The Last Segregated World Series: the Games in New York

With the Yankees up two games to nothing, the World Series shifted to New York for games three, four, and, if necessary, game five. The Yanks needed two wins to wrap up the Series. Philadelphia needed to win at least two of the three games to send the Series back to Philly and a potential game six.

Jerry Coleman

Game 3

The third game was played 6 October in the Bronx. The visiting Phillies sent 34-year-old Ken Heintzelman to the mound. He’d gone 3-9 with an ERA north of four during the regular season. But with the loss of Curt Simmons to the military and Bubba Church to injury, the Phils pressed him into service. He faced 18 game winner Eddie Lopat. Heintzelman was unsteady (he gave up  six walks) but over the first seven innings he gave up only one run. In the third with two outs he walked Phil Rizzuto who promptly stole second. A Jerry Coleman single plated Rizzuto with the game’s first run.

Philadelphia got it back in the sixth when, again with two outs, Del Ennis doubled. Dick Sisler then singled to tie the score. In the seventh, Granny Hamner singled to lead off the inning, was bunted to second, and scored on a Mike Goliat single. For the first time in the entire Series, the Phils were ahead.

They stayed that way for five outs. With two down in the eighth, Heintzelman walked Coleman, Joe DiMaggio, and Yogi Berra consecutively to load the bases. That sent Heintzelman out of the game and brought in Philly’s relief ace, Jim Konstanty. He got Bobby Brown to roll one to Hamner at short. Hamner booted the ball which scored Coleman with an unearned run. A foul pop to third ended the inning without more damage.

During the eighth, Lopat left the game as the result of a double switch. That brought Tom Ferrick to the mound. He let Hamner on with a double. A bunt sent the Philadelphia shortstop to third with one out. An intentional walk put men on first and third, bringing up the pitcher’s slot. Pinch hitter Dick Whitman banged one to first and Hamner, going on contact, was gunned down at the plate for out two. A fly ball then ended the inning.

In the bottom of the ninth Russ Meyer replaced Konstanty. He got the first two men, then Gene Woodling singled up the middle and Rizzuto put another single in almost the same spot. That brought up Coleman, who’d been involved in both Yankee runs. He singled to left scoring Woodling, resulting in a final score of 3-2, and putting the Yanks up three games to none. Ferrick, in his only postseason appearance ever, got the win with Meyer taking the loss.

The Chairman of the Board

Game 4

Down three games to none on the 7th of October, the Phillies sent rookie Bob Miller (he’d pitched 2.2 innings in 1949), an 11 game winner to the mound. The Yankees responded by sending their own rookie to the mound. His name was Whitey Ford. He was 21 and had pitched in 20 games that season, starting 12. His record was 9-1 with a 2.81 ERA (153 ERA+) and 59 strikeouts (but also 55 walks). He finished second (to Walt Dropo of Boston) in the American League Rookie of the Year voting.

Ford was shaky in the first inning, walking the leadoff man and allowing a ground rule double to put men at second and third. But a fielder’s choice nipped the runner on third trying to score and a strikeout got New York out of the inning. Miller wasn’t nearly so lucky. Leadoff man Gene Woodling reached first on an error by the second baseman, went to second on a grounder, then scored an unearned run on a Yogi Berra single. A wild pitch moved Berra up and a Joe DiMaggio double scored Berra to make the score 2-0. It also sent Miller to the showers. He was replaced by Jim Konstanty who got the last out to end the inning.

Over the next four innings, the Yanks nursed the lead. Through the top of the sixth, Ford allowed only three singles (and an error let another man on). Konstanty was even better allowing only two singles. Used all season as a reliever (except game one of the Series), he tired in the bottom of the sixth. Berra led off the inning with a home run to make it 3-0, then Konstanty plunked DiMaggio. A ground out sent DiMaggio to second, and a Bobby Brown triple sent him home. Hank Bauer followed Brown with a fly that scored the fifth New York run.

Ford breezed through the seventh and eighth innings retiring the Phils in order. With three outs needed to claim a second consecutive championship, Ford started the ninth by allowing a single to Willie Jones. Then he plunked Del Ennis. That brought up Dick Sisler who grounded to second. A flip to the shortstop recorded the first out. Now with runners on first and third Ford struck out Granny Hamner for out two. Andy Seminick lofted a fly to left that Woodling misplayed allowing Jones and Sisler to score two unearned runs, making the score 5-2. That was all for Whitey Ford. In came Allie Reynolds to get the last out. He struck out Stan Lopata to end the threat, the inning, and the World Series.

Although it’s tough to call a sweep a terrific World Series, the 1950 World Series was a very good Series. Three of the four games were one run games. One of the games (2) went to extra innings, another (3) was won in the bottom of the ninth, a third (1) ended up 1-0. Only game four had a final victory margin of more than one run (5-2).

