Johnny Podres' two wins in 1955 were his only two complete games in the Fall Classic.
Amazing to think, given how Podres was so clutch in the postseason. But going into the 1955 World Series, the Brooklyn Dodgers' left-hander didn't seem like he'd poise much of a threat to the New York Yankees. Two years earlier, when Podres was a rookie, the Yankees had met the Dodgers in the Fall Classic. Podres went 9-4 that year, showing plenty of promise. However, his earned run average was over four.
And New York beat him 11-7 to the fifth game of the 1953 Fall Classic. Oddly enough, New York managed just one hit off the Dodger pitcher in a short (2 2/3 inning) start. However, it was one of those games where the pitcher simply wasn't doing his job. Podres walked two batters, hit a another, and watched as an infield error didn't help the situation. With a run home and the bases loaded, Johhny Podres was removed rather than face Mickey Mantle.
But the Commerce Comet greeted new pitcher Russ Meyer with a home run. The grand slam turned a 2-1 game into a 6-1 Yankee advantage.
The Dodgers lost that series in six, then watched as the Yankees took the first two games when the two teams met up again in 1955. But Johnny Podres, the game three starter for Brooklyn, just hadn't made any progress. He was 11-7 in 1954, but his earned run average was too high to be the ace of the staff, 4.27. While he'd lowered his ERA to a respectable 3.95 the next season, but Johnny's record was just 9-10.
There seemed to be little doubt that New York was going to win the 1955 Fall Classic. This Dodgers team had tremendous pitching, however.
Don Newcombe, a 20-game winner in 1955. Newk had lost game one of the 1955 Fall Classic. Billy Loes was 10-4, but the Yankees beat him in the second World Series contest.
It was almost too easy to overlook Johnny Podres, as going down the list of Brooklyn's quality pitchers that year can take a while. A third starter, Carl Erskine, had a no-hitter to his name three years earlier, and had finished 1955 11-8. Another star pitcher was spot starter Clem Labine, who won 13 games and saved 11. There were also three promising kids that got in some time as starters. There was Roger Craig, who looked very good in limited duty. There was Karl Spooner, who threw really hard. Another flame-thrower was a rookie lefty named Sandy Koufax. Although only 2-2, Koufax's 3.02 earned run average was impressive enough for the team to add him to the postseason roster.
But none of these men were about to make the impact that Johnny Podres would in this World Series.
Sure, it had been a rough road for Brooklyn at Yankees Stadium in the first two contests of the 1955 October Classic. But at least, as was the case in 1953, that they were coming home for the next trio of games. If the Dodgers could win at least one.
Unlike in '53, the Dodgers took all three contests at Ebbets Field. It was Podres that got Brooklyn back on track.
Ahead 2-0 after one inning, a tough frame awaited the Dodgers' lefty in the top of the second. Mickey Mantle greeted him with a home run, and Phil Rizzuto (In his last Fall Classic) added a run scoring single to tie it. Johnny Podres was great from then on, however.
Brooklyn retook the lead in the bottom of the inning. The Dodgers put up another "2" on the scoreboard to double up the Yankees. Roy Campanella and Carl Furillo collected an RBI each in the last of the fourth to make it 6-2 for the home team. Though New York got one run back in the top of the seventh, they were done scoring. The Dodgers weren't. Another two-run inning made the final 8-3.
Wins by scores of 8-5 and 5-3 saw the 1955 World Series heading back to Yankee Stadium. The Dodgers were one win away. Brooklyn had never beaten New York in the World Series. The Dodgers hadn't won a World Title at all. Brooklyn were so close now. But then again, in 1952, they'd led New York 3-2 going back to Ebbets Field, only to have the Yankees win both contests there.
Well, it was Whitey Ford that took care of any thoughts of Brooklyn making it four wins in a row here in 1955. Ford was awesome in the sixth game, winning it 5-1, for his second W of the Fall Classic. A winner-take-all game seven awaited.
It was Johnny Podres vs. Tommy Byrne.
Though the game stayed scoreless, you never bet against the Yankees. With two away in the bottom of the third, Phil Rizzuto walked. Billy Martin singled. Then the Dodgers caught a break. Gil McDougald singled. But instead of scoring a run, or at the very least loading the bases, the ball hit Rizzuto, who was sliding into third, and the inning was over.
And, on cue, the Dodgers made the Yankees pay for that missed opportunity. In the top of the fourth, Roy Campanella doubled with one out. Then with two away, it was Gil Hodges who drove him home with a single.
