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Sweeping changes punctuated the major league baseball scene in 1957. One change occurred on the playing field, where Milwaukee won its first world championship. The Braves rewarded their frenzied fandom by beating the New York Yankees, four games to three, in the world series.
The other changes were geographical. The New York Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers altered the baseball map with their decisions to switch operations to the west coast, effective in 1958. The moves took the Giants to San Francisco, the Dodgers to Los Angeles.
The franchise transfers marked the fourth and fifth in the majors since 1953, when the Boston Braves shifted to Milwaukee. In the interim, the St. Louis Browns went to Baltimore, the Philadelphia Athletics to Kansas City.
Baseball expanded its Hall of Fame membership to 83 in July by inducting Sam (Wahoo) Crawford, 77, and Joe McCarthy, 70, in ceremonies at Cooperstown, N.Y. Crawford played the out-field for Cincinnati and Detroit; McCarthy managed the Chicago Cubs, New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox
Major League Races.
Milwaukee broke the National league pennant scramble wide open with a ten-game winning streak in August, then went on to capture the flag by eight games over the runner-up St. Louis Cardinals. Until that surge, the Braves had been involved in a five-team fight with St. Louis, Brooklyn, Cincinnati and Philadelphia. Milwaukee citizens touched off one of the wildest celebrations in baseball history after their heroes clinched the title, releasing the pent-up enthusiasm which had been restrained when the Braves lost out by one game to Brooklyn in 1956.
In the American league, the differential between the first-place New York Yankees and second-place Chicago White Sox also was eight games. The race was strictly a two-team affair, with the White Sox remaining within striking distance almost until the end.
Cleveland suffered an irreparable blow on May 7 when pitcher Herb Score was struck in the eye by a line drive off the bat of the Yankees' Gil McDougald. Score, ranked with the finest pitchers in baseball, was sidelined the remainder of the year.
World Series.
Lew Burdette pitched Milwaukee to the world championship. He beat the Yankees in three complete games, including two shutouts, and ran up 24 consecutive scoreless in- nings. A touch of irony was involved as Burdette, a righthanded pitcher from Nitro, W.Va., became the tenth man in major league history to win three times in a world series and the first to, do it against the Yankees. In 1951, the Yankees traded of Burdette to the then Boston Braves, unknowing that six years later he would return to collar his erstwhile teammates.
The series went the full seven games for the third straight year and produced even more than the expected share of dramatics.
New York won the Yankee stadium opener, 3 to 1, when Whitey Ford pitched a five-hitter to outduel Warren Spahn. The Yankees took a 1 to o lead in the fifth inning on Hank Bauer's double behind Jerry Coleman's single, then wrapped up the game with two runs in the sixth.
Burdette tied the series for Milwaukee with a seven-hit, 4 to 2 triumph in the second game. His victim was Bobby Shantz. The game was deadlocked at 1 to 1 and 2 to 2 before the Brava pulled out to stay with two runs in the fourth on singles by Joe Adcock, Andy Pafko and Wes Covington, coupled with a Yankee error. Covington had saved Burdette in the second inning by snaring Shantz' long drive to left, a play that prevented two Yankee base runners from scoring. Each club came up with one homer, Johnny Logan for the Braves and Bauer for the Yankees,
The scene switched to County stadium in Milwaukee for game three and New York unleashed its big guns for a 12 to 3 rout The Yankees' Tony Kubek, a Milwaukee boy, led the assault on loser Bob Buhl and five successors with two home runs. Mickey Mantle also homered for the Yankees, while Hank Aaron connected for Milwaukee. Don Larson got the win, going all the way upon relieving Bob Turley in the second inning.
The fourth game was among the greatest in series annals. Spahn, as a result of home runs by Aaron and Frank Torre in a four-run Milwaukee fourth inning against starter Tom Sturdivant, held a 4 to I lead with two out and two on in the Yankee ninth. But Elston Howard delivered a home run to tie matters at 4 to 4. Further gloom fell over the Milwaukee crowd as the Yankees grabbed a 5 to 4 margin in the top of the tenth on Bauer's two-out triple. Then the script changed again. Nippy Jones, as a pinch hitter, was hit on the foot to start the Mil. waukee tenth, and he proved it by the shoe polish on the ball after umpire Augie Donatelli disputed his claim. Felix Mantilla, run. ning for Jones, was sacrificed to second, and he raced in with the tying run on Logan's double to left. Eddie Mathews promptly homered to bring the Braves a spectacular 7 to 5 win and knot the series at two games apiece. Spahn received the victory, and Bob Grim, in relief, was charged with the setback.
