1951 World Series

The 1951 World Series matched the two-time defending champion New York Yankees against the New York Giants, who had won the National League pennant in a thrilling three-game playoff with the Brooklyn Dodgers on the legendary home run by Bobby Thomson (the Shot Heard 'Round the World).
In the Series, the Yankees showed some power of their own, including Gil McDougald's grand slam home run in Game 5, at the Polo Grounds. The Yankees won the Series in six games, for their third straight title and fourteenth overall. This would be the last World Series for Joe DiMaggio, who retired afterward, and the first for rookies Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle.

This World Series also matched up two of baseball's most colorful managers, Casey Stengel of the Yankees and Leo Durocher of the Giants.
This was the thirteenth appearance by the Giants in Series play, their ninth loss, and their first appearance since the 1937 World Series.
"The Commerce Comet arrives on the final voyage of the Yankee Clipper." The 1951 World Series was the first for Mickey Mantle and the final for Joe DiMaggio.
Mantle's bad luck with injuries in the major leagues began here. In the fifth inning of Game 2 at Yankee Stadium, Mays flied to deep right center. DiMaggio and Mantle converged on the ball, DiMaggio called Mantle off, and Mantle stutter-stepped, catching a cleat in a drain cover, and fell to the ground in a heap with a wrenched knee as DiMaggio made the catch. Mantle was done for this Series, but would come back to play many more.
New York City became the first city to host an NBA Finals and a World Series in the same calendar year.

The '51 season has been referred to by some as "The Season of Change" as it witnessed the departure of several of the games veteran superstars and the introduction of a new generation of talent. Many of the games biggest names from the previous two decades were nearing the end of their careers and the empty spaces on the line-up cards would need to be filled by players of the same caliber. Luckily for the managers (and the fans), there was no shortage of up-and-coming talent in the various farm systems around the league. Several new rookies on the scene included a young switch-hitter named Mickey Mantle and a phenomenal fielder named Willie Mays. The nineteen year-old Mantle was called up to the big leagues from the Yankees Kansas City franchise and hit thirteen home runs in ninety-six games. Mays had been called up in late May by the Giants from their Minneapolis team (where he was batting .477) and the twenty-year old responded with twenty homers of his own. It seems fitting that in their first year of professional play, both future Hall of Famers found themselves competing against one another in the biggest game of the year; the 1951 World Series.

The Giants had steamrolled their way to the Fall Classic and were determined to dethrone their world champion, cross-town rivals. Manager Leo Durocher's team had rallied to win the National League pennant after trailing the Brooklyn Dodgers by 13½ games. Beginning August 12, the Giants won sixteen consecutive outings and thirty-seven of their last forty-four to forge a tie for the top of the National League with Brooklyn. They went on to beat the Dodgers in a best-of-three playoff, ending with the infamous Thomson three-run homer off Ralph Branca that gave the Giants a 5-4 victory in the third game at the Polo Grounds. With Brooklyn out of the way, the Bronx was next and the Giants wanted to prove that the last team standing was truly "New York's baseball team".

Things continued to go the Giants way as they wen...