The 1956 World Series of Major League Baseball was played between the New York Yankees (representing the American League) and the defending champion Brooklyn Dodgers (representing the National League) during the month of October 1956. The Series was a rematch of the 1955 World Series. It was the last all-New York Series until 2000, due to the Dodgers and Giants relocating after the 1957 season. The Yankees won the Series in seven games, 4–3, capturing their seventeenth championship. Brooklyn won Games 1 and 2, but New York pitchers threw five consecutive complete games (Games 3–7) to cap off the comeback. The highlight was Don Larsen's perfect game in Game 5, the only no-hitter in the history of major league post-season play. Larsen was named the Series MVP for his achievement. This was the last World Series to date not to have scheduled off days (although Game 2 was postponed a day due to rain).
[edit] SummaryAL New York Yankees (4) vs. NL Brooklyn Dodgers (3)
[edit] Matchups[edit] Game 1Wednesday, October 3, 1956 at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, New York
WP: Sal Maglie (1–0) LP: Whitey Ford (0–1) [edit] Game 2Friday, October 5, 1956 at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, New York
WP: Don Bessent (1–0) LP: Tom Morgan (0–1) [edit] Game 3Saturday, October 6, 1956 at Yankee Stadium in Bronx, New York
WP: Whitey Ford (1–1) LP: Roger Craig (0–1) [edit] Game 4Sunday, October 7, 1956 at Yankee Stadium in Bronx, New York
WP: Tom Sturdivant (1–0) LP: Carl Erskine (0–1) [edit] Game 5Monday, October 8, 1956 at Yankee Stadium in Bronx, New York
WP: Don Larsen (1–0) LP: Sal Maglie (1–1) Larsen, working in an unusual "no-windup" style, pitched the only post-season perfect game (also the only post-season no-hitter) in Game 5. Of several close moments, the best remembered is Gil Hodges' fifth-inning line drive toward Yankee Stadium's famed "Death Valley" in left-center, snared by center fielder Mickey Mantle with a spectacular running catch. A reporter asked Yankees manager Casey Stengel if this was the best game Larsen had ever pitched. Stengel diplomatically answered, "So far!" For Larsen, this was an especially satisfying performance, as he had acquired perhaps a better reputation as a night owl than as a pitcher. Stengel once said of Larsen, "The only thing he fears is sleep!" Incredibly, Stengel is reported to have stated after the Series that Larsen's historic gem was not the best pitched game of the '56 classic; in his opinion, Bob Turley's losing effort in Game 6, in which he struck out eleven batters and lost a shutout in the tenth inning on a fielding mistake, was actually a better pitched game. Sports cartoonist Willard Mullin drew an illustration of a happy Larsen painting a canvas titled The Perfect Game, observed by Mullin's classic "Brooklyn Bum." Referencing the old saw "I don't know much about art but I know what I like," the disgusted-looking Bum came up with a variation: "I don't care if it is art—I don't like it!" The perfect game set the record for most consecutive hitless innings in a World Series; the Brooklyn Dodgers failed to record a hit in eleven consecutive innings. [edit] Game 6Tuesday, October 9, 1956 at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, New York
WP: Clem Labine (1–0) LP: Bob Turley (0–1) [edit] Game 7Wednesday, October 10, 1956 at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, New York
WP: Johnny Kucks (1–0) LP: Don Newcombe (0–1) [edit] Composite box1956 World Series (4–3): New York Yankees (A.L.) over Brooklyn Dodgers (N.L.)
[edit] BroadcastingNBC televised the Series, with announcers Mel Allen (for the Yankees) and Vin Scully (for the Dodgers). In 2006 it was announced that a nearly-complete kinescope recording of the Game 5 telecast (featuring Larsen's perfect game) had been preserved and discovered by a collector. The Mutual network aired the Series on radio, with Bob Wolff and Bob Neal announcing. This was the final World Series broadcast for Mutual, which had covered the event since 1935; NBC's radio network would gain exclusive national rights to baseball the following season. [edit] Series quotes
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[edit] External links
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