Manager Fred Haney of Milwaukee called on Burdette again in the fifth game and Yankee pilot Casey Stengel countered with Ford. The Braves and Burdette finally won, 1 to o, with Burdette scattering seven hits. Milwaukee managed only six hits off Ford but bunched three singles—by Mathews, Aaron and Adcock—in the sixth inning to come up with the lone run. The Braves now led in the series, three games to two. Back in Yankee stadium once more, New York drew even on Turley's four-hitter, 3 to 2. Yogi Berra gave Turley a 2 to o advantage with a two-run homer in the third inning. The Braves narrowed the gap in the fifth on Torre's home run, and Aaron blasted another in the seventh to create a 2-all tie. In the Yankee seventh, however, Bauer broke up the game with a homer. Ernie Johnson, who had relieved starter Buhl, was victimized by Bauer's blow and wound up as the loser.
The seventh game was all Burdette—and all Milwaukee. Pitching with two days rest, Burdette turned in his third straight seven-hitter to halt the Yankees, 5 to o. The Braves, paced by Mathews' two-run double, and aided by Kubek's throwing error, kayoed Don Larsen en route to a four-run spree in the third inning. Del Crandall's home run accounted for the final Milwaukee run in the eighth. The Yankees filled the bases in the last of the ninth but Burdette was equal to the situation and the Braves were in.
Individually, Aaron, with 11 hits and three home runs, finished the series with the top batting average, .393. Aaron and Bauer hit safely in all seven games, with Bauer running his series consecutive hitting streak to a record 14 games. Defensively, Covington and Mathews ignited the Braves. Milwaukee turned in ten double plays and committed only three errors. The Yankees booted six in losing the series for the sixth time in 23 appearances.
Total attendance at the series was 394,712, with the net receipts $2,475,978.94. The Braves voted 3o full shares worth $8,924.36 each; the Yankees voted 33 full shares worth $5,606.06.
Individual Performances.
Stan Musial of St. Louis won the National league batting championship for the seventh time, averaging .351. The season also was memorable for Musial in that he played in his 823rd consecutive game on June 12 to set a new league record. Hank Aaron of Milwaukee hit 44 home runs and drove in 132 runs to lead both departments.
In pitching, Brooklyn's Johnny Podres (12-9) led earned run averages with 2.66. The only 20-game winner was Warren Spahn (21-11) of Milwaukee, who reached that figure for the eighth time in his career.
In the American league, Ted Williams of Boston compiled a .388 average to win league batting honours for the fifth time. Roy Sievers of Washington, D.C., led in home runs, with 42, and runs batted in, with 114.
In pitching, Bobby Shantz (11-5) of New York paced earned run averages with 2.45. Twenty-game winners included Detroit's Jim Bunning (2o-8) and Chicago's Billy Pierce (20-12).
Bob Keegan of Chicago pitched a no-hit, no-run game on Aug. 20, beating Washington, 6 to 0.
All-Star Game.
A furious ninth inning, in which each team scored three runs, climaxed the 24th annual All-Star game at Busch stadium in St. Louis. The American league, leading all the way, finally held off the Nationals for a 6 to 5 victory. A crowd of 30,693 watched the Americans gain their 14th win against 10 losses in the midsummer classic.
The American league entered the ninth with a 3 to 2 margin, then got three runs for an apparently safe 6 to 2 margin. But the Nationals, spurred by a triple by the New York Giants' Willie Mays, came up with three of their own before defensive heroics by outfielder Minnie Minoso of the Chicago White Sox cut short the comeback.
Detroit pitcher Jim Bunning, who retired nine successive National league batters in his three-inning stint at the game's outset, was the winner. National league starter Curt Simmons of Philadelphia incurred the loss.
Managerial Changes.
Three managerial changes occurred during the regular season. In each instance, a coach took over as field manager. In May, Washington replaced Charley Dressen with Cookie Lavagetto. In August, Pittsburgh fired Bobby. Bragan in favour of Danny Murtaugh; and Kansas City replaced Lou Boudreau with Harry Craft.
With the end of the season, Cleveland released Kerby Farrell and named Bragan as his successor. Cleveland later ousted Hank Greenberg as general manager, and named Frank Lane to succeed him. Lane had occupied a similar post with the St. Louis Cardinals.
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