Description

Ticket stub from Game 7 of the 1958 World Series as the NY Yankees defeated the Milwaukee Braves 6-2. Recently graded "Good" 2 by PSA. For the fourth straight year, the World Series went the distance. Yankee manager Casey Stengel again chose Don Larsen to start Game 7. Larsen had only lasted 2+1⁄3 innings starting Game 7 in the 1957 World Series and once again lasted 2+1⁄3 innings in 1958. Braves right-hander Lew Burdette, who pitched a complete game win in Game 2 but gave up six runs in a Game 5 loss, started for the third time in the series. The Yankees failed to score in the first while the Braves tallied a single run on some lack of control by Larsen. Red Schoendienst led off with a single to left, Bill Bruton walked and Frank Torre sacrificed up both runners, Jerry Lumpe to Gil McDougald, who was covering first base. Hank Aaron walked loading the bases; things looking pretty good for the Braves thus far. Wes Covington grounded out to first but Schoendienst scored on the play. Eddie Mathews took an intentional pass, but Del Crandall struck out to end the threat. The Yankees struck back. Cleanup hitter Yogi Berra led off with a walk. Slow-footed but hustling Elston Howard laid down a sacrifice and, incredibly, was called safe on a poorly tossed throw by Torre to pitcher Burdette. Jerry Lumpe grounded again to Torre, who again threw too high to Burdette for another error, loading the bases. The left-handed hitting Torre got the start in place of veteran right-hander Joe Adcock. The next batter, Bill Skowron, forced Lumpe at second, scoring Berra and moving Howard to third. Tony Kubek lifted a sacrifice fly to left, scoring Howard giving the Yankees a 2–1 lead, which held up until the sixth. Two singles in the bottom of the third brought Stengel out to replace Larsen with a short-rested Bob Turley. The stocky right-hander escaped a bases-loaded situation and pitched superb ball the rest of the way. As in Game 6, the score was tied at two after six innings, when Del Crandall homered into the left-field stands with two outs, giving Braves fans a reason to cheer and promise of another title. But that hope would fade as the Yankees came to bat in the top of the eighth inning. With tiring Lew Burdette looking for another complete-game victory, they started an improbable two-out rally. After a McDougald fly out and Mickey Mantle looking at a called third strike, Berra doubled off the wall in the right-field corner. Howard followed with a run-scoring bouncer to center field. Andy Carey singled off Eddie Mathews' glove before Bill Skowron then delivered the back-breaker, a three-run homer to left-center field, to cap a storybook comeback. Other than a lead-off walk to Eddie Mathews and a 2-out pinch-hit single by Joe Adcock in the ninth, Milwaukee went quietly to sleep, and the Yankees had their 18th World Championship. Hank Bauer (a nine-Series veteran) led with most runs scored (six), most hits (ten), most home runs (four) and most runs batted in (eight). He also paced the victors with a .323 average. Despite less-than-stellar stats in his first four Classics (7-for-57 with a .123 avg.), he combined for 18 hits, six home runs, 14 RBI and a .290 average against the Braves in 1957 and 1958. Even so, Turley became the first relief pitcher to be named World Series MVP, going 2–1 with a save. 1958 marked the end of a tight run of World Series contests, with this being the fourth (and last) consecutive series to go the distance of seven games. In over a half century since 1958, there has never been a four-year span of seven-game series in a row.