1957 World Series Game-by-Game Summary

Milwaukee Braves

The Braves finished the regular season on a hot streak, winning ten of their last 12 games to capture the NL pennant, thereby erasing the memories of their late-season collapse in 1956. They were the best hitting team in the league, leading in runs scored (772) and home runs (199), and finishing second in batting average. Defensively, the Braves were strong, ranking second in the league in fielding percentage (.981) and double plays (173). That double-play mark would likely have been even better had second baseman Red Schoendienst played a full season with the club. (He joined the team in a trade in mid-June.) The Braves were equally strong on the mound, ranking second in team ERA (3.47) and leading the league with 60 complete games. Above all, the Braves were a resilient club, overcoming injuries to several key players. Both first baseman Joe Adcock and starting pitcher Bob Buhl returned in September from leg and arm injuries. The Braves shuffled their outfield when center fielder Bill Bruton went down on July 11 with a season-ending knee injury. Aaron was inserted into center field and Wichita call-up Bob “Hurricane” Hazle eventually took over in right field. On the eve of the World Series, the Braves team was in good health.

New York Yankees

The methodically brilliant Yankees were at the peak of their dynasty under Casey Stengel in 1957, winning their third of four consecutive pennants under “The Ol’ Perfessor.” They won the American League flag with a 98-56 record and a comfortable eight-game margin over the second-place Chicago White Sox. No one expected Mickey Mantle to duplicate his numbers from his 1956 Triple Crown season, but his power totals dropped significantly. He batted a career-best .365, but hit only 34 home runs in 1957 after smashing 52 in 1956, and his 94 RBIs in ’57 were substantially fewer than his previous total of 130. As a team, the Yankees led the league in numerous offensive categories, including runs scored with 723. The pitching staff’s 3.00 ERA was the best in the American League. The team was still fairly young — the average age of the position players was 28.4 — and the club was bolstered by Milwaukee-born and -raised 21-year-old Tony Kubek, the AL Rookie of the Year.

Game One — Wednesday, October 2

“Forget That First One! Today’ll Be Braves Day. Spahn Bows to Ford in 3-1 Duel.”1

The actual playing of the 1957 World Series wasn’t really necessary because no less a prognosticator than jazz great Lionel Hampton had already predicted a series victory for … the Dodgers?

Hampton was performing at a Milwaukee nightclub a few days before the Series opened, and managed to put his foot through a tom-tom while he was dancing on it. Because such an incident didn’t happen very often, he told the audience that, “he knew now that the ‘Brooklyn Dodg… er, the Milwaukee Braves, would win the series.’ ”2

When Schoendienst entered the batter’s box in the first inning against the Yankees’ left-hander Whitey Ford, it marked the first time the Braves had played in the fall classic since they lost to Cleveland in 1948, when the franchise was located in Boston.

Staff ace Warren Spahn, who led the Braves with 21 wins, lost the battle of southpaws, 3-1, against Ford, who had gone 11-5 during the season for New York. The game was scoreless until the fifth inning, when Yankee second baseman Jerry Coleman scored the Series’ first run. The Yankees extended their lead with two more runs in the sixth. The Braves got one back in the seventh when left fielder Wes Covington doubled and came home on a single by Schoendienst.

Game Two — Thursday, October 3

“We Knew We Could Do It! Braves 4, Yankees 2. Covington Hit, Catch, Burdette Pitching Shine”3

The Yankees tossed another southpaw at the Braves in Game Two, 5-foot-6 Bobby Shantz. Lew Burdette countered for the Braves. Any first-game jitters were gone by now as Milwaukee prevailed, 4-2. The Braves broke through first in the second inning when center fielder Henry Aaron tripled and scored on a single by first baseman Joe Adcock. The Yankees tied it in the bottom of the inning and would have added at least two more runs had left fielder Wes Covington not made a leaping, twisting catch of Shantz’s two-out line drive. The Braves’ Johnny Logan and the Yankees’ Hank Bauer traded home runs in the third before Milwaukee scored two more in the fourth when Covington’s pop-fly single drove home Adcock and right fielder Andy Pafko also scored when the relay from the outfield got by third baseman Kubek. Burdette went all the way for the victory.

Game Three — Saturday, October 5

“Today We Make History”4

The Soviet Union launched the first Sputnik satellite into space on October 4, 1957, the day before Game Three at Milwaukee’s County Stadium. The scientists following Sputnik’s flight could be forgiven if they thought the Americans were attacking the satellite because of all the moon shots that flew off the Yankees’ bats as the Bronx Bombers lived up to their moniker and trounced the Braves, 12-3. Kubek hit two homers and drove in four runs, while Mantle added a two-run blast for his first (and only) RBIs of the Series. Bob Turley started for the Yankees but was lifted with two outs in the second inning after giving up one run, three hits, and four walks. Don Larsen pitched the remaining 7 1/3 innings for the win.

Loser Bob Buhl led a parade of six Braves pitchers to the mound and was pulled after giving up two hits and a pair of walks for three runs (two earned) in the first inning. In addition to hitting the three home runs, the Yankees received 11 walks in the game.

