Perfection: A Look at the 1956 New York Yankees

On October 4, 1955, the New York Yankees were shut out in Game Seven of the World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers, handing the Dodgers their first championship and marking the first time that the Yankees lost the Fall Classic to the Dodgers. It was a shocking setback for the Casey Stengel-managed Bronx Bombers, but as the saying goes, "The best revenge is living well." In sports, when a team gets punched in the mouth, that motivates said team to hit back, and if any team knew how to hit back in explosive fashion, it was the New York Yankees.

The blasts came from all over the lineup, but the biggest impact came from the Magnificent Seven himself, Mickey Mantle. 1956 was Mantle's Triple Crown season, leading the league in batting average (.353), home runs (52), and RBIs (130). The iconic Yogi Berra hit 30 home runs of his own, and drove in 108 runs, while Bill "Moose" Skowron had 90 RBIs, along with 23 HRs and a .308 batting average. On the mound, Whitey Ford was the top ace, goint 19-6 and boasting an ERA of 2.47 and 141 strikeouts. The Yankees clinched the American League pennant on September 18, 1956, which saw Mantle hit his 50th HR of the season in a 3-2 win over the Chicago White Sox.

The Yankees finished the season at 97-57, nine games ahead of the second place Cleveland Indians. They would face off against the Brooklyn Dodgers in a rematch from the previous year, and was also the seventh Fall Classic meeting between the two clubs. The Yankees won five of the six meetings, but the Dodgers entered the World Series as the defending champions. They certainly played like it in the first two games at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, as the Dodgers took both games--winning Game One, 6-3, and winning Game Two, 13-8. The Series shifted to Yankee Stadium in The Bronx, and Whitey Ford made up for his Game One defeat with a Game Three victory. The Yankees would take Game Four by a score of 6-2, and all of a sudden, the Series was even.

And then, it happened.

The iconic pitching legend in this photo is Don James Larsen, whose MLB career began in 1953 as a member of the final St. Louis Browns team--the same team who lost 20 straight home games. The team moved to Baltimore and became the Orioles, with Larsen being part of the Orioles' first season before heading to the Yankees in 1955. During the 1956 season, Larsen went 11-5 with 107 strikeouts and a 3.26 ERA, but in Game Two of the World Series, he was clobbered by the Dodgers despite having a 6-0 lead. He was named as the starter for Game Five of the World Series, which took place on October 8, 1956. Larsen looked to avenge his very short outing in Game Two. Boy, did he! Zeroes across the board. Only Pee Wee Reese had a three ball count against him, and that was in the first inning! Seven strikeouts, 97 pitches, and the 27th and final out came when Dale Mitchell (who was pinch-hitting--and batting .312) took a called strike three.

Yogi Berra leapt into Larsen's arms, a very legendary moment in baseball even to this day. The Yankees took a 3-2 Series lead with their 2-0 win, but the most important attribute was the history that was acheived. Don Larsen pitched a perfect game. The only perfecto ever pitched in World Series history. The Series went back to Brooklyn, with the Dodgers winning, 1-0 in 10 innings, thanks to Jackie Robinson's walk-off RBI single. Game Seven, however, saw the Bronx Bombers live up to that nickname. Four home runs--two of them from Yogi Berra, leading to a 9-0 victory, with Robinson striking out in what would be his final at bat in his career, as well as the final World Series game played in Brooklyn.

The Yankees clinched their 17th World Championship on October 10, 1956, two days after Don Larsen's perfecto. Not surprisingly, Larsen was named MVP, and would play three more seasons with the Yankees, winning another World Series in 1958. The rest of Larsen's career would see him with the Kansas City Athletics, San Francisco Giants, Houston Colt. 45/Astros, and back with the Orioles before ending his career as a Chicago Cub in 1967. Larsen (who passed away on New Year's Day 2020) actually finished with a career record of 81-91, but his World Series perfecto remains one of the most iconic moments in baseball history. Only two other postseason no-hitters have been pitched since then: Game One of the 2010 NLDS (the late Roy Halladay), and Game Four of the 2022 World Series (a combined no-hitter).

The Yankees and Dodgers would meet in four more Fall Classics, but 1956 was the Dodgers' final appearance in Brooklyn. The team moved to Los Angeles in 1958, and regarding the overall tally, the Yankees won eight of their 11 World Series meetings with the Dodgers, though it's a 2-2 split since the Dodgers moved out West, and the Blue Crew actually won the most recent meeting in 1981. 1956's Fall Classic was definitely one for the books. In fact, one could say that it was absolutely, well, perfect.