1955 World Series
Team (Wins) Managers Season Brooklyn Dodgers (4) Walter Alston 98–55, .641, GA: 13+1⁄2 New York Yankees (3) Casey Stengel 96–58, .623, GA: 3
Dates	September 28–October 4
Venue(s)	Yankee Stadium (New York) Ebbets Field (Brooklyn)
MVP	Johnny Podres (Brooklyn)
Umpires	Bill Summers (AL),Lee Ballanfant (NL),Jim Honochick (AL),Frank Dascoli (NL),Red Flaherty (AL: outfield only),Augie Donatelli (NL: outfield only)
Hall of Famers	Dodgers: Walt Alston (manager) Roy Campanella Gil Hodges Sandy Koufax (DNP) Pee Wee Reese Jackie Robinson Duke Snider Yankees: Casey Stengel (manager) Yogi Berra Whitey Ford Mickey Mantle Phil Rizzuto
Broadcast
Television	NBC This was the first World Series televised incolor.[1]
TV announcers	Mel Allen andVin Scully
Radio	Mutual
Radio announcers	Bob Neal andAl Helfer
← 1954 World Series 1956 →

The1955 World Series was thechampionship series ofMajor League Baseball's (MLB)1955 season. The 52nd edition of the World Series, it was abest-of-seven playoff that matched theNational League (NL) championBrooklyn Dodgers against theAmerican League (AL) championNew York Yankees, with the Dodgers winning the Series in seven games to capture their first championship in franchise history. It would be the only Series the Dodgers won while based in Brooklyn, as the team relocated to Los Angeles after the1957 season. This was the fifth time in nine years that the Yankees and the Dodgers met in the World Series, with the Yankees having won in1947,1949,1952, and1953; the Yankees would also win in the1956 rematch.

This Series also marked the end of a long period of invulnerability for the Yankees in the World Series. It was the Yankees' first loss in a World Series since1942 and only their second since1926. The Yankees were 15–2 in Series appearances prior to the start of the 1956 season. The 1955 run would start a new run of Series appearances for New York that saw them reach the Series eight more times in the span of ten seasons, where they lost four times (1957,1960,1963, and1964).

This was the sixth World Series contested between the Yankees and Dodgers; the Yankees had won each of the five prior matchups (1941,1947,1949,1952, and1953); each team had changed their manager several times (New York twice and Brooklyn thrice). New York managerCasey Stengel had played for the Dodgers from 1912 through 1917.

CatchersRoy Campanella (at left) andYogi Berra were the 1955 MVPs for the National League and American League, respectively.

The NL champion Dodgers, as managed by second-year skipperWalter Alston, finished the regular season with a record of 98–55,13+1⁄2 games ahead of theMilwaukee Braves. Offensive team leaders wereDuke Snider (.309batting average, 42home runs, 136RBIs, .628slugging percentage, and 1.046OPS) andRoy Campanella (.318 batting average, 32 home runs, 107 RBIs, .583 slugging percentage, and .978 OPS). PitcherDon Newcombe led the team in wins, with a 20–5 record, and233+2⁄3 innings pitched.^[2] Campanella was voted theNational League MVP, narrowly edging Snider.^[3]

The AL champion Yankees finished the regular season with a record of 96–58, three games ahead of theCleveland Indians. Offensive team leaders wereMickey Mantle (.306 batting average, 37 home runs, 99 RBIs, .611 slugging percentage, and 1.042 OPS),Yogi Berra (.272 batting average, 27 home runs, 108 RBIs, .470 slugging percentage, and .819 OPS), andBill Skowron (.319 batting average). PitcherWhitey Ford led the team in wins, with an 18–7 record, and253+2⁄3 innings pitched.^[4] Berra was voted theAmerican League MVP, while Mantle finished fifth.^[3]

NLBrooklyn Dodgers (4) vs. ALNew York Yankees (3)

