21. Roger Kahn Reports on the '52 World Series (Part 4)

Allie Reynolds and the Yankees vs. Joe Black and the Dodgers. Yankee Stadium, October 4, 1952. A matchup for the ages, or at least this particular age, when the Yankees, Dodgers (and sometimes the New York Giants) ruled the world. With the Dodgers leading by two games to one, [Yankees Manager Casey] Stengel's choice of Reynolds was automatic....

But Stengel, as usual, drew up plans on many levels. His best-fielding first-baseman was Joe Collins, born Joseph Kollonige in Scranton, a cheerful, friendly man of twenty-nine, a solid .280 hitter in 1952, and a reliable glove. With Reynolds throwing fastballs to (and at) the Dodgers' righthand hitters, there figured to be a lot of action on the right side of the Yankee infield.

Stengel's other first-baseman, John Robert Mize of Demorest, Georgia, thick-armed, cat-eyed Big Jawn Mize, had hit 51 homers as a New York Giant five years earlier. But Mize was slow. He couldn't range to stab grounders and now, after his thirty-ninth birthday, his home-run power seemed buried in the past....

Except ... except he hit one yesterday, off the formidable Preacher Roe. Stengel saw something. Or sensed something. Whatever, he started geriatric Johnny Mize at first base ... and batted Mize cleanup, right between Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra, quite a spot for a refugee from the rocking-chair and horseshoe-pitching set....

Reynolds started the first inning by blowing a fastball past Billy Cox. But [Pee Wee] Reese caught up with a fastball and singled to center. Reynolds threw a hard curve to Duke Snider who bounced the ball toward Billy Martin at second. Martin went down to gauge the hops, his spikes caught as he fielded the ball and trying to force Reese at second, he threw into left field and Reese sped to third. First and third for Brooklyn, none out and two tremendous hitters coming up. Both, as it happened, were black.

Reynolds brushed Jackie Robinson, then threw three strikes that Robinson took. Robinson batted aggressively. He struck out seldom. It was rare to see him called out and rarer still to see him called out with a runner on third. Something was happening.

[Roy] Campanella, squat, powerful, little sumo wrestler of a ballplayer, batted fifth. True to his theory, Reynolds threw the first pitch, a 100-mile-an-hour fastball directly at Campanella's head. Campanella lunged to earth. When he arose, Reynolds struck him out.

Black walked Mantle with two out in the first, then retired Mize. Gene Woodling doubled in the second. He did not advance. Reese, emerging star of the Series, singled with two out in the third inning. He had led the National League with 30 steals. Now when he broke for second, Berra threw him out.

The weather was mild and sunny and the Stadium was full, with 71,787 paying customers. Counting the six hundred reporters who looked on without paying, the attendance exceeded 72,000 .... As the game unfolded, the throng sat quietly. There was sometimes a sense at the Stadium that you were gathered with a corporate crowd, deal-makers out for a day in the sun, not ardently concerned with baseball. But this crowd was too vast for easy categorization. Probably the silence expressed the nature of the game -- very quiet and at the same time very tense.

In the fourth inning Black started Mize with a low, breaking ball. Then he threw a good fastball, up and in. The Dodger scouting report said that Mize had trouble connecting with high inside fastballs. As though expecting this particular pitch, Mize swung falling away with the plate, and cracked a blazing line drive into the twentieth row of the lower deck in right. He had hit a fine, rising fastball for his second home run in two games. Casey Stengel pumped a fist and shouted, "Yeah!" The Yankees and Casey Stengel and Allie Reynolds led, 1-0.

The Dodgers were not rattled. They were a dogged, contentious team. As the fifth inning began, the Brooklyn bench began cheering sarcastically when Reynolds threw fastballs for strikes. "Faster, Reynolds. Cut loose. Hey Big Chief, is that as hard as you can throw?" ... The idea was to goad Reynolds really to throw harder, even harder, until at length he threw his arm out, and the Dodgers knocked him out ....

Reynolds glowered. Andy Pafko lined a single. Gil Hodges, having a wretched Series at bat, worked Reynolds for a walk. The Dodger dugout grew louder ....

Carl Furillo, a relentless fastball hitter, drove an outside pitch deep into right centerfield, where Hank Bauer caught up with it. Pafko advanced to third.

The hitter was Joe Black, a fine all-around athlete. [Charles] Dressen, coaching at third, clutched his left shoulder. Black touched the blue bill of his cap. Sign dispatched. Sign acknowledged. Suicide squeeze. Reynolds reared back and fired overhand. Pafko, the tying run, broke for home plate. Black stabbed his bat at a low fastball and missed. Berra tagged out Pafko. Four innings remained, but the game was over.

The Dodger tactic of goading Reynolds to throw harder did half of what was intended. Reynolds did indeed throw harder, even harder. He struck out ten Dodgers, including Robinson three times, and Campanella twice. But he did not throw his arm out. Reynolds faced only fourteen batters over the last four innings. Dressen lifted Black for a pinch hitter in the eighth and the Yankees scored against the relief pitcher, Johnny Rutherford, a slight, skilled righthander, who soon afterwards quit baseball to practice medicine. Mantle hit a long triple off "Doc" Rutherford and scored when the relay from the outfield went wild. Throwing harder, even harder, Reynolds shut out the Dodgers, 2-0. The Series was tied for a second time.

Memories of Summer, Roger Kahn
copyright 1997 Hook Slide, Inc.
University of Nebraska Press

IMAGE: Allie Reynolds blanks the Dodgers