1947 World Series

NormanStewart · September 30, 2026, 1:03pm

The Pittsburgh Press (September 28, 1947)

Branca favored to face Yankees

Reynolds or Shea Yankee starters

NEW YORK, Sept. 27 (UP) – Bucky Harris and Burt Shotton kept their world series pitching plans to themselves tonight. But indications were that Allie Reynolds or Frank Shea will be on the firing line for New York and Ralph Branca for Brooklyn in the opening game at Yankee Stadium Tuesday.

Harris said he would announce his opening game pitcher right after the Yankees and Red Sox close their season here tomorrow.

One school of thought figured Reynolds, who has been particularly effective at the stadium. Thirteen of his 19 victories have been scored at home as against two losses. His last two starts were shutouts.

Shea more impressive

Shea, however, have been more impressive in his series tuneups.

Coming back after a sore elbow kept him sidelined for weeks and rendered him ineffective when he did start, Shea turned in a four-hitter and a two-hitter. The rookie has won 14 games against five defeats.

Branca is a 21-game winner. There was a possibility Shotton might switch to either of his left-handers, Vic Lombardi or Joe Hatten, or Hal Gregg, a fastballer. Gregg, who came along fast near the end of the season, has been effective in his last outs.

Lombardi effective

If Branca goes in the opener, Lombardi is expected to pitch the second game. The little southpaw, the smallest pitcher in the majors, does not have an imposing record, 12 victories against 11 defeats, but since mid-season has been the Dodgers’ most effective pitcher.

If Reynolds works the opener for New York, Shea will be the starting pitcher in the second game of this best four-in-seven series.

Bobo Newsom, 11-game winner, and either Floyd Bevens, who has won only seven games, or Rookie Vic Raschi, who has won seven while losing only two since the Yankees brought him from Portland in mid-season, will start the fourth.

Rookie may get chance

If Branca and Lombardi pitch at the Stadium, Hatten, who has won 17 games, will pitch the third game at Ebbets Field Thursday with Gregg going in the fourth.

Shotton also may decide to give Rookie Harry Taylor, who has had a sore arm, a starting chance. When right, Taylor throws the kind of sinking fast balls that have given the Yankees trouble.

The Yankees were held at 9 to 5 favorites to win the series and 3 to 2 to win the first game. Those odds may drop to 7 to 5 by game time Tuesday.

Pinelli and Goetz named umpires

CINCINNATI, Sept. 27 (UP) – Commissioner A. B. Chandler announced today the appointments of umpires, official scorers and radio announcers for the World Series.

Umpires named from the National League were Ralph Pinelli and Larry Goetz with George Magerkurth named as alternate. The American League arbiters will be William McGowan and Ed Rommel with James Boyer as alternate.

Tommy Holmes, president of the Baseball Writers Association, will be the chief scorer assisted by Harold Burr of the Brooklyn Eagle and Dan Daniel of the New York World-Telegram.

The radio announcers will be Red Barber and Mel Allen.

NormanStewart · September 30, 2026, 1:29pm

World Series mikemen veterans at working Yankee, Dodger games

Red Barber and Mel Allen have spent years with big league champions
By Si Steinhauser

When the World Series takes the air on Tuesday at 1:15 via KQV there should be no errors in naming players. Mel Allen, one of the play-by-play mikemen, has been describing Yankee games all season. Red Barber, the other, has been working Dodger games.

More than 500 Mutual network stations will carry the games to every state, Hawaii, Alaska and military personnel around the world, on land and sea.

Red Barber has been working the Dodgers and the National League since 1939. He has broadcast sports since 1934. A year ago he replaced Ted Husing as sports director of the Columbia network. He has been repeatedly drafted – with Mel Allen – for All-Star and World Series. Mel has been working the American League and Yankees since 1939. The Army “interrupted” his radio career for two years.

The same sponsor who has presented the games for eight years pays again.

Remember, this is the day you regain that hour you lost when Daylight Saving Time began. It ended last night. All stations revert to Eastern Standard Time.

Next Sunday night Fred Allen takes over the time Dorothy Lamour and the Army have been occupying. Summer hasn’t been the same because Fred hasn’t been yelling “I’ll never return to radio.”

Sherlock Holmes returns to KQV at 7 tonight. John Stanley and Al Shirley, both British, will portray Sherlock and Dr. Holmes. They were born in London’s St. John’s Wood section, a short distance from the Baker Street made famous by Conan Doyle’s Sherlock.

Holmes, the stories say, liked to play a violin as relaxation. Stanley, his portrayer, plays the cello.

Tomorrow morning’s (KQV 11:30) “Heart’s Desire” will award a ten-day free trip to Holland to a lucky couple. Douglas Fairbanks Jr., star of “The Exile” (Universal-International picture), will award the trip. It is first prize in a writing contest, involving the film story.

Fanny Brice had us puzzled for a while with this problem: “Guess how I hold a script with one hand, hold a pencil and note revisions with the other and eat at the same time.”

We couldn’t guess so she sent the answer “I sip broth with a glass straw.”

That brat “Snooks” would think of that.

Bill Johnstone, who plays Mr. Groggins for Bill Goodwin’s show, stared at a group of people standing in line at the stage door of a New York theater. Someone gave him a shove and yelled “Get in line” at him.

He got in line just for the devil of it, was auditioned and landed in Helen Hayes’ “Cleopatra” cast.

Barry Kroeger, narrator of “The Big Story,” tells about a visit to West Point:

“I noticed a famous monument on which were engraved names of Union soldiers who died in action in the Civil War.

“Turning to a cadet I asked, ‘What particular monument is this?’

“‘This is a tribute to the marksmanship of the soldiers of the Confederacy, suh!’ drawled the cadet.”

Mary Martha Briney has had to cancel New York concert engagements and her local radio work because of an attack of grippe.

That children think in different terms than adults, as maintained by Olga Druce, editor-producer-director of “House of Mystery” on KQV Sundays, was borne out by a letter Miss Druce received from a parent.

“My wife and I took our small daughter to see a revival of ‘The Sign of the Cross’,” he wrote. “During the scene in which the martyrs are thrown to the lions in the Roman arena, she began crying. We took her from the theater and tried to console her as best we could with explanations that it happened a long time ago and people didn’t do such things any more, etc. But the lions eating people wasn’t what was worrying her at all.

“The little baby lion didn’t get anybody to eat!” she cried. “Why didn’t they feed him, too?”

Pittsburgh’s Billy Leach will be starred on “Music For You,” at 10 a.m. five-day-a-week Columbia network program. He will sing to the accompaniment of Caesar Petrillo’s orchestra.

Georgia Burke, who plays the part of Lilly, Joan Davis’s maid in “When A Girl Marries,” is in London for a leading role in “Anna Lucasta.” Her part in “When A Girl Marries” will be written out of the show during the run of the play in the English capital.

Dick Haymes is singing lullabies to his third child, a daughter born last Thursday.

A picture of Fred Allen, published in the “New York Review” of February 4, 1922, shows the landlord of Allen’s Alley as a young man. Even then he had bags under his eyes, although they were much fainter than they are today. The accompanying article, headed “Shubert Vaudeville Discovers Another Comedy Star in Fred Allen, the Nut!”, proves that he had the same gift of humorous satire 25 years ago as he does today.

