1947 World Series

Summary

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

Game 1

There were 73,365 in the house for Game 1. Brooklyn starter Ralph Branca was knocked out in a five-run fifth by Johnny Lindell's two-run double. About the only highlight for Dodger fans came in the seventh, when Pee Wee Reese scored all the way from second base on a wild pitch.

Game 2

Already ahead 6-2, the Yankees broke it wide open in the seventh, courtesy of Dodger relievers Hank Behrman and Rex Barney, with four singles, two wild pitches, two walks and an error turning the Yanks' advantage into 10-2. Allie Reynolds scattered nine hits in a complete-game win.

Game 3

The series shifted to Ebbets Field and the stadium shook in the second inning as the Dodgers rang up six runs. Eddie Stanky's two-run double was the end for Yankee starter Bobo Newsom, but the runs kept coming with a Carl Furillo two-run double. The rest of the day, the Yankees pecked away. Sherm Lollar and Snuffy Stirnweiss provided RBI hits in the fourth. Brooklyn padded its lead to 9-4, but Joe DiMaggio and Yogi Berra homers suddenly made it 9-8. In a panic, Dodger fans let out a sigh of relief as reliever Hugh Casey set down Billy Johnson, Phil Rizzuto and Berra in order in the ninth.

Game 4

The Yankees entered Game 4 aiming to take a three games to one lead in the best-of-seven series, and came one out away from doing this. Bill Bevens, the Yankee starter, pitched  8 ²⁄₃ innings without allowing a base hit. No pitcher had ever thrown a no-hitter in a major league World Series game (although the so-called "Negro World Series" had produced complete-game no-hit pitching performances prior to 1947).

Going into the bottom of the ninth inning, Bevens and his team led 2–1. Bevens got Bruce Edwards to fly out, and then walked Carl Furillo. Spider Jorgensen fouled out for the 2nd out. Al Gionfriddo pinch-ran for Furillo. Pete Reiser pinch-batted for pitcher Hugh Casey; during the at-bat, Gionfriddo stole second base. The Yankees then intentionally walked Reiser. This was criticized in hindsight for two reasons. One was the old axiom of never intentionally putting the winning run on base. The other is that Reiser was playing injured, and the odds of getting him out seemed reasonable. Eddie Miksis pinch-ran for Reiser. The Dodgers sent Cookie Lavagetto to pinch-bat for Eddie Stanky. Lavagetto lined a 1–0 fastball to right field. The ball ricocheted off of the right field barrier with a peculiar bounce and hit Yankee right fielder Tommy Henrich in the shoulder, as Gionfriddo and Miksis raced around to score. The play ended the no-hitter and won the game for the Dodgers.

The hit was the last of Lavagetto's career. Additionally, neither Lavagetto nor Bevens nor Gionfriddo would play in the majors again following this Series.

The Dodgers, with this hit, avoided a three-games-to-one deficit, avoided becoming the victim of a no-hitter, and tied the Series at two games each. The rapid and dramatic reversal of fortunes may have provided a momentum swing. However, the Yankees checked this momentum, winning Game 5. The Yankees triumphed in the Series, winning the deciding seventh game.

Game 5

Nine walks in fewer than five innings proved the undoing of Rex Barney in this start for Brooklyn. A pair of walks and RBI single by opposing pitcher Spec Shea in the fourth put the Yankees up 1-0. Joe DiMaggio homered to left in the fifth. That was all the runs the visiting Yanks would get at Ebbets Field, but this was Shea's stadium this day. A hit by Jackie Robinson in the sixth scored Al Gionfriddo to pull the Dodgers within 2-1. Then in the ninth, after a Bruce Edwards leadoff single and sacrifice bunt by Carl Furillo, the tying run died on base. Shea got Spider Jorgensen on a fly to right, and with Brooklyn's fans on their feet, pinch-hitter Cookie Lavagetto struck out.

Game 6

The Dodgers won Game 6 to force a seventh and deciding game. A catch made by Al Gionfriddo, replayed countless times, may be the most remembered play of this game, and one of the most remembered plays of the Series.