Game Four — Sunday, October 6

“Thar’s Joy in Braveland! Mathews’ HR Beats NY”5

Game Four had all the elements of a dubious Hollywood script. New York scored in the first inning, but the Braves roared back in the fourth inning with four runs on home runs by Henry Aaron and Frank Torre. The Braves went into the ninth inning with a 4-1 lead and staff ace Spahn on the mound. Spahn blew the lead when he gave up a three-run homer to Elston Howard — with two out, yet — and followed that up by allowing the Yankees to score the go-ahead run by Kubek on a Hank Bauer two-out triple in the top of the tenth inning. Yankee reliever Tommy Byrne hit pinch-hitter Nippy Jones with a pitch leading off the bottom of the tenth, and was replaced on the mound by Bob Grim. Felix Mantilla, running for Jones, was sacrificed to second and scored the tying run on a double to left by Johnny Logan. Eddie Mathews, who had just one hit in the Series up to this point, smacked a 2-2 fastball over the right-field fence to win the thrilling game, 7-5, and send 45,804 Braves fans (along with the hundreds of thousands who swear they were there) home happy.

Game Five — Monday, October 7

“One More Win To Go! Burdette Blanks Yanks, 1-0”6

The Braves rode the momentum of their dramatic Game Four win and Burdette’s stellar pitching to a 1-0 victory over Whitey Ford in Game Five and a 3-2 Series lead. Left fielder Wes Covington kept the game scoreless in the fourth when he made a spectacular catch over the fence to rob Gil McDougald of a home run. The Braves scored the eventual winning run in the bottom of the sixth. Eddie Mathews got an infield hit, beating out a ground ball to second base that might have been the third out had Yankees second baseman Jerry Coleman played it more aggressively. Mathews went to third on Aaron’s bloop single to right-center, and scored on a single by Adcock.

Game Six — Wednesday, October 9

“N.Y. Wins, 3-2, To Tie Series”7

The experienced Yankees weren’t going to be intimidated by being down three games to two, especially when they were returning back to the House That Ruth Built. Braves starter and losing pitcher Bob Buhl managed to get past the first inning this time, but was gone after 2 2/3, when four hits and four walks had given New York a 2-0 lead. The Braves used the long ball to tie the game up, with solo shots by Frank Torre in the fifth and Henry Aaron in the seventh, but just after the Yankees’ fans had finished their seventh-inning stretch, Hank Bauer hit a solo shot high off the screen of the left-field foul pole off reliever Ernie Johnson with one out for the eventual game-winning run in a 3-2 Yankees victory.

Game Seven — Thursday, October 10

“Hail to Our Braves. Best In The World!”8

Any tension that might ordinarily accompany a Game Seven disappeared early as the Braves scored four runs in the third inning with hits by Hazle, Mathews, Aaron, and Covington on their way to a 5-0 win and the first championship for the franchise since the Miracle Braves of 1914. Stengel tabbed Don Larsen to start for the Yankees while Braves manager Fred Haney sent Lew Burdette to the mound on two days’ rest instead of his ace Warren Spahn (who had the flu). Burdette responded with his second shutout and third complete-game victory of the Series. The Yankees played less like Bronx Bombers and more like Bronx Bumblers as they committed three errors. Braves catcher Del Crandall sealed the deal with a solo home run in the eighth. New York loaded the bases with two outs in the ninth inning but Mathews backhanded a hard shot by Bill “Moose” Skowron and stepped on third base to end the 1957 World Series. Not surprisingly, Burdette was chosen Series MVP.

NORM KING is a retired Canadian civil servant who delights in having the time to devote to SABR research. He still misses his beloved Montreal Expos and awaits the day when he will hear an umpire yell “Au jeu” again at the beginning of a ball game.

Sources

Milwaukee Journal.

Milwaukee Sentinel.

BaseballReference.com

Historicfilms.com

Notes

1 “Forget That First One! Today’ll Be Braves Day. Spahn Bows to Ford in 3-1 Duel,” Milwaukee Sentinel, October 3, 1957.

2 D.H.D., “Hampton’s Misplaced Foot Kicks Off Big League Show,” Milwaukee Journal, October 1, 1957.

3 Red Thisted, “We Knew We Could Do It! Braves 4, Yankees 2. Covington Hit, Catch, Burdette Pitching Shine,” Milwaukee Sentinel, October 4, 1957.

4 “Today We Make History,” Milwaukee Sentinel, October 5, 1957.

5 Red Thisted, “Thar’s Joy in Braveland! Mathews HR Beats NY,” Milwaukee Sentinel, October 7, 1957.

6 Red Thisted, “One More Win To Go! Burdette Blanks Yanks, 1-0,” Milwaukee Sentinel, October 8, 1957.

7 Red Thisted, “N.Y. Wins, 3-2, To Tie Series,” Milwaukee Sentinel, October 10, 1957.

8 Red Thisted, “Hail to Our Braves. Best In The World!” Milwaukee Sentinel, October 11, 1957.