That would be Dale Mitchell. Poor Dale was on the losing side of the 1954 Cleveland Indians and 1956 Brooklyn Dodgers.
There they were, the Indians in game one of the '54 Fall Classic vs. the New York Giants. There they were, tied at two in the top of the eighth inning, when The Catch happened. Actually, at the time, it looked like Cleveland was about to have a big inning. Right at the Polo Grounds.
Especially when it all started with a Larry Doby walk of Sal Maglie. Al Rosen singled. Maglie was gone. Vic Wertz was the batter. Don Liddle was the pitcher. Lefty / Lefty matchup. The ball to centre...Home run? Triple? Take your pick.
But here comes The Say Hey Kid. He's got it. Big iconic moment in sports. Almost no one sees Doby tag and make it to third. Hank Majeski goes up to bat for Dave Philley. Odd since Philley is a switch hitter. The Giants get Marv Grissom in to pitch to him. Cleveland counters with Dale Mitchell. Dale coaxes a walk, and the bases are loaded. The Catch will soon be a forgotten memory if the ball makes it to the outfield again.
It does not as the next two batters fail to deliver. The Giants have dodged a bullet, thanks to Willie Mays. Sam Dente comes in to play short, and Dale Mitchell is out of the game. New York wins it dramatically on a three-run home run by Dusty Rhodes in the bottom of the tenth.
The Giants are winning game three 6-1, in the bottom of the eighth when Mitchell does another pinch hit job for Cleveland. He does not come through, but the Indians score a run. But it's really meaningless. New York has the game, 6-2 and with that, are up 3-0 in the 1954 Fall Classic.
New York won game four, 7-4 for the sweep. Mitchell, again pinch-hitting, is the last out.
Two years later, he'd face another team from New York in the World Series. The Yankees. Mitchell is on the Brooklyn Dodgers.
The New York Yankees, in game two, are winning it 6-0. Ebbets Field is watching their Dodgers get destroyed. Dale Mitchell bats against Don Larsen as the Dodgers have scored one run in the bottom of the second. Batting for pitcher Ed Roebuck, he pops to third. Brooklyn, however, somehow comes back to tie the game, and ends up on top by the end of it, 13-8!
That win put the Brooklyn Dodgers up 2-0. But New York takes game three at Yankee Stadium. It's 4-1 New York in the top of the seventh, when Mitchell bats for Roebuck again. Roy Campanella is on first, two down. Mitchell cannot help Brooklyn, and ends the inning with a fly to left.
The next appearance for Mitchell is the one everyone remembers. Game five. Don Larsen retired the first 26 men to face him. Now, batting for Sal Maglie, it's Mitchell that is all that separates Larsen from immortality.
The first pitch is a ball. Larsen throws a strike to even the count. A 1-1 pitch is missed. One more strike. Mitchell stays alive by fouling off a pitch, but then Larsen throws his 97th of the afternoon. It's a called third strike, and Larsen has got the perfect game. Mitchell goes into the books as a historic footnote.
Mitchell batted again in game seven, and again failed to come through. Brooklyn lost it 9-0. Mitchell had played his last game. The Dodgers had also just played their last Fall Classic game in Brooklyn. And Mitchell had seen The Catch and The Perfect Game.
References
There they were, the Indians in game one of the '54 Fall Classic vs. the New York Giants. There they were, tied at two in the top of the eighth inning, when The Catch happened. Actually, at the time, it looked like Cleveland was about to have a big inning. Right at the Polo Grounds.
Especially when it all started with a Larry Doby walk of Sal Maglie. Al Rosen singled. Maglie was gone. Vic Wertz was the batter. Don Liddle was the pitcher. Lefty / Lefty matchup. The ball to centre...Home run? Triple? Take your pick.
But here comes The Say Hey Kid. He's got it. Big iconic moment in sports. Almost no one sees Doby tag and make it to third. Hank Majeski goes up to bat for Dave Philley. Odd since Philley is a switch hitter. The Giants get Marv Grissom in to pitch to him. Cleveland counters with Dale Mitchell. Dale coaxes a walk, and the bases are loaded. The Catch will soon be a forgotten memory if the ball makes it to the outfield again.
It does not as the next two batters fail to deliver. The Giants have dodged a bullet, thanks to Willie Mays. Sam Dente comes in to play short, and Dale Mitchell is out of the game. New York wins it dramatically on a three-run home run by Dusty Rhodes in the bottom of the tenth.
The Giants are winning game three 6-1, in the bottom of the eighth when Mitchell does another pinch hit job for Cleveland. He does not come through, but the Indians score a run. But it's really meaningless. New York has the game, 6-2 and with that, are up 3-0 in the 1954 Fall Classic.
New York won game four, 7-4 for the sweep. Mitchell, again pinch-hitting, is the last out.
Two years later, he'd face another team from New York in the World Series. The Yankees. Mitchell is on the Brooklyn Dodgers.
The New York Yankees, in game two, are winning it 6-0. Ebbets Field is watching their Dodgers get destroyed. Dale Mitchell bats against Don Larsen as the Dodgers have scored one run in the bottom of the second. Batting for pitcher Ed Roebuck, he pops to third. Brooklyn, however, somehow comes back to tie the game, and ends up on top by the end of it, 13-8!
That win put the Brooklyn Dodgers up 2-0. But New York takes game three at Yankee Stadium. It's 4-1 New York in the top of the seventh, when Mitchell bats for Roebuck again. Roy Campanella is on first, two down. Mitchell cannot help Brooklyn, and ends the inning with a fly to left.
The next appearance for Mitchell is the one everyone remembers. Game five. Don Larsen retired the first 26 men to face him. Now, batting for Sal Maglie, it's Mitchell that is all that separates Larsen from immortality.
The first pitch is a ball. Larsen throws a strike to even the count. A 1-1 pitch is missed. One more strike. Mitchell stays alive by fouling off a pitch, but then Larsen throws his 97th of the afternoon. It's a called third strike, and Larsen has got the perfect game. Mitchell goes into the books as a historic footnote.
Mitchell batted again in game seven, and again failed to come through. Brooklyn lost it 9-0. Mitchell had played his last game. The Dodgers had also just played their last Fall Classic game in Brooklyn. And Mitchell had seen The Catch and The Perfect Game.
References
Golenbock, Peter. Dynasty: The New York Yankees, 1949-1964. Lincolnwood, IL: Contemporary, 2000. Print.
Neft, David S., Richard M. Cohen, and Michael L. Neft. The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball, 1992. New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 1992. Print.
Paper, Lewis J. Perfect: Don Larsen's Miraculous World Series Game And The Men Who Made It Happen. New York, NY: New American Library, 2009. Print.
Retrosheet .Web. 23 Sept. 2015. <www.retrosheet.org>.
Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 23 Sept. 2015.
Youtube. Web. 23 Sept. 2015. <https://www.youtube.com>.
Neft, David S., Richard M. Cohen, and Michael L. Neft. The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball, 1992. New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 1992. Print.
Paper, Lewis J. Perfect: Don Larsen's Miraculous World Series Game And The Men Who Made It Happen. New York, NY: New American Library, 2009. Print.
Retrosheet .Web. 23 Sept. 2015. <www.retrosheet.org>.
Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 23 Sept. 2015.
Youtube. Web. 23 Sept. 2015. <https://www.youtube.com>.
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