Series! (1940s)
It occurred to me that, without having specifically intended to, I’ve managed to learn something about every World Series since WWII ended. And, having acquired so much knowledge, it seems to me that it would be a pity not to inflict it on share it with the rest of the world. We’ll go decade by decade.
1946
The Cardinals led by Stan Musial, defeat the Red Sox, led by Ted Williams, 4-3. Game Seven was also 4-3, and could have gone either way, but, you know, Red Sox. Neither team will play in the Series again until the 1960s.
1947
Jackie Robinson, in his rookie season, helped take the Dodgers to the Series. We’ll be seeing a lot of them over the next decade. But the Yankees beat the Bums 4-3, and we’ll be seeing even more of them.
1948
The Cleveland Indians’ last championship, beating the Braves (still in Boston) 4-2. The Indians had been the first AL team to integrate, and featured Larry Doby and Satchel Paige, as well as Lou Boudreau and Bob Feller. On the other side, it was a classic “Spahn and Sain and pray for rain” Braves team. We won’t see them again until they’re in Milwaukee.
1949
This year’s Yankees were a combination of beaten-up veterans and untried rookies, managed by a guy who had never won anything and talked funny to boot. The result was a 97-57 record, a 4-1 Series victory over the Dodgers, and the growing understanding that Casey Stengel was the smartest man in baseball.
Dodgers-Yankees is the classic Series matchup, IMO. In no small part becuase of the excellence of play in the ’47 and ’49 series, and the immortals who played in it.Report
It’s the most frequent as well, 11 times with the Yankees holding an 8-3 lead.Report
the growing understanding that Casey Stengel was the smartest man in baseball.
I think this statement comes a little too soon. After all, it was still only his first year with the Yankees.
In 9 years as a National League manager, his winning permillage* was 439. He did win two minor league pennants afterwards: with the Milwaukee Brewers of the AA and the Oakland Oaks of the PCL. This was in an era when the PCL was a high level of baseball, just short of major league.
I find it interesting the parallels between Stengel and Joe Torre. Torre was considered a medicore manager in the NL before he managed the Yankees; he won one divisional championship in 14 seasons. Then he manages the Yankees to 4 out of the next 5 World Series wins. It is a only a bit of an over-simplification to say that only Sandy Alomar Jr** stood in the way of Torre replicating Stengel.
Stengel and Torre are also the only men to have managed the Mets, Braves, Yankees, and Dodgers.
*Since it is given to three places, it is silly to call it a “percentage”
**His dad, Sandy Alomar Sr, was on-deck when Chris Chambliss hit the 1976 ALCS clinching home runReport
The biggest difference is in how they won. Stengel was incredibly hands-on, shuffling lineups, platooning, changing the Yankees from a team that won because it always had the best players to one that scuffled but found some way to win, During his twelve years as manager *(10 pennants, 7 championships), how many superstars did he have? Other than a few years of a fading DiMaggio, just Mantle, Berra, and Ford. Arguably Rizzuto. The rest was mixing, matching, and fitting players into the best role for them.
Torre, on the other hand, had the biggest payroll in baseball to work with, and his great gift was for keeping the combined density of player egos from going critical and exploding.Report