In the top of the sixth, the Dodgers scored four runs to take an 8–5 lead. In the last of the sixth, the Dodgers sent Al Gionfriddo to left field as a defensive replacement for Eddie Miksis. Joe Hatten came in to pitch. With two on and two outs, Joe DiMaggio came to bat for the Yankees, representing the potential tying run. Radio announcer Red Barber provided the play-by-play, which has often accompanied re-played film footage:

Swung on, belted... it's a long one... back goes Gionfriddo, back, back, back, back, back, back... heeee makes a one-handed catch against the bullpen! Oh, Doctor!

The gusto Barber produced, along with his "back-back-back" expression, inspired future generations of sports broadcasters. Many announcers since that time have used variations of the call, especially Chris Berman of ESPN. These announcers have tended, for whatever reasons, to describe the ball itself as going "back-back-back". In Barber's call, it was the outfielder who was going "back-back-back".

The ball was hit so hard and deep that Gionfriddo, already playing deep, did not have time to turn around, literally having to "back-back-back"-pedal to snare the ball just in front of the bullpen-alley fence, near the 415-foot (126 m) marker posted to the center field side of the bullpen alley (the sign on the left field side of the alley was posted as 402). It is also worth noting that had DiMaggio hit the ball in Ebbets Field, whose left-center area was some 50 feet (15 m) closer, it might have landed in the upper deck and certainly would have been a game-tying homer.

The final segment of at least one film clip reveals the habitually calm and cool DiMaggio kicking dirt near second base, apparently as he saw Gionfriddo secure the catch.

Three of the 1947 Series' prominent figures, Gionfriddo, Lavagetto and Bevens, finished their playing careers in this Series. Gionfriddo did not play in Game 7, and his catch of DiMaggio's drive was his only put-out in this game. So Gionfriddo's famous catch was his final put-out in his major league career.

Game 7

Joe Page pitched five innings of one-hit, shutout relief as the Yankees racked up yet another World Series championship. Starting pitcher Spec Shea was removed in the second inning, and Brooklyn's Spider Jorgensen greeted reliever Bill Bevens with an run-scoring double to right field to put the Dodgers on top 2-0. In the fourth, a two-out, two-on Bobby Brown single helped the Yanks go up 3-2. Allie Clark's RBI single off Joe Hatten in the sixth made it 4-2. Then another run for good measure came on Aaron Robinson's sac fly following a Billy Johnson triple. And with Page breezing through the Brooklyn lineup, Yankee Stadium's home fans began to celebrate.

Composite line score

1947 World Series (4–3): New York Yankees (A.L.) over Brooklyn Dodgers (N.L.)

Records and important events

For the first time, a World Series produced total receipts over $2,000,000 dollars: Gate Receipts = $1,781,348.92, Radio Rights = $175,000.00 and Television Rights = $65,000.

Yogi Berra pinch-hit for Sherm Lollar in the seventh inning of Game 3 and hit the first pinch-hit home run in World Series history. Ralph Branca served the pitch.

This was the first World Series to be televised, although games were only seen in a small number of Eastern markets with stations connected via coaxial cable: New York City, New York; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Schenectady, New York; Washington, District of Columbia; and environs surrounding these cities. The October 1947 edition of Billboard reported over 3.9 million people viewed the games, primarily on TV sets located in bars (5,400 tavern TV sets in NYC alone). The October 13, 1947, edition of Time magazine reported that President Truman, who had just made the first Oval Office TV appearance on October 5, 1947, and received the first TV for the White House, watched parts of the Series but "skipped the last innings".

At the direction of Commissioner Happy Chandler, the Series, for the first time, used six umpires to make calls. Series from 1918 through 1946 used four umpires in the infield, with two alternates available for security. However, no alternate had ever been needed, and Chandler believed that enlisting these umpires to make calls along the outfield lines would put these men and their skills to better use. However, not until 1964 would the additional two umpires rotate into the infield during the course of the Series.