'49 Series: Newcombe's October hard times begin with hard luck

Don Newcombe, a pioneering black pitcher and mainstay of the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1940 and the 1950s, just didn't have it in World Series competition, with an 0-4 record and 8.59 ERA. And the one time he did have it, he lost a heartbreaking 1-0 decision in his Series debut when the New York Yankees' Tommy Henrich hit a leadoff homer in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 1 in 1949. (Getty Images)

Tommy Henrich, left, celebrates with Allie Reynolds in the clubhouse after Henrich's solo homer leading off the bottom of the ninth inning gave the New York Yankees a 1-0 victory in Game 1 of the 1949 World Series. Henrich's homer made a winner of Reynolds, who pitched a two-hitter with nine strikeouts in outdueling Don Newcombe. (New York Times photo)

By Phil Ellenbecker

  Don Newcombe, one of the Brooklyn Dodgers' best pitchers and their most overpowering one in the late 1940s and 1950s, wasn't too great in the World Series -- an 0-4 record with an 8.59 ERA.

  But it certainly didn't begin that way. And it certainly didn't begin in a lucky way.

  In making his first World Series start and becoming the first black pitcher to start a Series game, Newcombe dominated the New York Yankees on Wednesday, Oct. 5, 1949 -- Game 1 at Yankee Stadium before a crowd of 66,224.

  The burly 6-foot-4, 220-pound right-hander held the Yankees to five hits and didn't walk a batter while striking out 11 -- tying a season best for a pitcher who'd finished second in the National League in Ks and won Rookie of the Year honors with a 17-8 record, a league-leading five shutouts and 3.17 ERA.

  But one of those hits off  "Big Newk" was a big one -- a solo homer leading off the bottom of the ninth inning by Tommy Henrich, living up to his nicknames of "Old Reliable" and "The Clutch."

  And because the Yankees' Allie Reynolds was equally as dominating on the mound, that was all the Bronx Bombers needed for a 1-0 victory en route to a world title in their first year under manager Casey Stengel. It was the first World Series game decided by a walk-off home run.

  Reynolds, making his third World Series start, limited the Dodgers to two hits while walking four and fanning nine as he improved his Series record to 2-0.

  Base runners were hard to come by all day for both sides.

  Four times Reynolds set the Dodgers down in order, and in four other innings he faced only four batters. He had one three-strikeout inning and two others with two. He fanned five of six batters in a stretch over the seventh and eighth innings.

  Newcombe, who was the third black pitcher to appear in a major league game and the first to appear in an All-Star Game, had four 1-2-3 innings and four four-batter innings. Twice he struck out three batters in an inning, including the side in the fifth, and he also had a two-strikeout inning. He struck out four of five over the second and third.

  Before Henrich's big blow into the right-field stands, what threats did materialize came mainly from the Dodgers. They put runners in scoring position in four innings, the Yankees only twice.

  The Dodgers' last gasp came in the eighth when leadoff hitter Pee Wee Reese singled with one out and stole second.
  (Reese stole 26 bases during the season to finish runner-up in the NL behind teammate Jackie Robinson with 37. The Dodgers, in fact, had five players in the top 10 in thefts. Gene Hermanski and Duke Snider each tied for third with 12; Gil Hodges tied for seventh with 10. Their total of 117 was 64 more than any other NL team and 55 more than the AL-leading White Sox.)

  But Reese stayed at second in the eighth as Reynolds got Spider Jorgensen and Snider to whiff. Then in the ninth he retired Robinson on a grounder to shortstop, Hermanski on a pop-up to short and Hermanski on a fly out to right, setting the stage for Henrich's heroics.

  The Dodgers had an early threat when Jorgensen doubled in the first with one out, but Snider struck out and Robinson flied out to center. The next inning Hermanski and Carl Furillo walked, but a double-play grounder by Hodges and a fly out by Campanella got Reynolds out of it.

  The Yankees made it interesting with one-out doubles by Reynolds in the third and Jerry Coleman in the eighth. But Newcombe coaxed a pair of pop-outs to close out the third and struck out Reynolds looking and got Phil Rizzuto to fly out in the eighth.

  Reynolds, a .218 hitter in the 1949 regular season, also singled in the sixth, making him 2-for-3 and the only player for either team with more than one hit.

  As an example of how tough it was for the batters, the two teams' No. 3 and No. 4 hitters, all Hall of Famers, were a combined 0-for-14. Yogi Berra and Joe Dimaggio were 0-for-4 for the Yankees; Brooklyn's Snider and Robinson, the 1949 NL MVP, had 0-for-3 collars. Snider struck out three times.

  Newcombe had the bottom of the Yankees' order frequently heading back to the dugout. No. 7 hitter Cliff Mapes struck out three times; Billy Johnson at No. 6 and Coleman at No. 8 each whiffed twice.

  Newcombe, who was pitching on two days' rest, certainly showed plenty of grit. After the game, it was discovered he had pitched with an ingrown toenail.

