Watch or listen to the greatest games in baseball history.
EXPLORE THE LIBRARY BY DECADE:
2000s
| 1990s
| 1980s
| 1970s
| 1960s
| 1950s
| 1930s - '40s |
| 1940s |
|
October 5, 1949 -- When the New York Yankees and Brooklyn Dodgers met up to battle for NYC bragging rights in the 1949 World Series, it was apparent that the tough pennant races each team had to go through to reach the Fall Classic had molded them into fierce competitors. Indeed, with pitchers
Don Newcombe and
Allie Reynolds giving the performances of their careers in Game 1, it seemed like winter would arrive before anybody managed to score a run. Finally, the Yankees struck the first blow of the Series when "Old Reliable"
Tommy Henrich blasted Newcombe's third pitch of the ninth inning for the game-winning home run, further validating Henrich's other nickname: "Five O'Clock Lightning."
OCTOBER 6-11, 1948 -- The Cleveland Indians didn't have far to travel to begin the 1948 World Series. The Tribe had fashioned an 8-3 victory over the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park in the first-ever AL pennant playoff, and awaiting Cleveland just a short trip south of Fenway were the Boston Braves, champions of the National League. The Series shaped up as a battle of stellar pitching staffs - the Indians featured a trio of top-notch starters in
Bob Feller,
Bob Lemon and
Gene Bearden, while the Braves boasted the famous pair of
Warren Spahn and
Johnny Sain.
| 1930s |
|
OCTOBER 22, 1938 -- The '38 World Series saw the Chicago Cubs, then searching for their first title in 30 years, facing the New York Yankees, looking for their third consecutive World Championship. Though the didn't know it at the time, the mighty Yanks were in the midst of a torch-passing:
Lou Gehrig was at the end of what would be his last full season of baseball. Leading the Series 1-0, the Bombers sent staff strikeout leader
Lefty Gomez (18-12) out against former St. Louis great
Dizzy Dean (7-1). Dean held NY to two runs through seven innings, but a pair of late two-run homers -- by
Frankie Crosetti in the 8th and the 23-year-old superstar,
Joe DiMaggio, in the 9th -- blew the game open. The Yankees would go on to sweep the Cubs, completing the "Three-Peat" years before it was coined. And, as of this writing, the Cubs are still searching for that title.
OCTOBER 3, 1936 -- In the oldest broadcast in the Baseball's Best collection, the 1936 Fall Classic marks the fourth New York Series between the early-century power Giants and mighty Yankees of the 1920s. With the Series tied 1-1, the Giants sent
"Fat" Freddie Fitzsimmons (10-7) to the hill; the Yankees countered with hurler
Bump Hadley (14-4). Though the Yanks no longer featured a recently-retired Babe Ruth, they were still a potent force propelled by
Lou Gehrig and a talented rookie named
Joe DiMaggio; the N.L. Champ Giants were spearheaded by slugger
Mel Ott. On this day at the ballyard in the Bronx, Fitzsimmons surrendered only four hits, but two of them ended up making the difference in the game: Gehrig's homer in the second, and an RBI-single by
Frankie Crosetti in the eighth. The Yankees held on to win the game, 2-1, and ultimately claimed city bragging rights by winning the '36 Series in six games.
Programming
