October 1, 1955: Snider’s bat, glove propel Dodgers to tie World Series in Game 4

“It was not a tidy game, but an exciting one,” declared New York Times sports editor Arthur Daley about the Brooklyn Dodgers’ 8-5 victory over the New York Yankees in Game Four to even the World Series at two games each.1 Described by Times sportswriter John Drebinger as a “bruising contest of power hitting,” the game featured five home runs while Dem Bums tied a team record for the most hits in a postseason game and set a new one for total bases.2

What a difference two days made. Facing the Yankees in the fall classic for the fifth time since 1947, skipper Walter Alston‘s Dodgers dropped the opening two games at Yankees Stadium, just as they did in 1947 and 1953. No team had ever lost the first two games and won the World Series; nonetheless, the heavy-hitting Dodgers had the advantage when the Series moved about 17 miles south from the Bronx to Brooklyn. Their 8-3 victory in Game Three at Ebbets Field reignited the borough’s hope for its team’s first title.

The Dodgers (98-55) rolled over opposition with their bats, leading the majors in home runs (201) and runs per game (5.6). Casey Stengel’s Yankees (96-58) matched up well on paper. The Bombers belted an AL-most 175 home runs; however, two of their sluggers were ailing. Mickey Mantle, who suffered a severely strained thigh 10 days before the end of the regular season, retuned in Game Three, but was still severely hobbled; and Hank Bauer had pulled a hamstring in Game Two and could not start.

“[P]itching is our trouble,” lamented Stengel, though Alston could have said the same.3 After leading their respective leagues in ERA (Dodgers, 3.68; Yankees, 3.23), the staffs were unusually thin, forcing each team to use its fourth different starting pitcher in the Series. The Dodgers’ ace, 20-game winner Don Newcombe had started Game One, but was suffering from arm problems; consequently, Alston sent Carl Erskine to the mound. The veteran had a stellar 100-57 career slate, but was just 11-8 in ‘55. His “arm has not been right for months,” commented sportswriter Dick Young, and he had won only twice since the All-Star break.4 Ebbets Field was notoriously difficult for left-handed pitchers, which neutralized one of the Yankees’ strengths. The Ole Perfessor used his southpaw stars Whitey Ford and Tommy Byrne at Yankee Stadium against the Dodgers’ right-handed-hitting lineup. Right-handed pitcher Bob Turley‘s loss in Game Three put Stengel in a bind. He called on Don Larsen (9-2), who had made just 13 starts in ‘55. A year earlier, Larsen had plodded through a woeful 3-21 season with the St. Louis Browns.

On a cool, cloudy, and windy Saturday afternoon, with temperatures in the 60s, Ebbets Field was packed with 36,242 spectators for Game Four.5 Erskine looked wobbly from the outset. The second batter he faced, Gil McDougald, crushed a solo home run to deep left field to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. In the second, Erskine issued a leadoff walk to Joe Collins, who scored three batters later on Phil Rizzuto’s single past shortstop Pee Wee Reese to make it 2-0. Alston motioned for his bullpen to warm up.

After breezing through the first and second innings, Larsen led off the third with a walk to Sandy Amoros. With the hit-and-run called, Jim Gilliam smacked a liner over third base and into the Yankees bullpen. Left fielder Elston Howard made a “remarkable peg” to home plate, wrote Young, but Amoros scored on a close play.6

The Yankees threatened to blow the game open in the fourth after a leadoff single by Yogi Berra and a walk to Collins. Alston replaced Erskine with Don Bessent. Called up in midseason, the rookie reliever (8-1) was thrust into a “ticklish spot,” Drebinger wrote.7 The Yankees immediately pressured him. He retrieved Howard’s sacrifice bunt and threw to third to retire Berra. After Collins swiped third, Billy Martin dropped a bloop single, plating Collins to give the Yankees a 3-1 lead. In what might have been the game’s key defensive play and its turning point, Jackie Robinson picked up Rizzuto’s grounder to third and started an inning-ending 5-4-3 double play.

Coming off an 11-hit, eight-run explosion in Game Three, “the Brooks power broke loose” in the fourth, wrote Young. Roy Campanella, who slashed 32/107/.318 and was voted National League MVP for the third time in five seasons in ‘55, led off with what Young described as a “humming liner to the left corner seats.”8 After Carl Furillo singled, Gil Hodges gave the Dodgers a 4-3 lead on a wind-aided home run to deep right-center field and onto the scoreboard.9 According to sportswriter Jack Hand, fly balls to right field were aided by a “strong wind” all afternoon.10

The Yankees threatened in the fifth, but Bessent overcame a “bases-loaded mess,” Young noted.11 In a calculated move, Stengel saved his pinch-hitters for later in the game and let Larsen bat to start the fifth. Adept with the bat despite his .146 average in ‘55, Larsen grounded weakly to short but only after whacking a foul that landed weakly on Yankees owner Del Webb’s head. (Sitting a few boxes away was former President Herbert Hoover.)12 Singles by Irv Noren and Mantle and a walk to Berra juiced the bags with two outs. Alston called on Clem Labine to put out the fire. Labine, whose 60 appearances in the regular season had tied the Cleveland Indians Ray Narleski for the most in the majors, induced Collins to hit into a force at second to end the threat.

