1947 World Series

21

The Evening Star (October 1, 1947)

Yankees lead Dodgers, 5-2, on long hits

Stirnweiss, Lindell and Johnson triple; Dixie Walker homers
By Burton Hawkins, Star Staff Correspondent

Lineup

Dodgers Yankees
Stanky, 2b Stirnweiss, 2b
Robinson, 1b Henrich, rf
Reiser, cf Lindell, lf
Walker, rf DiMaggio, cf
Hermanski, lf McQuinn, 1b
Edwards, c W. Johnson, 3b
Reese, ss Rizzuto, ss
Jorgensen, 3b Berra, c
Lombardi, p Reynolds, p

Umpires – Ralph Pinelli (N.L.), plate; Ed Rommel (A.L.), first base; Larry Goetz (N.L.), second base; Wm. McGowan (A.L.), third base; Jim Boyer (A.L.), left field; George Magerkurth (N.L.), right field.

BULLETIN

NEW YORK (Special) – Tommy Henrich hit a homer in the fifth inning and the Yankees led the Dodgers, 5-2.

NEW YORK – The Yankees began hitting for distance in the second game of the World Series today and led the Dodgers, 4-2, in the fifth inning.

Long New York hits, including triples by Snuffy Stirnweiss, Johnny Lindell and Billy Johnson gave the Yanks runs in the first, second and third innings.

Dixie Walker hit a homer for the Dodgers in the fourth.

The Yanks got their run in the first off Vic Lombardi on singles by Snuffy Stirnweiss and Tommy Henrich, the score coming when Johnny Lindell hit into a double play.

Both teams shifted their line-ups for the second game. With Lombardi, a lefthander, pitching, Yogi Berra, Yankee catcher, was dropped to eighth place in the batting order and Lindell hit third. Skeeter Rizzuto batted seventh.

The Dodgers shifted Pee Wee Reese up to seventh place in the batting order, trading places with Johnny Jorgensen who hit eighth.

FIRST INNING

DODGERS – Stanky worked the count to three and two, then fanned, Reynolds struck out Robinson on four pitches. Reiser lifted a high fly to Lindell. No runs.

YANKEES – Stirnweiss smashed Lombardi’s first pitch into right field for a single. Henrich took a strike then singled to center, sending Stirnweiss to third. Stirnweiss scored as Lindell hit into a double play, Jorgensen to Stanky to Robinson. DiMaggio smashed a single off Reese’s glove. McQuinn fanned. One run.

SECOND INNING

DODGERS – DiMaggio came in quickly to snare Walker’s liner. Hermanski fouled to Johnson. Reynolds threw three straight balls to Edwards, then fanned him. No runs.

YANKEES – Johnson filed deep to Walker. Rizzuto bunted and was whipped out by Jorgensen. Stanky threw out Berra. No runs.

THIRD INNING

DODGERS – Reese walked. Jorgensen lined to Henrich. Lombardi flied to DiMaggio. Reese stole second. Stirnweiss made a fine back-hand stop of Stanky’s blow back of second base, but Stanky beat the throw to first for Brooklyn’s first hit. Reese stopped at third. Robinson singled to left, scoring Reese. Stanky stopped at second. Reiser fanned. No run.

YANKEES – Jorgensen threw out Reynolds. Stirnweiss lined a triple to right center. Henrich fouled to Jorgensen. Lindell tripled to center, scoring Stirnweiss. DiMaggio was purposely passed. McQuinn fanned one run for the second time.

FOURTH INNING

DODGERS – Walker hit the first home run of the series into the lower right field stands. Hermanski was out, McQuinn to Reynolds, who covered first. Edwards popped to McQuinn. Reese singled to right. Reese was out attempting to steal, Berra to Rizzuto. One run.

YANKEES – Reiser fell down as he attempted to catch Johnson’s deep drive and the ball rolled passed him for a triple. Rizzuto’s pop fly in short left field fell safely between Hermanski and Reese for a double, Johnson scoring. Berra filed to Reiser, Rizzuto taking third after the catch. Reynolds bounded to Jorgensen and Rizzuto was trapped between third and the plate and run down, Jorgensen to Edwards to Jorgensen. Reynolds going all the way to second. Stirnweiss fanned. One run.

FIFTH INNING

DODGERS – Jorgensen fanned. Rizzuto threw out Lombardi. Stanky went out the same way. No runs.

None-too-hot Yankees can afford to be chesty

Harrismen discover they can win even if not brilliant
By Burton Hawkins, Star Staff Correspondent

NEW YORK – New York’s Yankees, guilty of some atrocious baseball behavior in the process of defeating Brooklyn, 5-3, in the World Series opener, can afford to be chesty, confident characters in regard to the immediate future. They weren’t clicking yesterday, but they polished off the Dodgers anyway and in that they may find considerable comfort.

Some 73,365 fans, the largest crowd ever to witness a series game, watched the Yankees muster only four hits, three of them singles. Pitcher Frank Shea balked, Pitcher Joe Page unleashed a wild pitch, Catcher Yogi Berra permitted two stolen bases, firing a pitifully inept long bounce throw in an effort to halt Jackie Robinson in the first inning.

Shea didn’t distinguish himself in a rundown play in the first inning, either, for in the process of trapping Robinson off second base he permitted Pete Reiser to scoot all the way to second. Page wasn’t having one of his good days, yet the Yankees won and in that there is a bundle of significance.

Yanks in commanding spot

The Yankees are in a commanding sort of spot. There is greater depth to their pitching, they have reasonable assurance that their hitters won’t remain shackled, and they’re convinced that few explosives will be touched off by Brooklyn bats.

New York’s first six hitters were restricted to a brace of singles by Ralph Branca, Hank Behrman and Hugh Casey and that’s a pleasure Brooklyn’s pitchers probably won’t experience again. They stopped the top of the Yankees’ batting order, but can show only a galling defeat as a result.

Brooklyn presented the Yankees with that vital first game and found themselves in an unenviable predicament today when the teams returned to vast Yankee Stadium for the second struggle.

Branca, who has shown a tendency to blow key games, was a no-hit, no-run, no-batter-reach-first-base pitcher for four innings, but his fame was fleeting. Joe DiMaggio beat out a grounder to Shortstop Pee Wee Reese opening the Yankees’ fifth and Branca’s effectiveness evaporated with shocking suddenness.

Lindell comes through

He walked George McQuinn, then nicked Bill Johnson with a pitched ball to fill the bases. In that crisis Johnny Lindell lashed a double down the left-field line, scoring DiMaggio and McQuinn, and a five-run production was under way.

Branca walked Phil Rizzuto to refill the bases and at that point Manager Bucky Harris decided to depart from routine baseball. He dispatched Bobby Brown to the plate as a pinch-hitter for Shea, who had permitted only two hits in five innings. It was a courageous gamble made in full knowledge he would be exposed to the criticism of grandstand managers, but Bucky was going for a big inning and he got it.

When Branca threw two balls to Brown he was replaced by Behrman, who walked Bobby anyway, scoring Johnson. Robinson scooped up George Stirnweiss’ grounder and forced Lindell at the plate, but Tommy Henrich’s single to left scored Rizzuto and Brown before Berra and DiMaggio flied out.