NormanStewart · September 30, 2026, 6:00pm

The Evening Star (September 29, 1947)

Branca Bums’ best bet for World Series opener

Lombardi also ready for start tomorrow against Yanks’ Shea
By Jack Hand, Associated Press Sports Writer

NEW YORK (AP) – Freshman Frank (Spec) Shea, named by Manager Bucky Harris to pitch tomorrow’s World Series opener for the New York Yankees, probably will be opposed by 21-year-old Ralph Branca, Brooklyn’s ace 21-game winner, with Lefty Vic Lombardi a strong second choice.

Harris tabbed Shea, the first American League rookie ever to hurl the first game of a series, for opening duty after yesterday’s season final with the Athletics, but Manager Burt Shotton still refused to name his starting Dodger.

It could be that Shotton, who piloted the Brooks to the flag by a five-game margin, although he joined the club after the season had started, will wait until the morning of the first game before making his decision. Burt already knows who it will be, but he doesn’t want to take a chance on having one of his young men mull over the possibilities for 24 hours.

Branca rated best bet

Brance, the top man of the staff on the won and lost records, 21-12, is the best bet. Leo Durocher made the mistake of using a “sleeper,” Curt Davis, in the 1941 opener before pitching his ace, Whit Wyatt, and he never got out of the barrel. If Branca works tomorrow he’ll be ready to come back fully rested for the fifth game. A full three-day rest is a “must’’ for Branca, who is not effective with less.

If Shotton operates on the theory that left-handed pitching is his best bet against the Yankees, he may call on Lombardi, a half-pint southpaw who makes up for lack of a zooming fast ball with a cute curling curve and good control.

Outside of some concern about Catcher Bruce Edwards, whose right fingertips have been battered by foul tips, the Dodgers were in good shape for their final tune-up at Ebbets Field this morning. Edwards will, of course, start, but Shotton used Bobby Bragan yesterday in Boston just in case Bruce’s fingers may not be able to take further battering in the series.

Harris has no surprises

The Yankee lineup will carry no surprises. Harris disclosed he will follow his customary batting order, with George Stirnweiss at second base, Tommy Henrich in right field, Larry Berra, catching; Joe DiMaggio in center field, George McQuinn at first base, Bill Johnson at third base, Johnny Lindell in left field, Phil Rizzuto at shortstop and Shea, whose season record is 14-5. Should a lefty start for the Dodgers, Berra will start but he will bat eighth, with Lindell moving to third and Rizzuto to seventh.

NormanStewart · September 30, 2026, 6:06pm

Dreams in baseball come true, Newsom, Harris, McQuinn find

By Burton Hawkins, Star Staff Correspondent

NEW YORK – Dreams come true. For convincing proof, three mellowing New York Yankees in whom Washington fans are considerably interested – Manager Bucky Harris, Pitcher Bobo Newsom and First Baseman George McQuinn – are presented as evidence.

Newsom always has been adept at engineering his dreams, cultivating a fondness for greener pastures and maneuvering to leap fences obstructing the way to his goal. His latest broad jump, from the seventh-place Nats to the pennant-winning Yankees, required the cooperation of a script writer from heaven.

In mid-July, when it was obvious the Nats weren’t destined to be factors in the American League race, Clark Griffith peddled Newsom to the Yankees for the waiver price of $10,000. The circumstances behind that sale bordered on the fantastic.

Griffith was (1) eager to unload Newsom’s high salary, (2) not charmed with the jealousy Bobo’s presence promoted among the Nats, as illustrated by a testy telegram dispatched to Newsom by other Nat pitchers, (3) not fascinated by his refusal to pitch batting practice, to be a relief hurler or to exercise enough to deflate a blubbery waist.

Newsom gets big break

The Yankees, on the other hand, were suffering with an epidemic of sore arms, in addition to which they didn’t relish the colorful Newsom wing signed by the New York Giants, who needed any sort of experienced pitcher, due to box office repercussions.

So Newsom landed with the Yankees and if he hasn’t been sensational he at least has been adequate. He’ll get his World Series chance against Brooklyn and that’s an event not even the imaginative Newsom dared dream when the season was launched.

Bucky, the “boy wonder” who steered Washington to its first world championship in 1924 and won a pennant again in 1925, has waited 22 years to come up with another winner and he owes at least a portion of it to the gleam he detected in his children’s eyes.

Harris was plucked from Buffalo, which had promoted him to general manager, to become executive assistant to Larry MacPhail, president of the Yankees. When MacPhail sought a manager for the Yankees, he scanned the field, then focused on Harris, convinced he was the best man for the job.

Harris took long chance

Reluctant to return to uniform, Harris informed his boss he would think it over. He returned to Washington and at dinner one night popped the question, “How would you like to see me manage the Yankees?” He kindled a fire of enthusiasm among his youngsters, so he accepted and tomorrow he’ll lead the Yankees in quest of an 11th world title.

The fellow who probably is happiest about it all, though, is 36-year-old McQuinn, born in Ballston, Va., once a student at Washington-Lee High and a firm believer in Santa Claus. Here is a man classed as “washed up” this time last year and presented the ultimate insult – a release from the cellar-dwelling Philadelphia Athletics – heading into a World Series he helped make possible for the Yankees with his spectacular early-season hitting.

McQuinn waited years for his dream to develop, for when he was 19 years old he hooked on with Wheeling of the Mid-Atlantic League. It was a link in a vast Yankee farm chain and he rose finally to Newark, only to find first base at Yankee Stadium unavailable due to the presence of a sturdy fellow named Lou Gehrig.

McQuinn gains peak

The Yankees had sent him back to the minors three times, so the St. Louis Browns drafted him and George spent eight long years there and another at Philadelphia. When released by the A’s McQuinn called Harris at home, requested a chance and, ultimately, was signed by the Yankees.

Now it’s baseball history. How the Yankees failed to make a deal for the Nats’ first baseman, Mickey Vernon; how McQuinn’s ailing back responded to treatment and how George staged a stirring comeback from baseball’s junk heap.

World Series aren’t new to them. Harris experienced the thrill at Washington, Newsom at Detroit and McQuinn at St. Louis, but this is different. They’re with the Yankees now and to each it represents fulfillment of a dream.

NormanStewart · September 30, 2026, 6:06pm

Win, Lose, or Draw…
Adversity and the Brooklyn Dodgers

By Francis E. Stann, Star Staff Correspondent

NEW YORK – When a ball club moves into a World Series with an apparent edge in both hitting and pitching as will the Yankees tomorrow, it’s hard to see how it can lose. My guess is that it will be over in five games because the Dodgers aren’t quite ready yet to duplicate the feat of the Cardinals in the 1946 series, which consisted of spotting the Red Sox power and depth in the box and winning on speed and nerve.

But this is a strange team Brooklyn is sending against the Yankees. In fact, the Dodgers don’t seem to like a team so much as they seem a squad of faceless athletes who don’t figure to be a winning club, much less a series’ contender. Perhaps this is one reason why there is a tendency to underrate Brooklyn, or to establish an old, brittle Yankee club as nearly a 2-to-1 favorite.

