1956 World Series Information & 1956 World Series Links at HealthHaven.com

**1956 World Series**
Dates:	October 3–October 10
MVP:	Don Larsen (New York)
Television:	NBC
TV announcers:	Mel Allen and Vin Scully
Radio:	Mutual
Radio announcers:	Bob Wolff and Bob Neal
Umpires:	Babe Pinelli (NL), Hank Soar (AL), Dusty Boggess (NL), Larry Napp (AL), Tom Gorman (NL: outfield only), Ed Runge (AL: outfield only)
Future Hall of Famers:	Yankees: Casey Stengel (mgr.), Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, Mickey Mantle, Enos Slaughter.; Dodgers: Walt Alston (mgr.), Roy Campanella, Don Drysdale, Sandy Koufax (dnp), Pee Wee Reese, Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider

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, to Los Angeles and San Francisco, respectively.

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] Summary

AL New York Yankees (4) vs. NL Brooklyn Dodgers (3)

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	October 3	New York Yankees – 3, Brooklyn Dodgers – 6	Ebbets Field	2:32	34,479^[1]
2	October 5	New York Yankees – 8, Brooklyn Dodgers – 13	Ebbets Field	3:26	36,217^[2]
3	October 6	Brooklyn Dodgers – 3, New York Yankees – 5	Yankee Stadium (I)	2:17	73,977^[3]
4	October 7	Brooklyn Dodgers – 2, New York Yankees – 6	Yankee Stadium (I)	2:43	69,705^[4]
5	October 8	Brooklyn Dodgers – 0, New York Yankees – 2	Yankee Stadium (I)	2:06	64,519^[5]
6	October 9	New York Yankees – 0, Brooklyn Dodgers – 1 (10 innings)	Ebbets Field	2:37	33,224^[6]
7	October 10	New York Yankees – 9, Brooklyn Dodgers – 0	Ebbets Field	2:19	33,782^[7]

[edit] Matchups

[edit] Game 1

Wednesday, October 3, 1956 at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, New York

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
New York	2	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	3	9	1
Brooklyn	0	2	3	1	0	0	0	0	X	6	9	0

WP: Sal Maglie (1–0) LP: Whitey Ford (0–1)
HRs: NYY – Mickey Mantle (1), Billy Martin (1) BRO – Jackie Robinson (1), Gil Hodges (1)

[edit] Game 2

Friday, October 5, 1956 at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, New York

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
New York	1	5	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	8	12	2
Brooklyn	0	6	1	2	2	0	0	2	X	13	12	0

WP: Don Bessent (1–0) LP: Tom Morgan (0–1)
HRs: NYY – Yogi Berra (1) BRO – Duke Snider (1)

[edit] Game 3

Saturday, October 6, 1956 at Yankee Stadium in Bronx, New York

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Brooklyn	0	1	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	3	8	1
New York	0	1	0	0	0	3	0	1	X	5	8	1

WP: Whitey Ford (1–1) LP: Roger Craig (0–1)
HRs: NYY – Billy Martin (2), Enos Slaughter (1)

[edit] Game 4

Sunday, October 7, 1956 at Yankee Stadium in Bronx, New York

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Brooklyn	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	2	6	0
New York	1	0	0	2	0	1	2	0	X	6	7	2

WP: Tom Sturdivant (1–0) LP: Carl Erskine (0–1)
HRs: NYY – Mickey Mantle (2), Hank Bauer (1)

[edit] Game 5

Monday, October 8, 1956 at Yankee Stadium in Bronx, New York

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Brooklyn	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
New York	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	X	2	5	0

WP: Don Larsen (1–0) LP: Sal Maglie (1–1)
HRs: NYY – Mickey Mantle (3)

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!" Larsen’s perfect game was also the last game of umpire Babe Pinelli’s career.^[8]

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!"

[edit] Game 6

Tuesday, October 9, 1956 at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, New York

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	R	H	E
New York	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	0
Brooklyn	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	4	0

WP: Clem Labine (1–0) LP: Bob Turley (0–1)

[edit] Game 7

Wednesday, October 10, 1956 at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, New York

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
New York	2	0	2	1	0	0	4	0	0	9	10	0
Brooklyn	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	1

WP: Johnny Kucks (1–0) LP: Don Newcombe (0–1)
HRs: NYY – Yogi Berra 2 (3), Elston Howard (1), Bill Skowron (1)

[edit] Composite box

1956 World Series (4–3): New York Yankees (A.L.) over Brooklyn Dodgers (N.L.)

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	R	H	E
New York Yankees	6	6	2	6	0	5	6	1	1	0	33	58	6
Brooklyn Dodgers	0	9	4	4	2	1	1	2	1	1	25	42	2
Total attendance: 345,903 Average attendance: 49,415
Winning player’s share: $8,715 Losing player’s share: $6,934^[9]

[edit] Broadcasting

NBC televised the Series, with announcers Mel Allen (for the Yankees) and Vin Scully^[10] (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. That kinescope recording aired during the MLB Network's first night on the air on January 1, 2009, supplemented with an interview of both Larsen and Yogi Berra by Bob Costas. The first inning of the telecast is still considered lost and was not aired by the MLB Network.

