October 3, 1956: Sal Maglie fans 10, bests Whitey Ford in World Series opener

The Dodgers purchased 39-year-old Sal Maglie from the Cleveland Indians in mid-May 1956. The Barber bolstered a maligned staff, went 13-5, and was named Game One starter in the World Series. (Photo: SABR-Rucker Archive)

The 1956 World Series was the sixth between the New York Yankees and Brooklyn Dodgers in 10 years.1 The American League champion Yankees clinched the pennant on September 16 and finished the season with a record of 97-57, nine games ahead of the second-place Cleveland Indians. The defending World Series champion Dodgers won a tight, three-team pennant race in the National League. They clinched the pennant on the final day of the season and finished with a record of 93-61, edging out the Milwaukee Braves by a game and the Cincinnati Reds by two.

The temperature was about 70 degrees and the skies were fair when President Dwight Eisenhower, who was in the midst of running for reelection,2 threw out the ceremonial first pitch in front of a crowd of 34,479.3 It was the first time a president threw out the first pitch at a World Series game since President Franklin D. Roosevelt “launched the ‘36 Series between the Yankees and Giants at the Polo Grounds.”4

The breezy early-autumn Wednesday afternoon featured a Game One matchup between a pair of veteran World Series hurlers. Yankees manager Casey Stengel turned to Whitey Ford. Given Ebbets Field’s short porch in left field and the Dodgers’ right-hander-dominated lineup, starting the left-handed Ford seemed like a bit of a gamble. The 28-year-old Ford went 19-6 during the regular season and led the American League in ERA (2.47) and winning percentage (.760). He was opposed by veteran Sal Maglie. The Dodgers right-hander bounced back from a subpar 1955 season and went 13-5 with a 2.87 ERA after being acquired from the Cleveland Indians on May 15.

The Yankees got off to a quick start in the top of the first. After Hank Bauer opened the game by grounding out to third, Enos Slaughter reached on an infield single. On the very next pitch, Mickey Mantle, who captured the circuit’s Triple Crown with a .353 batting average, 52 home runs and 130 RBIs, and later received the NL’s Most Valuable Player Award, homered to deep right to give the Yankees an early 2-0 lead. The home run was the first of three Mantle hit in the seven-game Series. After walking Yogi Berra, Maglie struck out Bill Skowron and Gil McDougald to end the inning.

After the game Maglie explained Mantle’s tremendous home run – some reports said it found its way on to Bedford Avenue beyond the right-field stands5 – to reporters. Maglie said, “I didn’t mean to get it that far over the plate. It was a slider and it broke right smack on his bat.”6

Ford pitched a one-two-three inning in the bottom of the first and Maglie followed suit in the top of the second.

The Dodgers evened the score in the bottom of the second. Jackie Robinson hit a home run to deep left on Ford’s first pitch of the inning. First baseman Gil Hodges followed with a single to center field and scored when right fielder Carl Furillo doubled to left-center. Hodges scored in large part because Mantle, who was not fully recovered from a groin injury, was unable to get over and cut the ball off before it went to the wall. Ford settled down and retired the next three batters to escape further damage. After two innings score stood at 2-2.

Maglie navigated his way out of trouble after a pair of Yankee singles to start the third inning. Ford quickly found himself in more trouble in the bottom half of the frame. Pee Wee Reese reached on an infield single and took second when Duke Snider singled to center. Robinson lined out to center for the second out of inning before Hodges “drove Ford’s 1-and-1 fast ball deep into the left-center seats”7 for a three-run home run that put the Dodgers up 5-2.

The Yankees got one back in the top of the fourth when second baseman Billy Martin hit a one-out home run to left to make the score 5-3. Ford’s day ended when Stengel had seldom-used outfielder George Wilson pinch-hit for the Yankees ace.

Ford later dispelled any notions that his early exit might have been precipitated by an injury. “Just didn’t have it,” Ford explained to reporters. “No excuses of any kind. They hit me hard. I wasn’t getting the ball where I wanted it to go.”8 Ford, who took the loss, bounced back three days later and threw a complete-game victory in Game Three at Yankee Stadium.

