Willie Mays, who missed nearly two seasons due to military service, homers in his first game back, a sixth-inning blast off Carl Erskine that will prove to be the difference in the Giants’ 4-3 Opening Day victory over Brooklyn. The 22 year-old center fielder’s prodigious poke may have traveled over 600 feet if it had not been impeded by the upper left-field stands at the Polo Grounds.
1954 – Brooklyn Dodgers catcher Roy Campanella injures his left hand in an exhibition game against the Yankees. Though he will hit two home runs on Opening Day, Campanella will have surgery in early May for the bone chips, returning on May 30th. The injury started earlier when he was hit on the hand in the 1953 World Series.
1954 – 19-year-old Roberto Clemente signs with the Brooklyn Dodgers for one year at $5,000 with a $10,000 signing bonus. The Dodgers thus beat out a number of other clubs in the Clemente sweepstakes. They’ve outspent the prior two entrants, their cross-river rivals in Manhattan and the Bronx, and simply beaten the Milwaukee Braves to the punch. By far the biggest spenders of the bunch (by all accounts exceeding Brooklyn’s offer by at least 150%), the Braves were just a tad tardy, Clemente having already accepted the Dodgers’ terms. The Dodgers may have won the first battle, but they will lose Clemente’s services in one year when they fail to protect him in the 1954 Rule V Draft.
Major League Baseball Season Recap 1953 World Series – New York Yankees AL over Brooklyn Dodgers NL 4 games to 2 World Series MVP – Babe Ruth Award – Billy Martin Awards – </strong? Major League Cy Young Award Cy Young Award National League Cy Young Award American League MVP Awards – NL Roy Campanella AL Al Rosen Major League…
1953 – Junior Gilliam of the Brooklyn Dodgers is named National League Rookie of the Year. Gilliam, who led the National League with 17 triples, beats out Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Harvey Haddix.
Future Hall of Famer Roy Campanella (.312, 41, 142) is named the National League’s MVP for the second time. The Dodger catcher also copped the prize in 1951 and will win the honor again in 1955, joining Stan Musial as the circuit’s second three-time recipient of the award.
On November 24, 1953, At a gathering of stunned reporters in his office on Montague Street, Walter O’Malley the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers name little-known Walter Alston as their manager after Pee Wee Reese the popular shortstop turns down the job. Alston, who had served as the skipper of the Dodgers’ top affiliate in…
Red Barber resigns as a Brooklyn Dodger broadcaster and will take the ‘catbird’ seat with the rival New York Yankees. The ‘Old Redhead’ is reported to have left the team because he was upset with Brooklyn owner Walter O’Malley, who refused to support him when he failed to get a higher fee from Gillette, the sponsor of the 1953 World Series on television.
test On October 5, 1953, the New York Yankees win a record fifth consecutive World Championship. With a 4-3 win at Yankee Stadium, the Yankees claim the World Series in six games over the Brooklyn Dodgers. Billy Martin, the Series MVP, collects his twelfth hit of the Fall Classic, a single to centerfield which scores…
October 2, 1953 at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn Dodgers vs New York Yankees Game four, The home team won for the fourth consecutive time. Whitey Ford lasted just one inning as the Yankees’ starter, allowing a leadoff ground-rule double to Jim Gilliam, who scored on Jackie Robinson’s single. After a forceout, wild pitch and…
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