Jackie Robinson got the first hit for the Dodgers in the 1956 World Series. He was also their last batter in games six and seven. And for good measure, Jackie was the first Brooklyn baserunner in game three. Another Brooklyn / New York World Series. Another seven games (In fact, they'd gone seven the previous year!). Another classic. And Jackie provided some drama it what was to be his final act as a player!
Brooklyn, looking to repeat on their great triumph of '55, sent one of their arch-enemies, Sal Maglie to the hill in game one. But Sal had gone 13-5 with a 2.89 ERA, so he was the right man to be there. Better still, Sal had finally done something that season that all pitchers dream about, a no-hitter!
The Barber, as he was called, was purchased from the Cleveland Indians on May 15th, and the Dodgers had needed him. Over and over again he came through. But in the opening tilt, it was Mickey Mantle that smacked a two-run home run in the top of the first inning to give the visiting Yankees a 2-0 lead.
Whitey Ford, New York's starter, got the Dodgers in order in the bottom of the frame. But in the bottom of the second, it was Robinson hitting a home run of his own to lead it off. It proved to be the last round-tripper he would ever hit. Inspired by this, Brooklyn tied the game. And then, the next inning, it was Gil Hodges that smashed a three-run home run to put the Dodgers up 5-2.
Maglie allowed a solo blast by Billy Martin in top of the fourth, but the Dodgers the three-run lead back in the bottom of the frame on a single by Sandy Amoros. The score was 6-3, Brooklyn and it remained that way for the rest of the game.
Game two also went the way of the Dodgers, as they took it 13-8. But when the Series moved to Yankees Stadium for games three, four and five, it's as if the momentum shifted, too.
Jackie walked to start things in the top of the second against Whitey Ford in game three. He later crossed the plate with the first run. The Dodgers actually took a 2-1 lead into the bottom of the sixth inning. But a three-run home run by Enos Slaughter put New York up for good.
Robinson got a hit and a walk in game four, but this one was all New York. They thumped the Dodgers, 6-2. Jackie did score the last run of the game, and the Dodgers loaded the bases with just one out. But they could not get another man home. In the next game, it became even more difficult.
Sal Maglie was back. Actually, he had just appeared on the show, "What's My Line" the day before. His performance that game would have normally won many a game for Brooklyn. In the World Series, you need these performances. But the Yankees got a perfect game from Don Larsen. And on only five hits and two runs (one on another Mickey Mantle special), New York took game five of the 1956 World Series, 2-0. Now, they led three games to two.
In game six, back at the Taj Mahal of Brooklyn's Ebbet's Field, more good pitching. This time, it would prove to be enough for the Dodgers to prevail and square this series at three.
The problem for Brooklyn in this game was, while Clem Labine tossed a complete-game shutout, Bob Turley stayed right with him. It was a pitcher's duel that was not far off Maglie / Larsen's efforts in game five.
Jackie popped out to leave a man on in the bottom of the first frame. He drew a walk in the bottom of the fourth, but was stranded. The Dodgers looked like they were due for a breakout when Turley walked two men in the bottom of the sixth. There was just one out when Robinson came to bat. But all Jackie could do was pop out. When Gil Hodges did the same, the inning was over.
In the bottom of the eighth, Brooklyn got a leadoff ground-rule double from Clem Labine, who seemed to be doing it all on this day. But Turley fanned Jim Gilliam (before the day was over, Bullet Bob would finish with 11 K's). Pee Wee Reese flied out to Mickey Mantle in centre. Then the other great centerfielder in this Fall Classic, Duke Snider, was given an intentional walk. But Jackie Robinson popped out to third to end the inning.
Labine finished the ninth inning with a shutout, and got New York 1-2-3 in the top of the tenth inning. But he had only five strikeouts. The Yankees had gotten seven hits off him.
In the bottom of the frame, Labine himself popped up to Billy Martin at second. Gilliam drew Turley's seventh walk of the afternoon. Reese, hitless on the day, bunted to Turley, who got it to first for the second out. Gilliam was now on second and Snider was now at the dish. Turley walked him intentionally. And, leave it to Jackie to finish it!
Lashing a single over Enos Slaughter's head in left, Gilliam trotted home with the winning run. The 1956 World Series would go to a deciding seventh game. But it turned out to be anti-climatic.
