"Pitched a no-hitter for the Yankees in the World Series, subsequently lost a game to Hoyt Wilhelm via one against."
Don Larsen came out of nowhere in 1956 to help the Yankees win the Fall Classic. He'd been 10-33 in two seasons with the St. Louis Browns / Baltimore Orioles in 1953 and 1954. (The franchise moved after 1953). But his move to New York brought about more questions than answers.
He'd went 9-2 with a nice ERA of 3.06 in '55, his first year with the Bronx Bombers. But the Brooklyn Dodgers handed him his first World Series loss in game four of the Fall Classic. The next year, Larsen went 11-5, saw his ERA climb and he posted an ERA of 3.26. These numbers are actually pretty good for a 3rd/4th starter. The Yankees used Whitey Ford as their #1 guy in the 1950s. At this point, an old teammate of Larsen's on Baltimore, Bob Turley, was seeing at lot of action on the mound. There was no question he was better than Larsen. To begin with, Bob was 14-15 on the 1954 Orioles. Larsen was 3-21. You read that right.
Bob improved to 17-13 in 1955, then slumped to 8-4. But what about the World Series that year? Larsen was hammered in game 2, not even making it out of the 2nd inning against Brooklyn. Following Don Larsen's perfect game in the fifth contest, Bob Turley went out to seal the deal at Ebbets Field in the sixth game.
And Turley had been good. 1-2-3 inning in the 1st game, with 2 K's. He'd then fanned the only batter he face in game 2. So he liked to pitch at Ebbets? Well, he'd also lost game 3 of the 1955 Classic, which would have put his team up 3-0. A year later, despite 9 2/3 innings of shutout ball, Bob lost 1-0 to Clem Labine in the sixth game. The Yankees won it in the winner-take-all seventh contest. Bob and Don did not appear.
Both made key contributions the next season and in the World Series. Don won 11, and lost just 5. Bob won 13, and lost only 6. But the difference was ERA. Turley's was 2.71 and Larsen's 3.74. In the World Series, though, Larsen came to the rescue of Turley in the 3rd game against Milwaukee.
It was time for Turley to exit without getting six man out to start the game. Larsen took over, and won the game 12-3. Turley was not done. This time, he won game six, which the Yankees needed. Larsen was beaten 5-0 in game seven, alas.
So in 1958, Turley won 21 games and 2 more in the Fall Classic, walking away with the MVP. Whitey Ford, unlike 1955-1957, did not win a single game in the World Series. Don Larsen, did. In fact, he won a key game. The Yankees trailed 2-0 against the Braves. At home for game three, Larsen and another product of the St. Louis Browns, Ryne Duren, shut 'em out, 4-0. When Larsen took the hill in game seven, he seemed poised for another win, but it was Turley in relief who got it.
So there. I've established Larsen as a solid #3 guy in the New York Yankees rotation from 1955-1958 (Don would ultimately be shipped out of New York following a disappointing 6-7 season in 1959). But in 1958, Larsen won 9 games again, and again had a good ERA, 3.07. But he should have won 10 games and not lost 6. 10-5 should have been his record.
The Baltimore Orioles rolled out a recent acquisition from Cleveland against New York on September 20, 1958. That by the name of Hoyt Wilhelm. Wilhelm was no stranger to good pitching. He'd led the league in ERA in 1952 as a rookie relief pitcher. Then, for the New York Giants in 1954, he helped that team sweep the Cleveland Indians in the World Series that year. Cleveland was soon the next stop for Hoyt. And then Baltimore late in 1958.
Wilhelm started this game at home, and Larsen matched him pitch for pitch. Though his record was just 2-10 coming in, Wilhelm made this a game for the ages.
Larsen wasn't too bad himself.
The game was in Baltimore. And after Wilhelm got New York out 1-2-3 in the top of the first, it Bob Boyd, the second batter who Larsen faced who singled. But with one out, that was the only man to reach against Don that inning. Larsen got ex-Yankee Gene Woodling out on a fly and Bob Nieman out on a liner.