There is a tough fiber to the Bums, despite their youth. There must be for them to have survived a series of crises and still come out on top. They don’t look or act tough, now that Leo Durocher is gone, but they’re a dead-game outfit. Here’s why, beginning with last spring:

They lost their manager on the eve of the season opener.
They had to buck a racial problem when Jackie Robinson became their first baseman.
They sold five of their guys, including Pitcher Kirby Higbe, just when they were looking very good.
They kept losing Pete Reiser, who doesn’t mean any more to Brooklyn than DiMaggio means to the Yankees.
They had to lick the world champions in order to qualify for the series.

Jackie had a new position to master

The suspension of Durocher for one year by Commissioner Chandler just before the start of the season was bound to be a blow to the Bums, old and young alike. Durocher was their manager. He epitomized Brooklyn baseball. He knew his players and they in turn knew the style of ball expected of them.

Thus it must have come as a shock when, day before opening game a quiet, elderly man in a wrinkled suit and a battered hat, appeared in their dugout to take command. This was Burt Shotton, who had been in semiretirement at Palatka, Fla., called to pinch hit for the explosive Durocher. He didn’t know his own players, much less those of rival clubs.

When President Branch Rickey first signed Robinson and shipped him to the Montreal farm, some of the Dodgers were reported to be outspoken against the move. And when Robinson moved up to the Dodgers last spring the opposition remained firm. There was precedent to be broken and it took time. Besides Robinson, in addition to blazing the trail as the first Negro in the majors, had to learn a new position because the occupants of the two posts he knew best – shortstop and second base – were too good to be ousted.

Concrete is proved very hard

The sale of Higbe and four other players to Pittsburgh early in May wasn’t calculated to help morale. Higbe was a Flatbush favorite. His teammates respected his ability and regarded him as a potential game winner. The anti-Rickey press made much of the fact that Rickey was getting $300,000 and suggested that Brooklyn’s pennant chances thus were sold for cash.

Losing Reiser twice due to injuries (he keeps running into walls to test the quality of cement) not only hurt the Bums, but hurt Reiser, too. The Bums had been told that without Reiser they weren’t much ball club and Reiser, proving that he’s getting old, was affected physically by each crackup. It showed on his performance chart.

Finally, Brooklyn had to beat the Cardinals, the best team in baseball according to everybody who saw them knock off the Red Sox a year ago and cavort in the South. The Bums got the jump, which wasn’t unusual, but then St. Louis came charging back, confident that class would tell. Maybe class did tell, but it was Brooklyn that emerged triumphant and the Bums disposed of the Cards the hard way, which was by beating the champions in the final, crucial series in the West.

Yanks’ big edge is DiMaggio

Thus we come up to a new World Series and find this Brooklyn Club, so immune to adversity, very lightly regarded. That Shotton has speed and spirit on his team Is established, but once again the majority of so-called experts, amateur and professional, are swinging to the side having the big guns and the pitching depth.

This Yankee team isn’t one of the great ones as the Yanks will admit themselves, but they have more starting pitchers (Shea, Bevens, Newsom and Reynolds) than the Dodgers and they have Joe DiMaggio.

Lots of times the best hitter doesn’t come through in a series. Ted Williams didn’t last year, which more or less accounted for Boston’s defeat. But DiMaggio is more than a best hitter. He’s the best ball player and if he doesn’t hit at least up to par it’s comforting on the part of the club which owns him to know he’s on the field. It’s mighty comforting, in fact.

NormanStewart · September 30, 2026, 6:08pm

The Pittsburgh Press (September 29, 1947)

Yankees name rookie Shea for opener

Dodgers expected to choose Branca
By Leo Petersen, United Press sports editor

Probable Lineups

NEW YORK (UP) – The probable lineups and batting order for the first game of the World Series at Yankee Stadium tomorrow:

Brooklyn New York

Stanky, 2b Stirnweiss, 2b

Robinson, 1b Henrich, rf

Reiser, cf Berra, c

Walker, rf DiMaggio, cf

Hermanski, lf McQuinn, 1b

Edwards, c W. Johnson, 3b

Jorgensen, 3b Lindell, lf

Reece, ss Rizzuto, ss

Branca, p Shea, p

UMPIRES: Pinelli and Goetz (NL); McGowan and Rommel (AL)

NEW YORK (UP) – A rookie pitcher whom they saved by paying his $200 appendectomy bill has drawn the opening game World Series assignment tomorrow for the New York Yankees.

Defying baseball tradition, Manager Bucky Harris yesterday nominated his freshman star, cocky Frank (Spec) Shea, a right-hander, to go after the first game of what promises to be the richest World Series in history.

In contrast to the Yankee pilot’s decision to ride along with one of his American League pennant-winning stars, Manager Burt Shotton of the Brooklyn Dodgers refused to name a starter until one hour before game time.

Everyone expected that it would be Ralph Branca, the fireballing 21-game winner.

Harris revealed that he would switch his batting order in the event the Dodgers start a left-hander – Little Vic Lombardi or Joe Hatten.

Berra to catch

Be it right-handed Branca or one of the southpaws going for the National Leaguers, however, Harris disclosed that his series’ catcher would be Lawrence (Yogi) Berra, who also has doubled in brass this season as an outfielder.

That means that for the first time in World Series’ history a rookie battery will go for one of the competitors. There have been three cases in which rookie pitchers started a series opener but never with a freshman receiver.

Babe Adams recalled

Babe Adams opened in one for the Pirates in 1909 but the other two rookies lost – Jeff Tesreau for the Giants in 1912 and Paul Derringer for the Cardinals in 1931.

While that part of baseball history was working against Harris’ gamble, he had other series’ tradition on his side.

Ever since the Yankees won the world championship in 1939, defeating the Cincinnati Reds four games in a row, the leagues have alternated in taking the October classic.

As the Cardinals, two-and-a-half to one underdogs, defeated the Red Sox in last year’s series, this is the American League’s turn.

History favors Yankees

Furthermore, the Yankees are old hands at winning World Series, capturing 10 of the previous 14 in which they have played. The Dodgers, on the other hand, never had won in their previous three series – losing to the Yankees in 1941, the Cleveland Indians in 1920 and the Boston Red Sox in 1916.

A capacity crowd of 73,000 including standing room, was assured for both the first and second games to be played at Yankee Stadium and it seemed a certain bet that both new World Series attendance and receipt records would be set.

The previous high for a single game was the 69,990 drawn by the Yankees and Cardinals, on October 7, 1943.

Please—
Don’t Phone for Scores

Telephone facilities are still limited – and the available lines are crowded.

Because of these reasons, please don’t phone for football or World Series scores.

NormanStewart · September 30, 2026, 6:11pm

NormanStewart · October 1, 2026, 9:41am

The Evening Star (September 30, 1947)

Yankees rally in fifth, lead Dodgers, 5-1

Shea and Branca both go out of game in New York uprising
By Burton Hawkins, Star Staff Correspondent

Lineup

Brooklyn New York

Stanky, 2b Stirnweiss, 2b

Robinson, 1b Henrich, rf

Reiser, cf Berra, c

Walker, rf DiMaggio, cf

Hermanski, lf McQuinn, 1b

Edwards, c W. Johnson, 3b

Jorgensen, 3b Lindell, lf

Reese, ss Rizzuto, ss

Branca, p Shea, p

UMPIRES: William McGowan at plate, Ralph Pinelli at first, Ed Rommel at second, Larry Goetz at third, Jim Boyer rightfield, George Magerkurth leftfield.

