Lip Man 1 Posted June 13 Share Posted June 13 June 13, 1957 - The Sox and Yankees hooked up in perhaps the greatest ‘base-brawl’ in history. In the first inning at Comiskey Park, New York’s Art Ditmar threw a pitch at the head of the Sox Larry Doby. As the pitch rolled to the wall, Ditmar ran to cover home. Doby warned Ditmar about the pitch, and then threw a left hook which dropped him. The fight appeared to have racial overtones and lasted a full 30 minutes. Chicago native and future Sox player Bill "Moose" Skowron jumped on Doby which brought Walt Dropo into the fray. Dropo was 6-5, 220 pounds, and a monster for his time. At various times, “Whitey” Ford, Casey Stengel, "Jungle" Jim Rivera and Enos "Country" Slaughter were in the middle of it. Slaughter’s jersey and undershirt were ripped to pieces and his hat was backwards in one of the most famous photographs of the 1950's. After things settled down Billy Martin rushed into things and started in on Doby. Five players were ejected and fined for the melee. New York won the game 4-3. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melton1972 Posted June 13 Share Posted June 13 17 minutes ago, Lip Man 1 said: June 13, 1957 - The Sox and Yankees hooked up in perhaps the greatest ‘base-brawl’ in history. In the first inning at Comiskey Park, New York’s Art Ditmar threw a pitch at the head of the Sox Larry Doby. As the pitch rolled to the wall, Ditmar ran to cover home. Doby warned Ditmar about the pitch, and then threw a left hook which dropped him. The fight appeared to have racial overtones and lasted a full 30 minutes. Chicago native and future Sox player Bill "Moose" Skowron jumped on Doby which brought Walt Dropo into the fray. Dropo was 6-5, 220 pounds, and a monster for his time. At various times, “Whitey” Ford, Casey Stengel, "Jungle" Jim Rivera and Enos "Country" Slaughter were in the middle of it. Slaughter’s jersey and undershirt were ripped to pieces and his hat was backwards in one of the most famous photographs of the 1950's. After things settled down Billy Martin rushed into things and started in on Doby. Five players were ejected and fined for the melee. New York won the game 4-3. I wish I was around to witness the great 1950s Sox Yankees rivalry and miss the toughness these players possessed. I also wished the White Sox would have won at least a couple of World Series titles during this time. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lip Man 1 Posted June 13 Author Share Posted June 13 (edited) 18 minutes ago, Melton1972 said: I wish I was around to witness the great 1950s Sox Yankees rivalry and miss the toughness these players possessed. I also wished the White Sox would have won at least a couple of World Series titles during this time. Agreed, they had some excellent seasons, the Yankees were just better. But the Yankees certainly respected the Sox, Casey Stengel, Tony Kubek, Skowron all said at various times the only team they had to really think about going into each season was the White Sox. Edited June 13 by Lip Man 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Mighty Mite Posted June 13 Share Posted June 13 (edited) 2 hours ago, Melton1972 said: I wish I was around to witness the great 1950s Sox Yankees rivalry and miss the toughness these players possessed. I also wished the White Sox would have won at least a couple of World Series titles during this time. I was, great time but the ironic thing is when we won the pennant in 1959 the Yankees weren’t much of a factor that year. Cleveland wound up second and I remember a key series in late August when we went into Cleveland and swept a 4 game series against the Indians in front of huge crowds, IIRC there were 70,000 for the Friday night game and over 60,000 for the Sunday DH. The 60s came along and the Yankees went to the WS 5 straight years from 60 to 64, the Sox had their best chance in 64 finishing 1 game behind the Yanks but the Sox had to win the last 10 in a row to finish that 1 game behind. The Sox were damn good in 63,64 and 65 winning more games than any other team in MLB those 3 years but never saw the post season, they won 94, 98 and 95 games those 3 years, the best 3 consecutive years in Sox history. Edited June 13 by The Mighty Mite Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lip Man 1 Posted June 13 Author Share Posted June 13 August 30, 1959 - The Sox sealed a huge four game sweep of their closest pursuers in the American League by beating Cleveland at Municipal Stadium 6-3 and 9-4. Early Wynn and Barry Latman