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

Got him! The greatest game ever pitched in baseball history, by Don Larsen! A no hitter, a perfect game in a World Series ... Never in the history of the game has it ever happened in a World Series ... And so our hats off to Don Larsen—no runs, no hits, no errors, no walks, no baserunners. The final score: The Yankees, two runs, five hits and no errors. The Dodgers: No runs, no hits, no errors ... in fact, nothing at all. This was a day to remember, this was a ballgame to remember and above all, the greatest day in the life of Don Larsen. And the most dramatic and well-pitched ballgame in the history of baseball. ... Mel, you can put this in your ring and wear it a long time.

—Vin Scully, calling the final out of Don Larsen's perfect game in Game 5 on NBC television.

I'll guarantee that nobody, but nobody, has left this ballpark... and if somebody did manage to leave early, man, he's missin' the greatest! ... Two strikes and a ball... Mitchell, waiting, stands deep, feet close together... Larsen is ready, gets the sign... Two strikes, ball one, here comes the pitch... Strike three! A no-hitter, a perfect game for Don Larsen! Yogi Berra runs up there, he leaps on Larsen and he's swarmed by his teammates! Listen to this crowd roar!

—Radio call by Bob Wolff, superstitiously avoiding saying "no-hitter" until it was a fait accompli.

So far!

—Casey Stengel's response upon being asked by a seemingly dim-witted reporter whether his perfect game was the best game Larsen had ever pitched.

[edit] Notes

^ "1956 World Series Game 1 - New York Yankees vs. Brooklyn Dodgers". Retrosheet. http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1956/B10030BRO1956.htm. Retrieved 2009-09-13.
^ "1956 World Series Game 2 - New York Yankees vs. Brooklyn Dodgers". Retrosheet. http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1956/B10050BRO1956.htm. Retrieved 2009-09-13.
^ "1956 World Series Game 3 - Brooklyn Dodgers vs. New York Yankees". Retrosheet. http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1956/B10060NYA1956.htm. Retrieved 2009-09-13.
^ "1956 World Series Game 4 - Brooklyn Dodgers vs. New York Yankees". Retrosheet. http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1956/B10070NYA1956.htm. Retrieved 2009-09-13.
^ "1956 World Series Game 5 - Brooklyn Dodgers vs. New York Yankees". Retrosheet. http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1956/B10080NYA1956.htm. Retrieved 2009-09-13.
^ "1956 World Series Game 6 - New York Yankees vs. Brooklyn Dodgers". Retrosheet. http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1956/B10090BRO1956.htm. Retrieved 2009-09-13.
^ "1956 World Series Game 7 - New York Yankees vs. Brooklyn Dodgers". Retrosheet. http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1956/B10100BRO1956.htm. Retrieved 2009-09-13.
^ Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p.42, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, NY, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
^ "World Series Gate Receipts and Player Shares". Baseball Almanac. http://www.baseball-almanac.com/ws/wsshares.shtml. Retrieved 2009-06-14.
^ When Scully talks, it's win-win-Vin

[edit] References

Neft, David S., and Richard M. Cohen. The World Series. 1st ed. New York: St Martins, 1990. (Neft and Cohen 259–264)
Reichler, Joseph, ed. (1982). The Baseball Encyclopedia (5th ed.), p. 2164. MacMillian Publishing. ISBN 0-02-579010-2.
Forman, Sean L.. "1956 World Series". Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information.. http://www.baseball-reference.com/postseason/1956_WS.shtml. Retrieved 2007-12-09.

[edit] External links

[Game1-0] "1956 World Series Game 1 - New York Yankees vs. Brooklyn Dodgers". Retrosheet. http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1956/B10030BRO1956.htm. Retrieved 2009-09-13.

[Game2-1] "1956 World Series Game 2 - New York Yankees vs. Brooklyn Dodgers". Retrosheet. http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1956/B10050BRO1956.htm. Retrieved 2009-09-13.

[Game3-2] "1956 World Series Game 3 - Brooklyn Dodgers vs. New York Yankees". Retrosheet. http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1956/B10060NYA1956.htm. Retrieved 2009-09-13.

[Game4-3] "1956 World Series Game 4 - Brooklyn Dodgers vs. New York Yankees". Retrosheet. http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1956/B10070NYA1956.htm. Retrieved 2009-09-13.

[Game5-4] "1956 World Series Game 5 - Brooklyn Dodgers vs. New York Yankees". Retrosheet. http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1956/B10080NYA1956.htm. Retrieved 2009-09-13.

[Game6-5] "1956 World Series Game 6 - New York Yankees vs. Brooklyn Dodgers". Retrosheet. http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1956/B10090BRO1956.htm. Retrieved 2009-09-13.

[Game7-6] "1956 World Series Game 7 - New York Yankees vs. Brooklyn Dodgers". Retrosheet. http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1956/B10100BRO1956.htm. Retrieved 2009-09-13.

[7] Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p.42, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, NY, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0

[wsshares-8] "World Series Gate Receipts and Player Shares". Baseball Almanac. http://www.baseball-almanac.com/ws/wsshares.shtml. Retrieved 2009-06-14.

[9] When Scully talks, it's win-win-Vin

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