NEW YORK – New York broke out with a typical Yankee rally in the fifth inning of the opening World Series game today and led the Dodgers in the sixth, 5-1.

The Yankee uprising knocked out Ralph Branca, Dodger’s starting pitcher. He was replaced by Henry Behrman.

Frank Shea also went out in the fifth. He was lifted for Pinch Hitter Bobby Brown, and the Yankee’s fireman, Joe Page, came into the game.

The first Negro ever to perform in a World Series, Jackie Robinson, indirectly was responsible for the 1-0 lead Brooklyn gained in the first inning. With one out, Robinson drew a walk and stole second base on a hasty throw by Rookie Catcher Yogi Berra which hit the dirt in front of the base.

The next Dodger batter, Pete Reiser, slapped a grounder to Shea, who made a nice stop and trapped Robinson with the help of Shortstop Phil Rizzuto. On the run-down, however, Reiser made second and Dixie Walker sliced a short, lazy single to left field to score the run.

FIRST INNING

DODGERS – Stanky took a strike, then lifted a high fly to Lindell in short left field. Robinson worked the count to three and two, fouled off a pitch, then walked. Robinson stole second, reaching base safely on a jittery, one-hop throw by Berra, Reiser tapped to Shea and Robinson was trapped between second and third and run down. Walker looped a single to short left field, scoring Reiser. Hermanski took a third strike. One run.

YANKEES – Stirnweiss took a strike, then grounded to Stanky who threw him out. Heinrich took two balls then fanned on three pitches. Berra flied deep to Reiser. No runs.

The slightly windy but bright day, with temperatures in the 60s, came as a pleasant surprise to the anticipated record throng which awoke to discover a prediction of scattered showers had failed to materialize.

SECOND INNING

DODGERS – Edwards hit Shea’s first pitch deep to DiMaggio. Jorgensen took the count of three and two, then fanned. Reese grounded sharply to Rizzuto, who whipped him out. No runs.

YANKEES – Reese took DiMaggio’s bounder and threw him out. McQuinn grounded to Jorgensen in one hop, then was thrown out. Stanky threw out Johnson. No runs.

THIRD INNING

DODGERS – Branca grounded to McQuinn, who tossed to Shea covering first for the out, Johnson threw out Stanky. Robinson again walked after taking the full count. Shea tried to pick Robinson off first three times unsuccessfully. Shea dropped the ball while pitching to Raiser and Robinson took second on the balk. Reiser flied to Henrich. No runs.

YANKEES – Lindell fanned. Rizzuto flied to Hermanski. Shea fanned. No runs.

FOURTH INNING

DODGERS – Walker smashed a single off McQuinn’s glove. Hermanski lined to Johnson, whose quick throw to McQuinn caught Walker off first for a double play. Edwards lined to DiMaggio. No runs.

YANKEES – Stirnweiss took a third strike. Heinrich flied to Reiser Berra was Branca’s fifth strike out victim. No runs.

FIFTH INNING

DODGERS – Jorgensen flied to Lindell. Shea tossed out Reese. Branca fanned. No runs.

YANKEES – Reese made a fine stop of DiMaggio’s grounder to his right, but DiMaggio beat it out for New York’s first hit, after Branca had retired 12 batters in order. McQuinn walked on four pitches. The bases were loaded when Johnson was hit on the shoulder. Lindell doubled barely inside the left field foul line, scoring DiMaggio and McQuinn, Johnson stopping at third. Rizzuto walked, again filling the bases. Bobby Brown batted for Shea. After throwing two balls to Brown, Branca was replaced by Hank Behrman. Brown walked, scoring Johnson and leaving the bases filled. Stirnweiss grounded to Robinson, whose throw to Edwards forced Lindell at the plate. Heinrich singled to left, scoring Rizzuto and Brown, Stirnweiss stopping at second. Berra filed to Walker, the runners holding their bases. DiMaggio filed deep to Hermanski. Five runs.

Star Unable to Give Scores by Telephone

The start of the World Series today and the inauguration of the Saturday afternoon football season prompts The Star again to request the public not to telephone for scores and other sports information.

We regret that the volume of these requests is so great that it is physically impossible for our switchboard to handle them.

NormanStewart · October 1, 2026, 9:49am

Harris gambling on Rookie Berra behind plate

Youngster’s hitting overshadows lack of catching ability
By Burton Hawkins, Star Staff Correspondent

NEW YORK – For the first time in World Series history, a contending team – and a winner by 12 games at that – elected to gamble with a rookie battery here today. New York’s Yankees, prohibitive favorites, were taking the risk and it provides a tip-off on the caliber of the so-called fall classic.

Manager Bucky Harris was content that he had a fun-loving, nerveless representative functioning for him on the mound in 24-year-old Frank Shea, but whether 22-year-old Yogi Berra remains behind the plate for the duration of the series was to be determined by his conduct in the opening game.

The fact that Berra, a lover of comic book literature, is Harris’ No. 1 catcher simply is a tribute to Yogi’s batting ability, for he hasn’t impressed anybody with his mentality in a catching capacity. Harris admits Berra is on trial even as he enters the series.

Willing to string along

Bucky, though, is willing to string along with the potential extra-base threat lurking in Berra’s bat, forsaking the educational edge that Aaron Robinson or Sherman Lollar might give him.

Berra, as a tactician, doesn’t qualify as a Bill Dickey, Mickey Cochrane or Gabby Hartnett, but he’s likely to break out in a rash of hits and, on that theory, Harris has announced that Yogi is his man in the mask.

Harris never went overboard on Robinson as a catcher. Last spring he was attempting to unload him to the Nats in a four-player deal for First Baseman Mickey Vernon. Even when Berra wasn’t hitting as Bucky had anticipated, Harris was saying, “I’ll string along with him. If he doesn’t develop as a hitter then I’ll have to admit I don’t know anything about hitters.”

Well, Yogi hasn’t made a bum of Bucky. He batted a respectable .280 during the regular season and was improving steadily, all of which has prompted Harris to risk his reputation on a yearling. He’s gambling that batting strength will outweigh catching deficiencies and he could be correct.

One disturbing item

There’s one disturbing item. If Jackie Robinson sparkles, Berra might be the series goat, for Yogi’s throwing arm isn’t the acme of accuracy. Robinson, the National League’s leading base stealer, could prompt Harris to switch catchers if Jackie reaches base often enough to constitute a problem.

Conversation passing between Shea and Berra doesn’t inspire confidence. When informed he was to pitch the opener, Shea turned to Berra and said, “You’d better call ‘em right.”

“You can always shake me off, you know,” countered Yogi.

“Well, how many times have I done that this season?” Shea asked.

Sounds as if neither wants the responsibility of calling a pitch. It could be modesty, of course, but it also could be inexperience or inefficiency. Time will tell.

NormanStewart · October 1, 2026, 9:55am

Williams, often a problem boy, happy McCarthy will be boss

BOSTON (AP) – Since it had been rumored so often during the last year, very few interested in Boston baseball will admit being surprised about Joe McCarthy’s appointment as the Red Sox 1948 manager.