The Phillies pitching did well under the constraints of the loss of both Church and Simmons. Konstanty was terrific, starting his first game after a full season in the bullpen, and relieving in two others. His 15 innings pitched was tops for either team. As a staff they put up a respectable 2.27 ERA and gave up only 11 earned runs in 36 innings. But the hitting wasn’t as good. Philadelphia hit .203 as a team with only seven extra base hits (six doubles, one triple) in 26 hits. Hamner led the team with six hits two of the doubles, and the triple (but made a critical error). No player scored more than one run or drove in more than one run.

For the Yankees, the hitting was better, but not a lot. They hit .222 as a team, but with three doubles, a triple, and two home runs. Coleman led the team with three RBIs, five different players scored two runs, and Woodling led the team with six hits (all singles). The real New York heroes were the pitchers. Vic Raschi threw a complete game two-hit shutout, Ford went 8.2 giving up only unearned runs. Reynolds picked up both a win and a save and Eddie Lopat gave up only two runs in his one start. The team ERA was 0.73, with 24 strikeouts (seven walks), and a 0.892 WHIP. Ford and Reynolds both recorded seven strikeouts (Lopat and Raschi each had five).

For New York it was the second in a string of World Series victories that would reach five eventually. For Philadelphia it was a high water mark. They slid back in 1951 and didn’t resurface in the postseason until 1976.

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The Last Segregated World Series: the Games in Philadelphia

The 1950 World Series was a contest between perennial power, the New York Yankees and the upstart National League winners the Philadelphia Phillies’ “Whiz Kids.” The first game was played 4 October at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. Due to the proximity of the two cities, the Series was played on consecutive days.

Vic Raschi

Game 1

The Yankees started ace Vic Raschi on the mound in game one. For the Phils there was a pitching dilemma. Ace Robin Roberts had started the last game of the season and was tired. Number two pitcher, Curt Simmons, was off doing military service due to the Korean War, and three pitcher Bubba Church was out with an injury. Manager Eddie Sawyer solved his quandary by starting Jim Konstanty, his bullpen ace. Konstanty had pitched in 74 games, started none, and averaged almost exactly two innings an outing. It was a gamble, but Philadelphia came close to pulling it off. Over three innings, Konstanty allowed two singles and three walks (one intentional), allowing one man to reach third. In the fourth Bobby Brown doubled. A Hank Bauer fly moved him to third, and another fly by Jerry Coleman brought him home with the Yanks first run. In the fifth, no Yank got on base. In the sixth there was one walk. In the seventh an error and a single put two men on, but Konstanty got out of it. The eighth was perfect and a pinch hitter removed Konstanty in the bottom of the eighth. He had been magnificent in an unaccustomed role. The last time he’d started a game was 1946 and he’d allowed one run, four hits, and four walks.

The problem for Philly was that Raschi was even better. In a complete game shutout he walked one, allowed two hits, and struck out five. The two hits were two singles in the fifth that put men on first and second with two outs. One of the five strikeouts ended the threat. The walk came with one out in the sixth but the runner didn’t advance. Those were the only three men to reach base against him. Raschi’s great performance gave the Yankees a one game lead in the Series.

Joe DiMaggio

Game 2

For game two on 5 October, the Phils finally got a chance to use their best pitcher. Fully rested, Robin Roberts took the mound in Shibe Park. He faced old hand Allie Reynolds. Roberts gave up two singles in the first, but got out of the jam on a popup and a foul. He wasn’t as lucky in the second. With one out, a walk to Jerry Coleman and back-to-back singles to pitcher Reynolds and Gene Woodling plated the first run of the game. Philadelphia got it back in the bottom of the fifth. Mike Goliat singled. After a failed bunt attempt, another single sent Goliat to third. He came home with the Phillies first run of the World Series when Richie Ashburn hit a sacrifice fly to left.

And that was all the scoring for the regulation game. Both pitchers gave up a lot of hits with Roberts giving up nine and Reynolds seven. Additionally both walked three men. Going into extra innings, both starters were still in the game. To lead off the 10th inning, Roberts faced Joe DiMaggio. The Yankee Clipper parked one in the left field stands and the Yanks took a 2-1 lead. Then a strikeout, a fly, and a grounder ended the top of the 10th. Reynolds walked the leadoff man in the bottom of the tenth, and a bunt sent him to second with one out. A foul to the first baseman and a strikeout ended the threat and the Yankees won 2-1 to take a two games to none lead in the Series.

Both games in Philadelphia were close games dominated by pitching.  Shibe Park was noted as a hitter’s park, but a total of four runs were scored in two games. Yankee Stadium was known as more of a pitcher’s park, especially in left and center fields. If the pitching continued to dominate, the Series, without regard to who won, could be counted on to produce some close games. It did.

