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1952 World Series - New York vs Brooklyn [VHS]

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In the 1952 Subway Series the New York Yankees won the fourth of what would prove to be a record setting five World Series championships in a row under Casey Stengel. Meanwhile, for the first time in the decade of the Fifties the opponent of the Bronx Bombers was the Brooklyn Dodgers, who had just missed winning the National League pennants in 1950 and 1951. Having met in 1947 and 1949, these two times would collide three more times in the next four years, with the Dodgers picking up Brooklyn's only World Championship in 1955. But in 1952 the Yankees continued to dominate their cross-town rivals.

Rookie Joe Black won the series opener at Ebbets Field as future Hall of Famers Duke Snider, Pee Wee Reese and Jackie Robinson all hit home runs. The Yankees then evened the series behind Vic Raschi's three-hitter. Playing in Yankee Stadium the teams continued to trade victories, with Reese and Robinson both able to score on a passed ball by Yogi Berra in Game 3 while Yankee ace Allie Reynolds beat Black 2-0 in Game 4. This proved to be the second and final time that the home team won in the 1952 series. In Game 5 the Dodgers went out to a 4-0 lead after Snider hit another home run in the top of the 5th only to see the Yankees tie the game in the bottom of the inning when Johnny Mize hit a homer for the third consecutive game. But that was all the scoring until the 11th, when Snider knocked in his fourth run of the game to put the Dodgers one win away from taking the series.

Snider hit a pair of solo blasts off of Raschi in Game 6 but Berra and Mickey Mantle responded in kind (Mantle's first World Series home run) and the game cam down to Raschi knocking in the winning run in the 3-2 victory and Reynolds getting the save by striking out Roy Campanella. Ed Lopat and Black matched up for the third time in the deciding game, but Reynolds was the pitcher of record when the Yankees took a 4-2 lead in the 7th inning. Stengle then sent in Raschi to pitch relief, but after loading the bases with only one out Bob Kuzava came in to get out of the jam. Snider popped out to third and when Robinson lifted a short pop to the right side of the infield first baseman Joe Collins lost the ball in the sun and it was second baseman Billy Martin who made a shoe string catch to save at least one run. Kuzava, who saved the final game in 1951 as well, did it again in 1952.

They did not give a Series MVP award back in 1952, but the honor undoubtedly would have gone to Reynolds. The 20 game winner won two games and saved a third. Yankee outfielder Gene Woodling had a .348 batting average, but clearly the hitting star of the series was Duke Snider. The performance by Joe Black was also pretty good when you consider that the rookie, who had gone 15-4 during the season, had made 54 relief appearances before getting two starting assignments in the last two weeks of the season and ended up starting three games in the World Series. Although he went 1-2, the Yankees only scored eight runs in those three games while Reynolds was giving up only six runs, which ended up being the difference in the series.

The 1952 Series title enabled Stengel to match Joe McCarthy's mark of managing four title teams in a row, accomplished with the Yankees in 1936-39, Joe DiMaggio's first four years in the majors. This was the first year after DiMaggio had retired and the following year the Yankees would take only six games to again dispatch the Dodgers and give Stengel the record. Of those five titles, the 1952 series was the only one to go the distance.