Neither pitched allowed a man to first base in the 2nd. In the 3rd, it was Bobby Richardson who walked for the Yankees. Hoyt Wilhelm himself reached on an error in the bottom of the frame. Jerry Lumpe got the second Yankee walk with one down the next inning, making it to second on a passed ball. But Mickey Mantle flied to centre and Moose Skowron grounded out.
Larsen allowed a walk in the fifth and sixth, but neither scored. When he was through after six innings, Don had allowed just one hit and two walks. His successor, Bobby Shantz, wasn't so lucky. In two innings, he surrendered a run and gave up four hits. That was all Hoyt Wilhelm needed.
As it turns out, Lumpe was the last man to reach first safely off Wilhelm. He finished with no hits and no runs allowed. Hoyt fanned 8 in the no-no.
Enders, Eric. 100 Years Of The World Series. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. 2005. Print.
Ford, Whitey, and Phil Pepe. Slick. New York: W. Morrow, 1987. Print.
Freedman, Lew. Knuckleball: The History Of The Unhittable Pitch. Sports Publishing, 2015.
Gallagher, Mark. Explosion!: Mickey Mantle's Legendary Home Runs. New York: Arbor House, 1987. Print.
Golenbock, Peter. Dynasty: The New York Yankees, 1949-1964. Lincolnwood, IL: Contemporary, 2000. Print.
Mantle, Mickey, and Mickey Herskowitz. All My Octobers: My Memories of Twelve World Series When the Yankees Ruled Baseball. New York: HarperCollins, 1994. 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.
Neft, David S., and Richard M. Cohen. The World Series: Complete Play-by-play of Every Game, 1903-1989. 4th ed. New York: St. Martin's, 1990. 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.
Retrosheet. Web. 27 Feb. 2018. <www.retrosheet.org>
Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 27 Feb. 2018.
Whiteford, Mike, and Taylor Jones. How To Talk Baseball. Revised ed. New York: Dembner, 1987. Print.
Don Larsen came out of nowhere in 1956 to help the Yankees win the Fall Classic. He'd been 10-33 in two seasons with the St. Louis Browns / Baltimore Orioles in 1953 and 1954. (The franchise moved after 1953). But his move to New York brought about more questions than answers.
He'd went 9-2 with a nice ERA of 3.06 in '55, his first year with the Bronx Bombers. But the Brooklyn Dodgers handed him his first World Series loss in game four of the Fall Classic. The next year, Larsen went 11-5, saw his ERA climb and he posted an ERA of 3.26. These numbers are actually pretty good for a 3rd/4th starter. The Yankees used Whitey Ford as their #1 guy in the 1950s. At this point, an old teammate of Larsen's on Baltimore, Bob Turley, was seeing at lot of action on the mound. There was no question he was better than Larsen. To begin with, Bob was 14-15 on the 1954 Orioles. Larsen was 3-21. You read that right.
Bob improved to 17-13 in 1955, then slumped to 8-4. But what about the World Series that year? Larsen was hammered in game 2, not even making it out of the 2nd inning against Brooklyn. Following Don Larsen's perfect game in the fifth contest, Bob Turley went out to seal the deal at Ebbets Field in the sixth game.
And Turley had been good. 1-2-3 inning in the 1st game, with 2 K's. He'd then fanned the only batter he face in game 2. So he liked to pitch at Ebbets? Well, he'd also lost game 3 of the 1955 Classic, which would have put his team up 3-0. A year later, despite 9 2/3 innings of shutout ball, Bob lost 1-0 to Clem Labine in the sixth game. The Yankees won it in the winner-take-all seventh contest. Bob and Don did not appear.
Both made key contributions the next season and in the World Series. Don won 11, and lost just 5. Bob won 13, and lost only 6. But the difference was ERA. Turley's was 2.71 and Larsen's 3.74. In the World Series, though, Larsen came to the rescue of Turley in the 3rd game against Milwaukee.
