Three names will always be associated with the 1947 World Series: Bill Bevens, Al Gionfriddo, and Cookie Lavagetto. It was Gionfriddo of the Brooklyn Dodgers who, in Game 6, made perhaps the greatest catch in World Series history, robbing the great Joe DiMaggio of a home run. In Game 4, it was Floyd Clifford “Bill” Bevens of the New York Yankees who came without one out of tossing the first no-hitter in World Series history. We’ll get to Lavagetto soon enough. Game 4 is one of the greatest, yet lesser-known, games in the history of this storied rivalry.
Remembering 1947 World Series, Bill Bevens, and His Near No-Hitter vs. Dodgers
Bevens was an unlikely candidate to pitch the first no-hitter in the history of the World Series. Pitching for a mighty Yankees club that won 97 games in 1947, Beven was just 7-13. His ERA was 3.82 in an era when that figure would normally bounce a pitcher from the starting rotation. Yet his 4.18 FIP, 1.479 WHIP, and 10.6 percent walk ratio indicate things could have been even worse for Bevens. However, the 30-year-old right-hander was better in previous years. He began his career in 1944 and entered the 1947 season with a lifetime 33-23 record and 2.83 ERA.
When Bevens took the mound in Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field against the Dodgers’ Harry Taylor, the Yankees were ahead in the World Series, two games to one. The Yankees gave Bevens a quick 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Taylor walked DiMaggio with the bases loaded. Dodgers manager Burt Shotton removed Taylor just as quickly. Then, it was Bevens who experienced control problems.
Walking the Tightrope
Bevens walked the tightrope the entire afternoon. He walked 10 batters, one intentional, on the day. Half of the walks came with none out in the inning. Still, he managed to slither out of jams, sometimes aided by sparkling defensive plays. There was left fielder Johnny Lindell’s diving catch of Jackie Robinson’s foul fly in the third. There was center fielder DiMaggio’s running grab of Gene Hermanski’s long drive to the center field wall, robbing him of a sure triple.
With the Yankees ahead, 2-0, in the bottom of the fifth, Brooklyn scratched out a run against Bevens. Spider Jorgensen and relief pitcher Hal Gregg led off the inning with walks. After Eddie Stanky bunted the runners-up, Pee Wee Reese rapped a grounder to Yankees shortstop Phil Rizzuto. As Jorgensen scored, Gregg was thrown out on an ill-advised attempt to reach third base.
Meanwhile, Gregg kept the game close at 2-1 with seven innings of long relief. In the final two frames, the Dodgers began to connect with the hard-throwing Bevens’ fastball. Hermanski was robbed again in the eighth inning, this time when Yankees right fielder Tommy Henrich made a leaping catch against the scoreboard. Bruce Edwards was out on a deep fly to left field to lead off the ninth inning. Bevens was two outs away from World Series immortality.
“Pistol Pete”
However, Bevens then walked Carl Furillo. After Jorgensen fouled out, Gionfriddo was inserted into the game to pinch run for Furillo and promptly stole second base on a close play. Shotton sent Pete Reiser to hit for pitcher Hugh Casey.
Leo Durocher felt that Reiser, who won the National League batting title in 1941, could have been the greatest ever to play baseball if not for his reckless style of play. “Pistol Pete” crashed into concrete walls in pursuit of long fly balls and had taken numerous pitches to the head in the days before batting helmets. Reiser would be carried off on a stretcher 11 times in his major league career.
Reiser was suffering from vertigo going into the 1947 World Series but wouldn’t tell his manager. After he misjudged several fly falls in a 10-3 Brooklyn loss in Game 2, his baseball career was essentially over. He was just 28 years old. Furillo took over for him in Game 3. Reiser was never the same player again.
Cookie At The Bat
Reiser’s last chance at a great World Series moment was spoiled when Yankees manager Bucky Harris ordered an intentional walk, violating a cardinal rule of baseball in walking the potential winning run. Harris explained to United Press, “Sure, it put the winning run on. But with Reiser the hitter, the potential winning run was at the plate, too. Pete is one of the few Dodgers who can hit a homer, so I called for a walk.”
After Reiser hobbled to first base, Shotton sent in Eddie Miksis to run for him. Stanky, the next scheduled hitter, began a slow walk to home plate. As if as an afterthought, Shotton called him back and sent Harry Arthur “Cookie” Lavagetto up to pinch hit. Lavagetto, 34, was a versatile infielder for Brooklyn and a four-time All-Star from 1938-41. Then four years of military service interrupted his career, and he was seldom used after that.
Standing on second base, Gionfriddo thought the move strange. It didn’t tilt the odds in the Dodgers’ favor significantly. Both Stanky and Lavagetto were right-handed batters. Lavagetto hit .261 in 1947 as opposed to Stanky’s .252. Shotton was never asked about his thinking there. Reporters didn’t ask a lot of penetrating questions in 1947.
A Bitter Cookie For Bevens
Bevens and catcher Yogi Berra decided to use all fastballs against Lavagetto. They got a swinging strike with the first one. The next one, high and away, was lined to right field, over Henrich’s head, and off the wall. Gionfriddo scored easily. A slight bobble by Henrich allowed a grinning Miksis to come around and score the winning run. Bevens had lost the no-hitter, the game, and World Series glory with one swing of the bat.
Dazed, Bevens hardly knew what hit him. He stood on the mound, waiting for the home plate umpire to throw him another ball.
The Last Word
The moment brought out the best in the New York Herald-Tribune writers. Rud Rennie wrote, “Bill Bevens, in the most strangely beautiful performance ever seen in a World Series, broke three records [fewest hits in a game, most walks in a game, and 8 2/3 innings of a no-hitter] only to have Lavagetto break his heart.”
Columnist Red Smith wrote, “The unhappiest man is sitting up here now in the far end of the press box. The ‘V’ in his typewriter is broken. He can’t write ‘Lavagetto’ or ‘Bevens.’”
Meanwhile, Bevens told United Press, “I threw him a fastball but it wasn’t even in the strike zone. I was just wild, that’s all. I should have got beat with all those walks.”
After the 1947 World Series, neither Bevens, Lavagetto, nor Gionfriddo ever played in the major leagues again.
