The Dodgers are quite an accomplished franchise, especially lately, but in the first 50 years of the World Series era they were anything but. With no championships, they were more of the bridesmaid instead of the bride. Not for the lack of trying, with 7 NL pennants in those 50 years, they were always bested when it counted, most of the time failing against the Yankees. Then, a switch seemed to flip and they won 9 titles in 16 pennants, and it didn't start with their move from Brooklyn to LA, but just a bit before in 1955.
After back-to-back pennants, the Dodgers took a step back in 1954 when they were bested by the New York Giants for the NL crown. The pressure was on and the Dodgers stepped up out of the gates in '55 with 10 straight wins to start the season. Brooklyn didn't release their hold of 1st place and ran away with the pennant, with Walter Alston's boys going 98-55, 13.5 games ahead of the Milwaukee Braves, but more importantly 18.5 games better than the Giants.
The World Series would once again pit the Dodgers against the New York Yankees, who opened the series with home wins to put the Dodgers in a 0-2 hole as the scene shifted to Ebbets Field. The Dodgers would sweep their home games and head back to Yankee Stadium with a 3-2 advantage, where the Yankees would force Game 7. Some years it would save time to just play the World Series like the Super Bowl and just do one game because everything coming down to a Game 7 was the norm for the Yankees and Dodgers in that era.
To finally get over the hump, the Dodgers needed heroes in Game 7. Offensively, Gil Hodges would step up as he batted in runs with an RBI Single in the 4th and a Sac Fly in the 6th to give Brooklyn their 2-0 margin. Meanwhile on the mound the hero would be Johnny Podres, who stifled the Yankee bats to finally give "dem bums" their long sought after championship.
Podres would never have to buy a beer again in the Brooklyn borough after pitching the single greatest game in Brooklyn Dodgers history as he not only won Game 3 with a Complete Game effort to finally put the Dodgers on the board in the series, but he returned in Game 7 to pitch a Shutout and finally slay the dragon and become the first ever World Series MVP winner.
Newcombe was the ace of the regular season, leading the staff with 20 Wins, 143 Strikeouts and a 3.20 ERA in 233.2 Innings that included 17 Complete Games. The all star also pulled off some MVP votes.
Other rotation arms. Meyer and Spooner would split time in the rotation and bullpen.
Roebuck and Labine would both gain the Closer titles with 12 and 11 Saves each. Labine would also pull off the Win in Game 4, then get the Save in Game 5.
The remaining pitchers. 1955 wasn't just the dawn of a new era of Dodgers baseball with them finally winning the WS, but it was also the debut season of Sandy Koufax...and yet another future Hall of Famer was around in the body of Tommy Lasorda, though clearly he was better of managing than playing.
Duke Snider had a monster season while leading his team to the title, leading the Dodgers with 42 Home Runs and 166 Hits while leading all of baseball with 126 Runs and 136 RBI. The all star also finished 2nd for MVP, which would be pretty cool if not for the controversy involved that cost him 1st place...
Roy Campanella did win the MVP with an all star season, giving him his 3rd MVP in 5 seasons. He had comparable numbers to Snider as well as his team high .318 Average, but Snider was robbed because of an improperly filled out ballot that accidently listed Campanella's name twice and not naming Snider at all. If the ballot was ignored, Snider would have won MVP. If the voter clarified he meant to put Snider in either of those spots, Snider would have won MVP. All in all, if the ballot was filled out properly, Snider would've been the rightful MVP.
The Dodger's had an incredible 4 men finish in the top 10 for MVP, and Reese would be the fourth man as he finished 9th.
Other regulars for the champion Dodgers. Gilliam would lead the team with 15 Stolen Bases while Hodges would also make the all star team.
Off the bench. It's still odd to see a "young" Don Zimmer when you look back on his incredibly lengthy baseball career that lasted well into the 2000s.
The only season of Jackie Robinson that didn't feature either an all star nomination or MVP vote turned out pretty good anyway, with '55 being the year he'd get a ring. It was also the year he had his most famous moment, as he was called safe in his steal of home in Game 1. As you can see in his card, he was clearly out. Safe or out, it's a moot point since the Yankees still won the game, and the Dodgers would still win the series with or without the call being called correctly.
