April 16, 1957: Yankees start off season right with Opening Day win over Senators

Opening Day 1957 was a celebration for the New York Yankees. They had reclaimed baseball’s championship from the Brooklyn Dodgers in the previous fall’s World Series. And they had done it in historic fashion, coming back from a two-loss deficit and spinning the postseason’s first perfect game.

Now, on April 16, it was the Yankees’ home opener and a day to affirm their standing in the baseball universe – eight pennants and seven World Series victories in the previous decade. In Las Vegas they were listed at 2-5 favorites to win the pennant, the best odds in baseball history, the New York Daily News reported.1 With temperatures in the mid-50s, the breezy Tuesday afternoon game drew 31,644 fans.

The extended pregame ceremonies started with raising the championship banner, followed by Commissioner Ford Frick handing World Series rings to the Yankee players. American League President Will Harridge and Dan Daniel of the Baseball Writers Association of America gave Mickey Mantle the American League MVP Award for his Triple Crown 1956 season – 52 homers, 130 RBIs, and a .353 batting average.2 “Thanks a lot,” was Mantle’s full speech of appreciation.3

Last, Joe Trimble of the New York Daily News, president of the New York Baseball Writers Association, presented Don Larsen with the World Series MVP trophy for his perfect game. Yankees manager Casey Stengel received a giant floral baseball from the Bronx Chamber of Commerce. The game was televised and Phil Rizzuto made his debut as a Yankees broadcaster after wrapping up his 13-season playing career in pinstripes in 1956.4 New York Mayor Robert Wagner, a lefty, threw out the first pitch.

For the visiting Washington Senators, that was a step down from President Dwight Eisenhower, who had thrown out the first pitch at their home opener the previous day, a 7-6 loss to the Baltimore Orioles. Although the Senators had not won a pennant in 23 years, or even finished in the first division for 11 seasons, it was still early enough to hope.

Both teams started their aces – Whitey Ford for the Yankees and Chuck Stobbs for the Senators. Ford had won 19 regular-season games and Game Three of the World Series in 1956; his 2.47 ERA led the majors. Stobbs’ 15 wins were the most on Washington’s staff; he was beginning his 11th season in the majors despite being just 27 years old.

The only significant lineup question for the Yankees was what Stengel would do with 21-year-old rookie sensation Tony Kubek. He had been playing left field during the spring, but with the left-handed Stobbs starting, Stengel decided to go with Elston Howard.

Early on, it was a pitchers’ duel enlivened by a Yogi Berra argument on a strikeout in the first inning. With two outs, Mantle doubled. Stobbs got two strikes on Berra, but as he delivered, Berra jumped out of the batter’s box, claiming Senators catcher Ed Fitz Gerald had tipped his bat. Plate umpire Ed Rommel did not see any interference, the pitch was right down the middle and Berra, throwing down his bat in protest, was out. “What a way to lose your first time-at-bat of the season,” Berra said.5

In the Yankees third, a fan added a touch of color by throwing an orange flare into short right field as Mantle stepped to the plate. After the smoke cleared, Mantle flied out to left.

Ford did not give up a hit until the fourth inning and Stobbs nearly matched that. Through six innings, each starter had given up only two hits. In the seventh, scoring appeared. Senators left fielder Roy Sievers – who had set the franchise’s homer record with 24 in 1954, then broke his own mark with 25 home runs in ’55 and 29 in ’56 – led off with a home run to left field.6 With one out, Ford then gave up back-to-back singles to Fitz Gerald and center fielder Karl Olson but saved himself by forcing Fitz Gerald at third on a sacrifice attempt by Stobbs and getting shortstop Lyle Luttrell to fly out.

Berra wreaked his revenge to lead off the Yankees’ seventh. After his first-inning strikeout, he had managed only a foul pop to Fitz Gerald. But now, his first fair ball of the day was a line drive into the short right-field bleachers, which tied the score, 1-1. Shortstop Gil McDougald doubled and third baseman Andy Carey was given an intentional walk, but Stobbs worked out of the inning without further damage.

And so it stayed until the Yankees ninth. Berra led off with a single. After first baseman Bill Skowron flied out, McDougald shot a double down the left-field line, his third hit of the day. Sievers played the carom quickly and Yankees third base coach Frank Crosetti held Berra at third. When Sievers, who had a reputation for a poor arm, forced Fitz Gerald to backhand his throw home halfway to first base, Crosetti looked like the goat.

Senators manager Chuck Dressen ordered Howard walked to load the bases, moved Olson to left, put Whitey Herzog in center in place of Sievers, and held a conference on the mound.

Stobbs settled in to get Carey, who fouled off six pitches before hitting a ball to left field that bounced into the bleachers. Since only a single was needed to win the game, that is what Carey was credited with.

The Senators lost 99 games in 1957 en route to a last-place finish, including a league-leading 20 losses by Stobbs. The team struggled out of the gate to a 4-16 record, costing manager Dressen his job on May 7. He was replaced by Cookie Lavagetto.7

The Yankees, meanwhile, had begun their march to yet another pennant, won by eight games over the Chicago White Sox. Wrote John Drebinger in the New York Times, “Momentarily, of course, they are tied with a few others. But expert opinion insists that won’t last for long. After all, they say, not even the invincible Yankees can do everything in one day.”8 The “invincible Yankees”’ season ended, however, with a World Series loss to the Milwaukee Braves in seven games.

Author’s Note

This was the first major-league game the author attended.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Russ Walsh and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author relied on Retrosheet.org, Baseball-Reference.com, and game stories in the New York Daily News, the New York Times and the Washington Post and Times Herald.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYA/NYA195704160.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1957/B04160NYA1957.htm

Notes

1 Joe Trimble, “It’s Play Ball at Stadium! Yanks Odds-On to repeat,” New York Daily News, April 16, 1957: C20.

2 In more modern terms, 11.2 bWAR and a 210 OPS+.

3 Arthur Mann, “Sports of The Times: Overheard at the Stadium,” New York Times, April 17, 1957: 50.

4 Bob Addie, “Bob Addie’s Column,” Washington Post and Times Herald, April 17, 1957: D2.

5 Joseph M. Sheehan, “Fan Lends Unscheduled Touch of Color to Stadium Activities,” New York Times, April 17, 1957: 50.

6 Sievers went on to hit 42 home runs and drive in 114 runs in 1957, leading the AL in both categories.

7 Associated Press, “Chuck Dressen Fired as Senators’ Manager,” Miami Daily News, May 7, 1957: 1.

8 John Drebinger, “Yankees Open Season by Defeating Senators in Ninth,” New York Times, April 17, 1957: 50.