Although hardly on the scale of Game 4 and Game 6 in terms of significance, Game 3 of the ’47 fall classic also went into the Dodgers’ victory column. In that game, a young Yankees catcher named Yogi Berra belted the first pinch-hit homer in Series annals. But when the page closed on this Series — more to the point, when relief ace Joe Page closed this Series — the Brooklyn Dodgers found themselves just where they had been in 1916, 1920 and 1941: in the loss column.
While the Dodgers failed to step to the front in October 1947, they clearly had been in the forefront in April. And on a much more meaningful area than the winning and losing of ballgames.
The Dodgers introduced Jackie Robinson to big-league baseball. Robinson, the first black player to perform in the modern-day majors, made quite a first impression with a .297 batting average and a league-leading 29 stolen bases. He got opponents’ attention, to say the least.
The St. Louis Cardinals gave the Dodgers the best run in the National League pennant race. But the defending NL champions wound up five games behind Brooklyn, which got solid production from its outfield of Pete Reiser (.309 average in 110 games), Carl Furillo (.295 mark and 88 runs batted in) and Dixie Walker (.306 and 94 RBIs), catcher Bruce Edwards (.295) and pitchers Ralph Branca (21-12 record), Joe Hatten (17-8) and Hugh Casey (10 victories in relief).
These Dodgers were not the long-ball crew they soon would become, however. Shortstop Pee Wee Reese, the glue that held the Dodgers together, tied Robinson for the club homer lead with 12.
The’47 Yankees, catapulted by a 19-game winning streak that began in late June, won the American League pennant by a 12-game margin. But this club lacked the usual Yankees power with no player attaining the 100 RBIs class and only one, Joe DiMaggio, reaching the 20-homer level. But New York got great pitching from Allie Reynolds (who won 19 games in his first season with the club after being obtained from Cleveland), Spud Chandler (the league’s ERA leader with a 2.46 figure despite missing most of the second half of the season because of injury), rookie Spec Shea (a 14-game winner) and ace reliever Page (also 14 victories, all out of the bullpen). Veteran Bobo Newsom, a July acquisition from Washington, and Vic Raschi, summoned from the minor leagues, each won seven games.
Shea and Reynolds got the Yankees off to a fast start in the Series, winning 5-3 and 10-3 in Games 1 and 2. In the opener, the Dodgers’ Branca pitched perfect ball through the fourth, then couldn’t get anyone out in a five-run fifth; Shea, meanwhile, was on his way to a six-hitter. Reynolds allowed nine hits in the second game but coasted to victory as New York banged out 15 hits. Yankees left fielder Johnny Lindell had two RBIs in each of the first two games.
Back in the friendly confines of Ebbets Field, the Dodgers responded with a 9-8 triumph in Game 3. A six-run second inning — in which Brooklyn got two-run doubles from Eddie Stanky and pinch-hitter Furillo — put New York on the ropes early, and things didn’t look much better for the Yanks after four innings, with the Dodgers owning a 9-4 lead.
But DiMaggio stroked a two-run homer in the fifth and Tommy Henrich doubled home a Yankee run in the sixth, cutting the deficit to 9-7. Then, with one out in the seventh, Berra was sent up to bat for catcher Sherman Lollar and he whacked a tremendous homer to right off Branca. While the blow proved dramatic, it was the Yanks’ last hurrah of the day.
Bevens, winner of only 7-of-20 decisions for New York in ’47, was selected to start Game 4 at Ebbets Field by first-year Yankees manager Bucky Harris. And while Bevens permitted a fifth-inning run (on two walks, a sacrifice and a ground ball), he entered the ninth with a no-hitter and a 2-1 lead. Edwards began the Dodgers’ half of the inning by flying out, and Furillo drew a walk. Spider Jorgensen fouled out, bringing Bevens within one out of the first no-hitter in World Series history.
Speedy reserve outfielder Gionfriddo was sent in to run for Furillo and, with Reiser at the plate as a pinch-hitter for reliever Hugh Casey, Gionfriddo stole second. Reiser, despite the fact he represented the potential winning run, was walked intentionally (it was Bevens’ 10th walk of the day).
Eddie Miksis was inserted into the game as a runner for Reiser, who was bothered by a leg injury. Stanky was the next scheduled hitter, but Burt Shotton, who had stepped into the Dodgers’ managerial breach when Leo Durocher was suspended just before the beginning of the season, replaced him with veteran Cookie Lavagetto. And on Bevens’ second pitch, Lavagetto walloped a double off the right field wall and Gionfriddo and Miksis sped home.
Incredibly, with two out in the ninth, Bevens had lost his no-hitter and the game. The Series was tied.
The American Leaguers responded to their misfortune in typical Yankees fashion, shaking it off the next day and winning 2-1 as Shea pitched a four-hitter and singled home a run and DiMaggio homered.
Brooklyn jumped to a 4-0 lead in Game 6 at Yankee Stadium, fell behind 5-4 and then regained the lead with a four-run sixth capped by Reese’s two-run single. Then, with two on and two out in the bottom of the sixth and his Yankees down 8-5, DiMaggio made a valiant effort to tie the game. DiMaggio slammed a Hatten pitch toward the left field bullpen and, just as it appeared the ball might drop over the fence, Gionfriddo — inserted into the game as the Yankees came to bat in the inning — made a twisting, glove-hand catch near the 415-foot mark.
DiMaggio, in a rare show of emotion, kicked the dirt in his disappointment. Brooklyn held on for a Series-evening 8-6 victory.
Dodgers hopes zoomed in Game 7 when Shotton’s troops drove Shea from the mound in the second, an inning in which Brooklyn seized a 2-0 lead. But the Yankees scored a run in the second, two in the fourth and, getting tremendous relief pitching from Page, went on to a 5-2 triumph. Page threw five innings of scoreless relief, allowing only one hit.
The disappointed Brooklyn club would have other chances to succeed in the World Series, and the champion Yankees would have additional opportunities in the fall classic.
But for’47 Series principals Lavagetto, Gionfriddo and Bevens, this was the end of the line. Not only had these men played in their last Series, downward careers would mean they had participated in their last major-league games.
