October 4, 1955. A Tuesday afternoon at Yankee Stadium. 62,465 fans packed the old ballpark, most of them expecting what always happened when Brooklyn showed up in October -- the Dodgers would find a way to lose. They'd done it five times against the Yankees. Five World Series. Five defeats. "Wait 'til next year" had become less a slogan and more a diagnosis. But Johnny Podres didn't care about history, and he didn't care about the ghosts. The 23-year-old left-hander shut the New York Yankees out 2-0 in Game 7, and Brooklyn -- the entire borough, every bar and stoop and street corner -- exploded.
Five Times Bitten
The Dodgers' relationship with the Yankees in October was less a rivalry and more a recurring punishment. They'd lost in 1941, 1947, 1949, and back-to-back in . The was the worst -- it capped the Yankees' five consecutive championships and left Brooklyn fans wondering if the baseball gods had something personal against Flatbush.
The 1955 Dodgers weren't a team that needed pity. Roy Campanella, Pee Wee Reese, Duke Snider, Gil Hodges, Jackie Robinson -- the lineup was loaded with Hall of Fame talent. Don Newcombe anchored the rotation. Walter Alston, in his second year managing, kept the clubhouse steady. They'd won the National League pennant going away and arrived in the Series looking nothing like a team that was supposed to lose. But they were playing the Yankees, and history is heavy when you're carrying five October funerals on your back.
Games 1 and 2: The Script Holds
The Series opened at Yankee Stadium, and the first two games followed the script Brooklyn knew by heart.
Game 1 went to the Yankees 6-5, though Jackie Robinson nearly stole the show -- and home plate. In the eighth inning, with the Dodgers trailing, the 36-year-old Robinson broke from third and stole home. Yogi Berra swore he was out. The umpire, Bill Summers, said safe. Berra argued it for the rest of his natural life (and he wasn't wrong -- the footage is genuinely inconclusive). Robinson's steal didn't change the outcome, but it announced something: these Dodgers weren't going quietly.
Game 2 went to the Yankees 4-2. Two games at the Stadium, two Bronx wins. The obituary writers in Brooklyn sharpened their pencils.
The Ebbets Field Turnaround
Then the Series went to Brooklyn, and the Dodgers found their footing on familiar ground.
Podres won Game 3 behind strong pitching and timely offense. The Dodgers took Games 4 and 5 at Ebbets Field too -- three straight victories that gave them a 3-2 series lead and, for the first time in anyone's memory, the upper hand against the Yankees in October.
The Series shifted back to the Bronx for Game 6. Whitey Ford kept the Yankees alive with a 5-1 win -- doing exactly what a staff ace was supposed to do with the season on the line. It was 3-3. Game 7 would decide everything.
Game 7: Podres and Amoros
Alston handed the ball back to Podres on three days' rest. Casey Stengel countered with Tommy Byrne. The crowd at Yankee Stadium was enormous, nervous, and loud.
Gil Hodges drove in both Brooklyn runs -- a sacrifice fly in the fourth and an RBI single in the sixth. Podres scattered eight hits but kept bending without breaking, working out of trouble with the kind of composure that had no business belonging to a 23-year-old pitching the biggest game of his life.
The play that saved everything came in the bottom of the sixth. With runners on first and second and nobody out, Berra sliced a fly ball down the left-field line. It looked like a sure double -- the kind of hit that would blow the game open. Sandy Amoros, a defensive replacement who'd just entered the game, sprinted toward the left-field corner at full speed, extended his glove hand (he was left-handed, which mattered -- a right-handed fielder couldn't have made the catch), and hauled it in at the railing. He wheeled and fired to Reese at shortstop, who relayed to Hodges at first to double off Gil McDougald. The rally was dead. The game was over in every way that mattered, even though three innings remained.