In Game 1,Carl Furillo's leadoff home run in the second offWhitey Ford put the Dodgers up 1–0.Jackie Robinson then tripled with one out and scored onDon Zimmer's single, but in the bottom of the inning, after a walk, rookieElston Howard, in his first World Series at bat, homered to tie the game offDon Newcombe.Duke Snider's leadoff home run next inning put the Dodgers back in front 3–2 (which would eventually help establish a new HR record for a seven-game series at 17), but in the bottom half, the Yankees again tied the score onIrv Noren's RBI groundout with runners on second and third.Joe Collins's leadoff home run next inning put the Yankees ahead 4–3. His two-run home run in the sixth extended their lead to 6–3. In the eighth, after a single and error by third basemanGil McDougald put runners on second and third with one out, Zimmer's sacrifice fly scored a run, then Robinson stole home to cut the Yankees' lead to 6–5, but Ford pitched eight innings for the win whileBob Grim earned the save with a scoreless ninth to give the Yankees a 1–0 series lead.

Jackie Robinson's successful steal of home plate in the 8th inning became a subject of debate between baseball fans that still lingers today. For years, both Yogi Berra and Whitey Ford argued that Robinson was easily out, with Ford pointing out that he knew Robinson was far off of third base, and deliberately did a longer wind-up, instead of pitching from the stretch as pitchers normally do with runners on base, to entice Robinson into trying to steal home plate. Berra claimed that he was able to catch the ball and placed his glove in position for Robinson to slide into the tag. The official World Series newsreel footage was inconclusive, as well as all widely printed photographs. A lesser-known film taken of the play, filmed from the third-base side,^{[citation needed]} showed that Robinson's foot touched the third-base side of home plate, while Berra's glove, with the ball, was briefly on the first-base side before applying the tag, though many baseball fans, particularly Yankee fans, still argue otherwise.

In Game 2,Pee Wee Reese lead off the top of the fourth with a double and scored onDuke Snider's single offTommy Byrne, but in the bottom of the inning, after a two-out single and walk, back-to-back RBI singles byElston Howard andBilly Martin put the Yankees ahead. After a hit-by-pitch loaded the bases, Byrne's two-run single put the Yankees up 4–1 and knocked starterBilly Loes out of the game. The Dodgers got a run in the fifth onJim Gilliam's RBI single withJackie Robinson at third, but could not score again off Byrne, who pitched a complete game to give the Yankees a 2–0 series lead heading to Brooklyn.

In Game 3,Roy Campanella's two-run home run after a walk offBob Turley in the first put the Dodgers up 2–0, but in the second,Mickey Mantle, who only played in 3 games in this series,^[12] hit his only home run of the series.Bill Skowron then doubled and scored onPhil Rizzuto's two-out single to tie the game. In the bottom of the inning, two singles and a hit-by-pitch loaded the bases before walks toJim Gilliam off Turley andPee Wee Reese offTom Morgan put the Dodgers up 4–2. In the fourth with two on, Campanella's RBI single andCarl Furillo's sacrifice fly extended the Dodgers' lead to 6–2. In the top of the seventh, Rizzuto walked with two outs and scored onAndy Carey's triple, but in the bottom half,Jackie Robinson doubled with one out offTom Sturdivant and scored onSandy Amoros's single. After a forceout and walk, Reese's RBI single extended the Dodgers' lead to 8–3. Johnny Podres pitched a complete game as the Dodgers cut the Yankees' series lead to 2–1. This remains the last World Series game to be played in the month of September.

Gil McDougald's one-out home run in the first offCarl Erskine put the Yankees up 1–0. In the second,Joe Collins drew a leadoff walk, moved two bases on two groundouts, and scored onPhil Rizzuto's single. In the third,Sandy Amoros drew a leadoff walk offDon Larsen and scored onJim Gilliam's RBI double. In the top of the fourth, after a leadoff walk and single,Don Bessent relieved Erksine and allowed an RBI single toBilly Martin, but in the bottom of the inning,Roy Campanella hit a leadoff home run and after a single,Gil Hodges's two-run home run put the Dodgers up 4–3.Duke Snider's three-run home run next inning offJohnny Kucks extended their lead to 7–3. In the top of the sixth,Elston Howard hit a leadoff single offClem Labine and scored onBilly Martin's double. One out later,Eddie Robinson's RBI single cut the Dodgers' lead to 7–5, but the Dodgers added a run in the seventh on three consecutive leadoff singles by Campanella,Carl Furillo andGil Hodges offRip Coleman. Labine earned the win with4+1⁄3 innings to close as the Dodgers tied the series with an 8–5 win.