New York got a leadoff double but nothing more in their half of the inning. Brooklyn didn't score in the top of the fifth, but in the sixth, opportunity came knocking again for Gil Hodges. Pee Wee Reese lead off with a single. Duke Snider reached when first basemen Moose Skowron made an error. Roy Campanella got both runners into scoring position with a bunt. Tommy Byrne then put Carl Furillo on intentionally. Furillo was the last batter Byrne would face.
Bob Grim was the new pitcher. Greeting him with a sac fly was Gil Hodges. 2-0, Brooklyn. But all the Dodgers had to do was wait until the bottom of the inning for the Yankees to mount another threat.
Billy Martin started it off with a walk. Gil McDougald bunted, but he was not trying to sacrifice. The ball rolled up the third base line, and Johnny Podres raced for it. His throw to first was too late.
Yogi Berra, who would set many a World Series record, was back up. He sent a long fly ball to left. Defensive sub Sandy Amoros raced over...And made an amazing catch. Both runners had been sure it was a catch, and Gil McDougald was doubled off first.
All that didn't end the threat. Billy Martin was still on second. Johnny Podres got Hank Bauer to ground out. There was still plenty of time left for New York to come back. Bob Grim and Bob Turley stopped the Brooklyn offence the next two innings, and the home team had another crack at tying this game in the bottom of the eighth.
Phil Rizzuto lead off, and singled. One out later, Gil McDougald rammed one to third. Don Hoak could not come up with it, and the Yankees had something going again. Runners on the corners. This time, there would be no double play to help the Dodgers. It was all up to their pitcher to take care of business.
Yogi Berra was back up, and Podres fell behind him 3-1. One pitch away from loading the bases. But Berra hit the next ball to right, where Carl Furillo made the catch. It was not deep enough to score Phil Rizzuto.
Hank Bauer was back up, but Podres wasn't about to let it slip away from Brooklyn. He didn't pull a fast one on Hank. Podres just threw the ball fast. He fanned Bauer on swift 2-2 pitch. Johnny gave New York no quarter in the bottom of the ninth. Bill Skowron grounded right back to the pitcher who was having a terrific day. Sandy Amoros had no problems taking Bob Cerv's fly to left. And finally, Elston Howard grounded out to shorstop Pee Wee Reese. The long wait was over: Brooklyn had finally won it all!
Sadly, the Dodger faithful would not have too long to celebrate. Brooklyn and New York met up again in 1956, with Johnny Podres missing the entire season after being drafted (He was classified 1-A). Again, it was a classic. Again, it went seven games. But it was the Yankees that prevailed.
The 1956 World Series marked the end of an era. Both the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants were about to embark on their final season before moving to a new home. Come 1958, the Giants were in San Francisco and the Dodgers were in Los Angeles.
It took the Dodgers just one season to win in Los Angeles. Facing the Chicago White Sox in the 1959 Fall Classic, the Dodgers turned to Johnny Podres in game two. LA had been blown out 11-0 in the opening tilt at Comiskey Park. The second contest was a struggle for Los Angeles. They trailed 2-0 through four innings. But going into the bottom of the eight, it was 4-2 for the Dodgers. The White Sox scratched across a run. But Johnny Podres was no longer pitching. He'd been removed for a pinch hitter in the top of the seventh. Larry Sherry had the task of closing out this contest for Los Angeles. The Dodgers held on to win 4-3.
Come game six, again at Comiskey Park, the Dodgers again turned to Podres. Again, LA was coming off a shutout loss (1-0 in the fifth contest). Podres was almost a forgotten man at this point. Although 14-9 in the regular season, Roger Craig was the ace of the Dodger staff. Craig was 11-6 with an earned run average of just 2.06. There was Don Drysdale, a seventeen-game winner. Danny McDevitt. 1959 was Sandy Koufax's sixth season, but the promise was there. At one point in the regular season, he fanned sixteen batters in one game. Come late August, he fanned eighteen San Francisco Giants in a ten-innings 5-2 win. The Dodgers had given him the ball in game five of this series after an impressive two shutout inning relief stint in game one. Sandy lost a heartbreaker, despite allowing just five hits and one run over seven frames of masterful pitching.
So it was back to Comiskey Park for game six, and likewise back to Johnny Podres. The sixth contest was seemingly decided early. Early Wynn was routed. The Dodgers scored two runs in the top of the third. Six more the next inning. But ahead 8-0, Johnny Podres did not finish the fourth inning. Ted Kluszewski hit a three-run home run. When Al Smith followed with a walk, manager Walter Alston came out to the mound and removed his pitcher.
