There’s was a lot of baseball — past, present and future — going on in Downtown Brooklyn the past week. Oh, sure, the games were being played out at Keyspan, but the pitcher who won the biggest game in Brooklyn history was in town, and, to borrow a line from Brooklyn-born playwright Arthur Miller, attention must be paid.
Fifty years ago, on Oct. 4, the Brooklyn Dodgers won their only World Series, and on the mound, shutting out the Yankees 2-0, was a 22-year-old left-hander from upstate Witherbee by the name of Johnny Podres.
On Aug. 10, Podres greeted admirers and signed autographs at a reception at the Commerce Bank branch at 215 Montague St., the address of the old Dodger offices and the place where Jackie Robinson signed his first major league contract. Podres was in town to help raise money for various charities, and to promote the book “Johnny Podres — Brooklyn’s Only Yankee Killer,” written by Bob Bennett, John Bennett and Robert S. Bennett.
Podres grew up a Dodger fan, and a fan of his father, who was the star pitcher for the town of Witherbee’s team.
Prior to the 1951 season, the Dodgers, who had scouted the young Podres, offered him a contract.
“As soon as I saw that contract, I said, ‘Give me a pen!’” said Podres as he informally spoke to fans at the Brooklyn Heights bank. “I didn’t care how much they were offering. I wanted to pitch for the Dodgers.”
After two years in the minors, Podres pitched for the Dodgers in 1953. He went 9-4 and helped his team to the World Series against the Yankees. The Dodgers lost that year, and Podres took a loss in his only appearance.
Two years later, the Dodgers were back in the Series, and Podres played a pivotal role. After his team dropped the first two games to the Yankees in the Bronx, he started the crucial third game back at Ebbets Field. Podres didn’t disappoint, allowing only two runs in a complete-game victory, turning the series around for the Bums.
The series ended up going seven games, and Podres was back to start the final contest at Yankee Stadium. By the fifth inning, his mates had given him a 2-0 lead.
In the sixth, the Dodgers had the bases loaded with two out. Brooklyn manager Walter Alston pinch hit George “Shotgun” Shuba for second baseman Don Zimmer. Shuba grounded out and Alston sent in Sandy Amoros to play left field, moving left fielder Junior Gilliam to second base. Billy Martin led off the inning and walked and Gil McDougald bunted for a hit to give the Yankees runners on first and second. Yogi Berra came up to bat.
“I wasn’t going to pitch him inside,” said Podres of Berra, a left-handed pull hitter. “Not with that short right field.”
Podres pitched him outside — way outside.
“Actually,” said Podres of his high and outside pitch to Berra, “it was a ball.”
Berra, who could hit hard just about any ball he could reach, sliced the pitch towards the left field corner, and Amoros, glove on his right hand, made a game-saving catch after a long run. He fired the ball to shortstop Pee Wee Reese, who then fired to Gil Hodges at first to double up McDougald, who had yet to make it back to the bag.
It is universally agreed that the left-handed and speedy Amoros made a catch on a ball that the right-handed Gilliam wouldn’t have reached.
“Now, how did Alston know to make that move?” Podres asked several times of fans at 215 Montague St.
When Podres asked the question, each time his voice and facial expression indicated that the question was rhetorical. Finally, one fan responded to the question.
“It must have been the man upstairs,” said the fan.
“It must have been the man upstairs,” echoed Podres.
In the eighth inning, the Yankees had men on first and third with two out and two strikes on Hank Bauer, who hit left-handers well. Podres reared back and threw a high fastball right by Bauer.
“It was a Sandy Koufax fastball, “explained Podres. “The best fastball I ever threw.”
After that strikeout, catcher Roy Campanella slammed the ball to the ground.
“Campy did that because he knew then that we had them,” said Podres.
An inning later, they were champions.
“It’s totally different than [winning] a regular season game, Podres said. “The excitement, the adrenaline.”
An autograph seeker commented that Podres was known as cocky.
“I wasn’t cocky,” replied the pitcher. “I was confident. Every time I went out there I thought I was going to win.”
During the World Series, that’s mostly what he did, compiling a 4-1 record.
Podres was staying at the Marriott just a few blocks away from the old Dodgers office, but the pitcher’s hips are bothering him and he has had six heart bypass operations, so he made the walk gingerly, resting every so often.
He greeted the invitation-only guests at the reception individually, bantering with them. When he spoke to the whole gathering, he told them how he had always wanted to pitch for Brooklyn, and he said his winning the Seventh Game saved some lives on the subways.
“From people jumping in front of them,” he joked.
Near the Downtown Brooklyn Marriott, is the Polytechnic University dormitory, at 33 Jay St.
The dorm houses the Brooklyn Cyclones, some of whom are 23 years old, the age Podres had just reached when he won the World Series for Brooklyn.
The Cyclones were unaware that the 1955 World Series Most Valuable Player was staying across the street, but the team he pitched for is still remembered vividly.
“We’re so remembered because it can never happen again,” said Podres of the ’55 champs. “We’re the only Brooklyn Dodger team that can ever win the World Series.”
