Damn Yankees by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Damn Yankees

Page 137

18 game winning streak in June placed them well in front, and they coasted to their fifth consecutive league championship, the first time a team had won five straight pennants. The Yankees played the Dodgers again in the World Series, which was less dramatic than the previous year, as the Yankees won in six games, with Mantle, Martin, Berra and Gil McDougald, players developed under Stengel, taking the fore. The Yankees and Stengel won the World Series for the fifth consecutive year, the only team to accomplish that feat. Stengel, having taken the managerial record for consecutive pennants from McGraw, 1921–1924, and McCarthy, 1936–1939, and for consecutive titles from the latter, would say; "You know, John McGraw was a great man in New York and he won a lot of pennants. But Stengel is in town now, and he's won a lot of pennants too."

“If the Yankees don't win the pennant, the owners should

discharge me.” - Casey Stengel before the 1954 season.

The streak ended. Even though the Yankees won 103 games, the most regular season victories they would have under Stengel, they lost by 8 games to the Indians, of pitchers Early Wynn, Mike Garcia, Bob Lemon, and Bob Feller, and managed by Stengel's old friend Al Lopez. The Indians' 111–43 record is the all-time

record for winning percentage by an American League team at .721.