1955 Dodgers - A Crazy April Day at Ebbets Field
The game on April 24, 1955 has to qualify as one of the zaniest ever at Ebbets
EBBETS FIELD - Monday, April 25, 1955
The Sports Time Traveler is following the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers day-by-day precisely 70 years in the past.
I’m only posting stories when there is something so compelling I just have to share it.
Yesterday’s game qualifies.
After winning their first 10 games of the season to set a major league record, the Dodgers finally lost to the Giants on Friday when they squandered a 3 - 0 lead in the 8th inning and lost 5 - 4. They came back to win again Saturday to boost their record to 11 - 1.
Yesterday’s game started at Ebbets Field at 2pm on a cold Sunday afternoon for the 21,615 fans at the park. The temperature was just 48 degrees for the opening pitch. It never got above 49 during the game.
The Dodgers sent Don Newcombe to the mound for the 3rd time so far in the young season. Newk is still a big question mark. After winning 20 in 1951, he spent 1952 and 1953 in the service, and last season he was a shell of his former self. He’s only 28, so big things are still expected from him. He did win his first 2 starts, but his ERA in those 2 games was an un-Newk like 5.79. He benefitted from the big Brooklyn bats piling up runs.
Yesterday, facing the Giants, Newk started out rocky. The Giants were hitting the ball hard, but he had managed to “escape damage,” according to Dick Young in the New York Daily News. Newk managed to get the first 8 Giants out before giving up a line drive single to center by Giants’ pitcher, Don Liddle.
Newk maintained a shutout through 3 innings, and a Pee Wee Reese homer in the 3rd gave the Dodgers a 1 - 0 lead.
In the top of the 4th, with one out and a man on 1st, Willie Mays came to the plate. The 23 year old phenom blasted one into the upper deck in left field. It was the Say Hey Kid’s 1st homer of the 1955 season, here in the Giants’ 10th game. And it put the Giants in front 2 - 1.
The Dodgers’ came back in the bottom of the 4th. Carl Furillo led off with his major league leading 6th home run of the season.
With the score now tied at 2 and Newk getting hit hard, manager Walt Alston decided to pinch hit for him. After the game Newk indicated that his arm had grown stiff. Pinch hitter Frank Kellert walked and a few batters later, Duke Snider’s line drive to right scored Kellert and Jim Gilliam and put the Dodgers ahead 4 - 2.
The Dodgers remained in front despite Willie Mays’ 2nd homer of the game in the 6th. And going into the 8th inning it was 5 - 3 Dodgers. Don Hoak led off the bottom of the 8th with a triple for the Dodgers. After pitcher Billy Loes struck out, Jim Gilliam hit a ball to deep center field. Jack Lang in the Staten Island Advance described the play, “Mays went back and then came in for the catch and fired a strike to the plate. His throw caught Hoak, one of the team’s fastest runners, to complete an inning-ending double play.”
It was a sensational throw by the Say Hey Kid. Jim Ogle in the Newark Star-Ledger called the play by Mays, “one of his patented throws.”
Going into the top of the 9th with a 5 - 3 lead, Dodgers’ pitcher Billy Loes was in line to get the save. With one down Whitey Lockman hit a ground ball back to Loes. Dick Young reporting for the New York Daily News described what happened next, “Loes bobbled Lockman’s comeback squib to the box and threw it wild past first - and threw up a gopher to Dark a moment later. Al tucked it into the left seats for his first homer - and a 5 - 5 game.
The game stayed tied at 5 going into the bottom half of the 9th. Pee Wee Reese led off with a single to center. Duke Snider tried to bunt Reese over but popped it up for the 1st out. Then Gil Hodges struck out swinging. Next up was Sandy Amoros. He walked and now Reese, representing the potential winning run, was on 2nd base for Roy Campanella. Campy who had a terrible year battling a hand injury in 1954 and hit only .207, came into yesterday’s game hitting .366. But Campy flew out to left and the game went into extra innings.
Willie Mays led off the 10th against Billy Loes with a single. On the next play, Monte Irvin hit a short fly to right center. Jack Lang writing for the Staten Island Advance described the action, “Duke Snider had the ball in his glove but Furillo crashed into him and the ball dropped for a base hit.”
After Billy Gardner bunted the runners over to 2nd and 3rd, the Giants’ 3rd string catcher, Ray Katt came to the plate. Dick Young questioned Alston’s strategy with Katt batting and the pitcher due up next, “With first open and no pinch-hitters left on the Giant bench, the Brooks, for some strange reason, pitched to Katt. Ray blasted into the left stands, and the Giants led 8 - 5.”
It got worse.
The next 2 batters, Jim Hearn and Whitey Lockman, hit a single and a double. Now Alston took Loes out of the game and went to Ed Roebuck. But Roebuck got rocked right away. Al Dark singled to score Hearn. And Don Mueller singled to drive in Lockman with Al Dark moving to 3rd.
Then came the most bizarre play of the game. Hank Thompson lifted a fly to right field. Carl Furillo caught the ball for the 2nd out. And then Furillo “trotted for the bench,” according to Dick Young. Furillo thought the terrifying top of the 10th had been terminated. But the catch was just the 2nd out. And Al Dark tagged up and scored the 11th Giants’ run uncontested. Giants’ 1st base coach Freddie Fitzsimmons then told Don Mueller to break for 2nd base. Furillo apparently threw the ball to 2nd base resulting in a strange double play to end the misery.
It was now 11 - 5 Giants.
Of course, the home team got one more chance in the bottom of the 10th. Carl Furillo tried to make up for his gaffes in the field by leading off with a single. Don Hoak also singled. Then George Shuba struck out.
With 2 on and 1 down, Jim Gilliam singled to drive in Furillo. It was now 11 - 6 Giants.
Pee Wee Reese walked and the bases were loaded with 1 out.
This prompted Giants’ manager Leo Durocher to change pitchers and bring in Johnny Antonelli. He promptly walked Duke Snider and now the score was 11 - 7 with the bases still loaded.
Antonelli next got Gil Hodges to strike out for out number 2.
But the Dodgers still had the bases loaded.
Next, Sandy Amoros singled driving in 2 runs to make it 11 - 9.
And when Roy Campenella singled, driving in Duke Snider, it was 11 - 10 Giants.
With 2 outs and the tying run on 2nd base, Carl Furillo was up again. Leo Durocher brought in Ruben Gomez to pitch to Furillo. Carl could have been the hero of the game, despite his fielding woes. But he “lifted a pop foul to the back of third. Henry Thompson collected it for the final out and the struggle was over,” according to John Drebinger in the New York Times.
The final score was Giants 11 - Dodgers 10.
The Giants improved to 4 - 6 on the season. The Dodgers dropped to 11 - 2.
Jack Lang made this observation after the game, “The Dodger victory string might 13 today if… the Dodgers hadn’t thrown the ball away. Friday night the Giants won, 5 - 4, with the winning run coming home on Don Zimmer’s throwing error. Yesterday, the Giants were able to send the game into extra innings because Billy Loes threw an easy ground ball away just before Al Dark hit a game-tying homer in the ninth.”
So the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers could easily have been standing today at 13 - 0.
The Sports Time Traveler will continue following the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers and reporting when there is something so compelling I have to share it.