1958 World Series: Bob Turley, Mel Allen and Elston Howard Win Game 5

The Milwaukee Braves had just beaten the New York Yankees to take a seemingly insurmountable three-games-to-one lead in the 1958 World Series.

My brother, cousin and I were quite depressed when my cousin suggested that we go for a ride. He had just received his junior license, but it wasn't valid in any part of New York City.

We called his father to drive us to Nassau County. Our entire family went for the ride. While we were waiting for my uncle to arrive, my brother, really believing it, said that the Yankees were going to win the World Series.

The only time a team trailed by a three-games-to-one margin and won occurred in 1925, when the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Washington Senators.

Monday, Oct. 6, 1958 was a clear, crisp autumn day in New York. I don't remember why I wasn't in school, but I watched the game at home. I would never skip learning to watch a baseball game, would I?

I needed Mel Allen for the entire game, so I turned on the radio in the kitchen, which I could hear in the den. I turned off the sound on the television. Mel Allen announced the first four-and-a-half innings on radio and then switched to the television.

Bob Turley, whom the Braves had blasted in Game 2, started against Lew Burdette. The Yankees were 0-4 against him in his four World Series starts.

Turley and Burdette matched zeroes until Gil McDougald led off the third inning with a deep drive down the left field line. Mel Allen told me that it hit the foul pole.

Turley was protecting the one-run advantage when fleet-footed Billy Bruton led off the sixth inning with a single through the left side of the infield.

As Elston Howard fired the ball back to the infield, neither he nor anyone else knew that he was about to win the World Series for the Yankees.

Switch-hitting Red Schoendienst stepped into the left-handed hitters' batting box. He hit a looping fly ball to short left field. From the sound of Mel Allen's voice, it sounded bad.

The ball was falling rapidly into short left field, out of the reach of shortstop Tony Kubek and seemingly beyond the grasp of left fielder Elston Howard.

But Elston Howard turned things around. Howard had to move far and fast to get to the ball. He never doubted that he would make the catch.

Braves' manager Fred Haney knew that Howard's play was the turning point of the game. Yankees' right fielder Hank Bauer thought that the play woke the Yankees up.

After the game, my brother and I didn't say a word to each other. There were still two games that had to be won.

References:

Effrat, Louis. "Turley Supplies Pitching, McDougald Power, Howard Protection for Yanks; Outfielder Wins Praise of Mates; Howard's Diving Catch for Yanks in Sixth is Rated Game's Turning Point." New York Times. 7 October 1958, p. 44.

McGowen, Roscoe. "Braves Frolic in Clubhouse After Loss But Haney and Burdette Are Gloomy." New York Times. 7 October 1958, p. 45.