New York’s only hit, exclusive of the fifth inning, was delivered by Rizzuto, who singled in the seventh off Casey, but the Yankees’ meager attack was sufficient, for the Dodgers were accumulating only six hits, all singles, off Shea and Page.

Walker scores Reiser

With one out in the first inning Robinson walked and stole second. When Reiser tapped to Shea, Robinson was trapped and run down. But on that play Reiser streaked to second and scored when Dixie Walker dropper a single in left.

Page, whose brilliant relief pitching in the regular season prompted Harris to sacrifice Shea for the sake of a possible rally, wasn’t spectacular. He yielded a run in the sixth when Robinson, who hid forced Ed Stanky, score on Carl Furillo’s single after moving to second when Reiser beat out a tap to McQuinn.

Reese singled with one out in the seventh, stole second as Pinchhitter Ed Miksis fanned, and scored when Page poured a wild pitch past Berra. The Dodgers still were hoping when Furillo walked to start the ninth, but Page retired Bruce Edwards, Cookie Lava get to and Reese in order.

22

Yanks not as tough as Cards in first game, says Robinson

By Ted Smits, Associated Press Sports Editor

NEW YORK (AP) – The Yankees, says Dodger First Baseman Jackie Robinson, “on the basis of one game are not as tough as the Cardinals. Mind you, I said on the basis of one game.

“Pressure on me? No, but I just couldn’t connect with the ball. If I’d come through with a hit when it was needed it might have been a different story.”

Guy Lombardo, the orchestra leader and speedboat racer, is a baseball fan. His band played for the first World Series game, and is due to appear for the second. Lombardo paid the salaries – not the Yankees – and because there are no complimentary seats for a World Series, Guy also purchased 40 tickets for members of the band and their wives. Helen Jepson, Metropolitan Opera soprano, who sang “The Star-Spangled Banner,” also bought her way in.

“Well, they are young boys,” was all Branch Rickey would say after the first game loss.

Commissioner A. B. Chandler, who has been booed on some of his public appearances, came out unscathed yesterday. Mayor William O’Dwyer of New York throw in the first ball from the commissioner’s box, with no particular attention focused on the ceremony.

“I hated to take him out,” said Manager Burt Shotton of Ralph Branca, the Dodger pitcher who blew up in the fifth after four flawless innings. “He still had plenty of stuff.” Shotton put his arm around the tall, earnest righthander and said with a broad smile, “hold your head up.”

Two of the greatest hitters in the game, Ty Cobb and Ted Williams, met for the first time in the series. Williams stared at Cobb with admiration, and with almost child-like awe asked, “I’ve always wanted to meet you, Mr. Cobb. Can you show me how to hit a slider?”

Second guessers were having a picnic masterminding the first game. “The game was won in the dugout,” one back-seat pilot volunteered. “Shotton waited too long to yank Branca while Harris made a smart move in taking Shea out for a pinch-hitter in the big fifth.”

“He’s the kind of a guy who would be insisting Harris was a bum if pinch-hitter Bobby Brown had popped up. Tommy Henrich had hit into a double play and Joe Page given up the winning runs,” quipped a bystander.

If nothing else Branca always will remember September 30 as his unlucky day. It was just a year ago that day that Branca, en route to St. Louis to pitch against the Cardinals in the playoff for the National League pennant, lost his wallet contained several hundred dollars. That was peanuts compared to what yesterday’s fifth inning blowup might mean this year. Just a difference of about $2,000, that’s all.

A couple of out-of-town sports writers, who obviously must remain nameless, retired to the warmer confines of the stadium club after the big Yankee fifth inning and completed their deathless prose with typewriters perched atop the bar at the lounge radio blared out the play-by-play. One writer said the cold had number his typing finger; the other complained the press box accommodations were too cramped. More than 500 applicants received space in the press section. The box itself, which holds comfortably not more than 150, was virtually restricted to working newsmen from the wire and feature services and papers in the major league cities.

Perhaps the most comfortable spectator in the park was a fellow who didn’t have to pay. He sat on the Yankee bench in uniform, although it was certain he would not play. That was Charley Keller, recently operated on for a spinal injury. Keller reported he was making progress and that there was a 50-50 chance that he would play next year.

23

Dodgers will be tough to beat, they’ve got speed, says Harris

By Joe Reichler, Associated Press Sports Writer

NEW YORK (AP) – “They’ll be tough to beat. They’ve got the speed.”

This was the considered opinion of Manager Bucky Harris as his victorious New York Yankees prepared to take on the Brooklyn Dodgers today in the second game of the World Series.

“Don’t for a minute think they’ll be easy to beat,” Harris reminded. “They’re a good ball club. I’ve got a lot of respect for their ability.

“You saw them yesterday. Did they quit when Branca folded in the fifth? By gosh they came back fighting mad and almost caught us, didn’t they? Don’t think I wasn’t scared stiff when the first batter walked in the ninth and that Edwards guy, who can beat your brains out any time, came to bat.”

Harris said the turning point of the game came with Pinchhitter Bobby Brown at bat with the bases loaded in the hectic fifth, which saw the Yankees score all their runs in their 5-3 victory.

“Imagine the spot the kid was in?” Harris asked. “Here was a boy in his first year in the big leagues, being sent up to bat with the bases loaded and 73,000 fans looking on.

“Why, I could see his face was as white as chalk. His heart must have beat a mile a minute, but his eyes were clear and that base on balls that he drew set up the stage for Tommy Henrich’s two-run single, which proved eventually to be the winning runs.”

“I know how he felt,” Harris reiterated. “Because that was the way I felt when I went up to bat for the first time in my first World Series in 1924.”

Asked to explain his reason for substituting a pinch hitter for Pitcher Frank Shea in the fifth, when the Yankees were ahead, 2-1, and Shea apparently well in control, Harris explained:

“Look, I was playing for a big inning and I got it, didn’t I? Sure, Shea was going good, but I had another pretty good pitcher in the bullpen, and I knew that if we could get a couple of more runs Joe Page would hold the lead for us. We got three more and Page held the lead.”

Harris complimented the Dodgers on their speed and hustle, and admitted it would be a problem the Yankees would have to cope with.

“Those guys are fast,” Harris enthused. “Look at that Jackie Robinson. We know he was going to steal and we couldn’t catch him. And guys like Pete Reiser and Carl Furillo aren’t snails, either.”

“You can say this for me,” he concluded. “If and when we win that combination of four, we will know that we had beaten a tough club. Another thing you can quote me on is this, the Yankees may not win the series, but I never saw a club in a better frame of mind. They are firmly convinced they can do it. A team in that frame of mind is mighty tough to beat.”

24

Stationing of umpires on foul lines pays off in first game

NEW YORK (AP) – For the first time in baseball history – either regular season or World Series – umpires were stationed at the left and right field foul lines in front of the bleachers – and it paid off.

But instead of squatting astride the foul line on a 4-inch strip of concrete ledge, the umpires have been ordered by Commissioner A. B. “Happy” Chandler to stand up the rest of the series.

Foul Line Sentry George Magerkurth of the National League figured in one of the key calls of yesterday’s game.

It was the big fifth inning for the Yankees. The New Yorkers had filled the bases and Johnny Lindell lined a double to deep left near the foul line.

Fair by four inches

“It was right in front of me,” Magerkurth recalled in the dressing room afterward. “It was fair by four inches.”

