The1962 World Series was thechampionship series ofMajor League Baseball's (MLB)1962 season. The 59th edition of the World Series, it was abest-of-seven playoff that matched the defendingAmerican League (AL) and World Series championNew York Yankees against theNational League (NL) championSan Francisco Giants. The Yankees won the series in seven games for the 20th championship in team history. It is best remembered for its dramatic conclusion in Game 7; with runners on second and third base and two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, the Giants’Willie McCovey hit a hard line drive that was caught by Yankees second basemanBobby Richardson to preserve New York's one-run victory. Yankees pitcherRalph Terry was named theWorld Series Most Valuable Player.

The Giants had won their first NL pennant since 1954 and first since moving from New York in 1958. They advanced by defeating theLos Angeles Dodgers in athree-game playoff. The Giants had a higher cumulativebatting average (.226 to .199) and lowerearned run average (2.66 to 2.95), had more hits (51 to 44),runs (21 to 20), hit morehome runs (5 to 3),triples (2 to 1) anddoubles (10 to 6), yet lost the Series. They would not return to the World Series for another27 years.

The Yankees had won their first World Series in 1923; of the 40 Series played between 1923 and 1962, the Yankees won half. After a long dominance of the World Series picture, the Yankees would not win another World Series for15 years despite appearances in1963,1964, and1976.

This World Series, which was closely matched in every game, is also remembered for its then-record length of 13 days, caused by postponements due to rain in both cities.

ALNew York Yankees (4) vs. NLSan Francisco Giants (3)

NOTE: the series was originally scheduled to begin October 3, but was moved back one day due to the three-game playoff between the Giants and Dodgers to determine the National League pennant.
†: postponed from October 9 due to rain
††: postponed from October 11 due to rain

Roger Maris' two-run double in the first inning offBilly O'Dell set up Yankee starterWhitey Ford with a lead, butWillie Mays scored for the Giants onJose Pagan's single in the second, ending Ford's record World Series consecutive scoreless inning streak at33+2⁄3.Chuck Hiller's double andFelipe Alou's single in the third tied the game, but the Yankees broke the tie in the seventh onClete Boyer's home run. Next inning,Dale Long followed a single and hit-by-pitch with an RBI single to make it 4–2 Yankees and knock O'Dell out of the game. Boyer's sacrifice fly offDon Larsen extended their lead to 5–2. The Yankees got a final run in the ninth onElston Howard's RBI single offStu Miller, the run charged to Larsen. Ford's complete-game victory was the first of six in the series, four for the Yankees and two for the Giants.

The Giants scored two runs in Game 2, in the first whenChuck Hiller hit a leadoff double offRalph Terry and scored on two ground outs, then in the seventh when Willie McCovey smashed a tremendous home run over the right-field fence to boost 24-game winnerJack Sanford to a 2–0 shutout of the Yankees, who managed only three hits.

The Yankees ended a scoreless tie in the seventh with three runs. After two leadoff singles,Roger Maris drove a base hit off starterBilly Pierce for two runs, then after moving to third on a sacrifice fly, he scored the eventual winning run onClete Boyer's groundout offDon Larsen when the Giants were unable to turn an inning-ending double play. Giants catcherEd Bailey's two-run home run in the top of the ninth offBill Stafford left them a run short.

For the second time in as many games, a Giants catcher stroked a two-run home run, whenTom Haller hit one off Whitey Ford in the second inning. After the Yankees tied the score at 2–2 in the sixth on back-to-back walks off relieverBobby Bolin followed by back-to-back RBI singles byBill Skowron andClete Boyer, second basemanChuck Hiller hit the first National Leaguegrand slam in World Series history in the seventh offMarshall Bridges with two of the runs charged to relieverJim Coates. The Giants scored another run in the ninth off Bridges whenMatty Alou hit a leadoff single, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt, and scored onChuck Hiller's single. The Yankees got that run back on three straight two-out singles offBilly O'Dell, the last an RBI single byTom Tresh, butMickey Mantle hit into a forceout to end the game as the Giants won 7–3. This game marked the only World Series appearance forJuan Marichal, who started for the Giants. Marichal smashed the thumb on his pitching hand while attempting to bunt in the top of the fifth, and was placed on the disabled list for the remainder of the series.

