Next
up in the “Turn Back the Clock” thread, we move on to 1975 and
celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Brooklyn Dodgers 1955 team who
finally won it all and took home the World Championship, the only time
this would happen while in Brooklyn:
“Dem Bums”, as they were affectionately known to their fans, beat their
dreaded American League rival New York Yankees with the help of a
22-year-old Johnny Podres who came out of nowhere and shut out the
Bombers 2-0 in game seven.
It was the culmination of a long road for these Dodgers, who fell short of a championship after taking home four pennants in eight years but falling short each time to the Yanks.
The team went 98-55 during the season, led by the usual suspects in Roy
Campanella, Duke Snider and Gil Hodges on the offensive side, and Don
Newcombe, Carl Erskine and Clem Labine on the pitching side.
Newcombe posted his first 20-win season, while Campy, Gil and the Duke
all drove in 100+ runs, with Carl Furillo falling just short of that
number with 95 ribbies.
Of course this was only the beginning for the organization, as the
Dodgers would go on to move out West to Los Angeles, then win it all in
1959, 1963 and 1965, putting all thoughts of an “also-ran” behind them,
along with millions of broken hearts in Brooklyn.