Sunday, April 26, 2015

World Series: Did You Know?

By winning game three of the 1938 Fall Classic, Yankee Lefty Gomez had six wins without a loss in the postseason. In terms of World Series, Gomez has the highest winning percentage of any pitcher (6-0). The New York Yankees had another Mr. October long before Reggie Jackson!

Gomez had previously beaten the Chicago Cubs once in the 1932 Fall Classic. He added two wins in 1936 against the New York Giants, and another two in 1937 against them.

So, here he was in game two of the '38 October Classic. The Chicago Cubs provided the opposition, and the Yankees were looking for their first sweep since Grove and co. needed only four games to beat Chicago back in '32. The downside, of course, was that Grove might not get another start to expand on his October heroics.

The Cubs sent Dizzy Dean to the hill to try and finally stop the Yankees. It would prove to be 'Ol Diz's last hurrah. But what a hurrah it was! Dizzy, having long since lost his stuff in a freak injury in the 1937 All-Star Game, went out and matched Lefty out-for-out!

Diz was doing his share of Yankee dissing in this game. He was 7-1 in 1938, as he only pitched sporadically. But he also posted and ERA of 1.81. And let's not forget about his swagger, character, not to mention his heroics in the 1934 Fall Classic. His brother Paul and Dizzy went out and won two games each that World Series.

The Yankees went down 1-2-3 in the top of the first in this game played at Wrigley Field. In the bottom of the frame, Stan Hack (Who many feel belongs in the Hall Of Fame), got it going with a single. He eventually scored on a sac fly.

New York got a double from Joe Gordon that scored two Hall Of Famers. Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio trotted on home to make it 2-1, Yankees on the two-bagger. Gomez himself ended the inning with a fly ball.

Stan Hack, was again the spark the Cubs needed in the bottom of the third. His single started things. When Babe Herman followed suite, New York was in trouble. A sac bunt and a double by Joe Marty the centrefielder, and Chicago was back on top, 3-2.

Dean, if you can believe it, was in god mode from the top of the third through the top of the seventh. The mighty Bronx Bombers did got get a man to first safely in those innings. Gomez, meanwhile, did give up a single in the bottom of the fourth. It was quickly erased via a double play. Marty singled in the bottom of the fifth, but was cut down on an attempted steal. An error put a runner on first the next inning, but that's all Chicago got. Dean led off the bottom of the seventh with a single, continuing his heroics. But with two down, Lefty picked Dizzy off first. And, in the top of the eighth, the wheels came off Dean's chariot!

Canadian George Selkirk singled to break up Dean's spell of retiring sixteen batters in a row. Dean got the next batter to force Selkirk, and was within five outs of leveling the 1938 Fall Classic. But Lefty Gomez, the next scheduled batter, was pinch hit for. Dean was equal to the task, and got Myril Hoag to hit into a force. With that, Dizzy had retired eighteen of nineteen batters. Four more outs to go. But Dizzy would retire only one of the next four batters he faced.

Frank Crosetti took Dean out of the park to make it 4-3, Yankees. Dizzy fanned the next batter, Red Rolfe, but now the Cubbies had a uphill climb. They had to face the Mariano Rivera of the time. Closer, Johnny Murphy. Murp got 'em 1-2-3 in the bottom of the eight.

Dean was greeted in the ninth by way of a single by Tommy Henrich. Old Reliable had come through again. The next batter was The Yankee Clipper himself. Joe DiMaggio smacked a home run to make it 6-3. Incredibly, the Cubs got the tying run to the plate after the first two men went down in the bottom of the frame. But Murphy picked up the save by retiring Hack on liner to short.



Gomez had the win, the Yankees eventually completed the sweep. Gomez did not make it back to the hill in the 1938 Fall Classic. In his last-ever World Series start in 1939, he lasted just one inning. It was his seventh start, and it ended with a no decision.

Gomez eventually went to the Hall Of Fame, despite not winning 200 games (189). Amazingly enough, his mound opponent in his sixth World Series win, also went to the Hall despite just 150 wins. Each was heroic in October, so it seems fitting that they ended up facing each other in this all-so-important game. Gomez had won game two of the 1932 World Series vs. Chicago, but no one remembers that. Babe Ruth's called shot defied that Fall Classic. In any event, Gomez had come full circle. Red Ruffling, Allie Reynolds, Bob Gibson and Whitey Ford all went on to win more games then Lefty, but each of them lost at least two games. So it's Gomez, who's nickname was Goofy, that proved to be Mr. Pitcher in the Fall Classic.

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