$Unique_ID{BAS00124} $Title{Postseason Play: World Series 1954} $Subtitle{} $Author{ Ivor-Campbell, Frederick} $Subject{World Series 1954 New York Giants Cleveland Indians} $Log{ Mays, Willie (with audio: Mays' spectacular 1954 World Series catch)*0038401.scf,56494032.aud} Total Baseball: The Highlights of the Game Postseason Play: World Series 1954 Frederick Ivor-Campbell New York Giants (NL), 4; Cleveland Indians (AL), 0 GAME 1 AT NY SEPT 29 ---------------------------------------- CLE 200 000 000 0 2 8 0 NY 002 000 000 3 5 9 3 Pitchers: LEMON vs Maglie, Liddle (8), GRISSOM (8) Home Runs: Rhodes-NY Attendance: 52,751 GAME 2 AT NY SEPT 30 ---------------------------------------- CLE 100 000 000 1 8 0 NY 000 020 10X 3 4 0 Pitchers: WYNN, Mossi (8) vs ANTONELLI Home Runs: Smith-CLE, Rhodes-NY Attendance: 49,099 GAME 3 AT CLE OCT 1 ---------------------------------------- NY 103 011 000 6 10 1 CLE 000 000 110 2 4 2 Pitchers: GOMEZ, Wilhelm (7) vs GARCIA, Houtteman (4), Narleski (6), Mossi (9) Home Runs: Wertz-CLE Attendance: 71,555 GAME 4 AT CLE OCT 2 ---------------------------------------- NY 021 040 000 7 10 3 CLE 000 030 100 4 6 2 Pitchers: LIDDLE, Wilhelm (7), Antonelli (8) vs LEMON, Newhouser (5), Narleski (5), Mossi (6), Garcia (8) Home Runs: Majeski-CLE Attendance: 78,102 The Indians, who had won a league-record 111 games to break the American League domination of the New York Yankees, entered the World Series as strong favorites to humble the Giants. It was not to be. Cleveland would have won the opener had it not been played in New York's Polo Grounds, with their short foul lines and deep center field. Most of the game was a pitchers' duel. Vic Wertz (the only Indian to hit safely in all four games) tripled off Sal Maglie to give Cleveland a two-run lead in the top of the first, but three Giant singles and a walk in the third off Bob Lemon tied the score. Lemon then settled down to hold New York scoreless through the ninth. Cleveland threatened in the eighth when the first two batters reached base, bringing Wertz to the plate. As he had already hit Maglie safely three times, Don Liddle was brought in to pitch to him. Wertz responded with a fly to deep center that would have been a home run in Cleveland, but in New York turned into the most famous catch in World Series history as Willie Mays raced out and tracked down the ball about 425 feet from the plate. Marv Grissom replaced Liddle on the mound and issued a walk to load the bases, but he retired the next two batters and (despite Wertz's double in the top of the tenth) held Cleveland scoreless the rest of the way. In the last of the tenth, Lemon retired the first batter, but Mays walked and stole second, and Hank Thompson was walked intentionally to set up the double play. Pinch hitter Dusty Rhodes then entered the hall of heroes with a short fly to right that--though it would have been an out in Cleveland--fell into the Polo Grounds stands for three runs and a Giant victory. The rest of the Series was anticlimax. In the second game Rhodes, with half the Giants' four hits, drove in two runs on a single and another homer, providing the margin of victory for Giant ace Johnny Antonelli, who allowed only one of Cleveland's 14 baserunners to score. Game Three was no contest. New York had scored all six of its runs before the Indians managed to come up with single runs in both the seventh and eighth. Pinch hitter Hank Majeski's three-run homer put Cleveland on the board in the fifth inning of Game Four. But as New York had already scored seven times, even a fourth Cleveland run in the seventh proved too little to prevent a Giant sweep. NY (N) ============================================================================== PLAYER/POS AVG G AB R H 2B 3B HR RB BB SO SB ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Johnny Antonelli, p .000 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Alvin Dark, ss .412 4 17 2 