The Yankees stormed out of the game, going for the quick kill of Don Newcombe and Brooklyn in game seven. Hank Bauer singled and stole second to start things. But Newk fanned Billy Martin and Mickey Mantle. Against Berra, he got a little to careful and Yogi smashed a home run over the tall wall in right. It was 2-0, New York. Bill Skowron fanned to end it. Newk had fanned the side, but he and the Dodgers needed Jackie and his mates to get him some runs. They failed to do so.
Johnny Kucks, not exactly a good pitcher, started the game for New York. Jim Gilliam grounded out to Skowron at first, but Reese walked and Snider (the first of two hits for the Duke) singled. The tying run was on first just like that. A hit by Jackie here could tie the game. Alas, Robinson hit into an inning-ending double-play. As it turns out, the Dodgers would never get another chance to win this game.
Newk had a easy inning in the top of the second, despite a walk. But Brooklyn went down 1-2-3 as Kucks' confidence must have soared. And, in the top of the third, it all came undone for Don Newcombe and company.
Bauer grounded out, but Martin singled. Newk fanned Mantle again. Now, all that remained was Berra, as had been the case in the first. But Yogi again went yard. As he rounded the bases, Yogi said to Newk, who had been widely criticized for his failure to win a game in the World Series, "It was a good pitch, Newk!" Newcombe nodded in agreement, but New York was now up 4-0. Skowron popped up. But Brooklyn's bats just were failing them. And worse, it was against three pitchers (Larsen, Turley and now Kucks), who weren't exactly in Whitey Ford's class.
Brooklyn went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the frame, and Elston Howard's home run to lead off the top of the fourth inning finished off Newcombe and the Dodgers. Don Bessent, as he had all series long, came in and shut down the Yankees. No one will ever remember that.
Reese led off the bottom of the fourth with a walk. But Duke Snider forced him at second. Robinson tried to bunt, but it ended up being a harmless pop up. Hodges grounded out.
Bessent held the Yankees scoreless in the top of the fifth and sixth, but Kuck retired Brooklyn in order in the meantime. Then, in the seventh inning (Bessent having bee pinch hit for in the bottom of the 6th), Skowron hit a grand slam off Roger Craig to make it 9-0, Yankees.
Snider popped out in the bottom of the frame, but Robinson drew a walk. Gil Hodges then did what you don't want to do in these situations: he grounded into an inning-ending double play!
Ed Roebuck had got the last three men out in the bottom of the seventh. In the eighth, he had a 1-2-3 inning. Carl Erskine also had a 1-2-3 ninth for the Dodgers. But this was all too late. And with no offence to speak off, it was also pretty useless, even if New York had only scored a single tally.
The Dodgers got their second hit of Johnny Kucks in the bottom of the eighth by Carl Furillo, but it led nowhere. And in the bottom of the ninth, the defiant Dodgers came up one last time in the World Series as the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Gilliam grounded out to Skowron at first. Reese tried to bunt, but ended up popping out to Berra behind the plate. Duke Snider collected his second hit of the game. But it was with two outs and it was also just the third hit of the game for the Dodgers. Jackie Robinson struck out, but the ball got away from Yogi and Robinson dashed to first and Snider to second. But Robinson did not make it in time. Brooklyn had lost, 9-0. It was a sad end for the Brooklyn Dodgers.
The Dodgers would never return to the World Series in Brooklyn. Jackie Robinson had played his last game. From his rookie season in 1947 to 1956, Brooklyn had reached the World Series six of those years. Some of the other important Dodgers of 1956 would also not be there when they returned to the fall classic in 1959: Newcombe, Maglie, Campanella and Erskine!
But by 1958 it was the Los Angeles Dodgers. The 1956 World Series marked the end of a glorious era in baseball from the Yankees, Dodgers and Giants. All had been great for long enough that their memory still lingers on nearly sixty years later!
Golenbock, Peter. Dynasty: The New York Yankees, 1949-1964. Lincolnwood, IL: Contemporary, 2000. Print.
Neft, David S., Richard M. Cohen, and Michael L. Neft. The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball, 1992. 12th ed. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992. Print.
Nemec, David et all. 20th Century Baseball Chronicle: A Year-by-year History of Major League Baseball. Collector's Edition. Lincolnwood, Ill: Publications International, 1993. Print.
Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 25 Jun. 2014.
Thorn, John, and Pete Palmer. Total Baseball. Vers. 1994. Portland, OR: Creative Multimedia Corp., 1994. Computer software. CD-ROM.
