Jackie Robinson's Defense and HR Won the Dodgers' Last 1951 Regular Season Game

He would have been remembered having been as great or greater than Hank Aaron, Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays, but his skin had too much melanin.

The New York Giants had already won their game, which meant that the Brooklyn Dodgers had to beat the Philadelphia Phillies to tie the Giants for the 1951 pennant.

Few individuals know that for a short time, the Brooklyn Dodgers trailed the New York Giants at the end of September.

The Dodgers and Phils were tied at 8-8 in the bottom of the 12th inning at Shibe Park. The bases were loaded with Phillies, two were out and Eddie Waitkus was the batter.

The left-handed Waitkus hit a low line drive to the right of second base. The crowd of 31,755, many of whom were Dodgers' fans who made the trip from Brooklyn, held its breath. They were about to see the greatest collapse in National League history.

Jackie Robinson refused to let that happen.

The 32-year-old second baseman raced over, dove toward the ball and caught it before it hit the ground. Umpire Lon Warneke signaled a fair catch.

Robinson had landed on his shoulder. As he tossed the ball toward the mound, he collapsed, remaining on the ground for several minutes before groggily rising to fans' cheers.

Does anyone think there was any way that Jack Roosevelt Robinson would have left the game?

In the 14th inning, 21-game winner Robin Roberts, who was starting the 315th inning of his season, was on the mound. He easily retired the first two Dodgers on infield pop ups, bringing Robinson to the plate.

You know what happened, of course. Robinson hit a Roberts 1-1 fast ball into the upper left field stands.

Richie Ashburn led off the Phillies' half of the 14th inning against Bud Podbielan with a ground ball that scooted past shortstop PeeWee Reese. 

Since Bill James was only two-years-old, Phillies manager Eddie Sawyer didn't know that having home run threat Willie Jones sacrifice was the wrong move.

With Ashburn on second, Del Ennis popped out to Gil Hodges, bringing up Eddie Waitkus. This time, all he could do was lift a harmless fly ball to left that Andy Pafko squeezed to give the Dodgers a tie for the pennant.

Hank Aaron joined the Milwaukee Braves at the age of 20.

Mickey Mantle joined the New York Yankees at the age of 20.

Willie Mays joined the New York Giants at the age of 20.

Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers at the age of 28.

Reference:

Brooks beat Phils in fourteenth, 9-8. (1951, Oct 01). New York Times (1923-Current File), pp. 26. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/111866783?accountid=46260

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