The consensus of the fans is “that the deal was cooked up months ago when Eddie Collins first became ill.”

There is, however, one amazing exception. And he is the club’s outstanding and highest paid performer. Ted Williams, who managed to regain his American League batting laurels while his club was dropping from first to third place.

“Gee, I thought all along that it would be Steve O’Neill if any managerial change was made,” Williams said when he heard the news. “I honestly didn’t know anything more about it than the average fan, but it’s great.

Got first hint last week

“I’ve always believed that the two greatest managers in baseball are Joe McCarthy and Joe Cronin and now we have both of them with the Red Sox,” Williams continued.

Then he recalled that “he had been given a hint that something was in the wind when he visited Owner Tom Yawkey in New York last week.

“Nothing was said about McCarthy or anybody else, but Mr. Yawkey did assure me that if there was a change in managers, he was certain I would be satisfied,” Williams said.

The hard-slugging Williams, frequently one of Cronin’s most troublesome problems, indicated he was well satisfied with McCarthy’s appointment and his former boss’ elevation to the club’s general managership as successor to the ailing Collins.

But McCarthy’s reactions to Williams will not be known, most likely, until long after Marse Joe has settled down to the difficult task of remaking the Red Sox into pennant winners.

While McCarthy was establishing himself as the only major league manager to direct pennant winners in both circuits, he ruled his stars with velvet-covered iron fists.

None had same liberties

None of his players ever had the liberties that Williams has enjoyed as a Red Sox star. And, the guessing hereabout, is that Williams, despite his current .343 batting average and $75,000 salary, will be just another ball player to McCarthy when they meet up next spring in the Sarasota, Fla., training camp.

After the World Series, most likely, McCarthy will accompany Cronin, who steps up to the job of general manager, to Boston to study Red Sox matters on the scene. The former Yankee master mind has been given absolute authority afield and a free hand as far as trades are concerned.

It can be taken for granted that he not only will plunge into a furious player-swapping spree within a matter of weeks, but also will bring about the revision of the Red Sox farm system which, despite its extensive expansion, does not, at this point, include a single player capable of plugging a gap in the parent club.

NormanStewart · October 1, 2026, 10:01am

Puzzled U.N. representatives given simple guide on series

NEW YORK (AP) – The World Series, like a magnet or perhaps the Pied Piper’s pipe, today drew to New York the baseball faithful in such droves as to leave every hotel full to the eaves.

In case the goings on might puzzle foreign visitors attending United Nations sessions, “a simple guide to the great American game” was distributed yesterday to the representatives of 55 nations. It cautioned:

‘‘Even news of your organization, the United Nations, occasionally may be overshadowed in the press by what happens in the World Series.”

At least as scarce as hotel space were tickets to the opening game.

Box seats and reserved seats were sold out long ago; although the management of Yankee Stadium sought to curtail speculation, there was some talk that a pair could be had up to game time for about what it costs to rent an apartment for a month.

Even standing room went on sale in advance, leaving bleacher space the best bet for the first-come-first-served clientele.

More than 500 deep-dyed bleacher fans – whose antics may have suggested the word fanatic – camped all through last night at the stadium gates to be there when they opened.

Wearing a Dodger cap and waving a Dodger pennant, Edward McCormack, 42, a Navy Yard worker and a Flatbush fan for 20 years, said he obtained reserved standing room by mail, but joined the vigil anyway.

“All the boys are here – my place is with them,” he offered by way of explanation. “I love the bleacher boys.”

Vendors sold coffee and sandwiches to these early birds. Some brought camp chairs, others found boxes on which to sit or lolled on blankets. A few played rummy.

New Zealander is sole delegate at U.N. to ask series tickets

NEW YORK (AP) – Sir Carl Berendsen, New Zealand ambassador to the United States and chief New Zealand delegate to the United Nations Assembly, was the only U.N. delegate to request World Series tickets.

He arranged for a ticket through the protocol office, which asked Grover Whalen, head of the New York City hospitality group, to get one from Mayor O’Dwyer. The mayor came through.

Another baseball fan in the U.N., Col. W. R. Hodgson of Australia, said he intended to go to the game this afternoon at Yankee Stadium.

“If this session is over by 1 p.m., I am going,” Col. Hodgson said.

Andrei Y. Vishinsky, Soviet deputy foreign minister and chief of the delegation, and Andrei A. Gromyko, also a Soviet deputy foreign minister, had no tickets and no plans to go to the game.

NormanStewart · October 1, 2026, 10:13am

Win, Lose, or Draw…
All serene on the Yankee bench

By Francis E. Stann, Star Staff Correspondent

NEW YORK – The Dodgers had crossed up the press by holding their pre-series workout before noon, but the Yankees waited until a respectable hour and when they began batting practice the New York dugout was crawling with newspapermen and photographers.

The early afternoon sun was bright and the air was clear and not too cool. In the vast emptiness of the huge stadium, with no humans in the seats to serve as acoustical sops, line drives sounded like .45s popping on a pistol range. On the bench, where Bucky Harris was sitting, questions were popping, too.

The Joe McCarthy-to-Boston news had just been broken and they were talking of Marse Joe’s move to the Hub and of Joe Cronin’s stepping up to the front office.

“That’s what Cronin’s been wanting,” said a newspaperman. “Is it?” commented Harris. “I heard that Cronin told Al Schacht that he wanted to keep on managing.”

A delegation of Washington writers hove into view and Bucky said, “Welcome, old buddies. What’s with the Redskins?”

This struck a familiar, but unexpected chord. For years, when Bucky managed the Nats, who consistently were eliminated by early August, at least, Harris and the Washington newspapermen used to chew the fat on the bench and talk about the Redskins. But, here it was the eve of Harris’ first series since 1925 and he was hailing to the Redskins and talking about the Red Sox.

Bucky picked Shea to win

“What’s going on, Bucky?” asked a caustic bystander. “Isn’t there a ball game or something coming off here?”

“That’s tomorrow,” replied Bucky, winking. For a guy who has been waiting 22 years for a series shot, he seemed remarkably casual and you could see this attitude had caromed off Bucky and was reflected in the Yankees, who were swinging loosely at the plate and joking and kidding on the field.

“Say, Bucky,” asked a man determined to come away with a series note for his paper, “did you have to wrestle with your conscience when you picked Shea to pitch the first game?”

“No,” answered Harris. “If I didn’t think he could win I wouldn’t have picked him.”

“Well,” persisted the questioner, evidently awed by the fact that for the first time in history an all-rookie battery would open a series, “do you plan to catch Yogi Berra all the way?”

“Not necessarily,” smiled Harris. “It depends on Yogi. But if he plays his normal game, he’ll catch.”

“Are you worried about the Dodgers?” somebody else asked.

“No, we decided to let them worry about us,” Harris cracked.

Bobo said, ‘Thank you, sir’

Bobo Newsom, who gathers no moss, walked up, his big, heaving body covered with perspiration. Evidently he had been running or shagging flies, chores he doggedly avoided while wearing a Washington uniform.

“Can I shove off now, Bucky?” asked Bobo. ‘‘I got a dental appointment.”

“Go ahead,” said Harris.

“Thank you, sir,” said Bobo, wheeling for the dugout steps. No characteristic wink came from Newsom; no sign of anything except bootcamp subordination.

