Will A Rookie Impact Dodgers Vs. Yankees 2024 World Series?

When the New York Yankees meet the Los Angeles Dodgers for the 12th time in the 2024 World Series, all eyes will be on superstar sluggers Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani. No question.

The question is, can a rookie steal the show from the sluggers?

It’s possible. The Dodgers’ Andy Pages and New York’s Austin Wells did well this season. Pages hit 13 homers and 23 doubles in 116 games and won the job in right field. Wells also had 13 homers and became the starting catcher.

Or could it be Luis Gil? He had a 15-7 record as a Yankees rookie.

The Dodgers used seven rookie pitchers this season. Gavin Stone had an 11-5 record but is out after having shoulder surgery on Oct. 12 – joining many other Los Angeles pitchers on the injured list.

Probably the best bet to shine is Yoshinobu Yamamoto. He had a 7-2 record in 18 starts in his first year in America. He’s a rookie – though he had a 75-30 record and 1.72 ERA over seven years in Japanese pro ball.

Let’s look at what these two franchises have done in head-to-head World Series matchups.

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The Forties

1941: Yankees 4, Dodgers 1: Both teams were loaded with veterans. Yanks rookie Norm Branch went 5-1 with a 2.87 ERA and 2 saves in the regular season but never pitched in the World Series. Neither did rookie teammates Charley Stanceu (3-3, 5.63 ERA) and Steve Peek, who had a 4-2 record in his only year in the majors.

The Dodgers had no rookies. Second-year men Pete Reiser and Pee Wee Reese both hit .200 (4-for-20) in the series at age 22. Reiser had led the NL in batting (.343), runs (110) and triples (20). Reese had hit .229. The next year, he made the first of 10 All-Star Game appearances on the way to the Hall of Fame.

1947: Yankees 4, Dodgers 3: Spec Shea stole the show from the very first rookie of the year winner Jackie Robinson. Shea placed third in rookie balloting after going 14-5 with a 3.07 ERA. In the series, he won games 1 and 5, then started Game 2 on one day’s rest and went 1 1/3 innings. The Yankees overcame a 2-0 deficit to win the game, 5-2.

Robinson hit .259 with 3 RBI and 3 steals. He hit had .297 with 125 runs, 12 homers and 29 steals in his first embattled season.

New York had three rookie catchers. Yogi Berra hit .158 with a pinch-hit homer and played a game in right field; Sherm Lollar went 3-for-4 with two doubles and three runs; Ralph Houk had a pinch single in his only appearance.

1949: Yankees 4, Dodgers 1: Don Newcombe was a rookie after two years as a teen-ager in the Negro Leagues and three in the Dodgers’ farm system. Big Newk had a 17-8 record but lost both his series starts. He struck out 11 without a walk in a complete game in the opener, but lost, 1-0. Yanks veteran dominated Dodgers stars.

The Fifties

1952: Yankees 4, Dodgers 3: No rookies of significance, though New York’s 21-year-old Mickey Mantle was superb in his second season and series. He hit .345 (10-for-29) with 3 homers, 5 runs and 3 RBI.

1953: Yankees 4, Dodgers 2: Johnny Podres went 9-4 as a 20-year-old Dodgers rookie then lost his only series start. Fellow rookie Jim Gilliam hit .296 with 2 homers and 4 RBI in the series.

The unlikely hero was New York’s 25-year-old second baseman Billy Martin. He hit .257 in the regular season, also his career average over 11 years. In the series, he went 12-for-24 with 2 homers and 8 RBI.

1955: Dodgers 4, Yankees 3: Brooklyn finally won it all in its’ eighth try and sixth against the Yankees. Rookies Roger Craig, Don Zimmer, Don Bessent, Karl Spooner helped a bit, though 19-year-old Sandy Koufax never pitched. Podres won both his starts, allowing two runs over 18 innings.

1956: Yankees 4, Dodgers 3: Again, veterans dominated. Rookie Don Drysdale made his series debut in relief for Brooklyn; Koufax sat and watched again.

Yankees manager Casey Stengel didn’t use rookies. He did turn to two young pitchers that New York got in a 17-player swap with the Baltimore Orioles.

Bob Turley, 25, had an 0.82 ERA with 1 save and 14 strikeouts in the series. The other guy was 26 and had a 3-21 record for the Orioles in 1954. Helped by the Yankees’ offense, he had 9-2 and 11-5 records in New York. He started Game 2 and gave up 4 walks and 4 runs over 1 1/3 innings. Stengel stayed with him for Game 6. Don Larsen made history on Oct. 8, 1956, pitching a perfect game. Twenty-seven Dodgers up to bat, 27 back to the dugout, seven on strikeouts. Remarkable!

A Sixties Sweep

1963: Dodgers 4, Yankees 0: Koufax (2-0, 1.50 ERA), Drysdale (1-0, 0.00 ERA) and Podres (1-0, 1.08 ERA) combined for 36 strikeouts (23 by Koufax) over 35 1/3 innings. Reliever Ron Perranoski fanned one over 2/3 of an inning. The Dodgers did not use any other pitchers. No rookies on either team did much.

Jackson 5 In 70’s

1977: Yankees 4, Dodgers 2: Forget rookies, it was The Reggie Jackson Show.

He earned the nickname “Mr. October” by hitting 5 homers (3 in one game) with 8 RBI and a .450 average. Thurman Munson (.320), Chris Chambliss (.292), Mike Torrez (2-0, 2.50 ERA) and Ron Guidry (1-0, 2.00 ERA) helped.

1978: Yankees 4, Dodgers 2: As Berra would have said, “It was déjà vu all over again”. Jackson hit .391 with 2 homers, 8 RBI. An unlikely rookie, Brian Doyle, was the underdog hero. After hitting .192 in 39 games, he batted .438 (7-for-16) as a replacement for injured all-star second baseman Willie Randolph.

The Dodgers’ highlight was rookie Bob Welch fanning Jackson for the final out with two on to save Game 2 – a classic battle!

And The Eighties

1981: Dodgers 4, Yankees 2: Fernando Valenzuela, who passed away on Tuesday, won Game 3 as a 20-year-old phenom rookie. Veterans Ron Cey (.350), Steve Garvey (.417) and Steve Yeager (.286) shared the series MVP Award

Veteran Dave Winfield, signed as a free agent to join Jackson, hit .045 (1-for-22). A livid Yankees owner George Steinbrenner dubbed the outfielder “Mr. May”.

Let’s see who “may” become Mr. October of the 2024 World Series.