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Comments (0)When the Yankees and Phillies begin the 2009 World Series in the Bronx tonight, it will have baseball historians reminding fans of the last time these two teams played for a championship 59 years ago when Philadelphia’s surprising 1950 “Whiz Kids’’ captured the heart of the country.
But there will be no “first-hand’’ accounts of how these young upstarts gave the “City of Brotherly Love’’ its first National League pennant in 35 years, dating back to Woodrow Wilson’s days in the White House. The sportswriters who actually covered the ’50 Series are long gone, as are all but a handful of the players on that historic team.
But a little background on the long suffering Philadelphia franchise is needed to put things in perspective. After replacing Worcester (Mass.) in 1883, Philadelphia could lay claim to being the oldest continuous one-name, one-city franchise in all of professional American sports. So it is easy to understand why it also holds the dubious honor of having lost more games than any pro sports team.
It waited 32 years to claim its first N.L. pennant in 1915. Legendary Grover Cleveland Alexander won 31 games, including 4 one-hitters, and outfielder Gavvy Cravath set a major league record in the dead ball era by slamming 24 homers, a record that stood for five years before Babe Ruth began his slugging reign.
Alexander would beat Boston in the opener, but the Red Sox would sweep the next four games to kill the Phillies’ dreams of an initial championship. No wonder the 1950 “Whiz Kids’’—the youngest team in baseball with an average age of 26—brought so much excitement and expectation to a city that was constantly mocked for the team’s dreadful history.
It had gotten so bad, that when Bob Carpenter, Jr., a DuPont family heir, purchased the team in the late 40s, he tried changing its name to “”Blue Jays.’’ The fans balked, and the Phillies were reborn.
But the “Whiz Kids’’ had to give their faithful heart palpitations before clinching the N.L. pennant. They got off to a fast start, winning 16 of their first 25 games, but the defending champion Brooklyn Dodgers quickly closed ground and by mid-season were running neck-and-neck. The youthful Phillies then went on tear, winning 34 of their next 50 games to lead the Dodgers by 7 and ½ games on September 20. Just when fans began inquiring about Series tickets, the team went into a tailspin. The lead shriveled to two games, and, poetically, the last two games were scheduled for ancient Ebbets Field in Brooklyn
Naturally, the Dodgers won the first game, 7-3. Another win for the home team would force a playoff. Both managers started their aces— veteran Don Newcombe, a 19-game winner for “Da Bums’’ and 23-year old Robin Roberts, who had posted a 20-11 record for the Phillies .
As one might have expected, the two future Hall of Famers were deadlocked 1-1 after nine innings. Newcombe suddenly faltered in the 10th, allowing a pair of singles before Dick Sisler, a 29-year-old “”greybeard’’ belted a 3-run homer that provided enough cushion to assure the Whiz Kids an October match-up with the Yankees.
Youthful energy and exuberance were there trademark. Some of their star players—precocious 21-year-old southpaw Curt Simmons (17-8), sure-handed shortstop Granny Hammer and centerfielder Richie Ashburn (.303) both 23, were barely of drinking age. Slugging third-baseman Willie Jones (25 homers) was 24, and outfielder Del Ennis, who led the team with 31 homers and 126 RBI, was a 25. The rest of the regulars were almost eligible for Medicare. Second baseman Mike Goliat, 26, pennant-hero Sisler and grizzly catcher Andy Seminick were both 29. When Seminick died in 2004, Roberts said he was the unquestioned leader in the clubhouse and on the field, where he would signal to the infielders how to position themselves and control the youthful pitchers with an iron hand.
The only real “ancient’’ on the team was 33-year-old reliever Jim Konstanty, who was voted the N.L’s “most-valuable player’’ by making 74 appearances and winning 16 games.
But despite all the hype over the “Whiz Kids,’’ the Yankees, who had become a baseball dynasty in the Forties, first with manager Joe McCarthy and, then Bucky Harris for two years, with a team featuring Joe DiMaggio, Bill Dickey, Red Rolfe, Phil Rizzuto, Red Ruffing and Lefty Gomez, were a far more interesting and enigmatic team under the guidance of one-time baseball clown Casey Stengel.
In fact, then New York Telegram columnist Joe Williams, who had questioned Stengel’s hiring by Yankee general manager George Weiss in 1949 after his past failures as manager of the Dodgers and Boston Braves when he never finished higher than fifth, labeled Casey’s second-straight pennant a “baseball miracle.’’
Rizzuto, a native New Yorker, who at 5-foot-5, had beaten all odds by making the Yankees in 1941 and replacing team favorite Frank Crosetti as the starting shortstop, was one of Stengel’s biggest detractors.
