The Brooklyn Dodgers made it to the World Series twice, in 1916 and 1920, before the New York Yankees ever got there. In losing both, the Dodgers started Boston Red Sox lefthander Babe Ruth on his then record streak of 29 scoreless World Series innings in the first one and hit into the only Fall Classic unassisted triple play against Cleveland in the second. The Brooklyn team then experienced a long drought while the Yankees, beginning in 1921, became accustomed to playing for the world championship--and usually winning it.
The Subway Series
The Yankees had played five intra-city World Series with the New York Giants in the 1920's and 1930's. But it wasn't until 1941 that the outer borough of Brooklyn, a much longer subway ride from Yankee Stadium, became one of the locales for an even more intense rivalry.
The Bronx Bombers, winners of their fifth pennant in six years and of eight world championships overall, faced a scrappy, well-balanced Brooklyn club led by fiery manager Leo Durocher. After splitting the first two games, the Yankees won a squeaker to take a 2-1 lead. Leading with two strikes and two outs in the ninth inning the next day, the Dodgers seemed to have tied the Series on a swing and miss. But in one of the most shocking reversals in Series history, the third strike eluded catcher Mickey Owen, the Yankees rallied for four runs to win the game, and closed out the Series the next day.
The opportunity for revenge was delayed until 1947. A seven-game Series featured eight and two-thirds innings of no-hit ball in a game lost on the very last pitch from Yankee hurler Bill Bevens, a spectacular game-saving catch of a Joe DiMaggio drive, and a five-inning scoreless relief effort by Joe Page in the clincher. A five-game 1949 rematch was anticlimactic after Tommy Henrich's ninth-inning homer broke up a first-game scoreless tie.
In an unparalleled period of New York dominance in both leagues, the teams clashed again in 1952 and 1953. The first time, the Brooklyn team took a 3-2 lead in games but fell again despite a record-tying four home runs by Duke Snider. In '53, the Yankees extended their seeming mastery by winning in six.
That mastery seemed even more enduring as the Yankees took the first two games of their next meeting in 1955. But the Dodgers rallied to win the next three games and, after losing the sixth game, finally made their breakthrough with a 2-0 shutout saved by a running one-handed catch by left fielder Sandy Amoros. With the shoe on the other foot in 1956, the Brooklyn club breezed in the first two games only to have the New Yorkers reverse roles and take the next three. The third of those was the perfect game by Don Larsen, the only one ever in World Series play. Yet the indefatigable Dodgers bounced back to win the sixth game, 1-0, on a hit by Jackie Robinson. A 9-0 seventh-game shutout featuring two homers by Yogi Berra ended the dream of a Brooklyn streak of their own.
East Coast-West CoastA year later, the Dodgers were on their way to a new home in Los Angeles. Their first World Series experience in California was a winning one in 1959 against the Chicago White Sox. And so was their first encounter with the Yankees, in 1963. In fact, triggered by a then-record 15-strikeout performance by Sandy Koufax in the opener, they accomplished the first four-game sweep in the history of the rivalry.
A longer hiatus ended with the clubs contending in 1977 and 1978. Reggie Jackson's record five home runs, including three in the sixth and final game, highlighted the first of the two meetings. The second saw the Dodgers jump out to a 2-0 lead but lose the next four. The exact reverse occurred in 1981 as the Los Angeles club roared back from a two-game deficit to win four straight behind the .417 hitting of first baseman Steve Garvey..
It's now more than a quarter of a century since these two storied teams clashed for the world championship. History awaits the renewal of the greatest World Series rivalry.
Reference: Baseball Almanac
