Wednesday, January 13, 2016

World Series: Did You Know?

Monte Irvin, who passed away two days ago, stole home in his very first time on the basepaths in 1951. His daring moves helped the New York Giants win the game.

The 1951 World Series will forever be known as DiMaggio's last, The Say Hey Kid and The Mick's first. But Mickey Mantle was in right field and Willie Mays was in centre.

So it was the Giants playing the New York Yankees in Yankee Stadium in game one. Eddie Stanky led off the first against Allie Reynolds and could only ground out. Alvin Dark flied out to Mantle in right.

But Hank Thompson walked, and Irvin singled. Mantle got to it, but it was Thompson who motored to third. A double by Wally Lockman (Which bounced into the stands in left) made it 1-0, Giants. Irvin did not get to score on the play. However, a two runners were in scoring position, and Bobby Thompson was know the batter.

Irvin then took things into his own hands. As Reynolds delivered to Thompson, he broke for home, and caught everyone napping, including catcher Yogi Berra. Safe! 2-0, Giants.

Irvin ended the game with four hits, although the run he scored was his only one. He also failed to collect an RBI. The Giants, however, won the game, and after three games, looked poised to wrap it all up. The Yankees rallied from two games to one down and ended up winning the last three games.



Monte ended the series with 11 hits, two stolen bases, a triple and hit .458. All tops. This would also not be his last Fall Classic. The Giants returned in 1954, this time winning. Irvin, however, hit just .222 in New York's sweep of Cleveland.


References

Neft, David S, and Richard M. Coheen. The World Series: Complete play-by-play of every game, 1903-1989. New York: St. Martin's Press. 1990. Print.

Sports Reference LLC. "October 4, 1951 World Series Game 1, Giants at Yankees" Baseball-Reference.com Major League Statistics and Information http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYA/NYA195110040.shtml (13 Jan. 2016)

1951 World Series, dvd, Major League Baseball Productions. 2013.

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