For a period of a dozen years, baseball’s World Series was largely a New York affair. From 1947 through 1958, at least one New York team was in the World Series every year but one. The one exception was the 1948 matchup between the Cleveland Indians and the Boston Braves. During this golden era of New York baseball, both World Series teams came from all five New York boroughs seven times. The New York Giants faced the New York Yankees in the 1951 World Series losing four games to two. The Brooklyn Dodgers have faced the Yankees six times. The Yankees took five of those. This is the story of the Series that won “Dem Bums of Brooklyn.”
The 1955 matchup was the fifth recent meeting between the Yankees and Dodgers. The Yankees had dashed Brooklyn’s hopes in the past four previous meetings. Flatbush Avenue residents braced for more of the same. Game 1 was played at Yankee Stadium and did nothing to assuage the fears of Brooklynites. Despite a successful home steal by Jackie Robinson, the Yankees prevailed again and Don Newcombe and the Dodgers 6 to 5. Yogi discussed the safe call at home vigorously. In fact, he will still discuss the call today whenever someone mentions it. Game 2 brought more misery to the Brooklyn borough. Lefty Tommy Byrne delivered a complete 4-2 loss to the Dodgers.
Things looked grimly familiar when the Series went to Ebbets Field. But a young Johnny Podres led the Bums to their first win in the ’55 Series. Brooklyn won comfortably 8 to 3. The Dodgers threw out the long ball for Game 4. Gil Hodges, Roy Campanella, and Duke Snider homered to even the series. Snider hit two home runs in Game 5 to give the Dodgers a sweep in the Ebbets Field games.
The Dodgers were in the catbird seat back to Yankee Stadium. But Whitey Ford got the Yankees back on track in Game 6 with a masterful four-hitter in which he allowed just one run. A deciding Game 7 would feature a left-hander matchup between twenty-three-year-old Tommy Byrne and Johnny Podres. Podres pitched the final game of the 1955 World Series with all the confidence in the world. Over 62,000 fans watched him shutout the Bronx Bombers 2-0. The Yankees had threatened in the sixth. With two runners on, Berra hit a slashing drive into the left-field corner. Defensive replacement Sandy Amoros ran to the corner and made one of the most spectacular and important catches in the entire World Series game. From this point on, the Yankees never threatened, and Brooklyn finally clinched the World Series Championship.
Long-suffering Brooklyn fans took to the streets to celebrate. Store owners gave away their products. Spontaneous parades broke out throughout the municipality. Brooklyn became one big block party. The Brooklyn Dodgers would play just one more World Series before moving to Los Angeles. The Yankees would get their revenge a year later in the 1956 Series. But in 1955 the Brooklyn Dodgers had their golden moment. They were World Series champions. It was the best time in Brooklyn since that bridge opened in 1883.
