1959 Yankees World Series of the Past: 1958

SECOND GUESSING THAT EERIE SERIES

"It was a topsy-turvy Series. It was a Series in which the Yankees played like sleep-walkers for two games, and then woke up on the edge of a precipice, locked in a deadly struggle for dear life.

It was a tough Series for the managers. And it was a glorious Series for the second-guessers.

Second-guessing is one of the lesser arts. Anyone can do it. All you need are eyes to see and tongue to let loose. In a seven-game Series in which the victor comes from behind after losing three of the first four games, like the Yankees did, everyone practices it, especially those who supported the losers. That means everyone who lives west of the Hudson River, as well as the experts who picked the Braves to win in six games. Among the latter groups is your reporter, who is heartily happy that he was not managing either of the two clubs.

No sooner had the Series begun than the second-guessers went to work. Hank Bauer singled and Casey Stengel ordered Gil McDougald to try a hit-and-run to right. Gil obeyed but the best he could do on the first two pitches was to slap fouls. Suddenly, Warren Spahn picked Bauer off base and he was caught on a throw from Joe Adcock to Johnny Logan. This was unbelievable- the slick-running wide-awake Bauer nipped on pickoff in a World Series game? To make matters worse, McDougald singled on Spahn's next delivery and took second on a wild pitch. Mantle fouled out, and now looks who's here- not Yogi Berra, but Elston Howard!

Why not Berra? Why is Yogi batting fifth instead of the cleanup spot? What the heck's the matter with old Casey? Is he getting senile?

Howard flied out, the inning was over and, gadzooks, Berra opened the second inning with a single to left.

Obviously, Casey's head need an examination. So did Bauer's- didn't he know that Spahn has the best pickoff move in the majors. And what was the matter with Ralph Houk, the first base coach?

This, dear friend, gives you an idea of how to second-guess. It costs nothing. You can't lose. You can make gross misstatements and get away with it. You can even feel a thrill as Berra, dashing around second in the second inning of the first game on Moose Skowron's single to left, is snuffed out at third on Wes Covington's throw. Who, for example, ever heard of a runner trying to make third on a simple single to left? Why didn't Frank Crosetti, coaching at third, give Yogi the stop sign at second? Ye gods, but the Yankees looked awful.

As a matter of fact, the Yanks didn't look good in the first game. Bauer was overconfident- he let himself get picked off base. And Yogi gambled that Covington would not throw accurately to third. That these two veterans of many Series games should have erred was surprising, but the fact obviously that they were suffering from opening game jitters, an affliction that annoys the coolest heads in baseball.

As for Casey's choice of Howard as his cleanup batter, it may be pointed out that Howard hit hard in the first game, but his blows went directly into the hands of Brave outfielders. And Berra, a left-handed batter, seemed less likely to hit as well as the right-handed Ellie against the clever Spahn.

The Yankees stayed in contention in the ten-inning thriller. They went into overtime, tied with the Braves, 3-3, thanks to homers by Skowron and Bauer. Their real weakness was in the outfield, where fly balls were SLIGHTLY misplayed and where Mickey Mantle looked slow in making up his mind as to which base he should throw to.

Bill Bruton won the game in the tenth with a run-scoring single. But the real key to the Braves' victory was Fred Haney's offensive strategy in the fourth inning.

Whitey Ford had been pitching tight ball until then, with six strikeouts to his credit. The Yankee southpaw walked Hank Aaron to open the fourth, but retired Adcock and Covington on easy grounders. Suddenly, the Braves began to hit first pitches, Del Crandall, Andy Pafko and Spahn singling in succession for two vital runs. Haney had noticed that Ford was sneaking a first strike over, putting his batters in a hole. It was clever strategy- because it worked. If it hadn't, Fred would have been gooseberry pie for the second-guessers.

When a team wins by a 13-5 score, and has a 13-2 lead going into the ninth, as the Braves did in the second Series game, the second-guessers ought to keep their traps shut- but they don't.

Take that first inning for example. Lew Burdette went into it with a scoreless streak of 24 innings, only five shy of Babe Ruth's record set in 1918. And what do the Yanks do? Bauer opens the game with a single. He takes second on McDougald's grounder, and third when Eddie Mathews messes it up, and then Mantle walks, and Bauer tallies on Howard's infield out. True, Berra ends the inning by hitting into a double play, but the Yanks have a one-run lead.

Bill Bruton evened things up with a home run on the first pitch by Turley. And Red Schoendienst doubled. But Turley fanned Mathews, and after Aaron was intentionally passed, Covington singled, scoring Red to put the Braves ahead, 2-1.

