1964 World Series
From BR Bullpen
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St. Louis Cardinals (93-69, NL) over New York Yankees (99-63, AL)
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[edit] Summary
NL St. Louis Cardinals (4) vs. AL New York Yankees (3)
| Game | Score | Date | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | St. Louis 9, New York 5 | October 7 | 30,805 |
| 2 | New York 8, St. Louis 3 | October 8 | 30,805 |
| 3 | New York 2, St. Louis 1 | October 10 | 67,101 |
| 4 | St. Louis 4, New York 3 | October 11 | 66,312 |
| 5 | St. Louis 5, New York 2 | October 12 | 65,633 |
| 6 | New York 8, St. Louis 3 | October 14 | 30,805 |
| 7 | St. Louis 7, New York 5 | October 15 | 30,346 |
[edit] The World Series
The 1964 World Series pitted the New York Yankees against the St. Louis Cardinals, both of whom struggled to get there.
The Yankees, the defending American League champs, promoted skipper Ralph Houk to General Manager after the 1963 season, replacing him with popular star player Yogi Berra. The club struggled under his leadership, standing in third place behind the Baltimore Orioles and Chicago White Sox into September. However, the team heated up under pressure, going 22-6 in September, and clinched the pennant on the season's penultimate day.
Meanwhile, the Cardinals had an even rougher path to the World Series. On August 17th, the club stood in fifth place, nine games behind the Philadelphia Phillies. Owner Gussie Busch fired GM Bing Devine, and word circulated that manager Johnny Keane was the next to go. However, the Cards went 30-14 from that point on, and, aided by the collapse of the Phillies, went on to win the pennant by one game.
The Yankees were led by stars Mickey Mantle, who hit .303 with 35 homers despite missing time with a leg injury, and Whitey Ford, who went 17-6 with a 2.13 ERA. The Cardinals featured speedy young outfielder Lou Brock, who hit .348 with 12 homers and 33 steals after coming over from the Chicago Cubs in a June trade that would eventually go down as one of the most lopsided in history, and third baseman Ken Boyer, who clubbed 29 home runs with a league-best 119 RBIs en route to being named the NL MVP.
[edit] Game One
Game One was played in St. Louis, and led by a homer by Mike Shannon and a triple by Curt Flood, the Cardinals won the first game 9-5.
[edit] Game Two
In Game Two, Bob Gibson struck out nine Yankees, but Mel Stottlemyre held the Cards to only 3 runs, as the Yankees won 8-3 to even up the series.
[edit] Game Three
The teams went to New York for Game Three, and the contest was a pitcher's duel between Jim Bouton and Curt Simmons. With the game tied 1-1 in the ninth inning, Mickey Mantle clubbed a homer to give the Yanks a 2-1 win.
[edit] Game Four
The Yankees scored three runs in the first inning of Game Four but that was all they could muster up. Ken Boyer hit a grand slam in the sixth, and that was all the Cardinals needed to win 4-3 and knot up the series again.
[edit] Game Five
In Game Five, Gibson added 13 more strikeouts, and Tim McCarver hit a three-run homer in the tenth inning to give the Cards a 5-2 win.
[edit] Game Six
Returning to St. Louis, the Yankee bats came alive in Game Six, as Mantle and Roger Maris homered before Joe Pepitone hit a grand slam to seal an 8-3 victory.
[edit] Game Seven
In the deciding Game Seven, the Cards jumped out to a 6-0 lead, and despite two homers by the Yankees in the ninth inning, hurler Gibson held on to give the Cardinals a 7-5 win, as the team captured their first world championship since 1946.
[edit] Footnotes
An interesting footnote to this series is the fact that brothers Ken and Clete Boyer both played third base for the opposing clubs. Though neither had an outstanding overall performance, Ken hit a pair of homers, and Clete added one as well.
In the days following the World Series, clubhouse drama continued for both teams. Keane resigned as manager of the Cardinals, and Berra was fired by the Yankees (who cited a lack of clubhouse communication as the reason). Later in the winter, the Yankees hired Keane, the man who had beaten them, to become the club's next skipper.
[edit] Stats
[edit] St. Louis Cardinals
[edit] Batting
Note: G = Games played; AB = At Bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting Average; HR = Home Runs; RBI = Runs Batted In
| Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
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[edit] Pitching
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
|---|
[edit] New York Yankees
[edit] Batting
Note: G = Games played; AB = At Bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting Average; HR = Home Runs; RBI = Runs Batted In
| Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
|---|
[edit] Pitching
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
|---|
[edit] Further Reading
- William A. Cook: The Summer of '64: A Pennant Lost, McFarland, Jefferson, NC, 2002.
| Modern Major League Baseball World Series
Pre-1903 Postseason Series |