Right-hander Johnny Kucks came on to start the bottom of the fourth for the Yankees. The 24-year-old enjoyed a career year in 1956. He was named to the American League All-Star team and finished with a record of 18-9 and a 3.85 ERA.

Roy Campanella greeted Kucks with a double to center and the Dodgers catcher scored when left fielder Sandy Amorós singled to center, extending the Dodgers’ lead to 6-3. Maglie attempted to sacrifice Amorós to second but instead bunted into a 3-6-4 double play. Jim Gilliam reached on an error by first baseman Skowron and stole second, but the inning ended when Kucks struck out Reese looking.

Kucks retired the Dodgers in order in the bottom of the fifth and was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the top of the sixth. Right-hander Tom Morgan, who was 6-7 with 11 saves and a 4.16 ERA, pitched a scoreless sixth and seventh and right-hander Bob Turley, who had an up-and-down regular season, pitched a one-two-three eighth for the Yankees.

Meanwhile, Maglie continued to keep the Yankees off the scoreboard for the remainder of the game. The 39-year-old “Barber” scattered four hits and three walks over his last five innings of work and got Mantle to ground into a 4-6-3 double play to end the game. The time of the game was 2 hours and 32 minutes.

The story of the game was the pitching of Maglie. He masterfully worked his way out of “crisis after crisis”9 on his way to the complete-game victory. In fact, Dodgers manager Walter Alston visited the mound and seriously considered pulling Maglie in the fifth. In the end, he stayed with Maglie who gave up nine hits and three runs (all earned) while walking four and striking out 10. The Yankees left six of their nine stranded runners on base in the last five innings.

After the game teammates and Yankees alike praised Maglie. Campanella, Maglie’s batterymate, commended the 39-year-old pitcher’s curveball. “Sal wasn’t at his best, but he still had Public Enemy No. 1 working for him … the old deuce,” Campanella said.10 Yankees right fielder Bauer, who battled Maglie in five plate appearances, said, “He just fights you on every pitch. He works on you and he won’t give in. Even when it’s 3-and-2 count, he goes for the corner with breaking stuff.”11

The victory was Maglie’s first in postseason play. He had made starts in both the 1951 and 1954 World Series when he was a member of the New York Giants. However, he was the loser in Game Four of the 1951 Series against the Yankees and had a no-decision in Game One of the 1954 Series against the Cleveland Indians.

Five days after this game, Maglie made his second start of the Series in Game Five at Yankee Stadium. He tossed another complete game, yielding only two runs on five hits.12 However, on that day, Don Larsen was even better, authoring the only perfect game in World Series history as the Yankees went on to win the Series in seven games.

SOURCES

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

NOTES

1 The Yankees and Brooklyn Dodgers also met in the World Series in 1947, 1949, 1952, 1953, and 1955. The Yankees won in 1947, 1949, 1952, and 1953. The Brooklyn ballclub won its only World Series in 1955.

2 Dwight Eisenhower defeated Adlai Stevenson in a landslide election victory one month later.

3 Marty Appel, Casey Stengel: Baseball’s Greatest Character (New York: Doubleday, 2017), 236.

4 Dana Mozley, “Ike Threw Curve Strike to Open Series: Campy,” New York Daily News, October 4, 1956: 20.

5 Jim McCulley, “Curves Did It: Roy, Yanks Praise Sal,” New York Daily News, October 4, 1956: 45.

6 McCulley.

7 Dick Young, “Sal Shaves Yanks in Opener,” New York Daily News, October 4, 1956: 20.

8 McCulley.

9 Young.

10 McCulley.

11 McCulley.

12 Maglie was credited with a complete game despite being pinch-hit for in the top of the ninth inning by Dale Mitchell. Mitchell, a reserve outfielder for the Dodgers, struck out to become the final out of Larsen’s perfect game.