1955 Brooklyn Dodgers | |
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1955 World Series Champion National League champion | |
Major League affiliations | |
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Location | |
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Other information | |
Owner(s) | Walter O'Malley, James & Dearie Mulvey, Mary Louise Smith |
President | Walter O'Malley |
General manager(s) | Buzzie Bavasi |
Manager(s) | Walter Alston |
Local television | WOR-TV |
Local radio | WMGM Vin Scully, Connie Desmond, Andre Baruch, Al Helfer WHOM Buck Canel |
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In 1955, the Brooklyn Dodgers finally fulfilled the promise of many previous Dodger teams. Although the club had won several pennants in the past, and had won as many as 105 games in 1953, it had never won a World Series. This team finished 13.5 games ahead in the National League pennant race, leading the league in both runs scored and fewest runs allowed. In the 1955 World Series, they finally beat their crosstown rivals, the New York Yankees. It was the Dodgers first and only World Series championship won while located in Brooklyn.
This season was basically a culmination of the careers of many legendary Dodger players. Catcher Roy Campanella won the 1955 National League Most Valuable Player award, his third in five years. Center fielder Duke Snider led the league in runs batted in and was second in the MVP voting. He also hit his 200th career home run on May 10. Jackie Robinson and Pee Wee Reese, both 36 years old, could still play. Gil Hodges, 31, hit 27 home runs (and drove in both Dodger runs in the seventh game of the Series), while Carl Furillo, 33, hit 26 home runs with a .314 batting average.
The pitching staff was anchored by Don Newcombe, who was 20–5. It was the first time a black pitcher had won 20 games in a season. The 22-year-old Johnny Podres was only 9–10 but became the hero of the 1955 World Series by shutting out the Yankees in the seventh game.
Duke Snider finished second to teammate Campanella in the MVP voting by just five points, 226–221, with each man receiving eight first place votes. The voting then as now was conducted by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Each voting member, one from each major league city, filled out a ballot selecting ten men. A player receiving a first place vote got 14 points, then values of 9–8–7–6–5–4–3–2–1 for those in places 2 through 10. A writer from Philadelphia who was sick and who had become hospitalized had turned in a ballot with Campanella listed in position number 1 as well as position number 5. The assumption had been that the writer had meant to write Snider's name into one of those slots. Unable to get a clarification from the ill writer the BBWAA, after considering disallowing the ballot, decided to accept it, count the first place vote for Campanella and count the fifth place vote as though it were left blank. Had the ballot been disallowed, the vote would have been won by Snider by three points. Had Snider gotten the fifth place vote, the final vote would have favored Snider 227–226. Duke did, however, win the Sporting News National League Player of the Year Award for 1955 and the Sid Mercer Award.[4][5]
National League | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
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Brooklyn Dodgers | 98 | 55 | 0.641 | — | 56–21 | 42–34 |
Milwaukee Braves | 85 | 69 | 0.552 | 13½ | 46–31 | 39–38 |
New York Giants | 80 | 74 | 0.519 | 18½ | 44–35 | 36–39 |
Philadelphia Phillies | 77 | 77 | 0.500 | 21½ | 46–31 | 31–46 |
Cincinnati Redlegs | 75 | 79 | 0.487 | 23½ | 46–31 | 29–48 |
Chicago Cubs | 72 | 81 | 0.471 | 26 | 43–33 | 29–48 |
St. Louis Cardinals | 68 | 86 | 0.442 | 30½ | 41–36 | 27–50 |
Pittsburgh Pirates | 60 | 94 | 0.390 | 38½ | 36–39 | 24–55 |
Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] | |||||||||||||
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Team | BR | CHC | CIN | MIL | NYG | PHI | PIT | STL | |||||
Brooklyn | — | 14–7–1 | 12–10 | 15–7 | 13–9 | 16–6 | 14–8 | 14–8 | |||||
Chicago | 7–14–1 | — | 11–11 | 7–15 | 12–10 | 10–12 | 11–11 | 14–8 | |||||
Cincinnati | 10–12 | 11–11 | — | 9–13 | 9–13 | 11–11 | 14–8 | 11–11 | |||||
Milwaukee | 7–15 | 15–7 | 13–9 | — | 14–8 | 14–8 | 11–11 | 11–11 | |||||
New York | 9–13 | 10–12 | 13–9 | 8–14 | — | 10–12 | 17–5 | 13–9 | |||||
Philadelphia | 6–16 | 12–10 | 11–11 | 8–14 | 12–10 | — | 15–7 | 13–9 | |||||
Pittsburgh | 8–14 | 11–11 | 8–14 | 11–11 | 5–17 | 7–15 | — | 10–12 | |||||
St. Louis | 8–14 | 8–14 | 11–11 | 11–11 | 9–13 | 9–13 | 12–10 | — |
Opening Day Lineup | ||
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# | Name | Position |
19 | Jim Gilliam | 2B |
1 | Pee Wee Reese | SS |
4 | Duke Snider | CF |
14 | Gil Hodges | 1B |
15 | Sandy Amorós | LF |
42 | Jackie Robinson | 3B |
6 | Carl Furillo | RF |
39 | Roy Campanella | C |
17 | Carl Erskine | P |
1955 Brooklyn Dodgers | |||||||||
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Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases
Pos | Player | G | AB | R | H | Avg. | HR | RBI | SB |
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C | Roy Campanella | 123 | 446 | 81 | 142 | .318 | 32 | 107 | 2 |
1B | Gil Hodges | 150 | 546 | 75 | 158 | .289 | 27 | 102 | 2 |
2B | Jim Gilliam | 147 | 538 | 110 | 134 | .249 | 7 | 40 | 15 |
SS | Pee Wee Reese | 145 | 553 | 99 | 156 | .282 | 10 | 61 | 8 |
3B | Jackie Robinson | 105 | 317 | 51 | 81 | .256 | 8 | 36 | 12 |
LF | Sandy Amorós | 119 | 388 | 59 | 96 | .247 | 10 | 51 | 10 |
CF | Duke Snider | 148 | 538 | 126 | 166 | .309 | 42 | 136 | 9 |
