Yanks Sweep Phillies To Win 1950 World Series
Saturday, October 7, 1950 — Yankee Stadium, Bronx, New York — In “Game 4” of the 1950 World Series, the Yankees scored two runs in the first inning, and three runs in the sixth inning; and, that’s all the runs they would need, to beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 5-2, sweeping the first four games of this best of seven series, to win the 1950 World Championship.
The Yankees jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead off Phillies starting pitcher, Bob Miller (11-6; 3.57 ERA), in the bottom of the first, when Gene Woodling led off the inning by reaching first on an error; advanced to second on a Phil Rizzuto ground out; and, scored the first run on a RBI single by Yogi Berra. Berra then scored the Bombers second run on a RBI double by Joe DiMaggio.
After the second run scored, Phillies manager, Eddie Sawyer, replaced Miller with the National League’s MVP, Jim Konstanty, who retired the next two batters, Johnny Mize and Bobby Brown, to close out the first inning without any further damage.
The Phillies had a couple of chances to score off Yankees starting pitcher, Whitey Ford (9-1; 2.81 ERA), in the first and fourth innings, when they had two runners on base in each inning, but did not score; with the 4th inning ending in a 3-3-2 double play.
In the bottom of the 6th, Yogi Berra hit a lead off homeun; then, DiMaggio reached first on a hit by pitch, and scored on a triple by Bobby Brown. Hank Bauer was up next, and drove home Brown on a sac-fly to leftfield, increasing the Yankees lead to 5-0.
In the meantime, Whitey Ford was cruising along with a shutout going into the top of the 9th inning when he pitched himself into a little trouble.
Ford walked lead off batter Willie Jones; hit the next batter, Del Ennis; and, then, got Dick Sisler to hit into a force play at second, setting up a first and third situation, with one out. Ford then struck out Granny Hamner for the second out of the inning.
So, with two outs, Andy Seminick was the last chance up at the plate to keep the game going for the Phillies. Seminick hit a fly ball to leftfield that looked like it was going to be the final out of the game, but Gene Woodling made an error that allowed two unearned runs to score, cutting the Yanks lead to 5-2.
The next batter, Mike Goliat, singled, bringing Casey Stengel out of the dugout to replace Ford with Allie Reynolds to get the final out of the game.
The Yankee fans booed this move by Stengel; but, Reynolds struck out pinch-hitter, Stan Lopata, for the final out of the Bronx Bombers 5-2 World Series victory, giving the Yanks the crown of “1950 World Champions”, the New York Yankees 13th World Championship at the time.
This was a great World Series that was dominated by awesome pitching by both teams.
The Yankee pitchers allowed only three earned runs over 37 innings in the series, for a 0.73 ERA.
And, the Phillies also delivered solid pitching efforts, with a 2.27 ERA throughout the series.
Finally, The “Babe Ruth Award”, MVP of the 1950 World Series was awarded to the Yankees second baseman, Jerry Coleman.
To read more about this final Game; and, the 1950 World Series, click on:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYA/NYA195010070.shtml
Baseball, The Yankees, and Life... 
Great site,I’m a huge Red Sox and Phillies fan,but just enjoyed your little series on the 50 series.
I think alot of fans don’t realize the Phillies lost one of thier best pitchers for that series in Curt Simmons.
Not that it would have made a diference,but he was called up to serve in Military and missed the series.Will we ever see
something like that again.
Also look how few pitchers each team used,never see that again either
chefdave002003,
Thanks for your kind words about my blog … Also, it’s good to read in your comments that you enjoyed my “Four Part Series” looking back to the 1950 World Series, which is the only time [so far] that the Yankees and Phillies have played against each other in the World Series … I also enjoyed reading, and doing research, about the ’50 Series, which was dominated by great pitching performances by both teams … As you point out in your comments, the Phillies did not have their second best pitcher, Curt Simmons, who won 17 games in 1950 … Like you said, “Simmons was called up to serve in the Military” in September of that year, and indeed, was not part of Phillies pennant run, or on the pitching staff in the World Series … Maybe, if Simmons was available to pitch, he certainly could have made a difference for the Phillies … Also, in my research, I noticed that the Phillies had to deal with late season injuries to pitchers, Bob Miller and Bubba Church; and, catcher, Andy Seminick …. All part of the game, I guess; but, even with all the above factors that the Philles had to overcome, they still played a “great” Series, and, maybe, with a break or two, could have turned a couple of those “Four” Games around in favor of the Phillies, extending the Series to six or seven games … But, it probably still would not have been enough for the Phillies to win the 1950 Series … The Yankee pitchers were just a little better than the Phillies pitching staff, which included the NL MVP, Jim Konstanty … For the Yankees, Raschi (9 inning CG); Reynolds (10 inning CG); Lopat (8 innings); and, Ford (8.2 innings), all Yankee wins … But, Game One, Yankees 1, Phillies 0 – [Raschi vs. Konstanty]; and, Game Two, Yankees 2, Phillies 1 (10 innings) – [Reynolds vs. Roberts] were both “classic” games, and pitching match-ups, with all four starters pitching complete games — Like you said, performances we will “never see again” … Thanks for the visit, and CONGRATULATIONS on the Phillies winning the 2008 World Championship !!! … Jimmy [27NYY] … “BY&L”
http://baseballtheyankeesandlife.mlblogs.com/
chefdave002003,
Just a correction on one item in my above comments; and, also, an interesting side-note from Game Two of the 1950 World Series … Actually, in Game One, Jim Konstanty did not pitch a complete game … He threw eight solid innings, allowing the only run of the game; and, reliever, Russ Meyer, pitched a scoreless 9th inning for the Phillies … In Game Two, there is an interesting story about Joe DiMaggio’s homerun in the top of the 10th, that turned out to be the winning run in the Yankee 2-1 victory … In my research, I read a July 13, 2008, article, by Jim Salisbury, on philly.com, that recalls the DiMaggio homerun … Salisbury brings us back to that day when he wrote the following in his article: “I remember it well”, Robin Roberts said, recalling DiMaggio’s life several years ago” … “I had gotten him on four pop-outs before the 10th inning. It wasn’t a good hitter’s day. It was cold, and the wind was blowing in. But, that didn’t bother Joe” … “DiMaggio’s homer off Roberts has become part of local baseball folklore. As he made his way out of the dugout toward home plate with the score tied, 1-1, DiMaggio was said to have handed his cigarette to a Philadelphia police officer with the instructions: ‘Hold this cigarette for me, Frank. I’m going to hit one out’ … “That police officer was Frank Rizzo, who eventually became Philadelphia’s mayor” … And of course, “as they say”, the rest is history !!! … Jimmy [27NYY] “BY&L”
http://baseballtheyankeesandlife.mlblogs.com/
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