<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=0tuHOb_0wOPhBjk00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0tuHOb_0wOPhBjk00" width="1210" height="806" ></figure><p>When you picture an old timey World Series, it’s hard for the mental image to not be of a matchup between the Yankees and Dodgers. First meeting in 1941, the two teams have faced off in 11 previous World Series between the Dodgers’ years in Brooklyn and now Los Angeles.</p><p>Those Fall Classics have produced many memorable moments from Don Larsen’s perfect game, to Jackie Robinson’s steal of home, to Reggie Jackson’s three-home run performance. However, with 11 previous face-offs, there’s also plenty of great moments that get overlooked. There will be plenty of looks back at the most famous Yankees/Dodgers World Series games and moments, but we want to look at some of the ones you may have forgotten or not even known about.</p><h2>1941 - Game 4</h2><p>The two teams’ first meeting in a Fall Classic in 1941 wasn’t particularly close in terms of the final margin, although it might’ve been were it not for what happened in the ninth inning of Game 4.</p><p>While the Yankees led the series 2-1, the Dodgers were a strike away from tying things up, as Tommy Henrich faced a 3-2 count in the top of the ninth, with the Dodgers up 4-3. Hugh Casey’s pitch wasn’t a strike but he got Henrich swinging for what should have been the final out of the game and a tied-up Fall Classic. However, catcher Mickey Owen let the ball get by him, allowing Henrich to race safely down to first.</p><p>Joe DiMaggio followed that with a single, and a Charlie Keller double scored both of them, suddenly giving the Yankees a lead. In total, the Yankees ended up scoring four runs in the inning, taking a 7-4 lead, despite have been just one cleanly fielded ball away from a loss.</p><p>Pitcher Johnny Murphy finished things off for the Yankees in the ninth, and they won the next day, sealing the series four games to one.</p><h2>1947 - Game 4</h2><p>Larsen’s perfect game in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series is one of the most iconic moments in all of baseball history, but nine years earlier a different Yankee pitcher nearly threw a no-hitter before him.</p><p>Leading the 1947 series 2-1, the Yankees sent Bill Bevens to the hill looking to take full control of the series, and he looked up to the task. Going into the ninth inning, Bevens was working on the first no-hitter in World Series or playoff history, as he held the Dodgers in check. His only real issue on the day was a big one: control. He had walked eight hitters, which played a part in the Dodgers scoring a run on a Pee Wee Reese fielder’s choice in the fifth inning, with the Yankees going into the ninth up 2-1.</p><p>After getting the first out of the inning, Bevens again paid a price for some shaky control, as he issued a free pass to Carl Furillo. While he then got the second out on a foul pop to first, Dodgers pinch-runner Al Gionfriddo (more famous for his robbery of Joe DiMaggio) stole second, putting the tying run in scoring position. At that point, Bevens and the Yankees intentionally walked pinch-hitter Pete Reiser, who was injured but fearsome; hence, Bevens’ 10th walk of the day. Eddie Miksis ran for Reiser and Eddie Stankey was due up next. The managerial chess continued, with Brooklyn skipper Burt Shotton instead sending up Cookie Lavagetto as a pinch-hitter.</p><p>On the second pitch of the at-bat, Lavagetto hit a ball to deep right field that hit off the Ebbets Field wall for the Dodgers’ first hit. Not only that, but the ball took a strange bounce, leading right fielder Henrich — who again played a role in a big moment — to fumble with it. When Henrich finally did get to the ball, his throw was not nearly in time to get either runner on base. In one swing, Bevens went from the verge of a World Series no-hitter, to the losing pitcher in what was now a tied series.</p><p>The Yankees would go on to win the series, though, with Bevens throwing 2.2 scoreless innings in Game 7. Oddly enough, none of Bevens, Gionfriddo, or Lavagetto ever played in another MLB game after this Fall Classic.</p><h2>1949 - Game 1</h2><p>Henrich was quite a busy man in these early Yankees-Dodgers matchups, as in Game 1 of the ‘49 series, his game-winning homer in the bottom of the ninth was the first ever walk-off home run in Fall Classic history. It came at the end of a thrilling pitchers’ duel between Monument Park honoree Allie Reynolds and NL Rookie of the Year Don Newcombe. Reynolds spun a two-hit shutout to give Henrich a chance for some bottom-of-the-ninth magic, and he led off with a solo homer on a 2-0 pitch from Newcombe that gave the Yanks an early series lead.</p><h2>1952 - Game 7</h2><p>Future Yankees skipper Billy Martin likely had the peak of his playing career in 1953, when he set a then-record for most hits in a single World Series with 12, capped off by a walk-off in the finale against Brooklyn that gave the Yanks their fifth consecutive crown. A year before though, Martin had another series-saving moment at the Dodgers’ expense.</p><p>The Yankees held a 4-2 lead in the bottom of the seventh of Game 7 in Brooklyn. Vic Raschi ran into trouble by loading the bases with one out on a single and two walks. In came Bob Kuzava to face a brutal one-two punch: Duke Snider and Jackie Robinson. Kuzava got the “Duke of Flatbush” to pop up to third for an easy second out. Remarkably, the reliever then got <i>another</i> infield fly, as Jackie lifted one into the air to the first-base side of the mound. The only problem was that the ball nearly dropped because no one aside from Kuzava was close to it; it would’ve been a game-tying hit since the runners were going with two outs. But Martin saved the day by charging in to snare it. Crisis averted, and Kuzava finished off the Dodgers for the series victory.</p><h2>1978 - Game 6</h2><p>Pretty much every Yankees fan knows about the clinching-game heroics of Reggie Jackson in 1977. He was also at the center of the action during the ‘78 Fall Classic rematch against LA, with a couple memorable <b>at-bats</b> against 21-year-old Bob Welch and a possible interference play that wasn’t called, leading to a Tommy Lasorda tirade.</p><p>Despite Reggie being Reggie and Bucky Dent following up his 1978 AL East playoff homer with a World Series MVP performance, the heroics of Brian Doyle were in many ways even crazier. Having only played 39 games in the regular season that year, Doyle appeared in every game of the 1978 World Series, and rewarded the Yankees with an incredible series, especially in Game 6.</p><p>With the Yankees trailing 1-0 early, Doyle’s RBI single in the second inning tied the game, and he later came around to score as part of a three-run inning. In the sixth, he again singled home a run before coming around to score, helping the Yankees pad their lead a bit. As part of his three-hit day, Doyle was involved in four of the seven runs the Yankees scored as they won Game 6 to win the ‘78 series.</p><p>For the six games in 1978, Doyle put up a .438 batting average. That is higher than his overall career OPS of .392.</p></div></body>

Mountain View, CA

NewsBreak

Overlooked moments from Yankees-Dodgers World Series battles of the past

When you picture an old timey World Series, it’s hard for the mental image to not be of a matchup between the Yankees and Dodgers. First meeting in 1941, the two teams have faced off in 11 previous World Series between the Dodgers’ years in Brooklyn and now Los Angeles.