Plate Umpire Bill McGowan agreed. “That’s the way it looked to me, too, from the plate,” he said. Ordinarily, with no outfield umps, it would be up to the plate umpire to make the call after getting a confirming signal from the third base umpire.

“I don’t know what’ll be worse – standing still out there all day or crouching on that little ledge,” said the ample Magerkurth of the commissioner’s new instructions.

“It wouldn’t be so bad if we had a stool to sit on out there. On the bases or behind the plate you get to move around once in a while. But out there in left field today I just stooped, squatted and squinted.”

All six series umpires agreed it was about the coldest game they ever officiated. A chill autumn wind swirled up little whirlpools of dust all afternoon.

Nearly froze to death

“I darned near froze to death out there on first base,” said National Leaguer Babe Pinelli, peeling off his shorts.

He eyed Magerkurth’s long underwear enviously.

“You’ve got something there, Georgie,” he remarked. “Maybe I’ll get some. Why don’t you wear ‘em back to town?”

The umps delayed their showers while they passed around three dozen baseballs for their mutual autographs.

Plate Umpire McGowan was outraged.

“During the season not even my own brother would come into the dressing room to see me. But today – what happens?”

Some “well-meaning” fans had dropped into the dressing room earlier and somebody apparently appropriated one of McGowan’s autographed baseballs.

Reversing the usual direction of the time-worn baseball complaint, McGowan screamed: “I wuz robbed!”

25

Lindell’s series role recalls his aid to Yankees in 1943

NEW YORK (AP) – Johnny Lindell, the sub, made good again yesterday – just as he did in the 1943 World Series.

Filling in for the injured Charley Keller in left field, Lindell provided what may prove to be the turning point of the series when he doubled home the first two runs in the big Yankee fifth inning that defeated Brooklyn in first game of the annual classic.

Coming up with the bases loaded and no one out, the Arcadia (Calif.) fly chaser, built like a fullback, smacked a curve for a two-bagger just inside the left field foul line to put the skids under Ralph Branca, the Dodgers’ starting hurler.

Back in 1943, when the Yanks met the St. Louis Cardinals, Lindell provided what many thought was the key play of the series, but in a different fashion.

That year the Yanks won the opener, but the Cards took the second and were leading in the third game, 2-1, at Yankee Stadium when the Yanks came up in the eighth inning.

Lindell led off with a single to center and reached second on Harry Walker’s error. George Stirnweiss laid down a bunt. The Cards’ first sacker, Ray Sanders, whipped the ball to Whitey Kurowski at third base in time to tag Lindell, but big Johnny threw such a teeth-jarring block coming into third that Kurowski dropped the ball.

Thus instead of the Yankee having one out and a man on first, two were on with none out. That opened the door for a typical five-run Yankee uprising that won the game and also broke the Cards’ heart. The Yanks swept the next two games to take the series, four games to one.

26

Win, Lose, or Draw…
Bucky gambled and gambled well

By Francis E. Stann, Star Staff Correspondent

NEW YORK – After lo, these many years, it begins to look as if Bucky Harris’ luck is changing for the better. Ever since 1926, when he stopped winning, every clubowner who employed Harris as a manager conceded that he had ability but no luck. Now, in the wake of the Yankees’ triumphant start in the World Series, it would seem that Bucky has both ability and luck.

Regardless of the outcome of this series, Bucky made one decision in New York’s 5-3 victory yesterday that will provide fuel for the hot stove league all winter. That was when he lifted Frank Shea for a pinch-hitter in the midst of a rally, and when Bucky removed Shea he was taking out a fellow who had given up only two hits, a tainted run, and who was looking very good indeed.

Here was the situation:

Brooklyn was operating on a 1-0 lead, gained in the first inning mainly because Rookie Catcher Yogi Berra of the Yankees became slightly panicky because Jackie Robinson drew a base on balls. The Bums’ pitcher, Ralph Branca, meanwhile was mowing down the Yanks as if he owned them. He had retired 12 straight – 5 on strikeouts – when Joe DiMaggio opened the fifth with an apologetic single.

Branca is two different guys, or at least he was yesterday. Without runners on base he is terrific. With guys on the paths he is or was – horrible. Anyway, he walked McQuinn and hit Billy Johnson to fill the bases, and Johnny Lindell doubled to score two runs. When Branca walked Rizzuto, again filling the bases, Burt Shotton figured it was time for a change. So did Harris.

When Shea’s turn came it was 2-1

Shotton waved Hank Behrman to replace Branca and Harris yanked Shea – there was nobody out, mind you, and the bases were loaded with the score 2-1 in favor of New York. Bucky sent Bobby Brown to hit for Shea and you could see the second-guessers, professional and amateur alike, preen themselves.

Of course, Harris’ side won and victory covers a multitude of sins. But a lot of people, including competent observers, say that Bucky used poor judgment in quitting so early on Shea. If he didn’t have confidence in the young man, they argued, why did he start Shea at all?

As a Harris booster from ‘way back, this bureau is willing to go on record as suggesting that Bucky pulled one of the real smart World Series’ moves in recent years when he yanked Shea.

It is true that Bucky pulled à guy who was going good and who might have won if the Yankees had not scored again. Shea might have won 2-1. On the other hand, Harris had plenty of reason for sending up a pinch-hitter and playing for a big inning.

From a psychological viewpoint, Harris’ reasoning was sound. In yanking his No. 1 boy, Shea, he was throwing up to the Dodgers the fact that his Yankees were deeper in slab strength than Brooklyn. Bucky’s was an almost disdainful move, but the disdain, of course, was encouraged by his having in the bullpen no less a personage than Joe Page, top relief pitcher in the game. As it developed, Page was not sensational, but he was adequate and that was sufficient.

From a practical standpoint, Bucky was perfectly within his rights when he removed Shea. His Yankees had a 2-1 lead, true, but Bucky also knows that his club has been in a hitting slump. He was playing for that one big inning and the time seeded ripe. Branca was fading fast and obviously Harris was preferring a 5-1 lead to be protected by second-string hurlers than a 2-1 margin to be guarded by Shea. Come to think of it, who wouldn’t?

Neither team is very good

As it turned out, Bucky put all his eggs in one basket and got away with it. His pinch-hitter walked, forcing across a run, and then Tommy Henrich singled home another pair of runs and it was 5-1 and up to Page, who managed to stagger through the game.

As Rogers Hornsby and other learned baseball men predicted, this series could be a very screwy affair, chiefly because neither team is of much account. The Dodgers look as if they couldn’t hit Sidney Greenstreet if he trotted across the plate and old-timers, like Bill Terry, find it hard to believe that any team could win a pennant with a catcher like Berra.

Harris is a gambler and he gambled well when he elected to try for one big inning, because as things turned out there were only two innings in which Yankees got on base. Bucky is wearing the much-feared New York uniform but he’s practical enough to realize that he has no Gehrig and no Ruffing and no Gomez, and that DiMaggio and Henrich are over the hill.

Besides, in addition to victory in the opener, Harris has only a slightly used Shea, who could go to the post almost any minute now. Of what we saw yesterday, Bucky and the Yankees are home with the large slice of a big melon.