7 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 Ruben Gomez, p .000 1 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 Marv Grissom, p .000 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Monte Irvin, of .222 4 9 1 2 1 0 0 2 0 3 0 Don Liddle, p .000 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 Whitey Lockman, 1b .111 4 18 2 2 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 Sal Maglie, p .000 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 Willie Mays, of .286 4 14 4 4 1 0 0 3 4 1 1 Don Mueller, of .389 4 18 4 7 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 Dusty Rhodes, of-2 .667 3 6 2 4 0 0 2 7 1 2 0 Hank Thompson, 3b .364 4 11 6 4 1 0 0 2 7 1 0 Wes Westrum, c .273 4 11 0 3 0 0 0 3 1 3 0 Hoyt Wilhelm, p .000 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Davey Williams, 2b .000 4 11 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 2 0 TOTAL .254 130 21 33 3 0 2 20 17 24 1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ PITCHER W L ERA G GS CG SV SHO IP H ER BB SO ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Johnny Antonelli 1 0 0.84 2 1 1 1 0 10.2 8 1 7 12 Ruben Gomez 1 0 2.45 1 1 0 0 0 7.1 4 2 3 2 Marv Grissom 1 0 0.00 1 0 0 0 0 2.2 1 0 3 2 Don Liddle 1 0 1.29 2 1 0 0 0 7.0 5 1 1 2 Sal Maglie 0 0 2.57 1 1 0 0 0 7.0 7 2 2 2 Hoyt Wilhelm 0 0 0.00 2 0 0 1 0 2.1 1 0 0 3 TOTAL 4 0 1.46 9 4 1 2 0 37.0 26 6 16 23 CLE (A) ============================================================================== PLAYER/POS AVG G AB R H 2B 3B HR RB BB SO SB ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bobby Avila, 2b .133 4 15 1 2 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 Sam Dente, ss .000 3 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Larry Doby, of .125 4 16 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 4 0 Mike Garcia, p .000 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Bill Glynn, 1b-1 .500 2 2 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 Mickey Grasso, c .000 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Jim Hegan, c .154 4 13 1 2 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 Art Houtteman, p .000 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Bob Lemon, p-2 .000 3 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 Hank Majeski, 3b-1 .167 4 6 1 1 0 0 1 3 0 1 0 Dale Mitchell, ph .000 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Don Mossi, p .000 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Hal Naragon, c .000 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Ray Narleski, p .000 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Hal Newhouser, p .000 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Dave Philley, of-2 .125 4 8 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 3 0 Dave Pope, of-2 .000 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 Rudy Regalado, 3b-1 .333 4 3 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Al Rosen, 3b .250 3 12 0 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Al Smith, of .214 4 14 2 3 0 0 1 2 2 2 0 George Strickland, ss .000 3 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 Vic Wertz, 1b .500 4 16 2 8 2 1 1 3 2 2 0 Wally Westlake, of .143 2 7 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 3 0 Early Wynn, p .500 1 2 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 TOTAL .190 137 9 26 5 1 3 9 16 23 0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ PITCHER W L ERA G GS CG SV SHO IP H ER BB SO ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Mike Garcia 0 1 5.40 2 1 0 0 0 5.0 6 3 4 4 Art Houtteman 0 0 4.50 1 0 0 0 0 2.0 2 1 1 1 Bob Lemon 0 2 6.75 2 2 1 0 0 13.1 16 10 8 11 Don Mossi 0 0 0.00 3 0 0 0 0 4.0 3 0 0 1 Ray Narleski 0 0 2.25 2 0 0 0 0 4.0 1 1 1 2 Hal Newhouser 0 0 INF 1 0 0 0 0 0.0 1 1 1 0 Early Wynn 0 1 3.86 1 1 0 0 0 7.0 4 3 2 5 TOTAL 0 4 4.84 12 4 1 0 0 35.1 33 19 17 24 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------