Tommy Henrich connects on a 2-0 pitch from Don Newcombe in the ninth inning, driving it into the right-field seats to give the New York Yankees a 1-0 victory over the Brooklyn Dodgers in Game 1 of the 1949 World Series. (YouTube screen grab)

  Henrich, who'd helped the Yankees survive a down-to-the-wire AL pennant chase with Boston by belting a home run and driving in two runs in a clinching 5–3 victory over the Red Sox on the final day of the regular season, was delivering as expected when he brought the sudden end to Game 1.

  As teammate Bobby Brown noted, “If we were ahead 10–1 or 10–2, he was just average. If we were behind 10–1 or 10–2, same thing. But get him in a big game, and he was terrific.”

  Henrich, No. 2 in the Yankees' batting order and a five-time All-Star who retired in 1950 because of injury woes, looked at a curveball outside and another curve low to run the count to 2-0. Then he connected on a high fastball, driving it about eight rows up into the right-field seats for his fourth and last World Series homer.

  "Look at him grin, big as a slice of watermelon," broadcaster Red Barber said as Henrich crossed the plate, greeted by Berra and coach Bill Dickey.

Rest of the Series

 The pitchers ruled again the next day, with the Dodgers coming out on top this time in a 1-0 game behind the complete-game six-hit pitching of Preacher Roe. The Yankees' Vic Raschi also yielded only six hits, over eight innings.

  Hodges singled in Robinson in the second for the game's only run.

  The Yankees responded by winning the next three games at Ebbets Field by scores of 4-3, 6-4 and 10-6 to claim their fourth Series title of the decade. It was also the first of a record five straight world titles under Stengel for the Yankees.

  Newcombe and Reynolds were back on the mound again in Game 4, only not against each other. Newcombe was gone after 3 1-3 innings, giving up five hits and three earned runs while walking three and not striking out anybody in the Dodgers' 6-4 loss.

  Reynolds nailed down the win with 3 1-3 innings of perfect shutout relief, taking over for Eddie Lopat. He fanned five and retired all 10 batters he faced.

Onward, downward, upward

  Such were the contrasting Fall Classic fortunes for the two hurlers following that classic Game 1 duel in 1949.

  Newcombe continued to get roughed up in the 1955 and '56 Series, the latter in a year he won both the NL MVP and Cy Young awards (back when only one Cy was awarded between the two leagues). In his one start in '55 he gave up eight hits and six earned runs in 5 2-3 innings in taking the loss. In two '56 starts he gave up 11 hits and 11 earned runs over only 4 2-3 innings. He was saddled with one loss.

  Reynolds, meanwhile, stayed solid for the most part both starting and relieving for the Yankees. In six World Series, he went 7-2 with a 2.79 ERA over 15 games, nine of them starts. He also batted .308, almost doubling his career regular-season average of .163.

  So while the Yankees had "The Clutch," Allie Reynolds was certainly clutch in his own right.

  And on Oct. 5, 1949, so was Don Newcombe. Just not clutch enough.

Yogi Berra wore out Don Newcombe in the 1956 World Series. The New York Yankees catcher hit a grand-slam homer off the Brooklyn pitcher in Game 2 and a pair of two-run homers off him in Game 7, lifting the Yankees to a 9-0 victory and the Series title.

  

Berra was a bear

  Although Berra took the 0-for-4 collar in that 1949 opener, he ultimately was Newcombe's chief tormentor in the Fall Classic. Known as one of the best clutch hitters of all time, particularly in Series play, Berra certainly helped that reputation against the offerings of Newcombe.

  But as noted, it didn't start that way, and in fact Berra was 0-for-7 against Newcombe until singling and scoring a run in the sixth inning of 1955's Game 1. That gave the Yankees a 5-3 lead in a 6-5 win, Newcombe's only start in that Series.

  And then Yogi made life absolutely miserable for Newk in 1956.

  After drawing a walk from Newcombe in the first inning of Game 2, Berra unloaded a grand slam homer in the second that knocked Newk out of the box and gave New York a 6-0 lead. The only consolation for Newcombe may have been that the Dodgers came back to win the game 13-8, at Ebbets Field, giving them a 2-0 lead.

  But there was no joy in Brooklyn five days later when the Yankees blanked the Dodgers 9-0 in Game 7 at Ebbets. Berra sent them on their way with two-run homers off Newcombe in the first and third innings for a 4-0 lead.

  So Berra ended up 4-for-11 in his career against Newcombe with four runs scored and eight RBIs, all coming on homers in his last three at-bats.

Sources:

Play-by-play: https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1949/B10050NYA1949.htm  

Newcombe biography:  https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/a79b94f3  

Henrich biography: https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/165bef13

Film clips: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jQXk7f9vDA and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CVLiYEZfX8
Additional background came from various sources on the Retrosheet and Society for American Baseball Research's Biography Project websites, as well as baseballreference.com.