“That can’t be Bobo,” somebody marveled aloud. “He said, ‘Thank you, sir.’”

“Must be,” replied a cynic. “At least he looks like Bobo and he’s the first to quit practice.”

Harris, smiling, watched Joe DiMaggio take his cuts and a reporter asked, “Just having DiMaggio gives a team a big lift, doesn’t it?”

“Right,” answered Bucky. “You know, he’s a wonder. All these years I’ve put him down as one of the great hitters and fielders. Do you know what I’ve learned after one season of managing him? I’ve found out he’s the best slider I ever saw. So help me, the best.”

Shea was just trying to placate

That was about all to the workout. One by one, the Yankees ducked into the tunnel leading to their super-duper quarters and they all seemed happy and loose and confident, like their manager.

Harris had one more anecdote to tell, because another reporter asked him about Shea and questioned in a mild way the wisdom of pitching a rookie in the opener.

“Well,” said the diplomatic Bucky, “I told Shea the other day he was working. I told him not to be nervous and Frank answered, ‘Bucky, is the world coming to an end if I blow this game? Isn’t it just another ball game?’

“I guess,” gagged Harris, “that Shea was trying to placate a nervous manager. The kid didn’t want me to fall apart in a series.”

NormanStewart · October 1, 2026, 10:18am

Enlarged staffs marshaled to keep series parks in trim

NEW YORK (AP) – Even before the disorder is created, scores of men have been marshaled to clean up Yankee Stadium and Ebbets Field for the World Series.

At Ebbets Field, there will be 120 ushers instead of 40, 50 special police instead of 20, with even greater increases for the stadium.

A single concern patrols both parks. One of its most delicate assignments is to handle the huge nylon sheets that cover the infields in event of rain. There is a special squad for that, equipped with rubber overshoes to minimize rips and tears.

The governors of New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Pennsylvania had reservations for the opening game.

Playing against a team managed by Burt Shotton is no new experience for George McQuinn, veteran Yankee first baseman. McQuinn was on the Newark club that opposed Shotton’s Columbus team in the Little World Series of 1934. Columbus won the first three games, and then Newark came back to take the next four and the championship.

All the Yankees need to do is step on the field to set a World Series record. This is their 15th series. Next on the list come the New York Giants with 12.

Is Bill Meyer, who managed the Kansas City Blues to the American Association pennant, under consideration for the managership of the Pittsburgh Pirates, succeeding Billy Herman? He appeared at the World Series headquarters arm in arm with Roy Hamey, general manager of the Pirates. Hamey knows Meyer’s capabilities well, having served at Kansas City as general manager.

Star scribes pick Yankees in 5 tilts

NEW YORK – Francis E. Stann and Burton Hawkins of The Evening Star sports staff, covering the World Series here, both pick the New York Yankees to beat the Brooklyn Dodgers in five games.

They were among the 61 baseball writers polled by the Associated Press. That poll showed the Yankees as tremendous favorites. Forty-three selected the Yankees, ranging from four straight to a drawn-out seven games. Only 18 selected the Dodgers. The consensus was the Yankees in six games.

NormanStewart · October 1, 2026, 10:19am

Edwards’ hand injury creates only disturbing series note

NEW YORK (AP) – Lingering doubt about the condition of Dodger Catcher Bruce Edwards was the only disturbing note on the World Series front today as Ralph Branca of Brooklyn and Frank (Spec) Shea of the New York Yankees braced themselves for the big test of their baseball lives in the Yankee Stadium opener.

Edwards definitely will start, but there is deep concern in the Dodger clubhouse over the stocky catcher’s badly bruised right hand. As deep as the Dodgers are in all other positions, they are dangerously thin in catching. Back of Edwards they have Bobby Bragan, rusty from disuse after catching only a half dozen complete games, and Rookie Gil Hodges from Newport News.

One solid crack on the middle finger of Edwards’ right hand by a Yankee foul could cripple the Brooks. Because or Edwards, catching was the one spot in which the underdog Dodgers were given a decided edge over the Yank starters.

NormanStewart · October 1, 2026, 10:19am

Hornsby expects hurlers’ parade

By Rogers Hornsby
(At told to John P. Carmichael)

NEW YORK – What kind of a series will this turn out to be? Well, for one thing, I believe we’ll see more pitchers in it than ever before.

There isn’t any standout hurler … and I wouldn’t be surprised if the Dodgers had to average three pitchers every game and the Yankees at least two.

What type of ball will the Dodgers play?

They have a certain amount of speed, but I’m not sure they’ll cut loose with it. They like to play that old army game … get a man on and move him around in the early innings like the book says.

But the Yanks still play for that big inning early in the game.

The Yanks are favored definitely because of Joe DiMaggio in their lineup. He figures to carry them.

NormanStewart · October 1, 2026, 11:48am

Game 1

Tuesday, September 30, 1947, 1:30 p.m. ET
Yankee Stadium, Bronx, New York

Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Brooklyn Dodgers (0-1)	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	3	6	0
New York Yankees (1-0)	0	0	0	0	5	0	0	0	X	5	4	0

BROOKLYN DODGERS (NL):
Hitters	AB	R	H	PO	A	E	AVG
Stanky, 2B	4	0	1	0	4	0	.250
Robinson, 1B	2	1	0	8	1	0	.000
Reiser, CF-LF	4	1	1	3	0	0	.250
Walker, RF	4	0	2	1	0	0	.500
Hermanski, LF	2	0	0	2	0	0	.000
Furillo, PH-CF	1	0	1	2	0	0	1.000
Edwards, C	4	0	0	8	0	0	.000
Jorgensen, 3B	2	0	0	0	1	0	.000
Lavagetto, PH-3B	2	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Reese, SS	4	1	1	0	2	0	.250
Branca, P	2	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Behrman, P	0	0	0	0	1	0
Miksis, PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Casey, P	0	0	0	0	0	0
Totals	32	3	6	24	9	0	.188

Batting
TB	D. Walker 2; E. Stanky; P.W. Reese; P. Reiser; C. Furillo
RBI	C. Furillo (1); D. Walker (1)
2-Out RBI	C. Furillo; D. Walker
With RISP	2 for 6
Team LOB	5
Baserunning
SB	J. Robinson (1, 2nd base off S. Shea/Y. Berra); P.W. Reese (1, 2nd base off J. Page/Y.Berra)

NEW YORK YANKEES (AL):
Hitters	AB	R	H	PO	A	E	AVG
Stirnweiss, 2B	4	0	0	3	1	0	.000
Henrich, RF	4	0	1	3	3	0	.250
Berra, C	4	0	0	5	0	0	.000
DiMaggio, CF	4	1	1	2	0	0	.250
McQuinn, 1B	3	1	0	7	2	0	.000
Johnson, 3B	2	1	0	1	2	0	.000
Lindell, LF	3	0	1	3	0	0	.333
Rizzuto, SS	2	1	1	1	3	0	.500
Shea, P	1	0	0	1	2	0	.000
Brown, PH	0	1	0	0	0	0
Page, P	1	0	0	1	2	0	.000
Totals	28	5	4	27	12	0	.143