Podres retired the side in the seventh. The eighth. Then the ninth.
| Series Result | Brooklyn Dodgers 4, Yankees 3 |
| Game 7 Score | Dodgers 2, Yankees 0 |
| Game 7 WP | Johnny Podres (CG, 8 H, 0 R) |
| Game 7 LP | Tommy Byrne |
| World Series MVP | Johnny Podres (first ever) |
| Key Play | Sandy Amoros catch, 6th inning, Game 7 |
| Robinson's Steal of Home | Game 1, 8th inning |
The First World Series MVP
The MVP award was brand new in 1955 -- nobody had ever received one before. Podres was the obvious and only choice. He'd won Game 3, then come back to shut out the Yankees in Game 7 on short rest. A complete game. Two runs. Zero panic. The kid from Witherbee, New York, a mining town in the Adirondacks, had just delivered the most consequential pitching performance in Brooklyn Dodgers history.
His regular season record had been modest -- 9-10, nothing that suggested October heroics. But Podres in the World Series was a different animal entirely. He didn't throw hard. He located, changed speeds, and trusted his defense. It shouldn't have worked against a lineup featuring Mickey Mantle, Berra, and Hank Bauer. It did.
What It Meant
For Brooklyn, the celebration was unlike anything the borough had experienced. People poured into the streets. Strangers embraced on Flatbush Avenue. The Daily News headline -- "THIS IS NEXT YEAR" -- said it all. Two decades of October failure, five World Series losses to the same team, years of "wait 'til next year," and it was finally, actually, next year.
For the Yankees, the loss broke a streak of October dominance that stretched back to 1942. The franchise hadn't lost a World Series in 13 years. Stengel had won five rings and made it to the Fall Classic six times in seven seasons. Losing to Brooklyn -- to the team they'd beaten over and over again -- wasn't supposed to happen.
Mantle's (.306, 37 HR, league-leading 1.042 OPS) hadn't translated to October. The 1955 club was built to win, and it did -- 96 games' worth. The World Series was the one thing it couldn't finish.
The Yankees got their revenge in 1956, beating the Dodgers in a seven-game rematch that featured and Mantle's Triple Crown. But Brooklyn didn't care about 1956. They had 1955, and nobody could take it from them.
Two years later, the Dodgers left for Los Angeles. The borough never got another World Series. The 1955 title remains the only one Brooklyn ever saw -- one championship, in the last good years before the team moved west. It was enough. It had to be.
Game 1: Robinson Steals Home
Jackie Robinson steals home in the 8th inning. Yogi Berra argues the call. The Yankees win 6-5, but Robinson's daring sets the tone for the Series.
Game 2: Yankees Lead 2-0
The Yankees take Game 2 at the Stadium, 4-2. The familiar script -- Brooklyn loses the first two -- appears intact.
Games 3-5: Brooklyn Wins Three Straight
The Dodgers take all three games at Ebbets Field, including Podres' Game 3 victory, to grab a 3-2 series lead.
Game 6: Ford Keeps Yankees Alive
Whitey Ford pitches the Yankees to a 5-1 win, forcing a decisive Game 7.
Game 7: Podres Shuts the Door
Johnny Podres throws a complete-game shutout. Sandy Amoros makes the catch. Brooklyn wins its first -- and only -- World Series championship.
Frequently Asked Questions
When did the Brooklyn Dodgers win their only World Series?
The Brooklyn Dodgers won their only World Series championship in 1955, defeating the Yankees 4 games to 3. Johnny Podres threw a complete-game shutout in Game 7 at Yankee Stadium to clinch the title. The Dodgers relocated to Los Angeles after the 1957 season, making 1955 their sole championship while based in Brooklyn.
Did Jackie Robinson really steal home in the 1955 World Series?
Yes. Robinson stole home in the 8th inning of Game 1 on September 28, 1955. Umpire Bill Summers called him safe, but Yankees catcher Yogi Berra vehemently disagreed and argued the call was wrong for the rest of his life. Film of the play remains inconclusive, and the debate has never been settled.
Who was the first World Series MVP?
Johnny Podres of the Brooklyn Dodgers was the first player to receive the World Series MVP award, which was introduced in 1955. Podres won Games 3 and 7 of the Series, with his Game 7 complete-game shutout clinching Brooklyn's first championship.
How many times did the Dodgers lose the World Series to the Yankees before 1955?
The Dodgers lost the World Series to the Yankees five times before finally winning in 1955: in 1941, 1947, 1949, 1952, and 1953. The repeated losses gave rise to the Brooklyn rallying cry "Wait 'til next year."