In retrospect, Rizzuto told author Peter Golenbock, ‘Bucky Harris could have had that big dynasty that Stengel inherited. He was a great guy like McCarthy. But he was also tough as nails and he treated everybody differently. But Weiss fired Bucky in 1949 and brought in Stengel. Prior to that, Stengel was regarded as a nice man, very funny, but he had never won anything.
“He inherited a great team of players coming up. You and I could have managed the team, gone away for the summer and still won three pennants .That’s how good we were.
“Of course, Casey and I never got along that well anyway,’’ added ‘The Scooter’ who, ironically, was voted the American League’s MVP his first year under Stengel. “By the mid-50s, I was the last of the old guard. Tommy Henrich was gone, Charlie Keller and Dickey were gone. Casey wanted to get all the old-timers out so he could get all those young kids—(Yogi Berra, Billy Martin. Jerry Coleman and Gil McDougald). And really let them know who was boss.’’
But Stengel’s’ awkward handling of the legendary DiMaggio in 1949 and 1950 was probably the biggest reason the veteran New York sportswriters turned against the “Ol’ Professor.’’
In mid-season, the Yankees were in a tight race with the Tigers, managed by ex-Yankee Red Rolfe. Stengel worried about ‘Who’s on first?’ An aging Henrich was ailing and replacement Joe Collins wasn’t hitting. So, on July 3, he shocked the baseball world by moving the classic centerfielder to first base. DiMaggio, an extremely proud, introverted man, was visibly petrified over the possibility of embarrassing himself at his new position. He was also upset over the fact that Stengel had asked team president Dan Topping to request the move rather than Casey, himself.
But the experiment was short-lived. Slugger Johnny Mize, obtained from the Giants, but sent to the Yankee farm in Kansas City, was called up to replace Joe D. at first and quickly proved a timely hitter. As imaginative columnist Dan Parker wrote, “Your arm is gone, your legs likewise. But not your eyes, Mize, not your eyes.’
But it was DiMaggio who saved the Yankees in a three-way stretch run with the Tigers and the Red Sox, who won 23 of their last 28 games. Teaming with cocky rookie pitcher Whitey Ford, winning 9 of his 10 starts after a mid-season call-up, DiMaggio carried the offense, hitting safely in the last 19 games while batting .373. A “”washed-up’’ DiMaggio ended 1950 with a .301 average and 32 homers.
But there was still this unfinished business against the fuzzy-cheeked Phillies. Their manager, Eddie Sawyer, started with a decided handicap when Simmons was called to duty during the Korean War. There was no sense appealing with Sen. Joe McCarthy fear-mongering about the Communist takeover of the Far East. So Simmons, awaiting his induction, watched the opener in civilian clothes
But Sawyer shocked everyone in Game 1 at Shibe Park by passing over Roberts, the 20-game winner who had appeared in three of the last five games in the frantic pennant race, in favor of Jim Konstanty, his matchless bullpen stopper. Konstanty allowed the Yankees only one run and four hits in eight innings, but Vic Raschi, who was sizzling mad after discovering thieves had broken into his hotel room and swiped 140 box seats he had purchased for relatives and friends, was even better, blanking the Whiz Kids on two hits.
The patent continued in game two, matching Allie Reynolds against Roberts. Reynolds fell two innings short of breaking Babe Ruth’s record of 22 scoreless innings in Series competition, by allowing a run in the fifth when the Phillies tied it, 1-1. It stayed that way until the 10th when Roberts tried to sneak a fast ball past DiMaggio and then watched dejectedly as it sailed into the stands. Reynolds had little difficulty finishing the job.
The momentum seemed to change in game three at Yankee Stadium when lefty Ken Heintzelman out-dueled reliable, old softballer Eddie Lopat to enjoy a 2-1 lead through seven innings. But he unraveled in the eighth, issuing three straight walks.
Konstanty got the call and induced pinch-hittter Bobby Brown to hit a grounder to Hammer, who bobbled the ball, allowing Brown to score the tying run.Russ Meyer replaced Konstanty in the ninth and retired the first two batters.. But after two infield hits, Coleman’s blooper to center ended it.
The precocious Ford, who was also headed for the Army, was rewarded with the game four start, and rewarded Stengel;s trust by pitching a shutout for eight innings while the Yankees grabbed a 5-0 lead against Bob Miller. But the Phillies mounted one final rally, thanks to a two-out fly ball Gene Woodling lost in the sun. They cut the deficit to 5-2 when Casey summoned Reynolds, his ace in the hole, who promptly struck out Stan Lopata to complete the sweep.
Stengel didn’t gloat. He confided that the teams were much closer competitively than the 4-0 margin might indicate. And so, 59 years later, the mystique surrounding the “Whiz Kids’’ still persists.
