Yankees Excerpts from the Film Script of the Official Movie, "20 Years of World Series Thrills"
"Baseball's tremendous popularity is solidly built on its endless variety. New thrills brighten every contest. You never know when or where the game may be won or lost.
That is multiplied tenfold in the World Series where often the most obscure players rise to superhuman heights in the frenzied fight for the prestige and spoils of the victor.
So let's turn back the clock. Let's relive the spectacular thrills and heartaches of 20 years of [Yankees] World Series play ...
The Gionfiddo Catch!
Lavegetto's No-Hit Spoiler!
Larsen's Perfect Game!
Time will never erase their memory.
Over the past 20 years, from 1938 to 1958, the motion picture department of major league baseball has taken a half million feet of film on World Series plays alone. Every fall classic has been covered.
There was a modest beginning in the early years with only five minutes of the World Series incorporated into a general movie of the season's highlights. However, since 1943 we have made a full-length movie of each World Series. Every important play was recorded and every thrill was perpetuated in celluloid.
But in the final analysis, each Series is distinguished by one or two outstanding events ... a brilliant single play, a spectacular game performance or a heartbreaking failure.
These are the things the fans remember.
Here, then are our 20 years of [Yankees] World Series thrills ... the most memorable [Yankees] moments of the greatest spectacle in the world of sports.
1938
It's the second game of the Series between the Cubs and the Yankees at Chicago's Wrigley Field and Dizzy Dean, his fireball reduced to ashes by an arm injury, is making a valiant stand in the twilight of his career. Through sheer courage and cunning he stops such mighty sluggers as Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and Bill Dickey through seven tense innings. He is leading, 3-2.
Then comes the eighth. Frankie Crosetti steps up to bat with Myril Hoag on base. But luck runs out! Crosetti lofts a fly ball into the bleachers. Dizzy's comeback dream is shattered and the Cubs lose.
1939
It's the Yankees versus the Cincinnati Reds ... with Joe McCarthy pitted against Bill McKechnie. The Series scene is Crosley Field and the Yankees have won the first three games.
It's the tenth inning of the fourth game. The score is tied, 4-4. Crosetti is on third and Charlie Keller on first. Bucky Walters is pitching. DiMaggio singles to right, scoring Crosetti, and when the ball is fumbled, Keller scores as he collides heavily with Ernie Lombardi, the Cincinnati catcher dropping the ball as he spins around and then falling to the ground. Lombardi is stunned by the collision. DiMaggio comes storming home and is safe with a graceful fallaway slide. Three runs score in the wild inning and the Yankees win, 7-4.
1941
Leo Durocher is in his first World Series as a manager when he leads the Dodgers to a pennant. It's a New York subway series with Joe McCarthy's Yankees.
Remember that powerhouse Yankee outfield? Charlie Keller, Tommy Henrich and Joe DiMaggio. They totaled 94 home runs for the season.
After the first two games are divided at Yankee Stadium the scene shifts to Ebbets Field and the Yankees win the third one. Now it's the fourth game and Brooklyn is on the verge of tying the Series at two-all. The Dodgers have a 4-3 lead in the ninth inning.
Relief pitcher Hugh Casey retires the first two Yankees. He's now only one out away from victory as he faces Henrich. Tommy works Casey to a three-and-two count and then swings at a low-breaking pitch.
The Brooklyn crowd rattles the rafters with a deafening roar as Henrich misses. But there's a sudden hush. Catcher Mickey Owen also misses. The ball skips past him and Henrich is safe at first base.
It's a spark that starts an explosive chain reaction. DiMaggio singles and Keller doubles off the right field wall, scoring Henrich and DiMaggio.
Before the inning is over, the Yankees score four runs and win, 7-4.
1942
It's the St. Louis Cardinals, paced by their two young stars, Stan Musial and Enos Slaughter, challenging the New York Yankees.
In Game Two, the ninth inning, Johnny Beazley is pitching. Bill Dickey beats out an infield hit. Buddy Hassett singles and Slaughter's great throw cuts the runner down at third base.
In the ninth inning of Game Five, with Red Ruffing pitching for the Yankees, Walker Cooper singles. Johnny Hopp sacrifices Cooper to second. Whitey Kurowski wallops a home run into the left field stands, scoring two runs and the Cardinals go on to win by a 4-2 score to clinch the Series.
After losing the opener, the Cardinals came back with four straight victories.
1943
Billy Southworth leads the Cardinals into the World Series for the second straight year against Joe McCarthy and the Yankees.
Johnny Lindell leads off the eighth inning of Game Three for the Yankees with a single to center and when Harry Walker fumbles, Lindell takes second.
