The 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers season was the 66th season for the Brooklyn Dodgers franchise in the MLB. The Dodgers finally fulfilled the promise of many previous Dodger teams. Although the club had won several pennants in the past, and had won as many as 105 games in 1953, it had never won a World Series. This team finished 13.5 games ahead in the National League pennant race, leading the league in both runs scored and fewest runs allowed. In the World Series, they finally beat their crosstown rivals, the New York Yankees. It was the Dodgers' first and only World Series championship won while located in Brooklyn. With their World Series victory, the '55 Dodgers became only the second wire-to-wire team (a team leading from opening day to season's end) in MLB history after the '27 Yankees.
Offseason October 8, 1954: Ray Moore was traded by the Dodgers to the Baltimore Orioles for Chico García.Ray Moore at Baseball-Reference December 13, 1954: Billy Cox and Preacher Roe were traded by the Dodgers to the Baltimore Orioles for Johnny Jancse, Harry Schwegeman and cash.Billy Cox at Baseball-Reference March 17, 1955: Erv Palica was traded by the Dodgers to the Baltimore Orioles for Frank Kellert and cash.Erv Palica at Baseball-Reference
Regular season
This season was basically a culmination of the careers of many legendary Dodger players. Catcher Roy Campanella won the 1955 National League Most Valuable Player award, his third in five years. Center fielder Duke Snider led the league in runs batted in and was second in the MVP voting. He also hit his 200th career home run on May 10. Jackie Robinson and Pee Wee Reese, both 36 years old, could still play. Gil Hodges, 31, hit 27 home runs (and drove in both Dodger runs in the seventh game of the Series), while Carl Furillo, 33, hit 26 home runs with a .314 batting average.
The pitching staff was anchored by Don Newcombe, who was 20–5. It was the first time a black pitcher had won 20 games in a season. The 22-year-old Johnny Podres was only 9–10 but became the hero of the 1955 World Series by shutting out the Yankees in the seventh game.
MVP controversy Duke Snider finished second to teammate Campanella in the MVP voting by just five points, 226–221, with each man receiving eight first place votes. The voting then as now was conducted by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Each voting member, one from each major league city, filled out a ballot selecting ten men. A player receiving a first place vote got 14 points, then values of 9–8–7–6–5–4–3–2–1 for those in places 2 through 10. A writer from Philadelphia who was sick and who had become hospitalized had turned in a ballot with Campanella listed in position number 1 as well as position number 5. The assumption had been that the writer had meant to write Snider's name into one of those slots. Unable to get a clarification from the ill writer the BBWAA, after considering disallowing the ballot, decided to accept it, count the first place vote for Campanella and count the fifth place vote as though it were left blank. Had the ballot been disallowed, the vote would have been won by Snider by three points. Had Snider gotten the fifth place vote, the final vote would have favored Snider 227–226. Duke did, however, win the Sporting News National League Player of the Year Award for 1955 and the Sid Mercer Award.The Duke of Flatbush by Duke Snider and Bill Gilbert
Season standings
Record vs. opponents
Opening Day Lineup +Opening Day Lineup # Name Position19 Jim Gilliam 2B1 Pee Wee Reese SS4 Duke Snider CF14 Gil Hodges 1B15 Sandy Amorós LF42 Jackie Robinson 3B6 Carl Furillo RF39 Roy Campanella C17 Carl Erskine P 1955 Opening Day Lineup at Baseball-Reference
Notable transactions June 7, 1955: Ron Negray was traded by the Dodgers to the Philadelphia Phillies for Dave Cole and cash.Ron Negray at Baseball-Reference June 9, 1955: Joe Black was traded by the Dodgers to the Cincinnati Reds for Bob Borkowski and cash.Joe Black at Baseball-Reference September 12, 1955: Glenn Cox was purchased from the Dodgers by the Kansas City Athletics.Glenn Cox at Baseball-Reference
Roster 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers Roster Pitchers
Catchers
Infielders Outfielders Manager
Coaches
Player stats = Indicates team leader = Indicates league leader Batting
Starters by position Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases Pos Player GP AB R H Avg. HR RBI SB C 123 446 81 142 .318 32 107 2 1B 150 546 75 158 .289 27 102 2 2B 147 538 110 134 .249 7 40 15 SS 145 553 99 156 .282 10 61 8 3B 105 317 51 81 .256 8 36 12 LF 119 388 59 96 .247 10 51 10 CF 148 538 126 166 .309 42 136 9 RF 140 523 83 164 .314 26 95 4
Other batters Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases Player G AB R H Avg. HR RBI SB 88 280 38 67 .239 15 50 5 94 279 50 67 .240 5 19 9 48 103 6 26 .252 2 13 1 39 80 12 26 .325 4 19 0 44 51 8 14 .275 1 8 0 16 42 2 11 .262 0 5 0 11 19 3 5 .263 1 3 0 9 19 2 2 .105 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 .000 0 0 0
Pitching
