History of the World Series – 1958
Burdette had taken Game 2, a wild affair in which the Braves’ pitcher capped the National League club’s seven-run first inning with a three-run homer. But while Burdette cruised until the ninth, allowing only two runs and three hits, he was shelled for three runs and four hits in the final inning (during which Hank Bauer belted a home run and Mantle slugged his second homer of the day). By then Milwaukee had added to its early lead and the Braves wound up winning, 13-5.
The only bright spot for the Yankees in the first four games had been the combined shutout pitching of Don Larsen and Ryne Duren in the third contest, a 4-0 New York triumph in which Bauer drove in all of the Yankees’ runs with a bases-loaded single and a two-run homer and extended his Series hitting streak to 17 games (a string Spahn snapped the next day).
Game 5 of the ’58 Series provided Burdette with the opportunity not only to follow through on his late-winter forecast of another four postseason victories for the Burdette-Spahn duo but also with the chance to clinch a second consecutive Series championship for the powerful Braves. Staring at a three games-to-one deficit and facing Burdette, the Yankees appeared to be in deep trouble. But Bob Turley, New York’s 2l-game winner who managed to retire only one batter in his second-game start, was about to get his act together. And that would spell big trouble for the Braves.
Backed by Gil McDougald’s bases-empty home run in the third inning, left fielder Elston Howard’s rally-snuffing catch of Red Schoendienst’s sixth-inning liner (which was turned into a double play) and the Yanks’ six-run explosion against Burdette and Juan Pizarro in the bottom of the sixth, Turley was a 7-0 victor. He gave up only five hits and struck out 10.
The Yankees then squared the Series with a 4-3, l0-inning victory in Game 6. New York snapped a 2-2 tie in the top of the 10th on McDougald’s leadoff home run against Spahn and Skowron added a run-scoring single off reliever Don McMahon. But Turley’s services were required in the last half of the inning when the Braves rallied for one run and had the tying run on third. Bullet Bob, the Yanks’ fourth pitcher of the day, responded by nailing down the final out.
For the second straight year, Larsen would be the Yankees’ starting pitcher in Game 7. And for the second straight year, he lasted exactly 2 1/3 innings in the climactic game. However, the ever-present and ever-tough Turley was on call again and, after escaping a bases-loaded situation in the third, held a 2-1 lead over Burdette and the Braves entering the Milwaukee sixth. With two out, though, Crandall belted a game-tying home run.
After both clubs were held scoreless in the seventh, Burdette retired the first two Yankees in the eighth. Then the roof came crashing down on Burdette and his prediction. Berra ripped a double. Howard followed with a go-ahead single. Andy Carey singled off third baseman Eddie Mathews’ glove. And Skowron crashed a home run to left-center, The Yankees were ahead, 6-2, and the score did not change. With Turley yielding only one run and two hits in 6 2/3 innings of relief, the Yankees clinched their 18th World Series crown.
Masters of making it look easy in Series competition with a record six sweeps, the Yankees proved in 1958 that they could do it the hard way, too. By roaring back against the Milwaukee Braves, they had become only the second team (the 1925 Pittsburgh Pirates were the other) to rally from a 3-1 deficit and win a seven-game Series.
Bauer, playing in his ninth Series, led all participants in runs scored (six), hits (10), home runs (four) and RBIs (eight) and topped the Yankees with a .323 average. His two-year totals against the Braves were nine runs scored, 18 hits, six homers, 14 RBIs and a .290 average, quite a reversal for a man who in his first four Series had gone 7-for-57 (.123) with two runs scored, no homers and five RBIs. Bauer’s record consecutive-game Series hitting streak further indicated the extent of his turnaround.
Turley’s heroics in Games 5, 6 and 7 — one rescue job sandwiched between two victories — made him the standout of the Yankees’ pitching staff.
Bruton, sidelined during the 1957 Series because of injury, made up for lost time by batting .412 for Milwaukee in 17 at-bats. And Spahn and Burdette combined for three victories. Three, not four. Therein lies the story of the 1958 World Series.