Fonseca, Lew, director. World Series Of 1956. Performance by Lew Fonseca, Major League Baseball Productions, 1956. DVD.
Brooklyn, looking to repeat on their great triumph of '55, sent one of their arch-enemies, Sal Maglie to the hill in game one. But Sal had gone 13-5 with a 2.89 ERA, so he was the right man to be there. Better still, Sal had finally done something that season that all pitchers dream about, a no-hitter!
The Barber, as he was called, was purchased from the Cleveland Indians on May 15th, and the Dodgers had needed him. Over and over again he came through. But in the opening tilt, it was Mickey Mantle that smacked a two-run home run in the top of the first inning to give the visiting Yankees a 2-0 lead.
Whitey Ford, New York's starter, got the Dodgers in order in the bottom of the frame. But in the bottom of the second, it was Robinson hitting a home run of his own to lead it off. It proved to be the last round-tripper he would ever hit. Inspired by this, Brooklyn tied the game. And then, the next inning, it was Gil Hodges that smashed a three-run home run to put the Dodgers up 5-2.
Maglie allowed a solo blast by Billy Martin in top of the fourth, but the Dodgers the three-run lead back in the bottom of the frame on a single by Sandy Amoros. The score was 6-3, Brooklyn and it remained that way for the rest of the game.
Game two also went the way of the Dodgers, as they took it 13-8. But when the Series moved to Yankees Stadium for games three, four and five, it's as if the momentum shifted, too.
Jackie walked to start things in the top of the second against Whitey Ford in game three. He later crossed the plate with the first run. The Dodgers actually took a 2-1 lead into the bottom of the sixth inning. But a three-run home run by Enos Slaughter put New York up for good.
Robinson got a hit and a walk in game four, but this one was all New York. They thumped the Dodgers, 6-2. Jackie did score the last run of the game, and the Dodgers loaded the bases with just one out. But they could not get another man home. In the next game, it became even more difficult.
Sal Maglie was back. Actually, he had just appeared on the show, "What's My Line" the day before. His performance that game would have normally won many a game for Brooklyn. In the World Series, you need these performances. But the Yankees got a perfect game from Don Larsen. And on only five hits and two runs (one on another Mickey Mantle special), New York took game five of the 1956 World Series, 2-0. Now, they led three games to two.
In game six, back at the Taj Mahal of Brooklyn's Ebbet's Field, more good pitching. This time, it would prove to be enough for the Dodgers to prevail and square this series at three.
The problem for Brooklyn in this game was, while Clem Labine tossed a complete-game shutout, Bob Turley stayed right with him. It was a pitcher's duel that was not far off Maglie / Larsen's efforts in game five.
Jackie popped out to leave a man on in the bottom of the first frame. He drew a walk in the bottom of the fourth, but was stranded. The Dodgers looked like they were due for a breakout when Turley walked two men in the bottom of the sixth. There was just one out when Robinson came to bat. But all Jackie could do was pop out. When Gil Hodges did the same, the inning was over.
In the bottom of the eighth, Brooklyn got a leadoff ground-rule double from Clem Labine, who seemed to be doing it all on this day. But Turley fanned Jim Gilliam (before the day was over, Bullet Bob would finish with 11 K's). Pee Wee Reese flied out to Mickey Mantle in centre. Then the other great centerfielder in this Fall Classic, Duke Snider, was given an intentional walk. But Jackie Robinson popped out to third to end the inning.
Labine finished the ninth inning with a shutout, and got New York 1-2-3 in the top of the tenth inning. But he had only five strikeouts. The Yankees had gotten seven hits off him.
In the bottom of the frame, Labine himself popped up to Billy Martin at second. Gilliam drew Turley's seventh walk of the afternoon. Reese, hitless on the day, bunted to Turley, who got it to first for the second out. Gilliam was now on second and Snider was now at the dish. Turley walked him intentionally. And, leave it to Jackie to finish it!
Lashing a single over Enos Slaughter's head in left, Gilliam trotted home with the winning run. The 1956 World Series would go to a deciding seventh game. But it turned out to be anti-climatic.
The Yankees stormed out of the game, going for the quick kill of Don Newcombe and Brooklyn in game seven. Hank Bauer singled and stole second to start things. But Newk fanned Billy Martin and Mickey Mantle. Against Berra, he got a little to careful and Yogi smashed a home run over the tall wall in right. It was 2-0, New York. Bill Skowron fanned to end it. Newk had fanned the side, but he and the Dodgers needed Jackie and his mates to get him some runs. They failed to do so.