RF | Carl Furillo | 140 | 523 | 83 | 164 | .314 | 26 | 95 | 4 |
Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases
Player | G | AB | R | H | Avg. | HR | RBI | SB |
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Don Zimmer | 88 | 280 | 38 | 67 | .239 | 15 | 50 | 5 |
Don Hoak | 94 | 279 | 50 | 67 | .240 | 5 | 19 | 9 |
Rube Walker | 48 | 103 | 6 | 26 | .252 | 2 | 13 | 1 |
Frank Kellert | 39 | 80 | 12 | 26 | .325 | 4 | 19 | 0 |
George Shuba | 44 | 51 | 8 | 14 | .275 | 1 | 8 | 0 |
Dixie Howell | 16 | 42 | 2 | 11 | .262 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
Walt Moryn | 11 | 19 | 3 | 5 | .263 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
Bob Borkowski | 9 | 19 | 2 | 2 | .105 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Bert Hamric | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Note: G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; CG = Complete games; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; BB = Bases on balls; SO = Strikeouts
Player | G | GS | CG | IP | W | L | ERA | BB | SO |
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Don Newcombe | 34 | 31 | 17 | 233.2 | 20 | 5 | 3.20 | 38 | 143 |
Carl Erskine | 31 | 29 | 7 | 194.2 | 11 | 8 | 3.79 | 64 | 84 |
Johnny Podres | 27 | 24 | 5 | 159.1 | 9 | 10 | 3.95 | 57 | 114 |
Billy Loes | 22 | 19 | 6 | 128.0 | 10 | 4 | 3.59 | 46 | 85 |
Note: G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; CG = Complete games; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; BB = Bases on balls; SO = Strikeouts
Player | G | GS | CG | IP | W | L | ERA | BB | SO |
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Karl Spooner | 29 | 14 | 2 | 98.2 | 8 | 6 | 3.65 | 41 | 78 |
Roger Craig | 21 | 10 | 3 | 90.2 | 5 | 3 | 2.78 | 43 | 48 |
Russ Meyer | 18 | 11 | 2 | 73.0 | 6 | 2 | 5.42 | 31 | 26 |
Sandy Koufax | 12 | 5 | 2 | 41.2 | 2 | 2 | 3.02 | 28 | 30 |
Tommy Lasorda | 4 | 1 | 0 | 4.0 | 0 | 0 | 13.50 | 6 | 4 |
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; BB = Bases on balls; SO = Strikeouts
Player | G | IP | W | L | SV | ERA | BB | SO |
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Clem Labine | 60 | 144.1 | 13 | 5 | 11 | 3.24 | 55 | 67 |
Ed Roebuck | 47 | 84.0 | 5 | 6 | 12 | 4.71 | 24 | 33 |
Don Bessent | 24 | 63.1 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 2.70 | 21 | 29 |
Jim Hughes | 24 | 42.2 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 4.22 | 19 | 20 |
Joe Black | 6 | 15.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2.93 | 5 | 9 |
Chuck Templeton | 4 | 4.2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 11.57 | 5 | 3 |
Main article: 1955 World Series |
September 28, 1955, at Yankee Stadium in New York
Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
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Brooklyn (N) | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 10 | 0 |
New York (A) | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | x | 6 | 9 | 1 |
W: Whitey Ford (1–0) L: Don Newcombe (0–1) S: Bob Grim (1) | ||||||||||||
HR: BRO – Carl Furillo (1), Duke Snider (1) NYY – Elston Howard (1), Joe Collins (1, 2) |
September 29, 1955, at Yankee Stadium in New York
Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
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Brooklyn (N) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 2 |
New York (A) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | x | 4 | 8 | 0 |
W: Tommy Byrne (1–0) L: Billy Loes (0–1) |
September 30, 1955, at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, New York
Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
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New York (A) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 0 |
Brooklyn (N) | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | x | 8 | 11 | 1 |
W: Johnny Podres (1–0) L: Bob Turley (0–1) | ||||||||||||
HR: NYY – Mickey Mantle (1) BRO – Roy Campanella (1) |
October 1, 1955, at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, New York
Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
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New York (A) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 9 | 0 |
Brooklyn (N) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | x | 8 | 14 | 0 |
W: Clem Labine (1–0) L: Don Larsen (0–1) | ||||||||||||
HR: NYY – Gil McDougald (1) BRO – Roy Campanella (2), Gil Hodges (1), Duke Snider (2) |
October 2, 1955, at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, New York
Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
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New York (A) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 0 |
Brooklyn (N) | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | x | 5 | 9 | 2 |
W: Roger Craig (1–0) L: Bob Grim (0–1) S: Clem Labine (1) | ||||||||||||
HR: NYY – Bob Cerv (1), Yogi Berra (1) BRO – Sandy Amorós (1), Duke Snider (3, 4) |
October 3, 1955, at Yankee Stadium in New York
Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
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Brooklyn (N) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 1 |
New York (A) | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | x | 5 | 8 | 0 |
W: Whitey Ford (2–0) L: Karl Spooner (0–1) | ||||||||||||
HR: NYY – Bill Skowron (1) |
October 4, 1955, at Yankee Stadium in New York
Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
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Brooklyn (N) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 0 |
New York (A) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 1 |
W: Johnny Podres (2–0) L: Tommy Byrne (1–1) |