Damn Yankees by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview
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Damn Yankees
Page 51
ultimately completed his first big league year hitting a respectable .274 with 20 homers.
Mays’ presence took the load off the rest of the Giants lineup, which included shortstop Alvin Dark, flourishing in his second year in New York after being traded from the Braves; left fielder Monte Irvin, who hit .312 with 24 home runs and a team leading 121 RBIs; and Bobby Thomson, sometimes outfielder, sometimes third baseman, always damaging on opposing pitchers. A native son of Glasgow, Scotland, Thomson was on his way to batting .293 with a career high 32 homers.
The addition of Mays also eased the burden of the New York pitching staff, led by a pair of 23 game winners in Sal Maglie and Larry Jansen.
The Giants regrouped and put themselves within striking distance
of Brooklyn. But when the Dodgers swept the Giants in early July to re-up their lead to seven games, Dodgers manager Chuck Dressen, feeling frisky after being ejected from both ends of a doubleheader his team had won, boasted; “The Giants is dead. They’ll never bother us again.”
If savored as chalkboard fodder, the Giants had a delayed effect in responding, as the Brooklyn lead grew to a near insurmountable 13 games a month later. Then it happened.