27

Opener a fizzle, Hornsby asserts

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

NEW YORK – I just heard somebody say it was a good thing they didn’t raise the subway fares here from a nickel to eight cents because the first World Series game wouldn’t have been worth it.

That’s about right. It not only was a listlessly played game, but full of jittery pitching, like high school kids out there. Certainly you look for something better from two teams that were good enough to win a couple of pennants.

Unless the Dodgers’ pitching settles down, they won’t last long.

(Chicago Daily News)

28

Fans quit Series for U.N. ‘game’

NEW YORK (AP) – United Nations personnel joined reporters at television sets to watch the World Series during a recess in yesterday’s balloting on a Security Council seat. Then came time for announcement of results of the fifth ballot in the contest between India and the Ukraine, and one fan remarked:

“Well, we gotta go back into the hall to see how the Indians and the Reds are making out.”

Death beats video to kid’s bedside

NEW YORK (AP) – A television set had been installed in the hospital room of eight-year-old Patty Ciccarelli so that the boy, dying of a blood disease, could watch his idol, Joe DiMaggio, play in the World Series. Joe had visited him only three weeks ago.

But Patty didn’t get to see Big Joe make the first Yankee hit yesterday: Patty died at 5 a.m.

29

The Pittsburgh Press (October 1, 1947)

YANKS WIN SECOND STRAIGHT, 10-3
Bomber bats belt Dodgers into defeat

Henrich and Walker clout homers
By Chester L. Smith, Pittsburgh Press sports editor

Second Game Figures

NEW YORK (UP) – World Series facts and figures for the second game today:

Paid attendance: 69,865
Total gate receipts: $317,731.20
Commissioner’s share: $47,659.91
Players’ pool: $162,042.91
Clubs’ and Leagues’ shares: $108,028.61

NEW YORK – New York Yankee bats played a merry tune as the Yanks won their second straight game from the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1947 World Series here today.

The final score was 10-3.

Yanks score in first

Reynolds retired the Dodgers in order in the first, but Lombardi ran into trouble and gave up a run. Stirnweiss and Tom Henrich singled, then Stirnweiss scored as Johnny Lindell hit into a double play. Joe DiMaggio also singled but George McQuinn struck out to end the inning.

Both teams went out in order in the second.

The Dodgers tied it up in their half of the third when Pee Wee Rees walked, stole second after two mates went out, moved to third on Ed Stanky’s single and scored on Jackie Robinson’s single. Pete Reiser struck out to end the inning.

Walker hits homer

The Yanks came right back with a run in their half on triples by Stirnweiss and Lindell to make it 2-1.

Dixie Walker, first man up in the fourth hit the first series’ homer into the rightfield stands to tie it up again. Reese singled with two out but went out stealing.

But the Yanks stormed back. Bill Johnson opened with a triple, the third for the Yanks to tie a series’ record, and scored when Phil Rizzuto followed with a double. After Yogi Berra flied out, Rizzuto was trapped on Reynolds’ grounder and Stirnweiss struck out.

Henrich hits homer

The Dodgers went out in order in the fifth. Then Henrich smacked the second homer of the game into the rightfield bleachers. Lindell doubled and after Lombardi had pitched one ball to DiMaggio, he was replaced by Hal Gregg. Gregg got DiMaggio but George McQuinn singled to score Lindell and make it 5-2 before the Yanks were retired.

The Yanks added their sixth run in the sixth on Reynolds’ single, Stirnweiss’ walk, Henrich’s sacrifice and Lindell’s long fly.

Gregg was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the sixth and replaced by Hank Behrman in the seventh when the Dodgers fell apart.

Behrman yielded three hits which together with a walk, an error and a wild pitch, gave the Yanks two runs before Rex Barney was rushed to the mound, with men on first and third. Yogi Berra then scored from third when no one covered first on Stirnweiss’ grounder to Robinson and Reynolds scores a moment later on a wild pitch, to make it 10-2.

The Dodgers got a run in the ninth.

30

Dodgers pick Lombardi to even series

Slim southpaw faces Yankees’ Reynolds

NEW YORK (UP) – The Brooklyn Dodgers pinned their hopes of squaring the World Series against the New York Yankees today on the strong left arm of little Victor Lombardi.

The left-hander faced Allie Reynolds, fireballing right-hander who won 19 games for the Yankees this season with most of the triumphs coming in Yankee Stadium – scene of today’s second game.

Hoping to make it two straight over the Dodgers, Manager Bucky Harris of the Yankees named his Creek Indian ace to try to turn back the Dodgers as Rookie Frank Shea and the southpaw relief artist, Joe Page, did yesterday to give the New Yorkers the opening game, 5-3.

Won 13 in stadium

Thirteen of Reynolds’ victories this season were pitched at the Stadium and he was charged with only two of his eight defeats here.

Lombardi’s record is not as imposing as his opponent’s for he has won only 12 games against 11 defeats. But after getting off to a bad start, Vic became the clutch pitcher for Pilot Burt Shotten of the Brooks. Most of his victories came after mid-season.

The weather for the second game was much better than yesterday’s. The sun was shining brightly and the strong wind which swept the Stadium yesterday had died down.

Although the fans were slow in filing into the flag bedecked Stadium another capacity crowd of more than 70,000 was assured.

All reserved seats were sold and the standing room and bleacher ticket booths were doing a brisk business.

Another huge crowd

Yankee officials hoped that yesterday’s crowd of 73,365 – the largest ever to attend a World Series game, would be surpassed – figuring on crowding in a few more standees.

The Yankees did not look any more impressive in batting practice than yesterday when all they could get off Branca and Reliefers Hank Behrman and Hugh Casey was four hits. But they bunched three of them with three bases on balls and a hit batsman for five runs in the fifth inning and that was enough.

Just another game – Lombardi

Lombardi and Reynolds, wearing their jackets, posed for photographers for about 15 minutes back of the batting cage. Both said they were fit and ready.

“After all, it’s just another ball game,” Lombardi said. “What is there to be excited about?”

“I’ll give ‘em my best,” Reynolds said. “My arm feels fine.”

31

Keller pathetic series’ figure

King Kong Charlie haunted by future

NEW YORK (UP) – He sat there in the corner of the dugout with tears in his eyes and watched them.

In the gloomy shadows of Yankee Stadium it looked, at first glance, like the old Charley Keller. The old-time “King Kong” who was the keystone of a new murder’s row.

This was the apparently indestructible Maryland farmboy who had come out of nowhere to succeed the Ruths, the Gehrigs and the Dickeys. A menacing mauler of the old school, refusing even to be overshadowed by the great DiMaggio.

But as they raised the curtain on the 1947 World Series this wasn’t the one-time Maryland strongboy.

Fear in his eyes

He huddled there in the gloomy shadows of the players’ pit and there was a fear and an uncertainty in those valiant eyes.

Nervously his twitching fingers clutched the still-stained wrists, dyed a deep brown last spring under the sun. Those were the days when Charley, the fearless kid from Frederick, was joining the Yankee immortals as a terrible man to face when runners danced on the basepaths.

Now all that was gone. So, too, were his hopes for the future.

“Oh God,” Charley said, and there wasn’t blasphemy in his voice.

In four series

Four times Keller, one of nature’s gentlemen, had basked in the sunshine of the series. The first was in 1939 and the three others from ‘41 through ‘43. And in each of those classics, with the eyes of America upon him, young Charley had been a key figure.

