1954 New York Giants

  In the first couple decades of the World Series era, the baseball landscape in New York was dominated not by the Yankees, but by the Giants. By the 1920's, the Giants had accumulated 8 pennants and the 1905 title. The apex of their domination came when they won back-to-back titles in 1921 and '22 over their AL counterpart Yankees. Then, the Yankees began winning and while the Giants won an additional title in 1933, it wasn't too long before the Yankees became not just the #1 team in New York but in all of baseball. By the 1950's the Giants were setting up to head out west to San Francisco, but not before they managed one more climb to the top while on the east coast.

Leo Durocher managed his squad to a 97-57 record, holding off the cross town rivals in Brooklyn by 5 games to claim the NL pennant for the 17th time. Over in the AL, the Yankees had finally been bested when the Cleveland Indians won an AL record 111 games, but the Giants would keep the city's WS streak alive at least.

Game 1 saw the Indians jump to a 2-0 lead, but the Giants scratched a couple runs across in the 3rd inning to take a tie game into the late innings. The Indians led off the 8th inning with a walk and a single to bring up Vic Wertz where he socked a deep fly 420 feet into Centerfield. Luckily for the Giants, Willie Mays was patrolling out there as he ran down the ball with his back to the infield and made an over the shoulder catch. Mays then had to quickly spin and hurl the ball back to the infield because there was now only 1 out and he was about 450 feet in no mans land with runners trying to advance during a tied World Series game. "The Catch" is considered to be one of the most definitive plays in baseball history.

The Giants escaped the 8th inning without allowing any runs and the game went into extra innings where Durocher's favorite pinch hitter Dusty Rhodes stepped in and hit a walk-off homer to win the game 5-2. The Giant's would claim Game 2 with a 3-1 victory, featuring another Dusty Rhodes homer, the final World Series game for the Polo Grounds as the scene would shift to Cleveland. Rhodes would continue his pinch hitting dramatics with a bases loaded single that scored 2 and proved to be the winning hit in the 6-2 win.

Game 4 saw the Giants run out a 7-0 lead. The Indians attempted a rally to catch up, but the Giants held them off to the tune of 7-4 to complete the sweep and claim their 5th World Series championship. It was the swan song moment for the "Baseball Giants" before their relocation to California in 1957, and their final World Series before 1989, and their final title until 2010. The Indians may have suffered more notable droughts in those categories. It would be the lone title won by the teams future Hall of Famers Mays, Monte Irvin and Hoyt Wilhelm as well as the lone title for Leo Durocher as a Manager.

Between his rookie season and military service, Mays had yet to put in a full season of work until 1954, and he made it count with an MVP campaign. The all star would lead baseball with a .345 Average, lead the NL with 13 Triples and lead the Giants with 119 Runs, 8 Stolen Bases, 41 Home Runs and 110 RBI.

Al Dark had a solid offensive season for a Shortstop. He also made the trip tot he all star game and ended up finishing 5th for MVP where someone gave him a 1st place vote.

Mueller was the last of the trio of offensive all stars. He led baseball with 212 Hits and his .342 Average was 2nd only to Willie Mays.

The other regulars. Westrum was more of a platoon option at Catcher along with Ray Katt, but Westrum ended up with the majority of the playing time.

Bench for the champion Jints. Katt as mentioned was in the lower end of the Catcher platoon, but for what it's worth he put up better numbers.

Antonelli was the ace with his team high 21 Wins and 152 Strikeouts in 258.2 Innings. He led all of baseball with a 2.30 ERA and 6 Shutouts as he finished 3rd for MVP. The all star got the ball in Game 2 against Cleveland and didn't disappoint, going the distance in the 3-1 victory. He was called upon in relief in Game 4 to notch the Save and complete the sweep.

The Starters behind Antonelli in the rotation. Gomez and Liddle picked up Wins in the World Series while Maglie picked up a few MVP votes while being called upon to start Game 1 in the fall classic.

Grissom pulled off 17 Saves to earn the Closer title for the Giants. In the World Series he was called upon in Game 1 to keep the game tied in extras and was blessed with the Win after Rhodes hit his walk-off.

The future Hall of Famer was a major piece of New York's pitching staff, getting 12 Wins and 7 Saves out of the bullpen. He came on in Game 3 against Cleveland to pick up another Save, then helped bridge the gap in Game 4 between Liddle and Antonelli to help complete the sweep.

Other pitching options. Shout out to the team photos that have proper player identification.

Dusty Rhodes seldom started, but he put up some solid numbers as primarily a Pinch-Hitter. How many full time bench guys have you heard of getting even 1 MVP vote? The '54 World Series was the final one before a series MVP would be awarded, but no one questioned that it would go to Rhodes if available. He went deep twice in the World Series, the only Giant to do so, including the walk-off in Game 1 that was overshadowed by the Mays catch. Despite not starting any of the games (and not playing at all in Game 4), Rhodes was the stand alone star offensively of the series going 4-6 with 2 Home Runs and 7 RBI. For comparison, the entire Indians offense could only muster 3 Home Runs and 9 RBI.