Never able to finish higher than fifth in nine seasons as a National League manager with Brooklyn and Boston in the 1930s and 1940s, Stengel subsequently fought off his “clown” reputation and enjoyed managerial success in the minor leagues. After leading Oakland to the Pacific Coast League pennant in 1948, he was named to replace Bucky Harris as Yankees manager.
New York — which under Harris had tumbled from first to third place in 1948, falling all of 2 1/2 games behind pennant-winning Cleveland — responded to Stengel’s appointment by winning its 16th American League pennant and doing so in dramatic fashion. Stengel’s team trailed Boston by one game as manager Joe McCarthy’s Red Sox arrived at Yankee Stadium for a season-closing two-game set, but the Yankees swept the Beantowners.
Don Newcombe, who had a 17-8 record as a Dodgers rookie in 1949 while helping Brooklyn to a one-game victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL pennant race, did all he could to spoil Stengel’s World Series debut. Through eight innings of Game 1 of the ’49 fall classic, Newcombe had struck out 11 Yankees, walked no one, yielded only four hits and had not permitted a run. Pitching rival Allie Reynolds wasn’t doing too badly, either: nine strikeouts, four walks, two hits, no runs.
Reynolds retired Brooklyn in order in the ninth on a grounder, popup and fly ball. Newcombe wasn’t so fortunate. Leading off the bottom of the inning, the Yankees’ Tommy Henrich, always tough in the clutch, whacked a Newcombe pitch into the right field stands. Old Reliable indeed.
The Dodgers countered the Yankees’ triumph with a 1-0 victory in Game 2 with Preacher Roe outpitching Vic Raschi and Gil Hodges singling home Jackie Robinson, who had doubled, in the second inning.
The third game, a 1-1 deadlock through the eighth, had action galore in the final inning. Former National League slugger Johnny Mite, purchased in August from the New York Giants, rapped a bases-loaded single off Dodgers starter Ralph Branca in the top of the ninth to boost the Yankees into a 3-1 lead, and Jerry Coleman followed with a run-scoring single off reliever Jack Banta.
New York’s Joe Page, having pitched 4 2/3 innings of scoreless relief since taking over for Tommy Byrne in the fourth, shouldered that lead into the Dodgers’ half of the inning. Page was rocked for two home runs, the first a one-out shot by Luis Olmo, who hit one homer for Brooklyn in the regular season, and the second a two-out smash by Roy Campanella. But no one was on base either time, and Page and the Yankees hung on for a 4-3 victory.
While only four runs had been scored in the first 26 innings of the 1949 Series, the pace was being stepped up — evidenced by the windup to Game 3. In Game 4, the Yankees drove Newcombe from the mound with a three-run fourth (Cliff Mapes supplied the key hit with a two-run double) and then got three more in the fifth when Bobby Brown drilled a bases-loaded triple off Joe Hatten. Brooklyn had a big inning of its own, collecting four runs in the sixth off Eddie Lopat. But Reynolds came to the rescue by retiring Brooklyn’s final 10 batters and New York, a 6-4 winner, was one victory from winning the World Series.
In Game 5, the Yankees scored in five of the first six innings and built a 10-2 lead. Hodges’ three-run homer in the Dodgers’ four-run seventh cut into the deficit, but Page’s relief work in place of Raschi shut down the Brooklyn offense. The Yankees prevailed 10-6 with Coleman driving in three runs and Brown and Joe DiMaggio collecting two RBIs each. DiMaggio, who missed half of the season because of a heel injury, hit a bases-empty homer in the fourth.
The Yanks romped in this Series despite a poor showing by DiMaggio, who had batted .346 with 67 RBIs in 76 regular-season games. Besides his homer, DiMaggio collected only one other hit against Brooklyn. Brown and outfielder Gene Woodling gave the Yanks a lift, however, by combining for 10 hits in 22 at-bats.
Postseason success was nothing new for the Yankees, who had won 12 World Series. But a World Series managerial crown was a first for Stengel, an erstwhile clown who would having the last laugh on just about everyone for many Octobers to come.