 

The Last Segregated World Series: The Whiz Kids

Robin Roberts

Recently I did an extended look at the 1947 World Series, the first to include a black player (actually two: Jackie Robinson and Dan Bankhead). It seemed like a decent follow-up would be to look up the last Series that included no black players and go over it. Turns out that’s 1950.

The 1950 World Series was played between the New York Yankees, defending World Champions, and the Philadelphia Phillies, winners for the first time since 1915. The Series is generally considered a walkover. It’s true it was a sweep, but if you look at the scores, three of the games were decided by one run. So it’s actually worth taking a look at.

The Phils had just completed a rebuilding period. A cynic might point out that 16 consecutive losing seasons constituted an elongated rebuilding period, but however long it lasted, it finally came time for Philadelphia to win in 1949. The next year they fought down to the wire and defeated the National League defending champions, the Brooklyn Dodgers, to win the pennant on the last day of the season.

Manager Eddie Sawyer was a career minor leaguer who’d spent a decade managing. He took over the Phillies from Ben Chapman in 1948 (there was actually an interim who was around for 12 games). The team rose some, finally had a winning season in 1949, then broke through in 1950. Sawyer was considered an excellent handler of young talent.

And he needed to be. The team was nicknamed “The Whiz Kids” and the emphasis could be on the “Kids.” The eight everyday starters averaged 26 years old. The six men who started more than 10 games averaged 25.5. Of the nine men who spent time on the bench, only three were 30 or more (the youngest 22, the oldest 35).

The infield had Eddie Waitkis at first. At 30 he was the oldest infielder (and the oldest starting everyday player). He had no power, no speed, but was a decent fielder and led the team by scoring 102 runs. He was primarily famous for having been shot in a hotel room by a woman back in 1949. The incident served as a device in Malamud’s The Natural. Mike Goliat was at second. He hit .234, but had 13 home runs, a large number of 1950s second basemen. At 23, shortstop Granville “Granny” Hamner was the youngest infielder. In 1950 he hit .270, had 11 home runs, and finished sixth in the MVP race. He had good range, but made a lot of errors. Willie Jones held down third. He was second on the team with 25 home runs, hit .288, and his 88 RBIs were second on the team. His BBREF WAR was 3.6, tied for fourth on the team.

The outfield consisted of Dick Sisler, Del Ennis, and Richie Ashburn. Sisler hit .296, had 83 RBIs, and 13 home runs, one of which was the pennant clinching homer against the Dodgers. Ennis led the team in home runs (31), doubles (34), RBIs (126), hits (185), and slugging (.551). Hall of Famer Ashburn was a third year player and spectacular fielder (with Ennis and Sisler both being really slow, he had to be). He hit .303, had 14 triples, which led the NL. He’d led the league in stolen bases in 1948, but was down to only 14 (still good enough for fifth in the league) in 1950. His 3.8 BBREF WAR was third on the team, while Ennis’ 5.0 led Philadelphia.

The bench was shallow with only five men playing 25 or more games. Jimmy Bloodworth, an in season acquisition, and Putsy Cabellero were the backup infielders. Bloodworth hit .229 while Cabellero was below the Mendoza line. Neither had a home run. Former MVP runner-up (1944) Bill “Swish” Nicholson and Dick Whitman were the other men in the outfield. Nicholson had three home runs and Whitman hit .250. Nicholson’s three homers were three-quarters of the bench home run total.

The other bench home run went to catching backup Stan Lopata. He hit .209, caught 51 games, and managed a woeful slugging percentage of .279. The main catcher was Andy Seminick. His 24 home runs were third on the team, his OPS of .925 led the team, as did his 143 OPS+. At 4.3, his BBREF WAR was second to Ennis.

They caught an emerging pitching staff. The undoubted ace was 23-year-old future Hall of Famer Robin Roberts. He was 20-11 with an ERA just above three with 146 strikeouts and a WHIP of 1.180 (his WAR was a team leading 7.3). Right behind him was lefty Curt Simmons. Simmons went 17-8, matched Roberts with 146 strikeouts, and had a 1.236 WHIP. Other pitchers who started more than ten games included rookie Bubba Church, Bob Miller, Russ Meyer, and left hander Ken Heintzelman, who at 34, was eight years older than any of the other starters. Jim Konstanty led the bullpen. He appeared in 74 games, won 16, lost seven, and ended up winning the National League MVP (the first reliever to do so). His 22 saves led the league (and are roughly 30% of his career save total).

The Phils were a surprise in 1950, but were also a good team. By the time the Series started they were having pitching problems. With the team needing a win on the final day of the season, Roberts had pitched and was unavailable for game one. Church was struck in the face by a batted ball earlier in the summer and was out for the Series. Just prior to the Series Simmons was called for military duty (the Korean War was going on) and was also unavailable for the Series. It would lead to a serious shuffling of the staff. The loss of Simmons and Church and the inability to use Roberts in game one would haunt Philadelphia for the entire World Series.