Nobody doubts the greatness of the Ruths, the Gehrigs or the Dickeys. And nobody ever will question the importance of the resolute Keller as he paced to the plate and squared off in a manner that frightened the most stout-hearted pitcher.

Did, that is, until this summer. And then out of nowhere misfortune struck.

Injury stops him

Between the vertebrae are tiny little fluid-filled washers. In Charley, one of them broke – and the might machine destined for baseball greatness became a pathetically weak mortal whose legs faltered and flagged though the spirit continued to flame.

For a long while, Keller kept his hopes alive, through an operation, as his Yankees drove to the American League pennant.

But yesterday, in the gloom of the dugout, King Kong Charley admitted that he might be near the end of the road.

Future haunts him

“I don’t know, I won’t know, probably, until next spring, whether I’ll ever be able to play again.”

The eyes were haunted and tear-filled as he said it. And while you loved the guy for what he is and what, with continued health, he could have been, you wanted to get away from him.

For it’s hard to believe that at 31 a man’s best years are behind him.

32

Durocher sweats out first series game with smile

Suspended Dodger manager, movie star wife, sit in stands and greet old friends

NEW YORK (UP) – They made a good looking couple – the boy not too handsome, but clean-cut and well dressed and with the grey around the temples; the gal little and trim and curved in all the right places, and smiling a big brave smile.

Folks in the sections near them watched as they came in, a full 30 minutes before the first game of the World Series started, and sat down in the box a few yards from the Dodgers dugout. Photographers swarmed around them, and the autograph seekers forgot about Mayor William O’Dwyer and Baseball Commissioner A. B. Chandler and even Gov. Thomas E. Dewey.

They knew how to take it, both of them, and they took it well. Not too big, not like they thought it was coming to them. But not too humble, either. They took it as though it were something they had to take, a game they had to play, and they would play it straight.

Shakes hands with Chandler

The guy had the big grin and the hearty greeting for those who crowded up to shake his hand. He gave the photographers the smile they asked for. He even shook hands with Commissioner Chandler when they said they wanted a shot of that.

They waved to a few of the Dodger players, and some of them gave him the big hello.

The gal took off her heavy coat. She was wearing a simple brown suit, and no hat. The big smile was on her face all the time, and when the autograph hounds kept pushing their programs and scorecards into her hands she signed them one after another, and she made like she was enjoying it.

Then the game was beginning. And now there was only the game to watch. The gal still had that smile, but the guy was tense now. He made the little marks on his score-card, and he didn’t miss a thing on the field where the brisk chill wind raised little eddies of dust along the baselines.

What would he do

You could see his lips move as Branca walked McQuinn and then hit Johnson in that fatal, Yankee fifth, and you knew he was thinking how he would have handled the Dodgers in that spot. The gal kept smiling.

Once the Yankees had it won, he could relax again, and his smile was as big as hers, but neither of them really seemed to be enjoying it very much.

They left after the eighth. They left smiling, as they had come, and waving greetings to friends around them.

If they wondered whether a man who drew one of baseball’s stiffest penalties – suspension for a year – would ever return to the game which had been his life, neither Leo Durocher, former Brooklyn manager, nor Laraine Day, his movie-star wife, wanted anyone to know it.

33

The Village Smithy

By Chester L. Smith, sports editor

NEW YORK – An early impression of the World Series is that it was just as well the local subway rates weren’t raised from a nickel to eight cents, as contemplated. There may be a change for the better today, but yesterday it wouldn’t have been worth the extra three pennies to ride up to Yankee Stadium.

If the Dodgers intend to get anywhere, they had better stop trying to be somebody they aren’t. Any Brooklyn team that thinks it’s a baseball club is making a fatal mistake and is well on the road to ruin. Uncle Burt Shotton’s boys should be satisfied to remain their own silly selves.

If they do, they’ll probably win the Series. For the Yanks demonstrated plainly to the biggest World Series crowd in history that they are no diamond colossus. Seventy-three thousand, three hundred and sixty-five taxpayers went away from yesterday’s game wondering why the Yanks had won, and how.

It was very simple. The Dodgers lost the same way they so often win – by opening a gift package and finding the victory laid neatly in their laps.

After pitching four perfect innings and striking out five, Ralph Branca let a hit to deep short by Joe DiMaggio turn him inside out. He walked George McQuinn and hit Bill Johnson on the left shoulder. Johnny Lindell’s double down the leftfield line scored two runs and when Phil Rizzuto also wangled four balls, Branca was ready for the ax.

Yankee Stadium or Belmont Park?

At this point Bucky Harris made a move that would delight a long shot hoss player.

His team was leading by one run and Spec Shea, the pitcher, was coming to bat. Shea had allowed one run and two hits over five innings. His side was working beautifully. There was nothing wrong with his arm, which has given him trouble before. But Harris took him out for a pinch-hitter, Bobby Brown.

“I was gambling on a big inning,” Bucky explained later in the clubhouse.

What the Yankee manager didn’t say, but was a fact, was that he was also silently expressing his confidence in Springdale’s favorite son, the American League champions’ magnificent relief pitcher, Joe Page. If there hadn’t been a rescuer of Page’s ability waiting in the bullpen, Bucky’s strategy might have slapped him in the face.

It is true that the Dodgers got two runs off Page, but he settled down and applied the clamps in the tense eighth and ninth innings.

Whether Harris was theoretically right or wrong in batting Brown for Shea will never be known. For after Branca had thrown two balls to Brown he was lifted for Hank Behrman.

Eventually Hank completed the base on balls that forced in a run. He also gave up a single to Tom Henrich that added two more.

So, for all practical purposes, Harris will have to be called a genius for a day. He got his big inning, the Yanks made five runs, and they were enough. All on three hits. That’s a Dodger, not a Yankee, custom.

Twice it looked as though the Brooks were going places.

Dixie Walker laced a single that almost tore George McQuinn apart to open the fourth and Gene Hermanski followed with a line drive to Bill Johnson at third that would have been a two-base hit had it been a foot in either direction. Instead it was a double play.

In the sixth, with Page chucking, Eddie Stanky led off with a single through the box. Jackie Robinson followed with a stinging grounder between Johnson and Phil Rizzuto. It appeared to be in the pocket. But the little shortstop took it on his backhand and threw to George Stirnweiss to force Stanky.

The Dodgers picked on Page for two more hits and a run before the side was out, but they would have done much more damage had it not been for Rizzuto’s almost impossible save.

The little men who are always there

Brooklyn’s famed phantom attack, which produces results with the same bewildering ease that a lucky poker player forces two pairs down the throats of a tableful of straights and flushes, was not missing yesterday.

In the first inning, Robinson walked, stole second and found himself trapped and retired on Pete Reiser’s bounder to Shea. But Jackie maneuvered smartly on the basepath long enough to allow Reiser to tear down to second. He was there and ready to score when Walker’s wind-blown fly eluded Lindell.

In the seventh there was another synthetic tally. Pee Wee Reese singled, stole and came home on a wild pitch.

Robinson promises to be a nuisance all through the series. He so upset Shea by the long lead he took off the bag after he had walked in the third that the Yankee pitcher dropped the ball while he was in his windup, committing an automatic balk that permitted Jackie to march to second.