And NOW what does Casey do? He removes Turley, his 21-game winner, for Duke Maas! Maas paves the was for a seven-run inning by failing to trap Aaron in a run-down off third, and then gets his brains knocked out.

At that moment the second guessers were spreading through the Braves' fine new stadium that Old Casey was really through. Had Haney panicked when Burdette allowed a run to score? Heck, no! But Casey, lacking confidence in the strongest right-hander on his staff, put Maas, inexperienced in Series play, up there to be shelled in a fare-thee-well.

Would Casey resign after the Braves took four straight? How long can a man keep going? That's what they were asking that night in old Milwaukee.

But in the third game it was Haney who made the boo-boos. Glance at the score: Yankees 4, Braves 0. Don Larsen, the imperfect Perfect Pitcher, yielded seven singles, fanning eight. Bob Rush pitched fairly good ball, but he had a fit of wildness in the fifth, and that was that.

Or was it?

Look back on that crucial fifth inning ... the game still scoreless, Norm Siebern on base as the result of a walk, and two out. Siebern was perched on second, with McDouglald at bat, and not a cloud in sight.

And what does Haney do? He orders Rush to walk McDougald.

Did you ever hear of such nonsense? McDougald bats right, Rush pitches right. McDougald had been a batting slump all year. And the next batter was Larsen, an all-around athlete who can clout a ball to the fences. The keen-eyed Larsen worked a pass to fill the bases, and then Bauer drove an outside pitch to right field for two runs! That, gentlemen, was the ball game!

The Braves went whacky on bases that day. Schoendienst was trapped off third in what might have been a big sixth inning, offering the second-guessers a noble opportunity to pounce on Red, on third base coach Billy Herman, and even on Hank Aaron, who was hung up between second and third like a diabolo on a string.

Yet the real goof the Braves made came in the eighth inning. Stengel had noticed that Larsen was tiring, and sent Ryne Dyren in to relieve him at the beginning of that stanza. The hefty fireballer was so wild at the start that he walked Mathews on four straight pitches.

It was a spot for wait-and see tactics, but Haney gave no wait sign to Aaron, who hit the first pitch for an easy out. Then Covington worked another pass, but again Torre and Crandall failed to wait out the notoriously wild Duren, and the inning ended without a score.

Remember ... it was only 2-0 then, for Bauer had not yet made his two-run homer off Don McMahon. If ... if Haney had onlyl made Duren pitch and pitch and pitch ....

That's what the second-guessers after the dust of battle rose, revealing the wreckage of the Braves' hopes for a four-straight triumph.

The less said the better about the fourth game, which ended with the Braves winning, 3-0.

But the second-guessers never say less than a million words, no matter what happens.

Before play began, it was announced that Howard, who had cut a gash in his knee in the second game, was fit to play. Yet Casey sent Siebern into left field to become the saddest Series flop since Roger Peckinpaugh committed eight errors in 1925, sending the Washington Senators down to an ingnominious defeat.

Why Siebern, a left-handed batter, against the devastating southpaw Spahn? Hadn't the right-handed Howard led the Yanks at bat during the regular season? Wasn't Howard a longer hitter than the poking Siebern?

And shouldn't Ole Case, really old by now, have known that Howard is a cool cookie who may not be the greatest outfielder on record, yet who knows where a ball is going and tries to catch it?

Poor Siebern, a fine boy, misplayed a fly into a triple, let a soft Texas Leaguer fall in front of him, and went blind on a routine fly into the left field corner, adding a cheap double to the Braves' attack.

Of course, Siebern hadn't played that way during the season. He'd had his weaknesses in the field, but he'd been improving, and he hit .300.

In this case, as later events proved, Casey was second-guessed correctly. Howard replaced Siebern; his fielding plugged a hole in the Yankee outfield; his catch on Bruton in the fifth game was the turning point.

But would you have known that in advance?

It was Haney who caught the second-guessers' shafts as soon as the fifth game began. Turley was starting again. He'd looked bad in the second game. He walked Bruton, the leadoff man, in the first inning.

Then Fred ordered Schoendienst to sacrifice. It's true that Mathews and Aaron couldn't bring Bruton home, and Turley was to go on to pitch a classic shutout.

But why hadn't Haney ordered Schoendienst to try the hit-and-run? After all, Red is one of the game's most adept place-batters. Is it possible that Fred noticed that Turley, despite the pass, was about to have one of his best days? Maybe ... 

But there it is- Schoendienst, whose hitting, fielding and savvy gave the Braves that professional look, was wasted on a sacrifice. My, oh my ...