Don Larsen was the winning pitcher in relief, six years to the day after (and in the same stadium of) hisperfect game in the1956 World Series.

The Giants' win tied the series at two games apiece and guaranteed a return trip to San Francisco.

Games 5 and 6 were postponed by rain. Game 5 atNew York was pushed back one day, but Game 6 in San Francisco was pushed back four days due to torrential rain on the West Coast. Three of the longest World Series in terms of total days, due to various postponements, involved the Giants: the1911 and the1989 were the other two.

In Game 5, hot-hittingJosé Pagán hit a leadoff single in the third offRalph Terry, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt, then scored onChuck Hiller's RBI single. After a wild pitch fromJack Sanford tied the game in the fourth, Pagan's home run in the fifth put the Giants back in front 2–1, but another wild pitch in the sixth by Sanford tied the game again. In the eighth,Bobby Richardson andTony Kubek hit back-to-back singles beforeTom Tresh hit the game-winning three-run home run. The Giants scored a run in the ninth whenWillie McCovey hit a leadoff single and scored onTom Haller's one-out double, but Terry retired the next two hitters to end the game. With the series returning toSan Francisco the Yankees had the edge, three games to two, only to have the sixth game delayed four days by rain.

In a battle of left-handed starting pitchers,Billy Pierce outdueledWhitey Ford with a complete-game three-hitter as the Giants evened the series at three wins apiece with a 5–2 victory. They struck first in the fourth when after a single and walk, an error on an attempted pickoff by Ford allowed a run to score, thenOrlando Cepeda's double andJim Davenport's single scored a run each. They added to their lead next inning on RBI singles byFelipe Alou and Cepeda. The Yankees' only runs came on a Maris home run in the fifth inning and an RBI single by Tony Kubek in the eighth inning after a one-out double.

The only run of this classic game came in the fifth inning whenTony Kubek grounded into a double play,Bill Skowron scoring from third.Ralph Terry, pitching the seventh game instead ofJim Bouton because of the rain delays, had given upBill Mazeroski's Series-winningwalk-off home run two years earlier inPittsburgh, but in his third start stifled the Giants' power hitters. In the bottom of the ninth, pinch-hitterMatty Alou, batting for relieverBilly O'Dell, led off the inning with a bunt hit after first having a foul ball dropped, but Terry struck out the next two batters, Felipe Alou and Hiller. Mays hit a double into the right-field corner, but Maris played the carom well, then hit cutoff man Richardson with a throw that was quickly relayed home. Alou, aware of Maris' strong arm, stopped at third. FacingWillie McCovey with two outs, Terry elected to pitch to him rather than walk thebases loaded, which would have brought up sluggerOrlando Cepeda. Terry's inside fastball on the second pitch handcuffed McCovey, who nonetheless adjusted his bat in mid-swing to extend his arms and hit a bullet right at Richardson for the final out. Terry was named theWorld Series MVP after posting a 2–1 record with two complete games pitched, a shutout, 16 strikeouts, five earned runs off 17 hits, and a 1.80 ERA in 25 innings pitched.

The Yankees won their 20th World Series; they would not win another until 1977. The Giants would not win another National League pennant until 1989, when they would lose the World Series to the Oakland A's ina series interrupted by a major earthquake. San Francisco returned to the World Series in2002 but lost in seven games to theAnaheim Angels. The San Francisco Giants would finally win the World Series for the first time in2010 (againstTexas) their first since 1954 when they were still located in New York. They would go on to win two more in2012 (againstDetroit) and again in2014 (againstKansas City).