Batting
2B	J. Lindell (1, off Branca)
HBP	B. Johnson (1, by Branca)
TB	J. Lindell 2; P. Rizzuto; J. DiMaggio; T. Henrich
RBI	J. Lindell 2 (2); T. Henrich 2 (2); B. Brown (1)
With RISP	2 for 7
Team LOB	3
Fielding
DP	1 (B. Johnson-G. McQuinn)

Brooklyn Dodgers

Pitchers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
Branca, L (0-1)	4	2	5	5	3	5	11.25
Behrman	2	1	0	0	0	0	0.00
Casey	2	1	0	0	0	1	0.00
Team Totals	8	4	5	5	3	6	5.62

New York Yankees

Pitchers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
Shea, W (1-0)	5	2	1	1	2	3	1.80
Page, S (1)	4	4	2	2	1	2	4.50
Team Totals	9	6	3	3	3	5	3.00

Balks: S. Shea (1)
Wild Pitches: J. Page (1)
HBP: R. Branca (1; B. Johnson)
IBB: None
Pickoffs: None
Umpires: HP - McGowan, 1B - Pinelli, 2B - Rommel, 3B - Goetz, LF - Magerkurth, RF - Boyer
Time: 2:20
Attendance: 73,365

NormanStewart · October 1, 2026, 12:33pm

The Pittsburgh Press (September 30, 1947)

YANKEES WIN SERIES OPENER, 5-3
5-run attack in 5th inning beats Dodgers

Record crowd, gate set for one game
By Chester L. Smith, Pittsburgh Press sports editor

NEW YORK – A five-run fifth inning gave the New York Yankees of the American League the opening game of the 1947 World Series over the Brooklyn Dodgers of the National League in the Yankee Stadium this afternoon.

The final score was 5-3.

Ralph Branca started for the Dodgers and Rookie Frank Shea for the Yanks, but neither was around at the finish.

The game was played in clear, crisp weather.

A record crowd of 73,365 saw the game. The old mark for a single game was 69,990, set October 7, 1943, when the St. Louis Cards played the Yanks here. Receipts for the first game totaled $325,828.70, also a new record. The old mark of $269,408 was set October 4, 1942, in the Card-Yank series.

Dodgers score in first

The Dodgers scored in the first. Jackie Robinson walked with one out and stole second. He was trapped and tagged out on Pete Reiser’s grounder to Shea, but Reiser reached second on the play. Reiser then scored on Dixie Walker’s single to short left. Gene Hermanski struck out to end the inning. Branca retired the Yanks on nine pitches.

Both teams went out in order in the second.

Robinson walked with two out in the third and went to second on a balk, but Reiser flied out to end the inning. Branca again retired the Yanks in order.

Walker gets second hit

Walker singled off George McQuinn’s glove for the second hit of the game to open the fourth, but was rubbed out as Gene Hermanski hit into a double play. The Yanks again went out in order.

Shea retired the Dodgers in order in the fifth, but Branca, who had retired 12 straight men to this point, tottered and fell apart.

Joe DiMaggio started it with a single. McQuinn walked and Branca hit Bill Johnson to fill the bases. Johnny Lindell’s double scored DiMaggio and McQuinn. Branca walked Phil Rizzuto to again fill the bases. After pitching two balls to Bobby Brown, pinch-hitting for Shea, Branca was replaced by Hank Behrman.

Page yields run

Behrman walked Brown to force in Johnson and after George Stirnweiss forced Lindell at the plate, Tom Henrich singled to score Rizzuto and Brown to make it 5-1. Yogi Berra and DiMaggio then flied out.

Joe Page took the mound for the Yanks in the sixth and yielded a run. Stanky singled but was forced by Robinson. Reiser beat out an infield hit and Walker flied out. Carl Furillo, batting for Hermanski, singled to score Robinson, but then Bruce Edwards flied out. The Yanks went out in order.

The Dodgers added another run in the seventh when Reese singled, stole second and scored on a wild pitch. Rizzuto singled for the Yanks but was left stranded.

NormanStewart · October 1, 2026, 5:03pm

Bums name Branca to hurl series opener with Yankees

Big fastball pitcher goes against Frank Shea, Bombers’ star rookie

NEW YORK (UP) – Burt Shotton, keeping his plans secret until the last possible moment, today named Ralph Branca, his 21-game winner, to pitch the opening game of the World Series for the Brooklyn Dodgers against Frank (Spec) Shea and the New York Yankees.

It was a half hour before game time at 1:30 p.m. that Shotton finally revealed definitely that Branca, wearing No. 13, was going to face the Yankee rookie star.

Before that, he kept insisting it could be any one of his 10 pitchers although the Brooklyn players were confident all along it would be the former New York University ace.

Branca speed ball artist

Shotton said it was noon before be decided definitely on his fast-balling righthander and that up until that time he also had Hal Gregg, another righthander in mind.

Branca has a blazing fast ball and when his control is sharp is almost unbeatable. He lost 12 games this season.

His opponent, Shea, also a speed-baller, won 14 games while losing five this season.

Yanks present rookie battery

It was the first time that a rookie ever started a World Series game for an American League team. Three have done it for the National Leaguers in the past, with only one, Babe Adams of the Pirates in 1909, winning.

The Yankees started with an all-rookie battery as Lawrence (Yogi) Berra was back of the plate.

Although a record sell-out crowd of 73,000 was assured, the fans were slow in filling Yankee Stadium.

The $4 bleacher seats were the first to be filled. Ringing the outfield from high center to left center, the bleachers were jammed to capacity an hour and a half before the 1:30 p.m. game time.

The standing-room-only customers, at $1 a head, also filled the limited quarters.

Brisk wind, skies clear

A brisk wind was blowing from left to right field, favoring those hitters whose power is to right. It was topcoat weather, but the sun was shining brightly and there was no threat of the scattered thundershowers which had been forecast.

Those sitting in the sun in the box and reserved grandstand seats between home plate and third base shed their topcoat.

The Dodgers drew almost the complete attention of the reporters, cameramen and others on the playing field, the Yankee dugout being virtually deserted.

Scalpers active

As time neared for Commissioner Happy Chandler to toss out the first pitch, speculators were asking $100 a pair for box seat pasteboards with $16.

In man-to-man betting the Yankees were 2-1 favorites. With the bookies you put up $10 to win $5 n the Yanks and placed $5 to win $9 if you favored the Dodgers. For the first game it was “eight to seven,” the Yankee bettor putting up $8 to win $5 and the Dodger fan laying $5 to win $7.

For the first time in Series history, six umpires were used. Ralph Pinelli and Larry Goetz of the National League and Bill McGowan and Eddie Rommel of the American League handled the bases. George Magerkurth of the National and Jim Boyer of the American, the two alternates judged the foul lines.

NormanStewart · October 1, 2026, 5:17pm

The Village Smithy

By Chester L. Smith, sports editor

NEW YORK – The World Series broke out at Yankee Stadium today in the usual cloud of confusion.

While we were standing in line picking up our credentials at press headquarters yesterday, a busy little man with a notebook and poised pencil put in an appearance. It turned out he was taking a poll.

When he came to me, he said, “Who do you like for the Series?”

“The Dodgers,” I replied without thinking.

“In how many games?” he demanded.

Grabbing a number at random, I answered six.

Then he took my name and went on to the next man, leaving me thankful he hadn’t wanted to know why I had named Brooklyn in six.

