Yankees vs. Dodgers: The most frequent World Series rivalry through the years

Brooklyn responded with its own 1-0 victory in Game 2, with Preacher Roe outlasting Vic Raschi. Game three was tied 1-1 in the ninth inning as the Yankees scored three times and then held on for a 4-3 victory. Brooklyn was on the ropes and New York went in for the kill, outscoring Newcombe again in Game 4 and then taking a 10-1 lead in Game 5 and holding on for a 10-6 victory in the decider.

The rivalry resumed in 1952, starting a run of four Subway Series in five years. Stengel’s Yankees won three of them, failing only in 1955, when the “Wait until next year!” The Dodgers finally captured their first World Series championship.

Brooklyn led the ’52 Series 3-2 before home runs by Berra and Mickey Mantle in Game 6 helped New York stay alive. Mantle’s home run and RBI single had New York clinging to a 4-2 lead in Game 7 as the Dodgers loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the seventh. Robinson hit an infield fly ball that looked destined to fall before second baseman Billy Martin made a mad dash to corral him for the third out. Brooklyn was never a threat again and the Yankees won their fourth consecutive World Series title.

The Stengel dynasty claimed its fifth consecutive title in 1953, once again dispatching the Dodgers. Martin’s RBI in the bottom of the ninth sealed the win in Game 6, and the future Yankees manager hit .500 in the Series.

After a year off, the Subway Series resumed in 1955 and finally, after five tries, Brooklyn defeated the Yankees. The Dodgers also became the first team in Series history to lose the first two games and recover to capture the title. The star was left-hander Johnny Podres, who won Game 3 to start the Dodgers’ recovery and Game 7 to clinch the title. Gil Hodges drove in two runs and Brooklyn had a 2-0 lead when rookie manager Walt Alston made a defensive change in the sixth inning, sending Cuban Sandy Amorós to play left field.

With two runners on base, Amorós was positioned toward center when Berra sent a cutting ball down the left field line. Amoros chased after him, stuck out his glove to catch him and then passed the ball to Pee Wee Reese, who threw to Hodges, completing a double play that ended the play. Podres took the lead from there and finally, the next year he had arrived in Brooklyn.

A year later, Yankees right-hander Don Larsen pitched a perfect game, the first no-hitter in World Series history. Larsen had been knocked out in the second inning of Game 2, but returned in Game 5 to pitch his gem. He only needed 97 pitches, and when plate umpire Babe Pinelli called pinch-hitter Dale Mitchell for strike three, Berra bolted into his arms.

The Dodgers responded with Clem Labine, primarily a reliever, pitching 10 innings in a 1-0 victory. The Yankees came back to claim another title, taking advantage of a Bill Skowron grand slam and Johnny Kucks’ tight pitching to win 9-0 in Game 7. It was the last game of Robinson’s career and the last time Brooklyn hosted a World Series. .

After the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in 1957, the rivalry cooled until 1963, when a coast-to-coast showdown took place. This time, the Dodgers avenged all the old disappointment with a four-game sweep. In the first game, Sandy Koufax struck out 15, breaking Erskine’s series record. Podres won Game 2 4-1 and then Los Angeles completed the sweep at home when Don Drysdale shut out New York 1-0 and Koufax came back to win 2-1.

In 1977, free agency had changed the face of baseball and the biggest prize at the beginning of that era was slugger Reggie Jackson, who signed with the Yankees.

Jackson’s relationship with manager Martin was controversial, but in the World Series against the Dodgers, the outfielder made his place in Series history. In the decisive sixth game, Jackson hit three home runs, each on the first pitch, tying a Series record set by Babe Ruth. His five home runs in the Series helped the Yankees win another world championship and earned Jackson the nickname Mr. October.

The two teams returned for the 1978 Series and the Dodgers took the lead, sealing the second when Jackson struck out for the final out of the game. But the Yankees weren’t done. They returned to New York and won the next four games, becoming the first team in the Series to lose the first two and then win the Series in six games.

The next time they met, in 1981, the Dodgers reversed the outcome, losing the first two games and then winning four in a row to capture the crown. Were the Yankees frustrated? Well, owner George Steinbrenner got into a dispute over the hotel elevator with some fans and walked out with his hand in a cast.

Now, 43 years later, with two very different casts, the rivalry resumes. It’s no longer a Subway series, but it’s still compelling because of the story it had already written.

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Hal Bock was an AP sports writer from 1963 to 2004 and covered 30 World Series for The Associated Press.

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