Damn Yankees by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview
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Damn Yankees
Page 94
games. But they could not overcome baseball’s 800 pound gorilla in the Yankees, who entered 1954 as the game’s only five time defending World Series champions.
To conquer the Yankees would be to conquer Everest. You needed great talent, the best of luck, crossed fingers, daily prayers and genuine hope that the planets would align in your favor.
It’s very possible that the Indians met all of those objectives in 1954. Together they forged, by the record, the greatest campaign in American League history.
The achievement was essential. The Yankees were not about to be knocked off the throne quietly, giving the Indians everything they had before the reality sank in that even 110 wins would not be enough to win a sixth straight pennant.
Lopez’s Indians had all the prime assets in place to become their own Goliath. They held one of the strongest pitching staffs of recent memory, led by three quality workhorses; Bob Lemon, Early Wynn and Mike Garcia. Al Rosen had developed into a bona fide power hitter of fearsome quality, and Larry Doby exhibited almost comparable slugging skills at the plate. All the Indians needed to reach the peak, to top the Yankees, was a sound supporting cast.