I would have had to ask him to come back later, for frankly I can’t put a finger on my reasons for fancying the Brooks, except that they impress me as a club that doesn’t scare, runs like the devil and is always on base.

Frequently, during the season, there has been no logical means to explain why there would be a Dodger on say, first, and another on, say, third. Yet they were there, and eventually one of both would score, also in an inexplicable fashion.

They lack the opulent dignity of the Yankees, but they tell me there are some panhandlers who go home at night with more scratch in their jeans than quite a few bankers. In my book, the Dodgers are like that.

He’s a subtle fellow, that MacPhail

And speaking of credentials, Col. Leland Stanford MacPhail has set a new all-time high with the official button he has doled out to adorn and distinguish the members of the press.

The man who designed them must have got his start carving faces out of mountains or perhaps creating patterns for airplanes which would not fly when put to the test. The Yankee insignia bears a close resemblance to a pancake with wings, all but covering the wearer’s lapel and giving the men of the fourth estate the feeling that they are delegates to the State Grange Convention at Keokuk, Iowa.

It could be the colonel’s sly way of retaliating for past harsh words written about him. If so, he has gotten even as far as I am concerned, and I’m willing to let bygones be bygones.

The Series opened in an aura of mystery when Uncle Burt Shotton, customarily the most forthright of men, said he would not announce his starting pitcher “until he starts to warm up.”

Since everybody thought it could be no one but Ralph Branca, the 21-game winner, or Vic Lombardi, the mite lefthander, the suspects naturally were narrowed down, but Uncle Burt was adamant in the face of persistent pleas to confess.

Shotton explained his reticence by saying he did not want the pitcher he had selected to be awake all night worrying. This theory, at first glance, is sound, but when you probe deeper you discover a dangerous flaw. By remaining silent, Uncle Burt places all his pitchers on the anxious seat. No one knows for sure the assignment will not be his.

Which is better, I ask you – to have a single twirler rolling and tossing and wadding the pillow into knots through the dark hours or subject the whole staff to the same ordeal? I intend to pay particular attention to the Brooklyn moundsmen today, and if they are uniformly red-eyed and haggard I will know the Shotton system boomeranged.

Proof of the pudding, you know

Like all opening World Series games, today’s promised to be in the nature of a sparring match, with each team feeling out the other. Branch Rickey spent a small fortune scouting the Yanks and the Yankee FBIs have thoroughly gum-shoed the Dodgers, but there are a lot of angles that can only be ferreted out on the field.

The Yanks, for instance, know Jackie Robinson is fast, but their knowledge is only drawn from the speed he showed against National League teams. How his speed will look against Larry Berra’s arm and their own defense will have to be demonstrated on the field.

There is the Dodgers’ conglomerate pitching staff that was good enough to turn back senior league opposition. How will it behave when Joe DiMaggio, George McQuinn, Tom Henrich and a few of the other Yank gunners begin to unload their wood?

There is considerable difference in the way these teams won their pennants. The Yanks were conceded to be the new champions while the Dodgers were still being counted out. There were periods during the summer when all Brooklyn was ready to give up on the Bums. And it wasn’t until they caught fire on their last western trip that they pushed the Cardinals into the discard.

This would suggest that the Brooks can either fold quietly or go out and beat the ears off their American League rivals.

One thing is certain: Neither will go down as one of the great clubs to perform in a World Series. There are some profound thinkers who maintain the Cardinals could beat either one in a seven-game series.

What they fail to explain, however, is that those Redbirds who were present today had to pay their way into the park.

NormanStewart · October 2, 2026, 7:44am

Game 2

Wednesday, October 1, 1947, 1:30 p.m. ET
Yankee Stadium, Bronx, New York

Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Brooklyn Dodgers (0-2)	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	3	9	2
New York Yankees (2-0)	1	0	1	1	2	1	4	0	X	10	15	1

BROOKLYN DODGERS (NL):
Hitters	AB	R	H	PO	A	E	AVG
Stanky, 2B	4	0	1	3	2	1	.250
Robinson, 1B	4	0	2	5	0	0	.333
Reiser, CF-LF	4	0	1	4	0	1	.250
Walker, RF	4	1	1	1	0	0	.375
Hermanski, LF	3	1	0	3	0	0	.000
Edwards, C	4	0	1	5	1	0	.125
Reese, SS	3	1	2	0	0	0	.429
Jorgensen, 3B	4	0	1	3	5	0	.167
Lombardi, P	2	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Gregg, P	0	0	0	0	0	0
Vaughan, P	1	0	0	0	2	0	.000
Behrman, P	0	0	0	0	0	0
Barney, P	0	0	0	0	0	0
Gionfriddo, PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Totals	34	3	9	24	10	2	.265

Batting
2B	J. Robinson (1, off Reynolds)
HR	D. Walker (1, off Reynolds, 4th inn 0 on, 0 outs to deep RF)
TB	D. Walker 4; J. Robinson 3; P.W. Reese 2; E. Stanky; S. Jorgensen; B. Edwards; P. Reiser
GIDP	D. Walker (1)
RBI	J. Robinson (1); S. Jorgensen (1); D. Walker (2)
2-Out RBI	J. Robinson
With RISP	2 for 7
Team LOB	6
Fielding
DP	1 (S. Jorgensen-E. Stanky-J. Robinson)
E	P. Reiser (1); E. Stanky (1)
Baserunning
SB	P.W. Reese (2, 2nd base off Reynolds/Berra)
CS	P.W. Reese (1, 2nd base by Reynolds/Berra)

NEW YORK YANKEES (AL):
Hitters	AB	R	H	PO	A	E	AVG
Stirnweiss, 2B	4	2	3	1	2	0	.375
Henrich, RF	4	1	2	3	0	0	.375
Lindell, LF	4	1	2	2	0	0	.429
DiMaggio, CF	4	0	1	4	0	0	.250
McQuinn, 1B	5	1	2	6	1	0	.250
Johnson, 3B	5	2	2	1	2	0	.286
Rizzuto, SS	5	0	1	3	4	0	.286
Berra, C	3	1	0	6	1	1	.000
Reynolds, P	4	2	2	1	0	0	.500
Totals	38	10	15	27	10	1	.395

Batting
2B	P. Rizzuto (1, off Lombardi); J. Lindell (2, off Lombardi)
3B	S. Stirnweiss (1, off Lombardi); J. Lindell (1, off Lombardi); B. Johnson (1, off Lombardi)
HR	T. Henrich (1, off Lombardi, 5th inn, 0 on, 0 outs to deep CF-RF)
SH	T. Henrich (1, off Gregg)
IBB	J. DiMaggio (1, by Lombardi); Y. Berra (1, by Behrman)
TB	S. Stirnweiss 5; J. Lindell 5; T. Henrich 5; B. Johnson 4; A. Reynolds 2; P. Rizzuto 2; G. McQuinn 2; J. DiMaggio.
GIDP	J. Lindell (1)
RBI	J. Lindell 2 (4); T. Henrich (3); A. Reynolds (1); G. McQuinn (1); B. Johnson (1); S. Stirnweiss (1); P. Rizzuto (1)
With RISP	6 for 20
Team LOB	9
Fielding
DP	1 (B. Johnson-G. McQuinn)