The Dodgers are using a one-sided defense against DiMaggio. Stanky moves directly behind second base, Reese shifts to his right and the third baseman hugs the line. It held the Yankee Thunderbolt to one hit yesterday, but that was only because Carl Furillo was able to run back to the 400-foot line in the eighth inning and take a triple away from Joltin’ Joe.

Maybe the near gale that blew all afternoon has something to do with yesterday’s dreary exhibition. It may have blown dust in the Dodgers’ eyes so they couldn’t recognize themselves. Or they could have been looking at the pictures in the newspapers that were constantly swirling across the diamond.

Whatever it was, the result was best expressed by a forlorn Flatbush fan who waddled past the press box after it was all over muttering, “De bums – de dirty bums – why don’t they act natcheral?”

34

Dodgers attribute Yank win to luck

NEW YORK (UP) – Undaunted by their defeat in the opener, Brooklyn’s belligerent Bums voiced their opinion down to the last man today that the luck of the Yankees can’t last forever.

“My feelings about winning the series haven’t changed one bit,” said Manager Burt Shotton. “They beat us on only four hits, didn’t they?

“They’re not as tough as the St. Louis Cardinals – not on what they showed us yesterday,” cried Jackie Robinson, the first Negro ever to play in the World Series.

And from the guy who probably was most responsible for the 5-3 lacing meted out by the proud Yankees – Pitcher Ralph Branca – came word that he wants to face the Yanks again today as a relief pitcher if Shotton needs him.

The Yankees, accustomed to victory in their familiar Yankee Stadium, were equally confident. From President Larry MacPhail down to the bat boy they hailed Manager Bucky Harris’ daring move in shooting in a pinch hitter for Pitcher Frank Shea in the fifth to keep a rally going – although the game still was young and Shea was wheeling along in terrific style.

35

Atlanta Daily World (October 2, 1947)

Robinson Hits Double, Single as Yankees Beats Dodgers, 10-3

Singles Reese Home in Third to Tie-Up Game
By Marion E. Jackson

NEW YORK CITY (SNS) – The big bats of the New York Yankees became alive here in Yankee Stadium to submerge the Brooklyn Dodgers 10-3 in the second game of the 1947 World Series.

The Bronx Bombers capitalized on a succession of Dodger miscues and lapses in field to chalk up their second victory in a row in baseball’s biggest attraction.

Allie Reynolds started for the Yankees and went all the way for the victors and matched against him for the Dodgers was little Vic Lombardi who succumbed to a flurry of Yankee three base baggers to start what was eventually to turn into a rout of the game little hurler.

Jackie Robinson continued his sterling performance at first base lashing out during the times he was at bat a single and a double. Yet the apathetic support following him at the bat made a comedy of errors not only of his efforts but the game.

Robinson failed to steal. Reynolds struck him out his first appearance at the bat and in the third time the sepia flash was up he flied to Centerfield.

Yesterday’s loss by the Dodgers means that, from now on, the Bums must wage an uphill fight until the climax. A loss today at Ebbetts field where the scene shifts would mean almost a certainty that the series will end here Friday.

After Lombardi was shelled from the mound by a flurry of Yankee hits, Hal Gregg came in to do the pitching chores but failed to halt the Yankee surge. He was followed by Hank Behrman who gave up to Max Minor who carried through until the end.

Dixie Walker homered for the Dodgers and Tommy Hendrix got in a big blow for the Yankees.

36

Game 3

Thursday, October 2, 1947, 1:30 p.m. ET
Ebbets Field, Brooklyn, New York

Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
New York Yankees (2-1) 0 0 2 2 2 1 4 0 0 8 13 0
Brooklyn Dodgers (1-2) 0 6 1 2 0 0 0 0 X 9 13 1
NEW YORK YANKEES (AL):
Hitters AB R H PO A E AVG
Stirnweiss, 2B 5 0 2 2 3 0 .385
Henrich, RF 4 0 1 0 0 0 .333
Lindell, LF 4 1 2 0 0 0 .455
DiMaggio, CF 4 1 2 3 0 0 .333
McQuinn, 1B 4 0 0 8 1 0 .167
Johnson, 3B 4 1 1 2 1 0 .273
Rizzuto, SS 5 0 1 5 2 0 .250
Lollar, C 3 2 2 2 1 0 .667
Berra, PH-C 2 1 1 2 0 1 .111
Newsom, P 0 0 0 0 1 0
Raschi, P 0 0 0 0 0 0
Clark, PH 0 1 0 0 0 0
Drews, P 0 0 0 0 2 0
Phillips, PH 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Chandler, P 0 0 0 0 0 0
Brown, PH 1 1 1 0 0 0 1.000
Page, P 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Totals 38 8 13 24 11 0 .342
Batting
2B S. Lollar (1, off Hatten); B. Brown (1, off Branca); T. Henrich (1, off Branca)
HR J. DiMaggio (1, off Hatten, 5th inn, 1 on, 0 outs to Deep LF); Y. Berra (1, off Branca, 7th inn, 0 on, 1 out to Deep CF-RF)
TB J. DiMaggio 5; Y. Berra 4; S. Lollar 3; B. Brown 2; T. Henrich 2; S. Stirnweiss 2; J. Lindell 2; B. Johnson; P. Rizzuto
GIDP J. DiMaggio (1); T. Henrich (1)
RBI J. DiMaggio 3 (3); Y. Berra (1); S. Stirnweiss (2); S. Lollar (1); J. Lindell (5); T. Henrich (4)
2-Out RBI J. DiMaggio; S. Stirnweiss; J. Lindell
With RISP 4 for 14
Team LOB 9
Fielding
Passed Balls S. Lollar (1)
BROOKLYN DODGERS (NL):
Hitters AB R H PO A E AVG
Stanky, 2B 4 2 1 4 5 0 .250
Robinson, 1B 4 1 2 10 1 0 .400
Reiser, CF 0 0 0 0 0 0 .250
Furillo, PH-CF 3 1 2 0 0 1 .750
Walker, RF 5 0 2 1 0 0 .385
Hermanski, LF 3 2 1 4 0 0 .125
Edwards, C 4 1 1 5 0 0 .167
Reese, SS 3 1 1 1 3 0 .400
Jorgensen, 3B 4 0 2 1 3 0 .300
Hatten, P 2 1 1 0 0 0 .500
Branca, P 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Casey, P 1 0 0 1 1 0 .000
Totals 34 9 13 *27 13 1 .382
Batting
2B B. Edwards (1, off Newsom); E. Stanky (1, off Newsom); C. Furillo (1, off Raschi); S. Jorgensen (1, off Page)
SH J. Robinson (1, off Chandler)
HBP G. Hermanski (1, by Drews)
TB C. Furillo 3; S. Jorgensen 3; D. Walker 2; B. Edwards 2; E. Stanky 2; J. Robinson 2; G. Hermanski; J. Hatten; P.W. Reese
RBI E. Stanky 2 (2); C. Furillo 2 (3); P.W. Reese (1); B. Edwards (1); G. Hermanski (1); D. Walker (3); S. Jorgensen (2)
2-Out RBI C. Furillo 2; E. Stanky 2; S. Jorgensen
With RISP 7 for 18
Team LOB 9
Fielding
DP 2. P.W. Reese-E. Stanky-J. Robinson; E. Stanky-J. Robinson
E C. Furillo (1)
Baserunning
SB J. Robinson (2, 2nd base off Newsom/Lollar); D. Walker (1, 2nd base off Page/Lollar)
CS P. Reiser (1, 2nd base by Newsom/Lollar)