It was time for Turley to exit without getting six man out to start the game. Larsen took over, and won the game 12-3. Turley was not done. This time, he won game six, which the Yankees needed. Larsen was beaten 5-0 in game seven, alas.
So in 1958, Turley won 21 games and 2 more in the Fall Classic, walking away with the MVP. Whitey Ford, unlike 1955-1957, did not win a single game in the World Series. Don Larsen, did. In fact, he won a key game. The Yankees trailed 2-0 against the Braves. At home for game three, Larsen and another product of the St. Louis Browns, Ryne Duren, shut 'em out, 4-0. When Larsen took the hill in game seven, he seemed poised for another win, but it was Turley in relief who got it.
So there. I've established Larsen as a solid #3 guy in the New York Yankees rotation from 1955-1958 (Don would ultimately be shipped out of New York following a disappointing 6-7 season in 1959). But in 1958, Larsen won 9 games again, and again had a good ERA, 3.07. But he should have won 10 games and not lost 6. 10-5 should have been his record.
The Baltimore Orioles rolled out a recent acquisition from Cleveland against New York on September 20, 1958. That by the name of Hoyt Wilhelm. Wilhelm was no stranger to good pitching. He'd led the league in ERA in 1952 as a rookie relief pitcher. Then, for the New York Giants in 1954, he helped that team sweep the Cleveland Indians in the World Series that year. Cleveland was soon the next stop for Hoyt. And then Baltimore late in 1958.
Wilhelm started this game at home, and Larsen matched him pitch for pitch. Though his record was just 2-10 coming in, Wilhelm made this a game for the ages.
Larsen wasn't too bad himself.
The game was in Baltimore. And after Wilhelm got New York out 1-2-3 in the top of the first, it Bob Boyd, the second batter who Larsen faced who singled. But with one out, that was the only man to reach against Don that inning. Larsen got ex-Yankee Gene Woodling out on a fly and Bob Nieman out on a liner.
Neither pitched allowed a man to first base in the 2nd. In the 3rd, it was Bobby Richardson who walked for the Yankees. Hoyt Wilhelm himself reached on an error in the bottom of the frame. Jerry Lumpe got the second Yankee walk with one down the next inning, making it to second on a passed ball. But Mickey Mantle flied to centre and Moose Skowron grounded out.
Larsen allowed a walk in the fifth and sixth, but neither scored. When he was through after six innings, Don had allowed just one hit and two walks. His successor, Bobby Shantz, wasn't so lucky. In two innings, he surrendered a run and gave up four hits. That was all Hoyt Wilhelm needed.
As it turns out, Lumpe was the last man to reach first safely off Wilhelm. He finished with no hits and no runs allowed. Hoyt fanned 8 in the no-no.
References
Enders, Eric. 100 Years Of The World Series. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. 2005. Print.
Ford, Whitey, and Phil Pepe. Slick. New York: W. Morrow, 1987. Print.
Freedman, Lew. Knuckleball: The History Of The Unhittable Pitch. Sports Publishing, 2015.
Golenbock, Peter. Dynasty: The New York Yankees, 1949-1964. Lincolnwood, IL: Contemporary, 2000. Print.
Mantle, Mickey, and Mickey Herskowitz. All My Octobers: My Memories of Twelve World Series When the Yankees Ruled Baseball. New York: HarperCollins, 1994. 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.
Neft, David S., and Richard M. Cohen. The World Series: Complete Play-by-play of Every Game, 1903-1989. 4th ed. New York: St. Martin's, 1990. Print.
Retrosheet. Web. 27 Feb. 2018. <www.retrosheet.org>
Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 27 Feb. 2018.
Whiteford, Mike, and Taylor Jones. How To Talk Baseball. Revised ed. New York: Dembner, 1987. Print.
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