NL East 2nd Play In Game: Pirates 3, Dodgers 2

Ebbets Field
Veale vs Podres
Pirates 3, Dodgers 2 

After an epic 11 inning battle in South Florida the previous night the Boys of Summer had to hop a DC3 and fly into Idlewild then bus back to their homes in Bay Ridge.  Waiting for them the following morning was a legion of Buccaneers who's sole goal was to wrest control of the NL East Flag from the beleaguered hometown team.  Early on it was apparent that the ever so clutch Johnny Podres was going to have his hands full with a Buc lineup that murders lefties.  Both teams exchanged solo runs in the second and the Bucs took a 2-1 lead when Willie Stargell singled home Donn Clendenon with 1 out.  The inning could have been even bigger if not for a 6-4-3 DP that stranded 2 runners.  Neither team would score until the 8th.  By that time Dem Bums had replaced Podres (4 IP) with Carl Erskine (2 IP) and then Clem Labine (2 IP).  

Call it an all hands on deck approach, but it seemed to

work.  Pittsburgh's Bob Veale was cruising until Sandy Amoros led off the 8th with double and advanced to third when campy sacrificed him over.  Back to back walks issued to Pee Wee Reese and pinch hitter Elmer Valo loaded the bases.  Reliever Tommie Sisk got Junior Gilliam to bounce back to the box for a force at home to keep the score 2-1.  A questionable walk to Charlie Neal forced home Amoros and the game was tied up at 2-2.  Could Dem Bums put together a 2nd consecutive come from behind rally to advance one more time ?  If it was going to happen it wasn't going to be this inning because Skoonj Furillo hit a hot smash to Gene Alley at short to end the inning.  With the score tied heading into the 9th Brooklyn put the ball in the hands of Ed Roebuck, who gave up a lead off single to pinch hitter Bill Virdon.  After Manny Mota and Donn Clendenon popped out weakly the rabid fans of Brooklyn started looking forward to the home half of the 9th and a chance to win it.  Unfortunately for the embattled fans in the little ball park on Bedford Ave Roebuck hit Clemente with a pitch in the ribs and Willie Stargell came through with a line drive single to score Virdon on a close play at the plate.  The bottom of the 9th was do or die for the fading veteran Boys of Summer.  The Silver Fox, Duke Snider led off the inning with a walk.  His counterpart for so many years, Gil Hodges lined a single to left to put runners on 1st and 2nd.  Amoros, who replaced the injured Gino Cimoli, couldn't get a bunt down and was forced to swing away.  Amoros hit a bullet that the sure handed Clendenon snared for the first out of the inning.  At this point Pittsburgh was playing mix and match.  Lefty Knuckleballer Wilbur Wood faced lefty Amoros.  Righty Al McBean was brought on to get 3 time NL MVP Roy Campanella.  On a 1-0 count Campy hit a rocket ship right at Gene Alley, who flipped to Maz covering second for 1 out.  Maz pivoted and threw a dart to Clendenon at first to get Campy by 2 full strides to end the game and clinch the NL East crown 2 days after the regular season was scheduled to end.  

A dejected Roy Campanella was heard to say to his pal Pee Wee Reese, who was on deck, "Wait Till Next Year".  Pee Wee, the ever so proud team captain, looked directly into Campy's eyes and said, "I think we have run out of next years, Campy".  Sadly this 1957 Dodger team did run out of "next years".  6 months later the franchise would shift from the Borough of Churches to Los Angeles California.  Replacing the comfy home on McKeever and McDougal would be a strangely configured football stadium in Southern California.  Pee Wee would play that next year as a player coach destined to get less than 100 plate appearances in one final go around in a strange land.  Campy's fate would be even worse as his car would overturn on a damp and icy New York night and render him paralyzed from his chest down.  Truly an end of an era and quite possibly an end of our innocence.  As manager of the 1957 Brooklyn Dodgers, I feel fortunate to have these 47 games as Roger Kahn's "Boys of Summer" made one last pennant run that turned into another "Wait till Next Year".