October 2, 1955, atEbbets Field inBrooklyn, New York

In Game 5,Sandy Amoros's two-run homer in the second offBob Grim put the Dodgers up 2–0. Next inning,Duke Snider's lead off home run made it 3–0. The Yankees got on the board in the fourth onBilly Martin's RBI single with two off rookieRoger Craig, but Snider's second home run of the game in the fifth gave the Dodgers that run back. Home runs byBob Cerv in the seventh off Craig andYogi Berra in the eighth offClem Labine cut the Dodgers' lead to 4–3, but Brooklyn added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth offBob Turley whenCarl Furillo hit a leadoff single, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt, and scored onJackie Robinson's single. Labine pitched2+2⁄3 innings in relief for Craig, who won his first World series start, for the save as the Dodgers were one win away from the championship. Snider became the only player from either league with four home runs in two different Series.

In Game 6, the Yankees scored all five of their runs in the first offKarl Spooner. After two walks, back-to-back RBI singles byYogi Berra andHank Bauer put them up 2–0 beforeBill Skowron capped the scoring with a three-run home run.Whitey Ford pitched a complete game, allowing one run (onCarl Furillo's RBI single in the fourth) and four hits as the Yankees forced a Game 7 with a 5–1 win.

The Dodgers scored the game's only runs on a fourth inning RBI single and sixth inning bases-loadedsacrifice fly, both byGil Hodges. The RBIs by Hodges were set up by a double byRoy Campanella in the fourth and a lead-off single byPee Wee Reese in the sixth — the only time a Dodgers lead-off hitter reached base in any inning. While Campanella scored on Hodges' two-out single, Reese had advanced to third on two bunts.

While being shut out byJohnny Podres, the Yankees, meanwhile, scattered eight hits over the six innings in which they were not retired in order. They only mustered one hit with runners in scoring position, though, which ironically was a base hit awarded toGil McDougald in the third inning, whenPhil Rizzuto was hit by a groundball while running the bases. Instead of batting in Rizzuto for a 1–0 Yankees lead, McDougald was thus ruled out to end the inning. Psychologically this may have marked a turning point for the Dodgers, whohad never beaten the Yankees in a World Series. PitcherCarl Erskine saw this play as "an omen", as such unfortunate miscues had usually been "the things that happened to us".^[13]

The Yankees would have three more scoring opportunities against Podres: In the fourth inning, a lead-off double byYogi Berra was wasted. Then, in the sixth inning, with runners on first and second and one out,left fielderSandy Amorós made a dramatic game-saving catch of a deep fly ball down the left field line off the bat ofYogi Berra to start adouble play. Amorós then threw toPee Wee Reese and Reese relayed toGil Hodges, who tagged YankeeGil McDougald before McDougald could get back to first. This possibly stymied the Yankees' best chance of the day.

The Yankees would threaten Podres one last time, when McDougald could not bring a runner in from third with only one out, hitting a short flyball to rightfield, one inning beforeElston Howard grounded out to Reese for the final out; the two shared the dubious record for playing in the most losing World Series (six each).

This would be the only time inJackie Robinson's career when he did not play in his team's World Series game.Don Hoak replaced Robinson in the line-up, and played third base.

For the first time in Series history, an MVP was selected—Johnny Podres, winning pitcher of Games 3 and 7. He won and pitched complete games in both of his starts including the series-clinching Game 7 shutout, and recorded 10 strikeouts, two earned runs off 15 hits, and a 1.00 ERA in 18 total innings pitched.

1955 World Series(4–3):Brooklyn Dodgers (N.L.) overNew York Yankees (A.L.)

In her epistolary book (and later stage and film adaptations)84 Charing Cross Road, the authorHelene Hanff reveals herself to be aBrooklyn Dodgers fan and asks her correspondent Frank Doel (along with family) to pray for the Dodgers' fortunes in the series: (sic.) "I shall be obliged if you will send Nora and the girls to church every Sunday for the next month to pray for the continued health and strength of the messrs. Gilliam, Reese, Snider, Campanella, Robinson, Hodges, Furillo, Podres, Newcombe and Labine, collectively known as The Brooklyn Dodgers. If they lose this World Series I shall Do Myself In and then where will you be?"