Starting pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; CG = Complete games; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; BB = Bases on balls; SO = Strikeouts Player G GS CG IP W L ERA BB SO 34 31 17 233.2 20 5 3.20 38 143 31 29 7 194.2 11 8 3.79 64 84 27 24 5 159.1 9 10 3.95 57 114 22 19 6 128.0 10 4 3.59 46 85
Other pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; CG = Complete games; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; BB = Bases on balls; SO = Strikeouts Player G GS CG IP W L ERA BB SO 29 14 2 98.2 8 6 3.65 41 78 21 10 3 90.2 5 3 2.78 43 48 18 11 2 73.0 6 2 5.42 31 26 12 5 2 41.2 2 2 3.02 28 30 4 1 0 4.0 0 0 13.50 6 4
Relief pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; BB = Bases on balls; SO = Strikeouts Player G IP W L SV ERA BB SO 60 144.1 13 5 11 3.24 55 67 47 84.0 5 6 12 4.71 24 33 24 63.1 8 1 3 2.70 21 29 24 42.2 0 2 6 4.22 19 20 6 15.1 1 0 0 2.93 5 9 4 4.2 0 1 0 11.57 5 3
1955 World Series
Game 1 September 28, 1955, at Yankee Stadium in New York Team123456789RHEBrooklyn (N)0210000205100New York (A)02110200x691W: Whitey Ford (1–0) L: Don Newcombe (0–1) S: Bob Grim (1)HR: BRO – Carl Furillo (1), Duke Snider (1) NYY – Elston Howard (1), Joe Collins (1, 2)
Game 2 September 29, 1955, at Yankee Stadium in New York Team123456789RHEBrooklyn (N)000110000252New York (A)00040000x480W: Tommy Byrne (1–0) L: Billy Loes (0–1)
Game 3 September 30, 1955, at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, New York Team123456789RHENew York (A)020000100370Brooklyn (N)22020020x8111W: Johnny Podres (1–0) L: Bob Turley (0–1)HR: NYY – Mickey Mantle (1) BRO – Roy Campanella (1)
Game 4 October 1, 1955, at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, New York Team123456789RHENew York (A)110102000590Brooklyn (N)00133010x8140W: Clem Labine (1–0) L: Don Larsen (0–1)HR: NYY – Gil McDougald (1) BRO – Roy Campanella (2), Gil Hodges (1), Duke Snider (2)
Game 5 October 2, 1955, at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, New York Team123456789RHENew York (A)000100110360Brooklyn (N)02101001x592W: Roger Craig (1–0) L: Bob Grim (0–1) S: Clem Labine (1)HR: NYY – Bob Cerv (1), Yogi Berra (1) BRO – Sandy Amorós (1), Duke Snider (3, 4)
Game 6 October 3, 1955, at Yankee Stadium in New York Team123456789RHEBrooklyn (N)000100000141New York (A)50000000x580W: Whitey Ford (2–0) L: Karl Spooner (0–1)HR: NYY – Bill Skowron (1)
Game 7 October 4, 1955, at Yankee Stadium in New York Team123456789RHEBrooklyn (N)000101000250New York (A)000000000081W: Johnny Podres (2–0) L: Tommy Byrne (1–1)
Awards and honors National League Most Valuable Player Roy Campanella World Series Most Valuable Player Johnny Podres TSN Manager of the Year Award Walter Alston TSN Executive of the Year Award Walter O'Malley TSN Major League Player of the Year Award Duke Snider TSN National League Player of the Year Award Duke Snider
All-Stars 1955 Major League Baseball All-Star Game Duke Snider starter Roy Campanella reserve Gil Hodges reserve Don Newcombe reserve TSN Major League All-Star Team Don Newcombe Roy Campanella Duke Snider
League top five finishers Roy Campanella #4 in NL in batting average (.318)
Jim Gilliam #5 in NL in runs scored (110) #5 in NL in stolen bases (15)
Clem Labine #3 in NL in saves (11)
Don Newcombe #2 in NL in wins (20) #2 in NL in ERA (3.20) #2 in NL in complete games (17) #5 in NL in strikeouts (143)
Ed Roebuck #2 in NL in saves (12)
Duke Snider MLB leader in RBI (136) MLB leader in runs scored (126) #2 in NL in on-base percentage (.418) #2 in NL in slugging percentage (.628) #3 in NL in doubles (34) #3 in NL in bases on balls (104) #4 in NL in home runs (42)
Farm system
Aftermath and legacy The 1955 World Series proved to the only title the Dodgers won in Brooklyn. After losing the 1956 World Series to the Yankees, the team would move to Los Angeles after the 1957 season.
With the death of Carl Erskine in April 2024, Sandy Koufax became the last surviving player from the 1955 team.
50th Anniversary In August 2005, the Los Angeles Dodgers commemorated the 50th anniversary of the franchise winning its first World Series, and only one while in Brooklyn. The eleven surviving members of the 1955 team all attended the weekend celebration.
No official commemorative event, however, took place in Brooklyn on October 4, 2005 (the actual anniversary of the Dodgers' triumph), prompting author Thomas Oliphant to argue that "on both coasts, we could have done a little bit better, especially for such an important memory."
That being said, a small gathering of ten people took place at the site of Ebbets Field on October 4, 2005 "at 3:43 pm, 50 years to the minute from when the Brooklyn Dodgers won their only World Series." Brooklyn Paper journalist Ed Shakespeare reported that "[a]ll of the attendees came alone or in pairs, unaware of who else might attend", describing the event as "a sharing of memories from those who remembered."
References
External links Baseball-Reference season page Baseball Almanac season page 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers uniform Brooklyn Dodgers reference site Hometown Piece for Messrs. Alston and Reese by Marianne Moore