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In Game Four in 1949 World Series, the New York Yankees are up two games to one against the Brooklyn Dodgers and have the bases loaded and a 3-0 lead in the fifth inning threatening to break the game wide open – and of course, they did just that as the photo shows.
Bobby Brown’s triple to right field clears the bases scoring Tommy Henrich (heading home), Yogi Berra (dashing to third) and Joe DiMaggio (halfway to second) giving the Yanks a 6-0 lead. Brown’s three-bagger with zero outs off Brooklyn’s reliever Joe Hatten had to be soul-crushing blow for every Bums’ fan in the stands that afternoon, this was the Dodgers fifth attempt to win their first World Series crown and it was a crucial game and they knew falling behind 3-1 in the series would be basically a death knell for their dreams of that elusive title.
However, the Dodgers did battle back knocking around Yanks started Eddie Lopat with four runs on seven hits in the bottom of that sixth inning to cut the Yankee lead to two runs giving rise to hope. Sensing that, New York’s skipper Casey Stengel brought in Allie Reynolds to get the last out of the inning and from there the hard-throwing Oklahoma native would hold the Dodgers hitless over the final three innings securing his team a 6-4 win and a registered save for himself. It also gave the Yankees the commanding three to one lead that all of Brooklyn desperately wanted to avoid.
The next day, just as feared, Yankees bats crushed the hearts of Brooklyn fans by jumping to a dominating 10-1 lead by the sixth inning. Dodgers didn’t quit though cutting that lead to four runs, but in the end, it wasn’t enough as the Bronx Bombers won their 12th World Series title and their first of what would be an impressive five in a row (1949-1953).
–Ron Bolton