New York Yankees

Pitchers IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Newsom, L (0-1) 1.2 5 5 5 2 0 0 27.00
Raschi 0.1 2 1 1 0 0 0 27.00
Drews 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 9.00
Chandler 2 2 2 2 3 1 0 9.00
Page 3 3 0 0 1 3 0 2.57
Team Totals 8 13 9 9 6 4 0 10.12

Brooklyn Dodgers

Pitchers IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Hatten 4.1 8 6 6 3 3 1 12.46
Branca 2 4 2 2 2 1 1 10.50
Casey, W (1-0) 2.2 1 0 0 1 1 0 0.00
Team Totals 9 13 8 8 6 5 2 8.00

Balks: None
Wild Pitches: K. Drews (1); J. Page (2)
HBP: K. Drews (1; Hermanski)
IBB: None
Pickoffs: None
Umpires: HP - Rommel, 1B - Goetz, 2B - McGowan, 3B - Pinelli, LF - Magerkurth, RF - Boyer
Time: 3:05
Attendance: 33,098

37

The Evening Star (October 2, 1947)

Brooklyn leads Yankees, 7-4, in fourth inning

Bobo Newsom driven out as Dodgers score 6 runs in second
By Burton Hawkins, Star Staff Correspondent

Lineup

Yankees Dodgers
Stirnweiss, 2b Stanky, 2b
Henrich, rf Robinson, 1b
Lindell, lf Reiser, cf
DiMaggio, cf Walker, rf
McQuinn, 1b Hermanski, lf
W. Johnson, 3b Edwards, c
Rizzuto, ss Reese, ss
Lollar, c Jorgensen, 3b
Newsom, p Hatten, p

Umpires – Ed Rommel (A.L.), plate; Larry Goetz (N.L.), first base; Wm. McGowan (A.L.), second base; Ralph Pinelli (N.L.), third base; Jim Boyer (A.L.), right field; George Magerkurth (N.L.), left field.

BULLETIN

BROOKLYN – New York scored two runs in the fourth and trailed Brooklyn, 7-4, in the third World Series game today.

BROOKLYN – The Brooklyn Dodgers turned on the New York Yankees today with a six-run uprising in the second inning of the third World Series game and were leading, 7-2, in the fourth inning.**

Bobo Newsom started on the mound for the Yankees but was driven out in the second under a barrage of Brooklyn hits which scored four runs. He was replaced by Vic Raschi, who let in the other two Brooklyn runs in the inning.

Raschi was lifted for Pinch-Hitter Hal Clark in the third inning and Carl Drews replaced him.

Meanwhile, Joe Hatten, the Brooklyn starter, had held the Yanks to two runs and five hits.

Pete Reiser and Scooter Rizzuto were injured when Reiser crashed into the Yankee shortstop while trying to steal second.

Reiser went out of the game in the Dodgers’ big second inning when Carl Furillo was sent in to hit for him. Furillo doubled two runs home and then took over in center field. Rizzuto’s leg was slightly hurt, but he remained in the game.

Manager Bucky Harris of the Yanks sent Sherman Lollar, a recruit from Newark, to do the catching in place of Yogi Berra. Berra failed to hit and was guilty of several fielding lapses in the first two games.

FIRST INNING

YANKEES – Stirnweiss took strike and two balls then drilled a single off the right field wall. Henrich worked the count to three and two, then hit into a double play, Reese to Stanky to Robinson. Jorgensen whipped out Lindell. No runs.

DODGERS – Stanky took a strike, then tapped to Newsom, who threw him out. Robinson took a strike, then single to center field. Robinson stole second and when the ball got past Rizzuto, he turned toward third and was thrown out when Stirnweiss quickly retrieved the ball and fired it back to Rizzuto. Reiser walked. Reiser was out attempting to steal, Lollar to Rizzuto. Reiser crashed heavily into Rizzuto and injured his right foot, while Rizzuto’s left leg was hurt slightly. Time called. Reiser was given first aid at second base and both players remained in the game. No runs.

SECOND INNING

YANKEES – DiMaggio popped to Reese. McQuinn took a third strike, Johnson singled to right field. Jorgensen threw out Rizzuto. No runs.

DODGERS – Rizzuto took Walker’s high bounder and threw him out. Hermanski walked. Edwards lined a double to left center, scoring Hermanski. Reese singled to center field, scoring Edwards. Jorgensen flied to DiMaggio. Hatten singled to left field, Reese stopping at second. The runners advanced on a passed ball. Stanky doubled down the right field line, scoring Reese and Hatten. Vic Raschi replaced Newsom on the mound. Robinson singled to right, Stanky stopping at third. Furillo batted for the injured Reiser and doubled off the rightfield scoreboard, scoring Stanky and Robinson. Stirnweiss threw out Walker. Six runs.

THIRD INNING

YANKEES – Furillo went to center field for Brooklyn. Lollar singled to center. Hal Clark batted for Raschi and walked. Stirnweiss took a third strike. Henrich flied to Hermanski, the runners holding their bases. Lindell singled to center, scoring Lollar, Clark stopping at second. DiMaggio singled to center, scoring Clark, Lindell stopping at second. Hatten knocked down McQuinn with an inside pitch but the ball tipped McQuinn’s bat as he fell to the ground, and Edwards caught the ball for put out. Two runs.

DODGERS – Karl Drews now pitching for Yankees. Hermanski was hit on the leg by a pitched ball. Hermanski took second on a wild pitch. Hermanski took third as Drews tossed out Edwards. Drews also tossed out Reese, Hermanski holding third. Jorgensen singled to left field, scoring Hermanski. Hatten forced Jorgensen, Rizzuto to Stirnweiss. One run.

38

Yanks are rated series shoo-ins with two wins

Brooks’ woe pile up as defense crumples behind weak hurlers
By Burton Hawkins, Star Staff Correspondent

BROOKLYN – Brooklyn’s discredited Bums returned to the banks of Gowanus Canal today and Manager Burt Shotton’s most pressing problem was to restrain them from leaping into it before he could chaperone them to Ebbets Field for a continuation of their World Series travesty with the marauding New York Yankees.

At Ebbets Field, baseball’s landmark for peculiar plays, the Dodgers hoped to end their erratic, shoddy performances which marked the Yankees’ 10-3 triumph yesterday at Yankee Stadium and New York’s 5-3 conquest at the same spot on Tuesday.

While Yankee Stadium’s vast confines have been the scene of Brooklyn’s complete disintegration, the Dodgers are intent on returning there to repair their reputations, which at the moment are splintered. That necessitates a complete form reversal, of course, and few are the fans who are willing to gamble Brooklyn will trek back to New York for a sixth game.

In games here, if three are necessary, Brooklyn will be exposed to the pitching of Bobo Newsom, Floyd Bevens and Frank Shea, a formidable array. A former Ebbets Field figure with the Dodgers several years ago, the burly, loud and ancient Newsom was to seek a third straight win for the Yankees today.