Stirnweiss bunts down the first-base line. Ray Sanders scoops up the ball and fires to Kurowski at third. Lindell is out! No, he is SAFE! Kurowski drops the ball as Lindell slides into third and collides with the Cardinal third baseman ... and Umpire Beans Reardon quickly changes his decision.
From this point, the Yankees go on to a 6-2 victory.
In the fifth game, the famous brother battery of Mort and Walker Cooper tries to halt the Yankee tide. But it fails when Bill Dickey hits a two-run homer to clinch the Series.
The Yankee clubhouse celebration is more boisterous than usual. Even the Commissioner, Judge Landis, is swept up in Yankee exuberance and hoisted onto the players' shoulders.
1947
New York's arch-rivals, the Yankees and Dodgers, managed by Bucky Harris and Burt Shotton, renew their crosstown feud. Among the spectators is the greatest slugger in baseball history ... the mighty Babe Ruth.
It is the fourth game and Floyd Bevens of the Yankees has a no-hitter going into the ninth inning. The Yankees lead, 2-1. Bevens walks the first man, then retires Carl Furillo.
Spider Jorgensen pops to George McQuinn. Bevens is now only one out away from the first World Series no-hitter.
Al Gionfriddo runs for Furillo and promptly steals second when Berra's throw is high. The Dodgers gambled everything on this play.
First base is now open and Manager Bucky Harris orders the dangerous Pete Reiser walked intentionally. Eddie Miksis walks for Reiser.
With the crowd half-hysterical, Cookie Lavagetto steps to the plate for Eddie Stanky. With two out and two on, Lavagetto slams the ball against the right field fence for a double. Gionfriddo scores and here comes Miksis dashing home.
The Dodgers win, 3-2, and Bevens' no-hit dream lies shattered in a spine-tingling finish. Lavagetto is nearly mobbed by joyous players and fans.
The Series races on in high-pitched excitement to the sixth game. Joe Hatten is pitching for Brooklyn in the sixth inning. The Dodgers lead, 8-5, with DiMaggion at bat and two on.
Joe hammers a terrific drive to deep left field. It's heading for the bullpen gate. And there goes Gionfriddo sprinting desperately to overtake the ball. He dashes to the 415-foot marker and spears the ball with a sensational glove-hand catch. It robs DiMaggio of a homer and saves the game for Brooklyn.
1949
It's another subway series involving the Yankees and Dodgers.
Don Newcombe of the Dodgers and Allie Reynolds of the Yankees are the Game One starters. It's a dazzling mound duel ... a battle of strikeouts. Neither side has scored going into the last half of the ninth. Reynolds has a two-hitter and nine strikeouts and Newcombe has allowed four hits and fanned 11.
Tommy Henrich leads off the Yankee ninth. Newcombe winds up and the first pitch is wide ... ball one. The next pitch also misses the plate ... ball two. Newcombe's third pitch is a curve ball. Henrich connects and away it goes ... into the lower right field stands for a home run. The 'Old Pro' has done it again. The Yankees win, 1-0.
1950
The Phillies, sparked by youngsters Richie Ashburn, Del Ennis and Granny Hamner, are the sensation of the National League. It's their first pennant since 1915 ... and Eddie Sawyer's Whiz Kids challenge Casey Stengel's seasoned Yankees in the World Series.
The opening game goes to the Yankees, 1-0, in a magnificent mound duel between Vic Raschi and Jim Konstanty.
In the second game, it's Allie Reynolds, an old campaigner, against Robin Roberts, youthful fastballer of the Phillies. Reynolds and Roberts continue their duel into the tenth. DiMaggio leads off for the Yankees.
Roberts takes his signal. Here comes the pitch ... and there it goes. DiMaggio blasts it into the second deck of the left field stands for his seventh World Series homer.
And the Yankees have done it again, winning, 2-1.
1951
It's a spectacular year.
The Giants, inspired by Manager Leo Durocher, stage a dramatic stretch drive to tie Brooklyn on the final day of the season.
They go into the ninth inning of the decisive game of the playoff series trailing, 4-1. But still, their fighting spirit recognizes no odds. They knock Newcombe out of the box. The score is 4-2 with two men on and one out when Ralph Branca comes in from the bullpen. He faces Bobby Thomson.
Here comes Branca's second pitch and it's gone! Thomson connects and the ball crashes into the left field stands for a stunning three-run homer that echoes around the world. The Giants win the National League pennant in a fantastic storybook finish.
Pandemonium breaks loose in the historic Polo Grounds. It was the most breathtaking climax any pennant race had ever known.
The Giants face their New York neighbors, Casey Stengel's Yankees, in the World Series. It's the first inning of the opening game. Allie Reynolds is pitching for the Yankees. The Giants have one run across with two out and Monte Irvin on third base. Reynolds starts his delivery and here comes Irvin racing for the plate. He's SAFE! It's only the seventh World Series steal of home in history.