So it was Larry Sherry, with a win and two saves to his name in the 1959 World Series, who hopped in. He held the Chicago White Sox in check in the next 5 2/3 innings. And it was Sherry who walked away with the series MVP award (And he also took home the Babe Ruth Award for the best performer in the Fall Classic). So while Johnny Podres certainly contributed, there were other Dodgers who did more.
In 1963, it was the same story. Now Sandy Koufax was truly awesome. 25 games won. Don Drysdale wasn't too far behind the lefty ace. Nineteen wins and a great earned run average (2.63). So Johnny Podres, while a fourteen-game winner, wasn't the pitcher Koufax or Drysdale were in '63. There was another good starter in Bob Miller. Miller won 10 games and posted an ERA of just 2.89. There was also reliever Ron Perranoski. Ron won 16 games, saved 37 and posted an earned run average of just 1.67.
Koufax went out and beat the New York Yankees 5-2 in game one of the World Series. And he beat the great Whitey Ford, himself a 24-game winner, right there at Yankee Stadium. Koufax fanned fifteen batters.
So for game two, with Yankee Stadium a great ballpark for left-handed pitchers, New York sent Al Downing out to even things up. In his first full season, the young southpaw was 13-5 with a 2.56 earned run average.
Los Angeles turned to Johnny Podres. Podres' stats are pedestrian compared to the two big guns in 1963. He won fourteen and lost twelve. Even his ERA wasn't anything exceptional, 3.54. Worse still, this was the last season Johnny reached double figures in wins.
But, Podres still had his magic. The Dodgers gave him a quick 2-0 lead. And the Los Angeles pitcher made it stand up. The Yankees got two men on the second, but did not score. The home team went down 1-2-3 in the next three innings. Tom Tresh singled and took second on a failed pickoff play by Podres in the sixth. Hector Lopez led off the seventh for the Yankees and hit a double. But after eight innings, it was 4-0, LA.
Mickey Mantle had hit the ball well all game long, but led off for the defiant Yankees in the last of the ninth. He hit the ball well again. But it was nothing but a long, loud out. Hector Lopez then raised hopes with another double. That was the last batter Johnny Podres faced.
Ron Perranoski, another lefty, was now on the hill. Elston Howard greeted him with a single. Lopez scored. There went the shutout. But Joe Pepitone grounded out, and Clete Boyer fanned. Los Angeles was heading home up 2-0. And thanks to Don Drysdale's 1-0 win in the third contest and Sandy Koufax's 2-1 triumph the next contest, the Dodgers had themselves a sweep.
Two years later, it might have seemed hard to believe, but now Koufax and Drysdale were better. They combined for 49 wins. The third best pitcher on Los Angeles was Claude Osteen. Osteen was only 15-15 but posted an earned run average of 2.79. Then the key third contest in the World Series vs. Minnesota. It seemed odd, but Drysdale lost the first game and Koufax the second. Osteen's win got them back on track. Don Drysdale won game four, 7-2. Sandy Koufax won game five in even more impressive manner, 7-0. Koufax allowed Minnesota just four hits. And although the Dodgers lost game six, they had their big gun, Koufax, back for the seventh and deciding contest.
As Johnny Podres had a decade earlier, Sandy Koufax was magnificent in this winner-take-all game. Pitching on the road, Koufax was a 2-0 winner, (Again, just like Podres had in 1955). And with Sandy and Claude Osteen as the two big lefties on this Dodgers team, Johnny Podres was forgotten. Though named to the postseason roster, Podres did not pitch against the Minnesota Twins. He picked up his fourth ring, however.
But getting back to 1955, the Dodgers had gotten great performances from Duke Snider (4 HR, 7 RBI), Gil Hodges and Roy Campanella. Pitching-wise, Roger Craig and Clem Labine were great, while Don Newcombe and Karl Spooner were disappointing. But at the end of the day, it was the surprisingly lefty Johnny Podres, who couldn't even post a .500 record in the regular season, that pitched Brooklyn to a surprising and amazing championship.
References
Enders, Eric. 100 years of the World Series. Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. New York, 2005.
Morissey, Scott. 114 World Series in 1 Book. Updated ed., Pandamonium Publishing House, 2020.
Neft, David S., and Richard M. Cohen. The World Series: Complete Play-By-Play of Every Game, 1903-1989, St. Martin's Press, New York, 1990.
Nemec, et al. The Baseball Chronicle: Year-By-Year History of Major League Baseball. Publications International, Ltd., 2008.
Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. https://www.baseball-reference.com/. 15 Apr. 2022.
YouTube, Google, https://www.youtube.com/. 15 Apr. 2022.
