History of the World Series – 1941

Owen, you see, had erred grievously in the ninth inning of Game 4 of the 1941 World Series.

With two out, no New York Yankees on base and Brooklyn leading 4-3, a third strike on the Yanks’ Henrich got past Dodgers catcher Owen. And instead of salting away a victory that would have tied the Series at two victories apiece, Brooklyn saw the Yankees break loose for four runs in the inning and steal off with a 7-4 victory. New York won the Series the next afternoon.

“Sure, it was my fault,” said Owen, nearly in tears after the game. “The ball was a low curve that broke down. It hit the edge of my glove and glanced off, but I should have had him out anyway.

“But who ever said those Yanks were such great sluggers? They’re the real bums in this Series, with that great reputation of theirs.”

The facts said Joe McCarthy’s Yankees were great sluggers. Joe DiMaggio, Charlie Keller and Henrich all hit at least 30 homers in 1941, and Joe Gordon slammed 24. But Owen had a point in terms of the New Yorkers’ Series production. Through the first four games of the fall classic, the Yankees had one home run. And in their 34 innings of Series at-bats preceding the fateful ninth of Game 4, the Yanks had scored only 10 runs.

The key play of the ’41 Series occurred in Game 4, when Owen gave the Yankees new life by letting Henrich’s ninth-inning third strike and a potential Series-tying victory get away.

As usual, though, the Yankees were getting the job done. Gordon had homered and knocked in two runs in the Series opener, which went to New York, 3-2, on Red Ruffing’s six-hitter. After losing to Brooklyn’s Whitlow Wyatt 3-2 in Game 2, the Yankees got a break and reclaimed the Series lead.

Brooklyn’s Freddie Fitzsimmons was locked in a scoreless duel with Marius Russo in Game 3 when, with two out in the seventh, the Yanks’ pitcher hit a line drive that caught Fitzsimmons flush on the knee. While shortstop Pee Wee Reese caught the deflected ball on the fly to end the inning, Fitzsimmons was through for the day. Dodgers reliever Hugh Casey then was cuffed for four hits and two runs in the eighth, and Brooklyn, able to get only four hits off Russo, lost 2-1.

Pinch-hitter Jimmy Wasdell’s two-run double in the fourth inning and Pete Reiser’s two-run homer in the fifth enabled Leo Durocher’s Dodgers to overcome a 3-0 deficit in the fourth game. Casey, who had come on to quell New York’s bases-loaded threat in the top of the fifth, then blanked the Yankees through the eighth inning. In the ninth, he got Johnny Sturm and Red Rolfe on ground balls to open the inning. Henrich was up next, and the Ebbets Field crowd — sensing victory — was poised to let out a roar.

That roar was in the here-it-comes stage when Casey struck out Henrich but was muffled when the ball got away from Owen and Henrich raced to first base. DiMaggio followed with a single, and Keller shot the Yankees ahead with a two-run double. After a walk to Bill Dickey, Gordon further quieted the Dodgers faithful with another two-run double.

The Yankees’ Johnny Murphy then turned in his second consecutive inning of 1-2-3 relief, and New York had handed Brooklyn a devastating defeat.

Ernie “Tiny” Bonham then put the Dodgers out of their misery, tossing a four-hitter in Game 5. Henrich homered in the Yankees’ Series-clinching 3-1 triumph.

The power-laden Yanks, who had scored another of their patented pennant runaways in 1941 (winning by 17 games), hit just two home runs and batted only .247 in the World Series. Still, they managed to blot out the Dodgers, who got even less offensive production (one homer and a .182 average) and a couple of tough breaks to boot.