On Friday, October 25, 2024 the New York Yankees will head to Los Angeles for their twelfth World Series matchup against the Dodgers. It’s a historic rivalry—one that stretches back to the Dodgers rollicking days as “Dem Bums” in Brooklyn. No two teams have met in the World Series more often. From 1947 to 1956, Jackie Robinson played a key part in six of the eleven contests so far, terrifying Yankees pitching with his speed on the basepaths and dazzling fans with his superb fielding. This week, the Jackie Robinson Museum is celebrating the 2024 world series as these two franchises add a new chapter to their rivalry. Our galleries will be open on Tuesday, October 29 and Wednesday, October 30 as the Dodgers come to New York for Games 3, 4, and 5. Join us in person or online as we explore some video highlights and artifacts from the Dodgers-Yankees World Series in which Jackie played.

1947

Jackie’s first World Series against the Yankees was in 1947, in his rookie year. Across the regular season, Jackie had shown he was a top-notch player. He hit .297 and led the league in stolen bases, earning first-ever the Rookie of the Year award. As a result, National League opponents were already quite familiar with Jackie Robinson’s daring on the basepaths and his superb contact hitting. The Yankees, however, still needed an introduction. In the first inning of Game 1, Jackie Robinson drew a walk against Spec Shea. On the second pitch of the next at-bat, he broke for second, sliding into the bag just ahead of catcher Yogi Berra’s throw. Two innings later, Robinson drew another base on balls and unnerved Shea into balking him to second base.

Despite Robinson’s adventures on the basepaths, the Dodgers lost the first game, 5 to 3. The series was best remembered for the heroics of Dodger pinch-hitter Cookie Lavagetto in Game 4. For eight and two-thirds innings, Yankee starter Bill Levens had no-hit the Dodgers, surrendering only a single run in the bottom of the fifth. With two out and two runners on, Lavagetto lashed a double to right that scored both runners for a walk off win, evening the series at two games apiece. They would go on to lose the series in seven games. Robinson could not replicate his excellent hitting from the season, hitting only .259 with a pair of doubles.

1949

The Dodgers next faced the Yankees in 1949, after celebrating their National League pennant victory with a ticker-tape parade in Brooklyn a few days before. Unfortunately for the Bums, this contest was significantly more mismatched than the one two years before. Despite an MVP season from Robinson, as well as the addition of the All-Star battery of catcher Roy Campanella and right-hander Don Newcombe, the Dodgers lost four games to one.

In the second game, Robinson scored the only run of the contest after doubling off of the Yanks’ Vic Raschi. Over the course of the remaining four games, Jackie recorded only two other hits. Even though Yankee stars like Berra, Joe DiMaggio, and Phil Rizzuto also struggled, the strength of the Bombers’ rotation allowed them to outlast Brooklyn over the five-game set. “They beat us,” Robinson glumly declared at the end of the series. “They really knocked us down and stepped on us. But I still think we had the better team before the series started.”

Robinson, ever the fiery competitor, was disappointed by the loss, but ready to keep up the fight.

This program from the 1949 World Series can be found on the back wall of the Sports Gallery at the Jackie Robinson Museum. Courtesy of Stephen Wong

Bonus: 1951

Wait, what? You might be thinking: “Didn’t the Dodgers lose the 1951 National League pennant to the New York Giants in a heartbreaking three-game playoff ended by Bobby Thomson’s ‘Shot Heard ‘Round the World’ at the Polo Grounds?” If you are, you would be correct. But the hypothetical 1951 Dodgers-Yankees World Series still exists in our hearts…and on the pages of this never-issued program on display at the Jackie Robinson Museum.

1951 “shadow program” from a World Series that was never played. Courtesy of walteromalley.com

In 1951, Jackie Robinson and the Brooklyn Dodgers held a thirteen-game lead over the New York Giants in the middle of August as the teams were chasing the National League pennant. Then, the Giants began to surge. Led by Bobby Thomson, former Negro Leagues great Monte Irvin, and a largely unknown rookie by the name of Willie Mays, the crosstown rivals won 33 out of their last 40 games and worked themselves into a tie with the Dodgers. In the pre-expansion era, ties for the pennant were resolved in a three-game playoff, which the Giants won. The printer responsible for the programs made two sets: this one, and one for the actual Giants-Yankees series that was played. The unused programs that can be found are popular collector’s items from a past that never was.

1952

The Dodgers returned to the World Series in 1952, this time with home-field advantage. In the first game, they faced off against Yankees ace Allie Reynolds, a 20-game winner that year and runner-up in the American League MVP voting. In the bottom of the second inning, Jackie Robinson smacked a home run to left field, scoring the Dodgers’ first run in a 4-2 victory.

Their luck didn’t last. Despite a thrilling four-homer performance from Duke Snider and great contact hitting from Pee Wee Reese, the Dodgers eventually fell to the Yankees in seven games. Robinson was befuddled at the plate, striking out looking multiple times (later on, he asked Yankee backstop Yogi Berra if a strike he took in Game 6 was truly in the zone, to which Berra solemnly replied that it was). Indeed, Reynolds and Raschi again stymied the Dodger hitters, while Mickey Mantle recorded ten hits and two home runs against the Don Newcombe-less Dodger pitching staff, including the game-winning shot in the final game.

See if you can spot this baseball with signatures from the 1952 Dodgers—it’s located to the left of Pee Wee Reese’s jersey at the Jackie Robinson Museum!

Stay tuned for the second installment of Jackie’s World Series heroics as the present-day Yankees-Dodgers rivalry heads to the Bronx for Games 3, 4, and 5. The Jackie Robinson Museum will be open to the public on Tuesday, October 29 and Wednesday, October 30 as the Dodgers come to town for the Fall Classic!