picked up the wins. The four-game sweep increased the Sox lead to five and a half games in the league and basically ended any suspense as to who was going to win the 1959 American League championship. An oddity came in game two when Latman’s sacrifice fly in the second inning scored both Johnny Romano and Al Smith! Latman hit a long drive caught at the fence by the Indians Rocco “Rocky” Colavito (who’d join the Sox in 1967) which scored Romano easily but Smith never hesitated and slid safely before third baseman George Strickland could even make a throw. The double header sweep was played in front of over 66 thousand fans. Sportswriter Gordon Cobbledick of the Cleveland Plain Dealer wrote that it was time for the Sox to “Go-Go home…” And in 1964 the Sox won their last nine straight to end the year. The problem was the Yankees went on a stretch where they went 23-6 to end the season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Mighty Mite Posted June 13 Share Posted June 13 17 minutes ago, Lip Man 1 said: August 30, 1959 - The Sox sealed a huge four game sweep of their closest pursuers in the American League by beating Cleveland at Municipal Stadium 6-3 and 9-4. Early Wynn and Barry Latman picked up the wins. The four-game sweep increased the Sox lead to five and a half games in the league and basically ended any suspense as to who was going to win the 1959 American League championship. An oddity came in game two when Latman’s sacrifice fly in the second inning scored both Johnny Romano and Al Smith! Latman hit a long drive caught at the fence by the Indians Rocco “Rocky” Colavito (who’d join the Sox in 1967) which scored Romano easily but Smith never hesitated and slid safely before third baseman George Strickland could even make a throw. The double header sweep was played in front of over 66 thousand fans. Sportswriter Gordon Cobbledick of the Cleveland Plain Dealer wrote that it was time for the Sox to “Go-Go home…” And in 1964 the Sox won their last nine straight to end the year. The problem was the Yankees went on a stretch where they went 23-6 to end the season. Thanks for the correction, it was 9 in a row. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cuban_sammiches Posted June 13 Share Posted June 13 6 hours ago, Lip Man 1 said: June 13, 1957 - The Sox and Yankees hooked up in perhaps the greatest ‘base-brawl’ in history. In the first inning at Comiskey Park, New York’s Art Ditmar threw a pitch at the head of the Sox Larry Doby. As the pitch rolled to the wall, Ditmar ran to cover home. Doby warned Ditmar about the pitch, and then threw a left hook which dropped him. The fight appeared to have racial overtones and lasted a full 30 minutes. Chicago native and future Sox player Bill "Moose" Skowron jumped on Doby which brought Walt Dropo into the fray. Dropo was 6-5, 220 pounds, and a monster for his time. At various times, “Whitey” Ford, Casey Stengel, "Jungle" Jim Rivera and Enos "Country" Slaughter were in the middle of it. Slaughter’s jersey and undershirt were ripped to pieces and his hat was backwards in one of the most famous photographs of the 1950's. After things settled down Billy Martin rushed into things and started in on Doby. Five players were ejected and fined for the melee. New York won the game 4-3. Enos Slaughter was a great player but he was 41 in 1957. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldsox Posted June 14 Share Posted June 14 I saw the Yankee fight Live on TV. Will never forget it, especially Doby's picture left hook. While watching, I never gave racial overtones a thought. Maybe I was naive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lip Man 1 Posted June 14 Author Share Posted June 14 4 minutes ago, oldsox said: I saw the Yankee fight Live on TV. Will never forget it, especially Doby's picture left hook. While watching, I never gave racial overtones a thought. Maybe I was naive. Doby claimed that Ditmar used some racial comments when the two were at home plate. Ditmar denied that he did but it was clear something set Doby off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melton1972 Posted June 14 Share Posted June 14 1 hour ago, Lip Man 1 said: Doby claimed that Ditmar used some racial comments when the two were at home plate. Ditmar denied that he did but it was clear something set Doby off. That is interesting. But would Ditmar do this in light of the fact that Elston Howard would be his catcher? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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