August 20, 1953: Dodgers clobber Giants to extend winning streak to 13 games

Jackie Robinson and Roy Campanella bashed NL pitchers in 1953. Jackie slashed .329/.425/.502 with 12 home runs and 95 RBIs, while Campy won his second of three NL MVP wards with his best season, setting personal records with 41 home runs, 142 RBIs, and a .611 slugging percentage. (Photo: SABR-Rucker Archive)

The New York Giants were scheduled to play the Brooklyn Dodgers in the final game of a three-games series at Ebbets Field on August 20, 1953. Eleven days earlier, Charlie Dressen, the Dodgers manager, had proclaimed, “The Giants is dead!”1 Twenty-nine years before that, in 1934, Giants manager Bill Terry, when asked about the Dodgers at a preseason event, commented, “I haven’t heard anything from them; are they still in the league?”2 The 1934 season ended at the Polo Grounds as the Dodgers played spoiler and deprived the Giants of a National League pennant by winning the final two games of the season before loud and vociferous Dodger fans.3 The Giants had been tied with the St. Louis Cardinals before the final two games. Giants fans were hoping that Dressen’s proclamation would motivate the Giants but this was not to be the case: The Dodgers won the first two games of the series, giving them a 12-game winning streak.

In this final game of the series, Carl Erskine (14-5, 3.72 ERA) was the starting pitcher for the Dodgers and 25-year-old rookie Ruben Gomez (10-6, 3.01) took the mound for the Giants. The Dodgers were led by their Boys of Summer, Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider, Billy Cox, and Roy Campanella.4 Pee Wee Reese was taking the day off and Bobby Morgan was playing shortstop. They had an 8½-game lead over the Milwaukee Braves in the National League pennant race; the Giants found themselves 22½ games behind the Dodgers. The Giants had Alvin Dark, Don Mueller, and Bobby Thomson in their starting lineup and were managed by Leo Durocher. As long as Leo was managing the Giants, there was the potential for sparks to fly between the two hated rivals.5 Not in the lineup for the Giants was Willie Mays, who had been drafted into the US Army in 1952. As their performance showed, the Giants were missing the Say-Hey Kid.

Erskine retired the Giants in order in the top of the first. With one out in the bottom half, Morgan walked. Gomez struck out Snider, but Robinson reached first base and Morgan went to second when the Giants shortstop, Alvin Dark, made an error on Robinson’s groundball. Campanella followed with a line drive into the left-field corner for a double, scoring Morgan and Robinson with two unearned runs. Campanella went to third on the throw home but Gomez ended the inning by getting Gil Hodges to fly out to left field.

The second inning was uneventful. In the top of the third, the Giants threatened. Wes Westrum and Gomez led off with singles. But Erskine retired Dark, Whitey Lockman, and Hank Thompson on a foul popup and two grounders. The Dodgers lengthened their lead to 5-0 in the bottom of the inning. Morgan walked with one out, Snider singled, and Robinson hit a three-run home run in the lower left-field stands. The Dodgers continued to threaten but with the bases loaded, Erskine flied out to center, ending the inning.

Don Mueller led off the Giants fourth with a single but Erskine retired the next three batters. In the bottom of the inning, Junior Gilliam led off with a home run over the scoreboard in right field onto Bedford Avenue, bringing an end to Gomez’s day. He was replaced by Monty Kennedy, who was ineffective. Singles by Morgan and Campanella and a walk to Hodges loaded the bases, and another walk, to Carl Furillo, forced in a run and increased the Dodgers’ lead to 7-0. Marv Grissom relieved Kennedy and was greeted by Cox’s two-run single. Grissom retired Erskine on a groundball, ending the inning with the Dodgers leading 9-0.

The Giants went out in order in the top of the fifth, but in the Dodgers’ half of the inning, Bobby Morgan homered, the Dodgers’ third home run of the day. The score was now 10-0. In the Giants sixth, Hank Thompson doubled to right off the scoreboard with one out and took third on Mueller’s groundout, becoming the first Giant to reach third. But Bobby Thomson’s popup ended the inning.