Some of the Giant scrappiness and resourcefulness surprises the Yankees. It's the fifth inning of the third game. Eddie Stanky walks. Al Dark steps to the plate. Vic Raschi pitches. And there goes Stanky! He's caught stealing second. But wait! He kicks the ball out of Rizzuto's glove and races on to third.
In the eighth inning of the sixth game, Joe DiMaggio steps to the plate. He already has announced his pending retirement. With victory almost certain this will be the final appearance of the famed Yankee Clipper.
Joe slams one of Larry Jansen's pitches for a whistling liner between Willie Mays and Hank Thompson. It's a double. On the next pitch, McDougald bunts and DiMaggio is out at third base. He's out but it's a beautiful slide. DiMaggio makes his exit with the same grace and skill that marked his entire career.
The Giants battle right down to the last man. Manager Durocher sends Sal Yvars to the plate in the ninth for Thompson. Yvars lines Bob Kuzava's first pitch to right field ... and Hank Bauer makes a spectacular catch to save the game, 4-3, and give the Yankees another championship.
1952
The Dodgers, managed by Charlie Dressen, are back to challenge Casey Stengel's World Champion Yankees again. The Series is a hard-fought seesaw battle that rages into the seventh game. Bob Kuzava of the Yankees relieves Vic Raschi in the seventh inning.
The Yankees lead, 4-2, but the Dodgers have the bases loaded with two out. That brings up the dangerous Jackie Robinson. A hit here might give Brooklyn its first world championship.
Robinson hits a wind-blown pop fly to the infield. Nobody goes after it. Then Billy Martin races in and makes a split-second catch while on the dead run.
It's only a pop fly but it's the biggest play of the Series. It saves the game and the world championship for the Yankees as Kuzava holds that 4-2 margin to the end.
1953
The Golden Anniversary of the World Series with the Yankees and the Dodgers renewing their rivalry at Yankee Stadium. In the opener third indeed becomes a hot corner for Manager Charlie Dressen of Brooklyn. It's the seventh inning with Johnny Sain pitching for the Yankees.
The Dodgers have just scored a run to tie the score, 5-5. There are runners on first and second with none out. Billy Cox is at bat.
Cox attempts to sacrifice and Gil Hodges is out at third on an extremely close play. The Dodger rally is stopped and the Yankees win.
It's the fourth game. Carl Erskine is hurling for Brooklyn. He is fanning the mighty Yankees right and left. Erskine goes into the ninth with a 3-2 lead and 12 strikeouts. Don Bollweg bats for Phil Rizzuto. Swish! He fans the air for strikeout No. 13 and Erskine ties the record set by Howard Ehmke of the A's against the Cubs in 1929.
Now Casey Stengel calls on his big ace pinch hitter .... big John Mize.
Erskine gets two strikes on him. Then Mize takes a vicious swing at the third one ... and misses ... and Erskine joins baseball immortals with an all-time record of 14 World Series strikeouts!
The fifth game is a 1-1 tie going into the Yankee third. Mickey Mantle comes to the plate with the bases loaded and Russ Meyer is summoned from the bullpen to replace Johnny Podres. Mantle wallops Meyer's first pitch for a grand slam homer into the upper deck in left field and the Yankees are on the way to an easy triumph. For Casey Stengel [after the Yankees win Game Six], it's also a record, his fifth straight world championship.
1955
Those World Series perennials, the Yankees and the Dodgers, are at it again, with Walt Alston leading the Dodgers against Casey Stengel.
The Series opens on a highly sensational note. It's a home run battle in the first game. Five are hit before the contest is half over with the most gigantic of all being Duke Snider's drive into the third tier of the right field stands in the fourth inning.
It's the Yankee sixth. Billy Martin lashes a hit over Junior Gilliam's head for a triple. That finishes Newcombe and Don Bessent comes in to pitch. Martin is impatient on third. He dashes for the plate on an attempted steal ... but Umpire Bill Summers calls him out on a very close play.
Now it's the Brooklyn eighth and Jackie Robinson is on third with pinch batter Frank Kellert at the plate. Here comes Robinson storming for home. It's another close one.
This time the umpire calls the runner safe ... even though Yogi Berra doesn't think he is.
It's a give-and-take struggle and they're fighting for the title in the seventh game. Johnny Podres, a lefty with a baffling changeup, has a 2-0 lead over the Yankees in the sixth inning.
Billy Martin leads off for the Yanks. He walks.
Gil McDougald then beats out a bunt to Podres and the Yankees have the tying run on base.
And up comes Yogi Berra. He slams a curving drive down the left-field line. And there goes Sandy Amoros racing over for the ball.
It looks like a sure hit and McDougald has rounded second base.
But Amoros sticks out his glove just in time and makes the catch.
