1957 Yankees

The defending champions came into 1957 with every reason to believe they'd run it back. Mickey Mantle had just won the Triple Crown. Don Larsen had thrown a perfect game in the World Series. The New York Yankees went 98-56 and won the pennant by eight games over Chicago -- the best run differential in baseball, the most runs scored in the American League, the fewest runs allowed. And none of it mattered in October, because a right-hander from Nitro, West Virginia named Lew Burdette shut them down three times in the World Series and handed the championship to Milwaukee.

Between those bookends -- the pennant race they dominated and the Series they lost -- the '57 club lived through a nightclub brawl, a scapegoat trade, a career-high batting average from their best player, and a shoulder injury that would shadow Mantle for the rest of his life. It was a strange season. The kind where winning 98 games still leaves you empty-handed.

The Roster

Yogi Berra caught 134 games and hit 24 home runs despite a dip to .251 at the plate. Hank Bauer slugged from right field. Bill Skowron provided power at first base. The infield had Billy Martin at second -- for a while, anyway -- and the depth that Casey Stengel demanded from every roster he assembled.

The pitching staff got a jolt in February when the club pulled off a seven-player trade with Kansas City, bringing in Bobby Shantz (who'd post a team-best 2.45 ERA) and Art Ditmar. Tom Sturdivant emerged as a genuine ace -- 16-6 with a 2.54 ERA across 201.2 innings, seven complete games, and a stretch of 31 consecutive scoreless innings through late May. Whitey Ford went 11-5 with a 2.57 ERA in a season shortened by arm trouble but remained the man Stengel trusted most when the lights got bright.

Mantle's Second Act

If 1956 was the explosion -- Triple Crown, unanimous MVP, the whole league on notice -- then 1957 was the confirmation. Mantle hit .365, the highest average of his career, better than the .353 that won him the batting title the year before. He clubbed 34 home runs and drove in 94 runs. Ted Williams, at 38 years old and refusing to age, hit .388 to steal the batting crown, but Mantle's overall production and the Yankees' first-place finish carried the MVP vote -- 233 points to Williams's 209.

On July 23, Mantle put the whole package on display in a single afternoon against the White Sox. He went 4-for-5, hitting for the cycle -- the 12th in franchise history -- with a home run that traveled roughly 465 feet and a bases-loaded triple in the seventh that broke the game open. Yankees 10, Chicago 6. The triple was the kind of hit that made scouts lose their breath. The home run was the kind that made them lose their words.

The Copa

Then there was the mess at the Copacabana.

May 16, 1957. Martin's 29th birthday. A group of Yankees -- Martin, Mantle, Berra, Bauer, Ford, plus wives and a couple of other players -- went to the Copacabana nightclub in Manhattan to see Sammy Davis Jr. perform. A group of drunk bowlers started heckling Davis, reportedly with racial slurs. Words got exchanged. Somebody threw a punch. A man named Edwin Jones ended up at Roosevelt Hospital with a broken nose and a broken jaw.

Hank Bauer took the blame in the press, though he always denied throwing the punch (and Jones later lost his lawsuit). Each player got fined $1,000. But GM George Weiss had been looking for an excuse to separate Martin from Mantle -- he'd long viewed Martin as a bad influence on the franchise player -- and the Copacabana gave him the opening.

On June 15, exactly 30 days after the brawl, Martin was traded to Kansas City along with Ralph Terry, Woodie Held, and Bob Martyn. The Yankees got Ryne Duren, Jim Pisoni, and Harry Simpson in return. Five players were at the Copa that night. One got shipped out. The math wasn't complicated -- Mantle was the MVP, Berra was the All-Star catcher, Ford was the staff ace, Bauer was a productive everyday player. Martin was the most expendable name on the list.

He didn't go quietly. The day after the trade, Martin homered in his first game against the Yankees in a Kansas City uniform. Two hits, three runs scored. KC lost 8-6, but Martin had made his point.

October Falls Apart

The World Series against Milwaukee started well enough. Ford threw a complete game in the opener at the Stadium -- five hits, 3-1 win, 69,476 in attendance. The club hammered the Braves 12-3 in Game 3 to take a 2-1 series lead. They looked like champions defending their crown.

Then Burdette happened. He'd beaten them 4-2 in Game 2 with a complete game. He shut them out 1-0 in Game 5 -- outdueling Ford, the run scoring on singles by Eddie Mathews, Hank Aaron, and Joe Adcock in the sixth. The Yankees clawed back to take Game 6, 3-2, forcing a seventh game. Burdette took the mound again on two days' rest and threw another shutout. Braves 5, Yankees 0. Three complete games, two shutouts, a 0.67 ERA across 27 innings. The most dominant individual pitching performance any of them had ever seen in a World Series.

The injury made it worse. During Game 5, Mantle tore a tendon in his left shoulder colliding with Braves second baseman Red Schoendienst. He played through Games 6 and 7, but the damage was done -- to his swing, to his body, to the trajectory of his career. The chronic knee problems from the 1951 World Series had already stolen his speed. Now the shoulder started taking the rest.

What Stayed Behind

The 1958 season would bring the rematch -- same two teams, same seven games, different ending. The Yankees would come back from a 3-1 deficit to beat Milwaukee and reclaim the championship. Revenge, when it arrived, tasted as good as any title the franchise had won.

But the 1957 season left marks that didn't wash off. Martin never forgave the organization for making him the scapegoat. Mantle's shoulder never fully healed. And the image of Burdette walking off the mound after Game 7 -- arms raised, County Stadium shaking around him -- became the picture of what it looked like when the Yankees got beat by the better team.

Ninety-eight wins. Best record in baseball. And it wasn't enough.

Frequently Asked Questions

What was the Yankees' record in 1957?

The Yankees went 98-56 (.636) and won the American League pennant by eight games over the Chicago White Sox. They led the AL in runs scored (723) and fewest runs allowed (534), giving them the best run differential in baseball at +189. Despite the dominant regular season, they lost the World Series to the Milwaukee Braves in seven games.

Why did the Yankees lose the 1957 World Series?

Lew Burdette. The Braves' right-hander threw three complete games in the Series, including shutouts in Games 5 and 7, finishing with a 0.67 ERA across 27 innings. Mickey Mantle also tore a tendon in his left shoulder during a Game 5 collision with Red Schoendienst, limiting his effectiveness in the final two games. The Braves won the Series four games to three.

Did Mickey Mantle win MVP in 1957?

Yes. Mantle won his second consecutive AL MVP award with a .365 batting average (career high), 34 home runs, and 94 RBI. He edged Ted Williams in the voting, 233 points to 209, despite Williams hitting .388 to win the batting title. The vote was controversial -- two writers left Williams off their ballots entirely.

What was the Copacabana incident in 1957?

On May 16, 1957, Billy Martin, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Hank Bauer, Whitey Ford, and their wives went to the Copacabana nightclub to see Sammy Davis Jr. A brawl broke out with a group of patrons, leaving one man hospitalized. GM George Weiss used the incident as justification to trade Martin to Kansas City on June 15, separating him from Mantle.