World Series: Did You Know?

The Brooklyn Dodgers were one strike away from tying the 1941 Fall Classic at two games. Then, the wheels came of the chariot. The irony was, they got the strike. But Brooklyn couldn't hold on to it.

The 1941 World Series marked the first ever Brooklyn / New York matchup in October, but the Yankees were clearly the better team. Brooklyn had been locked in a tight pennant with St. Louis, who would pretty much own the National League from 1942 to 1946.

So New York won the first two games at home in the October Classic of '41. In Brooklyn for game three at Ebbets Field, it was the Dodgers taking it, 2-1. And game four only seemed better for the Brooklyn faithful.

Brooklyn, down 3-0 at one point, scored four times to go ahead 4-3 after eight. Three more outs by Hugh Casey and this thing was in the books. And Casey got the first two batters out on infield grounders. Tommy Henrich was all that stood between the Dodgers and a tie Fall Classic.

And Henrich did swing and miss at it, but that game did not end. Rather sadly for Brooklyn, the third strike was dropped by catcher Mickey Owen. Henrich motored to first. New York was still alive.

Joe DiMaggio was at the dish, and itchin' to do some damage. He singled to left and now the go-ahead run was on. Charlie Keller scored both baserunners scored to make it a 5-4 ballgame for the Bronx Bombers. The Yankees were not done. They scored twice more on a Bill Dickey walk and a Joe Gordon single. That made it 7-4, Yankees. Johnny Murphy, who'd gotten Brooklyn 1-2-3 in the bottom of the eighth, did likewise in the bottom of the ninth. Instead of it being a 2-2 Fall Classic, it was now 3-1, New York.

The Yankees took game five, 3-1, with Tiny Bonham retiring the Dodgers on three pitches in the bottom of the seventh, and were on top of the world again in 1941. Brooklyn would have to be content with their surprising pennant that year. However, no one knew at the time, that the great Yankees / Dodgers rivalry would be born. The teams would meet again twice more that decade and four more times in the 1950s. A move to Los Angeles in 1958 meant the rivalry became a little stagnant, but Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale pitched the Dodgers to a win that World Series. After meeting twice more in the 1970s, the last such meeting between these two clubs occurred in 1981. In all, the teams met eleven times in the Fall Classic, with New York holding an 8-3 advantage head-to-head.

References

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Baseball Almanac, Inc. “Baseball Almanac: Baseball History, Baseball Records and Baseball Research. Baseball Almanac, Inc. Web. 21 May 2015, <http://www.baseball-almanac.com>.

Enders, Eric. 100 Years Of The World Series. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. 2005. 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.

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