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1955 Brooklyn Dodgers season

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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 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.

1955 Brooklyn Dodgers
World Series Champions
National League champions
LeagueNational League
DivisionNational League
BallparkEbbets Field
CityBrooklyn, New York
OwnersWalter O'Malley, James & Dearie Mulvey, Mary Louise Smith
PresidentWalter O'Malley
General managersBuzzie Bavasi
ManagersWalter Alston
TelevisionWOR-TV
RadioWMGM
Vin Scully, Connie Desmond, André Baruch, Al Helfer
WHOM
Buck Canel
← 1954
1956 →

Offseason

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Regular season

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Sandy Koufax earned his first major league win with the Dodgers on August 27, 1955.

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.

MVP controversy

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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]

Season standings

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National League
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Brooklyn Dodgers 98 55 .641 — 56‍–‍21 42‍–‍34
Milwaukee Braves 85 69 .552 13½ 46‍–‍31 39‍–‍38
New York Giants 80 74 .519 18½ 44‍–‍35 36‍–‍39
Philadelphia Phillies 77 77 .500 21½ 46‍–‍31 31‍–‍46
Cincinnati Redlegs 75 79 .487 23½ 46‍–‍31 29‍–‍48
Chicago Cubs 72 81 .471 26 43‍–‍33 29‍–‍48
St. Louis Cardinals 68 86 .442 30½ 41‍–‍36 27‍–‍50
Pittsburgh Pirates 60 94 .390 38½ 36‍–‍39 24‍–‍55

Record vs. opponents

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1955 National League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
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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Opening Day Lineup
# 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

[6]

Notable transactions

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Roster

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1955 Brooklyn Dodgers
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats

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= Indicates team leader

Batting

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Starters by position

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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
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

Other batters

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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
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

Pitching

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Starting pitchers

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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
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

Other pitchers

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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
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

Relief pitchers

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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
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

1955 World Series

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Main article: 1955 World Series

Game 1

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September 28, 1955, at Yankee Stadium in New York

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
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)

Game 2

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September 29, 1955, at Yankee Stadium in New York

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
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)

Game 3

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September 30, 1955, at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, New York

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
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)

Game 4

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October 1, 1955, at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, New York

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
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)

Game 5

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October 2, 1955, at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, New York

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
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)

Game 6

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October 3, 1955, at Yankee Stadium in New York

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
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)

Game 7

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October 4, 1955, at Yankee Stadium in New York

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
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)

Awards and honors

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All-Stars

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League top five finishers

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Roy Campanella

  • #4 in NL in batting average (.318)

Jim Gilliam

  • #5 in NL in runs scored (110)
  • #5 in NL in stolen bases (15)

Clem Labine

  • #3 in NL in saves (11)

Don Newcombe

  • #2 in NL in wins (20)
  • #2 in NL in ERA (3.20)
  • #2 in NL in complete games (17)
  • #5 in NL in strikeouts (143)

Ed Roebuck

  • #2 in NL in saves (12)

Duke Snider

  • MLB leader in RBI (136)
  • MLB leader in runs scored (126)
  • #2 in NL in on-base percentage (.418)
  • #2 in NL in slugging percentage (.628)
  • #3 in NL in doubles (34)
  • #3 in NL in bases on balls (104)
  • #4 in NL in home runs (42)

Farm system

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Level Team League Manager
AAA Montreal Royals International League Greg Mulleavy
AAA St. Paul Saints American Association Max Macon
AA Ft. Worth Cats Texas League Tommy Holmes
AA Mobile Bears Southern Association Clay Bryant
A Elmira Pioneers Eastern League Ray Hathaway
A Pueblo Dodgers Western League Goldie Holt
B Asheville Tourists Tri-State League Earl Naylor
B Cedar Rapids Raiders Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League Ray Perry
B Newport News Dodgers Piedmont League George Scherger
C Bakersfield Indians California League Doc Alexson
C Great Falls Electrics Pioneer League Lou Rochelli
D Hornell Dodgers Pennsylvania–Ontario–New York League Boyd Bartley
D Shawnee Hawks Sooner State League Jack Banta
D Thomasville Dodgers Georgia–Florida League Pete Reiser
D Union City Dodgers Kentucky–Illinois–Tennessee League Joe Hauser

Aftermath and legacy

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The 1955 World Series proved to the only title the Dodgers won in Brooklyn. After losing the 1956 World Series to the Yankees, the team would move to Los Angeles after the 1957 season.[10]

With the death of Carl Erskine in April 2024, Sandy Koufax became the last surviving player from the 1955 team.[11]

50th Anniversary

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In August 2005, the Los Angeles Dodgers commemorated the 50th anniversary of the franchise winning its first World Series, and only one while in Brooklyn. The eleven surviving members of the 1955 team all attended the weekend celebration.[12]

No official commemorative event, however, took place in Brooklyn on October 4, 2005 (the actual anniversary of the Dodgers' triumph), prompting author Thomas Oliphant to argue that "on both coasts, we could have done a little bit better, especially for such an important memory."[12]

That being said, a small gathering of ten people took place at the site of Ebbets Field on October 4, 2005 "at 3:43 pm, 50 years to the minute from when the Brooklyn Dodgers won their only World Series."[12] Brooklyn Paper journalist Ed Shakespeare reported that "[a]ll of the attendees came alone or in pairs, unaware of who else might attend", describing the event as "a sharing of memories from those who remembered."[12]

References

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  1. ^ Ray Moore at Baseball-Reference
  2. ^ Billy Cox at Baseball-Reference
  3. ^ Erv Palica at Baseball-Reference
  4. ^ The Duke of Flatbush by Duke Snider and Bill Gilbert
  5. ^ "MLB Stats, Scores, History, & Records". Baseball-Reference.com.
  6. ^ 1955 Opening Day Lineup at Baseball-Reference
  7. ^ Ron Negray at Baseball-Reference
  8. ^ Joe Black at Baseball-Reference
  9. ^ Glenn Cox at Baseball-Reference
  10. ^ Perlmutter, Emanuel (October 9, 1957). "Dodgers Accept Los Angeles Bid to Move to Coast". The New York Times.
  11. ^ "Carl Erskine, longtime Dodgers pitcher and one of the "Boys of Summer," dies at 97". CBS Sports. Associated Press. April 16, 2024.
  12. ^ a b c d Shakespeare, Ed. "Dodgers Celebrated 50 Years Later" Brooklyn Paper, October 14, 2005. Retrieved October 4, 2020.
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