Bums’ top hurlers mauled

If the Dodgers, backed to the well, can’t conquer the 38-year-old (he says) Newsom, their prospect of making a respectable showing in the series is remote. Thus far they’ve thrown seven pitchers into two games, including the employment of Hank Behrman twice, and they’ve reached a point of pitching desperation.

Shotton has seen his top pitchers, Ralph Branca and Vic Lombardi, fail to shackle the Yankees through a combination of wildness, in efficiency and pitiful fielding support – all of which exploded new depths yesterday when some 69,865 fans were subjected to a spectacle which would have shamed sandlotters.

The Dodgers’ pitchers – Lombardi, Hal Greggs, Behrman and Rex Barney – were blasted for 15 hits, including a homer by Tommy Henrich, three triples that tied a World Series record and a brace of doubles. They also unleashed two wild pitches.

Brooklyn’s fielding, though, was more shocking than its pitching, if possible. With the score locked at 2-2, courtesy of Dixie Walker’s homer with none on in the fourth, the Dodgers suddenly came apart at the seams to leave the customers in stitches.

Rizzuto’s pop awes Dodgers

Bill Johnson launched the Yankees’ fourth with a triple. Then Phil Rizzuto lifted a pop fly to short left field which Shortstop Pee Wee Reese ignored as if it had leprosy.

Leftfielder Gene Hermanski also displayed considerable reluctance to grab the ball as did Centerfielder Pete Reiser, so it plopped safely for a double, scoring Johnson. That was the beginning of a woefully weird fielding display.

With George McQuinn on first in the fifth inning, Johnson tapped one back at Gregg, who fired to Ed Stanley at second. It should have been a routine double-play, but Stanky neglected the formality of catching the ball.

Then came the comical climax in the seventh when the Yankees sprayed four runs across the plate while the dazed Dodgers heard the disheartening hoots of those fans who already hadn’t left the park in disgust.

McQuinn singled to right and Behrman promptly wild-pitched him to second. Johnson rapped a single through the box, scoring McQuinn and when the ball scooted between the blushing Reiser’s legs Johnson streaked all the way to third.

Rizzuto popped out, but Yogi Berra was passed purposely. Allie Reynolds, who went the route and allowed nine hits, bunted down the first base line and generous scorers called it a hit when the ball escaped Jackie Robinson. Johnson scored and Berra romped around to third while the Dodgers chased the bunt.

More comedy in seventh

George Stirnweiss followed with a bounder to Robinson, who fielded the ball nicely, thought about throwing it to the plate and ruled against it, hesitated about throwing it to second and thought better of it. He simply held the ball and Berra scored and Reynolds reached second.

Yep, that was a hit, too.

Henrich flied out, but in the process of walking Lindell, Barney uncorked a wild pitch, enabling Reynolds to score from third – where he had advanced on Henrich’s fly – and Stirnweiss to move to second.

It started as an interesting affair. The Yankees picked up a run in the first inning on singles by Stirnweiss and Henrich, Stirnweiss scoring when Lindell hit into a double play. The Dodgers bounced back with a run in the third when Reese walked, stole second and scored on singles by Stanky and Robinson.

Triples by Stirnweiss and Lindell shot the Yankees to a 2-1 lead in their third, but Walker’s homer into the right field stands locked the score in the fourth. Again the Yankees took command in their fourth on Johnson’s tainted triple and the gift double to Rizzuto.

Brooklyn scores in ninth

Henrich’s homer into the right field bleachers, Lindell’s double and McQuinn’s single in the fifth boosted New York’s margin to 5-2. The Yankees ran it to 6-2 in the sixth when Reynolds singled. Stirnweiss walked, Henrich sacrificed and Reynolds scored from third on Lindell’s fly to left.

Brooklyn picked up its third run in the ninth when Hermanski walked, shifted to third on Reese’s single and scored when Johnny Jorgensen forced Reese.

Brooklyn’s fielding hero, incidentally, was Reese. He didn’t handle a chance all afternoon, thereby tying a series record and saving himself criticism.

39

Reynolds, thrilled, doesn’t think he’ll be needed again

NEW YORK (AP) – Allie Reynolds soon will be back in Oklahoma, “doing a little hunting,” but he won’t get the bang out of it that he experienced yesterday in winning the first World Series baseball game he ever pitched.

“I’ll be ready if Bucky Harris needs me again, but I don’t think he will in this series,” said the big righthander after he had scattered nine hits in hurling the New York Yankees to a 10-3 triumph over the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Brother heckles him

“As soon as we win four games, I’m going to Oklahoma City, take care of some personal business and then go hunting,” Reynolds declared. “You know, it’s a bad business that doesn’t allow you time for hunting.”

The 28-year-old mound star’s No. 1 fan, who also is his No. 1 heckler, was on hand yesterday to see him win his 20th game as a Yankee and his 13th in the stadium since coming from Cleveland this season in a swap for Joe Gordon.

Jimmy Reynolds, Allie’s younger brother, was one of the first to greet the hurler when he reached the clubhouse.

“I told you not to throw that high, hard one to Dixie Walker,” joshed Jimmy, who followed in his brother’s footsteps as a football star at Oklahoma A. & M. and now plays football for the Richmond Rebels, a Pittsburgh Steelers farm club.

Wasn’t nervous, he says

“He hit it pretty good, didn’t he?” Allie said. “It was a fast ball. It didn’t have much on it – until after he got through with it. The ball must have torn out about three seats.”

“I wasn’t nervous out there,” Allie said in answer to a question. “It was just another ball game.”

“Oh, yeah!” exclaimed Jimmy. “Say, how did you ever manage to get two hits?”

“Why, I’m a good hitter when I want to be,” Allie told him, half seriously.

40

Shadows in stadium made hits of Yankee flies, Dodgers wail

NEW YORK (AP) – The Dodgers’ Pete Reiser attributed his ragged performance in the World Series game yesterday – he twice tumbled while chasing Yankee smashes that went for triples – to the strangeness of the triple-decked stadium background and to the zones of changeable light from which fly balls emerge.

“You have to get used to it,” Pete explained. “If you flip down your glasses too soon, you’re sunk. That’s what happened to me on Billy Johnson’s triple. You’ve got to wait until the ball comes into the sunlight before you tap the glasses down. If you do it while the ball’s in the shade, you lose it completely.”

When Reiser collapsed under Johnson’s arching fly for the second gift triple, the unseen scoreboard observer croaked: “Harris knew what he was doing when he wouldn’t let these hammy outfielders practice in the stadium.”

There was a lot of sympathy for Reiser, though – even from opponents. Joe DiMaggio was one who came to the defense of the Dodger star. “That sun and the haze that hangs over the Stadium makes it tough out there,” he said. “I have a little trouble myself.”

Leftfielder Gene Hermanski, responsible for Phil Rizzuto’s double that immediately followed Johnson’s blow, related his sad experience to confirm Reiser’s explanation. “I lost it in the sun,” said Hermanski. “I knew the ball was somewhere in front of me and I went in for it. Then the sun hit me and I didn’t see it again until it hit the ground.

“Believe me,” Hermanski added, “if we play here again I’m not going to use sunglasses. I think I can see better by just shielding my eyes with my glove, as I was doing in every inning after that.”

Hermanski said “if” and not “when.”