Breaking Up The Braves

Casey was relaxed, but the game itself was very tense until the eighth inning. At any rate the Braves were tense. They scored a run in the first and then left the bases loaded in that inning and again in the third. In his running notes on the game, Writer-Reporter Walter Bingham commented: "That first inning was a moral victory for the Yanks. There could have been much more damage. But the Braves do have a run, and if Burdette is sharp it may be hard to get it back."

But the Yanks got it back the next inning, and one extra to boot. The Braves were beginning to look hysterical. Two successive errors were charged to First Baseman Frank Torre on throws he made to Burdette when Burdette was slow in getting over to first in time to cover. These errors, plus a walk, filled the bases, and an infield grounder and a fly ball gave the Yankees two runs.

THAT GOOD FIELDING

But where fidgety fielding hurt the Braves, great plays by the Yankees' Gil McDougald and Jerry Lumpe stopped Milwaukee from scoring in the third. Bill Bruton led off with a single. And Torre followed with a high pop fly to right. Hank Bauer was playing way too deep and could not get in to it. So McDougald, running out from second base, had to catch the pop with his back to home plate. When Henry Aaron followed with a line single, Stengel took Larsen out and brought in Bob Turley, who had halted the Yankee retreat by pitching a shutout in the fifth game, and who had relieved in the 10th inning of the sixth game to get the final out with the tying and winning runs on base. Turley stopped the Braves now, for a third time, but he needed that good fielding. Covington tapped in front of the plate and was out at first, Berra to Skowron, but when Berra came out to field the ball Turley forgot to cover home plate, and Bruton, rounding third, made a threat to come all the way in to score. Skowron promptly threw hard to third in an attempt to pick Bruton off, and threw wild. But Lumpe, playing third, made a diving backhand catch of the ball to hold Bruton on third, restore order and preserve the Yankee lead. A minute or so later, with the bases loaded (this was the second time), Crandall hit the ball hard through the middle; Turley deflected it; and McDougald, who had started to his right, abruptly changed course, charged in, picked up the ball barehanded and threw to first in time to get Crandall for the third out. It was the third impressive, cool-headed Yankee fielding play of the inning.

In the sixth Crandall, with no one on base this time, hit a high arching home run just beyond the left field fence to tie the score at 2-2. For a moment hope revived in Milwaukee, but two innings later, with the score still tied, the weary Burdette met the strongest part of the Yankee batting order and his ultimate defeat.

He got McDougald on a soft fly to right and struck out Mantle. But then, as Walter Bingham described it at the time in his notes: "Berra pulls soft liner down foul line which hits rubber about four feet from top of fence for a double. Howard at 1-1 chops single through middle to score Berra. Yanks lead 3-2. Carey hits ball to deep short for infield single. Moose [Skowron] can break open game. Swinging strike one. Inside ball one. Wild swing two. High ball two. Moose clinches the World Series with a three-run homer. Kubek strikes out."

There was a ninth inning, but no one really cared. The score was 6-2, the Yankees were in, and the Braves were utterly defeated.

Afterward Casey Stengel told the TV cameras: "I'll tell you the reason why we won and there were three reasons." He pursued this theme for some time and the pursuit was fascinating, if confusing. But when all was said and done, the biggest reasons why the Yankees won were almost certainly the heart and the fight of old Casey himself.