1962 World Series(4–3):New York Yankees (A.L.) overSan Francisco Giants (N.L.)

Ralph Terry gets set. Here's the pitch toWillie. There's a liner straight toRichardson! The ballgame is over and the World Series is over!

The season was a high-mark for Dark in San Francisco, despite some close brushes for further success. Despite winning 88 and 90 games in the next two years, the Giants could only take solace in finishing in the top division of the National League (until division play was instituted in 1969), and Dark was fired after the 1964 season; until 1972, the Giants would finish fourth or better. They would return to the World Series in1989, but were swept by theOakland Athletics in the only all-Bay Area Fall Classic. They would also return in2002, but they lost to theAnaheim Angels in seven games after being six outs away from the championship in Game 6, and the Giants’ collapse in the 2002 series has been cited as another manifestation of theCurse of Coogan's Bluff. The Giants would finally bring the first Series championship to San Francisco in2010. During Ring Night ceremonies in April 2011, Mays, McCovey, and Cepeda received honorary 2010 World Series rings.

The Yankees would return to the World Series the next two seasons for Houk and then Berra when the former moved to the front office in1963 and1964, but lost both to theLos Angeles Dodgers andSt. Louis Cardinals respectively. Then, the Yankee dynasty soon began to crumble under the chains of retiring players and new management, which resulted in a 15 year championship drought.

For thePeanuts comic strip of December 22, 1962, cartoonist and Giants fanCharles M. Schulz depictedCharlie Brown sitting glumly withLinus, lamenting in the last panel, "Why couldn't McCovey have hit the ball just three feet higher?"^[9] The January 28, 1963, strip featured a nearly identical scene, except in the last panel Charlie Brown moaned, "Or why couldn't McCovey have hit the ball eventwo feet higher?"^[10]

During the1981 Major League Baseball strike, Giants radio flagshipKNBR rebroadcast Game 7, electronically re-editing NBC Radio announcer George Kell's description to make it sound as if McCovey's ninth-inning liner had gotten past Richardson, with Alou and Mays scoring to win the game and Series for San Francisco.^[11]

The1962 Dodgers and Giants were the first among California MLB teams to win100 games in a season. In such seasons by theGiants,Dodgers,Athletics, andAngels (thePadres have yet to win 100 games in a season), those teams have won 100 games or more 17 times, but did not win a World Series in any of those seasons. To date, no California team to has won a World Series with 100 wins or more in a single-season.

• 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. 292–297.ISBN 0-312-03960-3.
• Reichler, Joseph (1982).The Baseball Encyclopedia (5th ed.). Macmillan Publishing. p. 2170.ISBN 0-02-579010-2.
• Forman, Sean L."1962 World Series".Baseball-Reference.com – Major League Statistics and Information.Archived from the original on November 30, 2007. RetrievedDecember 9, 2007.

• 1962 Japan Series

• Iamarino, John (October 21, 2021).Seven Games in '62: The Yankees and Giants Square Off in a Classic World Series.McFarland & Company.ISBN 9781476645100.

• 1962 World Series atWorldSeries.com viaMLB.com
• 1962 World Series atBaseball Almanac
• 1962 World Series atBaseball-Reference.com
• The 1962 Post-Season Games (box scores and play-by-play) atRetrosheet
• History of the World Series - 1962 atThe Sporting News. Archived fromthe original in May 2006.
• Kodak Presents – Baseball's 25 Greatest Moments: Willie McCovey Lines OutArchived March 9, 2005, at theWayback Machine

• World Series
• 1962 Major League Baseball season
• New York Yankees postseason
• San Francisco Giants postseason
• Baseball competitions in San Francisco
• 1962 in sports in California
• 1962 in sports in New York City
• 1962 in San Francisco
• October 1962 sports events in the United States
• Baseball competitions in New York City
• 1960s in the Bronx

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from November 2013
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Webarchive template wayback links