And again Haney's misfired in the fatal sixth, when the Yankees, leading 1-0, suddenly pounced on Burdette and at last got him off their necks.

Singles by Bauer and Mantle and Berra's double had made it 2-0; and then Fred ordered Burdette to walk Howard for Skowron. Let's agree that Haney's first-inning sacrifice of Schoendienst was according to his book, which calls for the bunt when the leadoff man gets on in the opening inning.

But where was his book in the sixth? How come he ordered right-handed batting Howard, batting against right-handed Burdette,  to be walked? And for Skowron, who with seven RBI's was to press Bauer (with eight) for high in that department for the Series?

Skowron doubled into the right field corner, scoring two runs and, man, the game was in the bag.

Or could you have guessed better than Fred Haney?

The sixth game was the key to the Yankees' final victory. It was one of the great games of Series history. It was a heart-breaker for gallant Warren Spahn. It was a field day for second-guessers.

The Braves were now the jittery team. The Yankees were rolling along with rugged determination, their championship chariot now in high gear.

Bauer's homer gave the Yanks a run in the first. Logan's sacrifice with Schoendienst was successful; Red scored on Aaron's single to even things up. Ford didn't have it; three straight singles gave the Braves a precious run in the second, and Whitey, after walking Schoendienst, went out for Ditmar.

The bases were full with one out. Johnny Logan sent a fly to Howard in left and then Billy Herman out-second-guessed himself. It was a medium-distance fly. Andy Pafko, now a slow-footed 37-year-older, was on third. It would have been suicide to have sent Pakfo in to score.

It WAS suicide.

For Herman, recalling that Howard had thrown wildly to the plate in the loose second game, gave Andy the go-sign.

Goodness gracious to Betsy, Herman, what made you do that?

Pafko, of course, was doubled at the plate. The rally was busted up. Ditmar held the Braves until two singles, an outfield fumble and that man Berra's sacrifice fly tied it up, 2-2, in the sixth.

Naturally, the fact that Mathews repeatedly flubbed with men on bases during the Series (and who would have been the next batter if Pafko had stayed on third) must be forgotten. Or that Ditmar and Duren made the Braves look sick at bat as the game went into extra innings.

Then, in the tenth, Haney again became the butt of second-guessing critics. The great Spahn was only human after all. McDougald opened with a home run. Spahn retired Bauer and Mantle, no mean feat, but Howard and Berra chipped singles.

Haney went to the mound. He didn't want to lift Spahn, that was obvious from his attitude. He put McMahon in the box.

And Skowron immediately clouted a single to score Howard with what was to prove the winning run.

Second-guessing is easy here. Why not Rush to relieve, instead of McMahon? Rush had relieved successfully during the regular season. He had held the Yankees to three hits in seven innings in the third game of the Series. The Yanks had shown little respect for McMahon earlier in the Series. Rush, of course, would have easily retired Skowron. Or would he?

And, come to think of it, why not pass Skowron? The Moose, long frustrated in his search for fame, was having a fine Series. The next batter was Duren, the worst hitter in baseball. To have used a pinch hitter would have been to get him and his cannonball out of the game.

Oh, boy, but there's a real second guess!

By the seventh game all Milwaukee, between liebfraumilch, kulmbacher and niblets of landsjagerwurst, was busy second-guessing. For once, errors of commission had put the Braves in the hole, and errors of omission kept them there.

In the first and third innings, the Braves filled the bases, yet scored only once. Meantime, inept fielding around first base gave the Yankees a one-run lead. Del Crandall evened matters with a homer in the sixth, and then Burdette suddenly collapsed with two out in the eighth and went down with colors flying as the Yankees scored four runs. The final score was 6-2. Casey Stengel was still the Little Napoleon, the Master Mind, the Old Perfesser, the Wunderkind; and Fred Haney was good old Fritz, the dunderhead, but a good guy, at that.

Yet even in this sudden-death struggle, the second-guessers could fault the managers. Why had Casey risked victory by starting Larsen, when Turley, as events proved, was to pitch another superb game? And why had Haney started Burdette (who had only two days rest)?

If you choose, you can claim that Casey showed great wisdom in starting Larsen. He got nearly three innings out of Don at the cost of one run, and then could count on Bullet Bob to finish up fresh.

You may say that Haney might have started Rush with the same in mind ... a few innings from him and then as much as possible from the arm of the dauntless Burdette.

But that's water under the dam, Schlitz under the gullet now. The Series is over. What's your guess on who'll be second-guessed when next October rolls around?"

-Charles Dexter, Baseball Digest, December 1958-January 1959