SingerBilly Joel referenced the Dodgers' victory in his single "We Didn't Start the Fire" with the line "Brooklyn's got a winning team".^[16]

Commemorating the 50th anniversary of the franchise winning its first World Series (and only one while in Brooklyn), theLos Angeles Dodgers held a "weekend celebration in August [of 2005 ...] for the 11 surviving members of the 1955" team.^[17]

The weekend before the anniversary, an autograph session was held inBensonhurst, Brooklyn, featuring Game 7 heroJohnny Podres and, interestingly, two Dodgers who were not on the 1955 team —Ralph Branca, who had left the club in 1953 before returning in 1956, andJoe Pignatano, who joined the Dodgers in 1957. He won the World Series in1959.^[17]

No official commemorative event, however, took place in Brooklyn on October 4, 2005 (the actual anniversary of the Dodgers' triumph), prompting authorThomas Oliphant to argue that "on both coasts, we could have done a little bit better, especially for such an important memory".^[17]

That being said, a small gathering of ten people took place at the site ofEbbets Field on October 4, 2005 "at 3:43 pm, 50 years to the minute from when the Brooklyn Dodgers won their only World Series."^[17]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".^[17]

For the Yankees, who appeared in and won five consecutive World Series titles from 1949 to 1953, this was the first loss for a Casey Stengel-led team. Like this fall classic, Stengel's final four trips as manager went the maximum seven games - they won a rematch against the Dodgersthe following year, then made three more trips to the World Series during Stengel's tenure - winning in1958 against theMilwaukee Braves after trailing 3–1 in the series, and losing in1957 against the aforementioned Braves. They also returned in1960, but lost to thePittsburgh Pirates on a walk-off home run in Game 7.

For the Dodgers, this was the peak of their success while based in Brooklyn. Three years later, they leftEbbets Field and moved to Los Angeles. A year after moving to Los Angeles, the Dodgers returned to theWorld Series and defeated theChicago White Sox in six games for their second championship. Then, they would play in 11 more World Series, winning six more titles, most recently in2025.

Dodgers pitcherJohnny Podres was the recipient of the very firstWorld Series Most Valuable Player Award.

As of 2025,Sandy Koufax, although he was not on the World Series roster, is the last living player from the 1955 Dodgers.

• 1955 Japan Series
• 1955 Global World Series

• Cohen, Richard M.; Neft, David S. (1990).The World Series: Complete Play-By-Play of Every Game, 1903–1989. New York: St. Martin's Press. pp. 254–258.ISBN 0-312-03960-3.
• Reichler, Joseph (1982).The Baseball Encyclopedia (5th ed.). Macmillan Publishing. p. 2163.ISBN 0-02-579010-2.

• 1955 World Series atWorldSeries.com viaMLB.com
• 1955 World Series atBaseball Almanac
• 1955 World Series atBaseball-Reference.com
• The 1955 Post-Season Games (box scores and play-by-play) atRetrosheet
• History of the World Series - 1955 atThe Sporting News. Archived fromthe original in May 2006.
• Kodak Presents – Baseball's 25 Greatest Moments: Brooklyn wins the World SeriesArchived February 4, 2005, at theWayback Machine
• 1955 World Series: Rare, Never-Seen – slideshow byLife magazine
• Drebinger, John (October 4, 1955)."For Brooklyn, This Is Next Year".The New York Times. RetrievedNovember 5, 2011.

• World Series
• 1955 Major League Baseball season
• Brooklyn Dodgers postseason
• New York Yankees postseason
• 1955 in sports in New York City
• September 1955 sports events in the United States
• October 1955 sports events in the United States
• Baseball competitions in New York City
• 1950s in the Bronx
• 1950s in Brooklyn
• Flatbush, Brooklyn

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from November 2013
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from October 2024
• Webarchive template wayback links