web. (14 Oct. 2015)

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