getting on my back?” “Very simple,” said Stengel. “You’re a better player when you’re mad.” And he added, “I plan on keeping you mad.” After that disclosure, McDougald understood—and appreciated—the intuition that Stengel brought to his managing role.
The Japanese tour proved to be a turning point for McDougald in other ways as well. Phil Rizzuto did not make the trip, and Stengel asked Gil if he would be willing to try playing shortstop. Rizzuto was thirty-eight years old and showing signs of age. The need for a new shortstop was fast approaching. McDougald was an ideal candidate. He had already established himself as an All-Star third baseman and then, beginning in 1954, as an All-Star second baseman. There was thus ample reason to believe that McDougald could play shortstop as well.
Gil accepted Stengel’s invitation, and by the end of the tour sportswriters were reporting that McDougald “looms as the 1956 shortstop of the Bombers.” For his part, the twenty-seven-year-old player was excited about the prospective change. It was better than either second or third, he later explained, because “you’re at the center of the stage. You see every pitch. It’s easier to position yourself when you see every pitch that’s being called by the catcher. So you’re ready to move in whatever direction you feel according to the pitch and the batter.”
McDougald’s interest in the new position was reflected in his performance. By June, sportswriters were calling him “one of the finest shortstops of the major leagues” and saying that his “spectacular work has counted heavily in making the New York infield the finest producer of double plays in the majors.”
McDougald’s considerable fielding skills are of paramount importance as Don Larsen sends his second pitch to Jackie Robinson in the top of the second inning of the fifth game of the 1956 World Series—a fastball that drifts into the Dodger third baseman’s power zone. Robinson swings hard, and the ball zooms off the bat down the left side of the infield between third and short. Yankee third baseman Andy Carey leaps at the ball but can only tip it with the edge of his glove. The ball sails toward McDougald, who is, as he later recalled, “going into the hole” between third and short because he is not sure that Carey will reach the ball. As the ball flies off Carey’s glove, McDougald tries to catch it for the out. But the ball drops in front of him instead. With lightning speed, he picks the ball up on the short hop and fires it over to Joe Collins at first base. First-base umpire Hank Soar quickly gives the signal that McDougald’s throw has indeed beaten Robinson to the bag. To the veteran umpire, there is no question that Robinson reached first base after the ball did: “His foot was about six inches above the bag when Joe Collins caught the ball.”
In retrospect, both Carey and McDougald realized that fate had played a role in catching Robinson. “I was in the right place at the right time,” Carey later acknowledged. But another key factor was Robinson’s age. “We would have never gotten Robinson out,” Carey added, “if the game would have been played two or three years earlier when he still had his speed.”
Dodger first baseman Gil Hodges steps into the batter’s box as Larsen retrieves the ball from his infielders and prepares for his next pitch. Now thirty-two, Hodges is still regarded as the strongest man on the Brooklyn team, and he has also wielded a powerful bat up to that point in the series, hitting .500 (seven hits in fourteen at bats) and driving in eight runs (only one behind the World Series record set by former Yankee first baseman Lou Gehrig). Larsen’s first pitch is a fastball that misses the plate, but the second pitch is a fastball that catches the outside corner. Hodges swings hard but misses. With the count even at one ball and one strike, Berra proceeds to call for two sliders on the next
The Japanese tour proved to be a turning point for McDougald in other ways as well. Phil Rizzuto did not make the trip, and Stengel asked Gil if he would be willing to try playing shortstop. Rizzuto was thirty-eight years old and showing signs of age. The need for a new shortstop was fast approaching. McDougald was an ideal candidate. He had already established himself as an All-Star third baseman and then, beginning in 1954, as an All-Star second baseman. There was thus ample reason to believe that McDougald could play shortstop as well.
Gil accepted Stengel’s invitation, and by the end of the tour sportswriters were reporting that McDougald “looms as the 1956 shortstop of the Bombers.” For his part, the twenty-seven-year-old player was excited about the prospective change. It was better than either second or third, he later explained, because “you’re at the center of the stage. You see every pitch. It’s easier to position yourself when you see every pitch that’s being called by the catcher. So you’re ready to move in whatever direction you feel according to the pitch and the batter.”
McDougald’s interest in the new position was reflected in his performance. By June, sportswriters were calling him “one of the finest shortstops of the major leagues” and saying that his “spectacular work has counted heavily in making the New York infield the finest producer of double plays in the majors.”
McDougald’s considerable fielding skills are of paramount importance as Don Larsen sends his second pitch to Jackie Robinson in the top of the second inning of the fifth game of the 1956 World Series—a fastball that drifts into the Dodger third baseman’s power zone. Robinson swings hard, and the ball zooms off the bat down the left side of the infield between third and short. Yankee third baseman Andy Carey leaps at the ball but can only tip it with the edge of his glove. The ball sails toward McDougald, who is, as he later recalled, “going into the hole” between third and short because he is not sure that Carey will reach the ball. As the ball flies off Carey’s glove, McDougald tries to catch it for the out. But the ball drops in front of him instead. With lightning speed, he picks the ball up on the short hop and fires it over to Joe Collins at first base. First-base umpire Hank Soar quickly gives the signal that McDougald’s throw has indeed beaten Robinson to the bag. To the veteran umpire, there is no question that Robinson reached first base after the ball did: “His foot was about six inches above the bag when Joe Collins caught the ball.”
In retrospect, both Carey and McDougald realized that fate had played a role in catching Robinson. “I was in the right place at the right time,” Carey later acknowledged. But another key factor was Robinson’s age. “We would have never gotten Robinson out,” Carey added, “if the game would have been played two or three years earlier when he still had his speed.”
Dodger first baseman Gil Hodges steps into the batter’s box as Larsen retrieves the ball from his infielders and prepares for his next pitch. Now thirty-two, Hodges is still regarded as the strongest man on the Brooklyn team, and he has also wielded a powerful bat up to that point in the series, hitting .500 (seven hits in fourteen at bats) and driving in eight runs (only one behind the World Series record set by former Yankee first baseman Lou Gehrig). Larsen’s first pitch is a fastball that misses the plate, but the second pitch is a fastball that catches the outside corner. Hodges swings hard but misses. With the count even at one ball and one strike, Berra proceeds to call for two sliders on the next
Similar Books