Johnny Kucks, not exactly a good pitcher, started the game for New York. Jim Gilliam grounded out to Skowron at first, but Reese walked and Snider (the first of two hits for the Duke) singled. The tying run was on first just like that. A hit by Jackie here could tie the game. Alas, Robinson hit into an inning-ending double-play. As it turns out, the Dodgers would never get another chance to win this game.
Newk had a easy inning in the top of the second, despite a walk. But Brooklyn went down 1-2-3 as Kucks' confidence must have soared. And, in the top of the third, it all came undone for Don Newcombe and company.
Bauer grounded out, but Martin singled. Newk fanned Mantle again. Now, all that remained was Berra, as had been the case in the first. But Yogi again went yard. As he rounded the bases, Yogi said to Newk, who had been widely criticized for his failure to win a game in the World Series, "It was a good pitch, Newk!" Newcombe nodded in agreement, but New York was now up 4-0. Skowron popped up. But Brooklyn's bats just were failing them. And worse, it was against three pitchers (Larsen, Turley and now Kucks), who weren't exactly in Whitey Ford's class.
Brooklyn went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the frame, and Elston Howard's home run to lead off the top of the fourth inning finished off Newcombe and the Dodgers. Don Bessent, as he had all series long, came in and shut down the Yankees. No one will ever remember that.
Reese led off the bottom of the fourth with a walk. But Duke Snider forced him at second. Robinson tried to bunt, but it ended up being a harmless pop up. Hodges grounded out.
Bessent held the Yankees scoreless in the top of the fifth and sixth, but Kuck retired Brooklyn in order in the meantime. Then, in the seventh inning (Bessent having bee pinch hit for in the bottom of the 6th), Skowron hit a grand slam off Roger Craig to make it 9-0, Yankees.
Snider popped out in the bottom of the frame, but Robinson drew a walk. Gil Hodges then did what you don't want to do in these situations: he grounded into an inning-ending double play!
Ed Roebuck had got the last three men out in the bottom of the seventh. In the eighth, he had a 1-2-3 inning. Carl Erskine also had a 1-2-3 ninth for the Dodgers. But this was all too late. And with no offence to speak off, it was also pretty useless, even if New York had only scored a single tally.
The Dodgers got their second hit of Johnny Kucks in the bottom of the eighth by Carl Furillo, but it led nowhere. And in the bottom of the ninth, the defiant Dodgers came up one last time in the World Series as the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Gilliam grounded out to Skowron at first. Reese tried to bunt, but ended up popping out to Berra behind the plate. Duke Snider collected his second hit of the game. But it was with two outs and it was also just the third hit of the game for the Dodgers. Jackie Robinson struck out, but the ball got away from Yogi and Robinson dashed to first and Snider to second. But Robinson did not make it in time. Brooklyn had lost, 9-0. It was a sad end for the Brooklyn Dodgers.
The Dodgers would never return to the World Series in Brooklyn. Jackie Robinson had played his last game. From his rookie season in 1947 to 1956, Brooklyn had reached the World Series six of those years. Some of the other important Dodgers of 1956 would also not be there when they returned to the fall classic in 1959: Newcombe, Maglie, Campanella and Erskine!
But by 1958 it was the Los Angeles Dodgers. The 1956 World Series marked the end of a glorious era in baseball from the Yankees, Dodgers and Giants. All had been great for long enough that their memory still lingers on nearly sixty years later!
References
Enders, Eric. 100 years of the World Series. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. 2005. Print.
Golenbock, Peter. Dynasty: The New York Yankees, 1949-1964. Lincolnwood, IL: Contemporary, 2000. Print.
Neft, David S., Richard M. Cohen, and Michael L. Neft. The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball, 1992. 12th ed. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992. Print.
Nemec, David et all. 20th Century Baseball Chronicle: A Year-by-year History of Major League Baseball. Collector's Edition. Lincolnwood, Ill: Publications International, 1993. Print.
Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 25 Jun. 2014.
Thorn, John, and Pete Palmer. Total Baseball. Vers. 1994. Portland, OR: Creative Multimedia Corp., 1994. Computer software. CD-ROM.
Fonseca, Lew, director. World Series Of 1956. Performance by Lew Fonseca, Major League Baseball Productions, 1956. DVD.
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