He quickly throws to Pee Wee Reese ... who wheels and pegs to Gil Hodges to double McDougald at first base.
It's the twelfth double play in the Series by Brooklyn and the nineteenth by both teams. Both are records.
For the Dodgers it means the championship ... their first.
Never before has a team won a seven-game World Series after losing the first two games. It was Johnny Podres who started the incredible comeback surge by winning the third game and who then clinched it with a brilliant shutout in the final contest. It's Brooklyn's greatest day and the city goes topsy-turvy over the monumental event.
1956
For the fourth time in five years, it's the Dodgers and Yankees. But there's a difference. The Dodgers are the defending champions this time, the Bombers the challengers.
The second game turns into a thunderous slugfest. With Don Newcombe pitching, Yogi Berra slugs a grand slam in the Yankee second inning to give the Bombers a 6-0 lead.
But the Dodgers bounce back in the same inning. They have three runs across with two men on when Manager Stengel brings Tommy Byrne, a left-hander, to the mound to face the left-handed Duke Snider.
The Duke misses a wide curve. But not the next one! There it goes ... over the scoreboard in right center for a home run that ties the score, 6-6. It's Snider's tenth Series homer, tying him with Lou Gehrig. Only the mighty Babe, with a total of 15, has hit more.
The climax of the Series, perhaps for all World Series for all time, comes in the fifth game.
Sal (The Barber) Maglie, winner of the opener, is back to face Don Larsen of the Yankees.
Maglie retires the first 11 men to face him, but in the fourth inning Mickey Mantle, winner of the American League's Triple Crown, homers into the right field stands ... and Hank Bauer's single scores another run in the sixth and the Yankees lead, 2-0.
All attention by this time, however, is focused on Larsen. He hasn't permitted a hit nor has a single Dodger reached base.
It's the ninth inning. A strange hush falls over the crowd it realizes the overpowering drama of the situation as Larsen walks to the mound.
Never before has a pitcher hurled a no-hitter in the World Series ... much less a perfect game. Larsen is only three outs away.
First man to face Larsen in the ninth is Carl Furillo. The first pitch is a called strike. Furillo fouls the next one back into the screen. Ball one high. Another foul into the stands. Then another. Furillo flies to Bauer.
The second batter is Roy Campanella, another dangerous hitter. Every pitch carries the weight of baseball immortality. Campanella fouls the first pitch down the left-field line. Then Campy bounces to Martin and is thrown out.
Only one man now blocks Larsen from the greatest pitching achievement of all time. And that man is Dale Mitchell, who comes to the plate to pinch-hit for Sal Maglie.
The first pitch is a ball, high. Then a curve for a called strike. A swinging strike and the count is one-and-two.
Another pitch is fouled off ... Larsen faces the batter again ... and from behind the plate Umpire Babe Pinelli awaits the pitch with intense concentration. Here it comes! Mitchell starts to move the bat ... checks his swing and Pinelli's arm goes up.
Strike Three! And with that fateful move Pinelli opens the door to the Hall of Fame to Larsen. It also touches off one of the wildest Yankee player demonstrations in history.
Yogi Berra runs out and leaps into the arms of the huge pitcher ... and within a fraction of a second Larsen is surrounded by a seething mass of Yankees that sweeps him toward the clubhouse where bedlam breaks loose.
Larsen's fantastic performance will forever live in the minds and hearts of everyone present that day in Yankee Stadium.
1957
With the Milwaukee Braves leading the Yankees, 5-0, in the ninth inning of the seventh and final game of the Series, the Yankees are at bat with the bases loaded and two outs. Lew Burdette is only one out away from victory.
The Yankee slugger, Bill Skowron, hits a terrific shot down the third base line. Eddie Mathews makes a miraculous back-handed stab of the ball, races to third base for a force-out of McDougald, and the Braves are the new World Champions with a 5-0 victory.
Burdette is the man of the hour as hilarity continues in the clubhouse. No one pitcher ever before has beaten the Yankees three times in a World Series, and the veteran right-hander is the first pitcher to win two shutouts in a Series since Christy Mathewson did it three times in 1905."
Yes, we all thrill to 20 years of [Yankees] World Series plays. From Joe DiMaggio to Mickey Mantle.
Now to start another 20 years of [Yankees] World Series thrills."
-Lew Fonseca (Baseball Digest, October 1958)
ABOUT THE FILM
"The 1958 film 20 Years of World Series Thrills is the 39th movie produced for the major leagues by Lew Fonseca, former big league batting champion and manager, who originated the project in 1934.
During the current year alone, under Fonseca's direction, 4,500 copies of the previous films will have been shown 100,000 times before fraternal organizations, church groups, luncheon clubs, schools, U.S. Armed Forces, etc., and will be seen by approximately 17 million fans."
Baseball Digest, October 1958
