Damn Yankees by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview
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Damn Yankees
Page 56
On the quieter side of the New York baseball world, the Yankees didn’t deliver any stellar comebacks from the deep recesses of the American League standings. Rather, they fought off a new round of roster handicaps and some tough competition from both the Cleveland Indians and Boston Red Sox to take their third straight AL pennant.
The Yankees survived by five games in spite of the military acquisition of Whitey Ford and an offense that showed no real dominance. Lowlighting the individual performances was 36 year old Joe DiMaggio, dragging his beat up body through what would
be his final year as a player with a .263 batting average and 12 home runs. The savior element rested within the Yankees rotation, with two 21 game winners in Ed Lopat and Vic Raschi. Allie Reynolds contributed 17 more wins, seven by shutout, and two of those were no hitters, one each against the Indians and Red Sox.
Allie Reynolds’ two no hitters in 1951 made him just the second pitcher in the history of the majors to achieve such a feat in one season; the first being Johnny Vander Meer in 1938 in the National League.