The remaining innings proved uneventful until with two outs in the top of the ninth, a small boy ran onto the field and raced around the outfield, getting a pat on the back from Snider. He then ran to the scoreboard in right field with a policeman in pursuit. The boy opened the door in the scoreboard, and he and the policeman disappeared. After the third out, ending the game, the policeman emerged from the scoreboard without the boy. Apparently, the scoreboard tender had hidden the boy.6

Erskine allowed only four hits and retired the last 11 Giants in order with Hank Thompson on his sixth-inning double being the last Giants batter to get on base. The win was Erskine’s 15th. He had shut out the Giants on August 11, giving him 19 consecutive shutout innings against the Polo Grounders.7 After the August 20 game, Dressen praised his pitcher: “If the All-Star game is coming up now, I’d start Erskine. I’d start him against anybody. (Robin) Roberts is faster and has better control than Erskine. But Erskine’s curve is better and so is his changeup. His changeup is the best in the league.”8 (Dressen also organized a small party in the Dodgers clubhouse after the game. He had 20 pounds of crab fingers shipped up from Vero Beach, Florida, garnished with butter and cocktail sauce. He also provided a few bottles of pink champagne.9)

The victory was the Dodgers’ 13th in a row, increasing their lead over the Braves to nine games. The Giants fell to 23½ games behind the league leaders. Asked whether he was shooting for the winning streak record of 26 games, set by the Giants in 1916, Dressen replied, “We won’t think about that. I remember now – that was the year Ferdie Schupp got hot for John McGraw, wasn’t it? The Giants didn’t win the pennant either.”10 Apparently, Charlie did not want to jinx his team.

While the Dodgers were just halfway to the major-league record, they were only two away from the team record of 15, set by the 1924 Dodgers. The 1947 Dodgers also won 13 in a row.11

The day after Erskine’s victory, the Dodgers played the Pirates in Pittsburgh and lost, 7-1. Their streak was over.

While the winning streak may have ended, the Dodgers went on to finish first in the National League, winning 105 games. The Giants continued to falter and finished in fifth place with a record of 70-84. Roy Campanella was the National League’s Most Valuable Player with a batting average of .312, an on-base percentage of .395, and 142 RBIs. Carl Furillo (.344) emerged as the NL batting champion. On September 6 in a game against the Giants at the Polo Grounds, Furillo was hit by a pitch and went to first base. From first base, he charged the Giants dugout. He was met by Durocher who had been taunting him. During the skirmish, Furillo fractured a bone in his left hand, ending his season.12 (He had enough at-bats to qualify for the batting title.) Snider and Robinson also had super seasons. Snider led the league in slugging average (.627) and hit 42 home runs. Robinson had a batting average of .329 with an on-base percentage of .425. Erskine led the pitching staff with a 20-6 record.

The Dodgers had high hopes as they once again faced the New York Yankees in the World Series. The Yankees won the first two games, at Yankee Stadium. The Dodgers rebounded to win Games Three and Four, at Ebbets Field, but lost Game Five, 11-7. In Game Six, at Yankee Stadium, the Yankees won the World Series with a 4-3 victory, with Billy Martin knocking in the winning run in the bottom of the ninth.

During the offseason, Dodgers manager Dressen attempted to negotiate a three-year contract. The Dodgers responded by offering another one-year deal. Since Dressen did not back off in the negotiations, the Dodgers named Walter Alston their manager. The Alston era and his consecutive one-year contracts thus began.

With Willie Mays back from military duty, the Giants won the National League pennant and the World Series in 1954. In 1955 the Dodgers finally beat the Yankees in the World Series. “Wait Till Next Year” had finally arrived.

SOURCES

In addition to the sources mentioned in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com.

NOTES

1 Roscoe McGowen, “Erskine’s 4-Hitter Marks 10-0 Victory,” New York Times, August 21, 1953: 11.

2 Fred Stein, “Bill Terry,” SABR BioProject, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/4281b131.

3 “Bill Terry.”

4 Roger Kahn, The Boys of Summer (New York: Harper and Row, 1972).

5 John J. Burbridge Jr. and John R. Harris, “The Giants-Dodgers Rivalry During ‘The Era’: The Dark-Robinson Incident,” The National Pastime: Baseball in the Big Apple (Phoenix, Arizona: SABR, 2017).

6 McGowen, “Erskine’s 4-Hitter Marks 10-0 Victory.”

7 “Flock on Victory Swing,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, August 21, 1953: 13.

8 Dave Anderson, “Erskine Best Hurler in Loop,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, August 21, 1953: 13.

9 Tommy Holmes, “Dodgers Win Streaks – Past and Present,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, August 21, 1953: 13.

10 Holmes.

11 Holmes.

12 Louis Effrat, “Durocher and Furillo Stage Battle; Dodger Player Fractures Left Hand,” New York Times, September 7, 1953: 1.