The Dodgers fifth began with a walk to Gilliam, who stole second. Larsen was unceremoniously removed with a 2-and 0 count on Reese and replaced by Johnny Kucks. Reese slapped a routine grounder to first baseman Collins, who pivoted and saw no one to throw the ball to. “He’s gotta cover,” said an irate Stengel about his rookie pitcher. “If Kucks gets the putout … then I walk Snider.”13

Coming off yet another exceptional season, the Duke of Flatbush hit 42 home runs, the third time in an eventual five-year stretch of at least 40 round-trippers, led the majors with 136 RBIs and 126 runs scored, and slugged .628. Snider connected on what the Times’s Daley called a “Ruthian” home run, a towering three-run shot over the right-field screen, across Bedford Avenue, and into a used-car lot across the street to extend the Dodgers’ lead to 7-3.14 It was his NL-record seventh career home run in the World Series, which trailed only Babe Ruth (15), Lou Gehrig (10), and Joe DiMaggio (8). Campanella followed with a double but was stranded on third when Kucks retired the next three.

Labine “staggered through” the sixth, opined sportswriter Art Morrow.15 Howard led off with a single followed by Martin’s deep blast to center. Snider had played the slap-hitter shallow and misjudged the carry of the ball, reported Young.16 It sailed over the Duke’s head for a double and Howard scored. Two batters later, pinch-hitter Eddie Robinson’s single drove in Martin to pull the Yankees to within two runs, 7-5. It was the Yankees’ last hit of game, owing in large part to Snider’s noteworthy defense.

The Dodgers tacked on their final run in the seventh which began with consecutive singles by Campanella, Furillo, and Hodges off reliever Rip Coleman. “The Dodgers knocked his ears off,” quipped Daley about the rookie hurler, who had also yielded two singles in the sixth.17

Snider was “all over the lot,” raved Jack Hand about the Duke’s defensive clinic.18 After his miscue, he made four putouts, each of which saved a potential extra-base hit. The first two came after Robinson’s single in the sixth. In the eighth, Snider singlehandedly “broke the back of the Yankees’ resistance,” gushed Morrow.19 In a full sprint, he corralled Martin’s screecher for the second out. After Rizzuto’s walk, Snider made another sprinting grab, robbing Moose Skowron of a hit and ending the ending.

Labine retired 10 of the final 11 batters he faced and ended the game when a limping Mantle hit a weak grounder back to the mound. Labine’s throw to Hodges concluded the game in 2 hours and 57 minutes and tied the series at two games each.

Newspaper reports the next day focused on Snider, Labine, and both teams’ offenses. Snider was the star for his home run and athletic catches, while rubber-armed Labine labored through 4⅓ innings, yielding two runs (both earned). He was credited with the victory, even though Bessent had been the Dodgers pitcher when the club took the lead. The game featured 23 hits and 13 runs. The Dodgers’ 14 hits off five pitchers equaled a team record for a World Series game; while their 25 total bases set a new club mark. “We’re keeping those Yankee pitchers running in and out of the bullpen,” raved Campanella.20 Dodgers reliever Russ Meyer added more fodder to the rivalry, adding, “Suddenly those Yankees don’t look so tough anymore.”21

With no offdays scheduled in the all-New York World Series, the attention of postgame interviews turned to the teams’ biggest challenge. Peppered with questions about their starters for Game Five, Alston named rookie midseason call-up Roger Craig while Stengel put his faith in injury-plague Bob Grim, who hadn’t started since June 12.

SOURCES

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author accessed Retrosheet.org, Baseball-Reference.com, and SABR.org.

NOTES

1 Arthur Daley, “Sports of the Times,” New York Times, October 2, 1955: S2.

2 John Drebinger, “Dodgers Beat Yankees, 8-5, for 2-2 World Series Tie,” New York Times, October 2, 1955: S1.

3 Joe Trimble, “Kucks’ Boner Seen as Key Play of Yank Loss,” New York Daily News, October 2, 1955: 108.

4 Dick Young, “Dodgers Draw Even on 8-5 Win,” New York Daily News, October 2, 1955: 104, 110.

5 “Cloudy in 60s,” New York Daily News, October 1, 1955: 25.

6 Young.

7 Drebinger.

8 Young.

9 Young.

10 Jack Hand (Associated Press), “Dodger Homers Sink Yanks, Tie Series,” Binghamton (New York) Press and Sun-Bulletin, October 2, 1955: D1.

11 Young.

12 Drebinger.

13 Trimble.

14 Daley.

15 Art Morrow, “Dodgers Win, 8-5, Even Series,” Philadelphia Inquirer, October 2, 1955: 1S.

16 Young.

17 Daley.

18 Hand.

19 Morrow.

20 United Press, “Dodgers All Agreed: ‘This Is Different,’” Binghamton Press and Sun-Bulletin, October 2, 1955: 3D.

21 “Dodgers All Agreed: ‘This Is Different.’”