Q--Did Dressen ask you how you were feeling after the 12th inning?
“He asked me how I was feeling and I told him I was fine, feeling okay. We go with what we’ve got. If I went out there, he believed in what I said and he knew what my capabilities were, so he stayed with me. I was doing well, shutting them out and allowed just one hit and he stayed with me.”
After the game, Jackie Robinson describes the catch as he saw it. “I dove at the ball and speared it. When I fell, my elbow jammed into my stomach, knocking the wind out of me, I couldn’t even talk. I had to point to show the trainer what was wrong.”5
 Roberts retires the Dodgers in order in the 13th inning and has retired the last eight hitters in a row. Newcombe starts his sixth inning of work in relief, but he has little left. With two outs, he walks catcher Andy Seminick and then Roberts. Dressen comes to the mound and decides he has gone with his best pitcher as far as he could go.
Q--Dressen comes to the mound after the two walks in the 13th inning. What does he say?
“He said, ‘I think you’ve had enough. We’re going to bring in somebody fresh.’ I left the mound and the Dodger fans and the Phillie fans gave me a great ovation. I won’t soon forget that and it’s been a lot of years now. Even though the Philadelphia fans didn’t like the Dodgers, they appreciated the effort.”
Q--Does the ovation compare to any other you received in an opposing city?
“I’ll never forget the time I pitched both games of a doubleheader in 1950 in Philadelphia, a twi-night doubleheader. Burt Shotton was the manager and after I won the first game 2-0 and I remember Mr. Shotton standing on the top step of the dugout and he puts his arms around me. He said, ‘You’re a big young guy, why don’t you take the second game, too?’ Allan Roth, our statistician, said I only made 83 pitches.”
“I said to him, ‘Are you serious?’ He said, ‘I’m serious, if you are.’ I went into the clubhouse and changed my shirt and Doc Wendler (Dodger trainer) gave me a rubdown. When I went out to the warm up area to get ready for the second game, I’ll never forget the Phillie fans as a murmur went through the stands and when they announced my name as starter for the second game there was loud applause.”
Podbielan relieved Newcombe and retires Pellagrini on a fly ball. The two teams stagger to the 14th inning.
Reese and Snider foul out to start the 14th inning. Roberts has retired 10 consecutive Dodgers. Jackie Robinson comes to the plate. The count was one ball, one strike, and Roberts delivered a curveball, and Robinson swings mightily.
Q--Where are you in the 14th inning?
“I stayed on the bench. I was there when Jackie hit the home run into the upper left field deck. There was no doubt about it.”
For the first time in 14 innings, the Dodgers had the lead.
Jackie Robinson was asked after the game if the home run was the greatest money hit in his career and he replied, “The greatest in my entire career, in any league anywhere.”6
In the bottom of the 14th inning, Podbielan allowed a leadoff single to Ashburn and Ashburn is sacrificed to second. Ennis and Waitkus get a second chance to deliver for the Phillies, but Podbielan retires them both, the final out on a fly ball to Pafko in left field. This tremendous ballgame ends after 14 innings and the Dodgers still alive for the National League Pennant.
Thousands of fans, most of them Dodger fans, race onto the field to celebrate their team’s victory, playing trumpets and drums.7
|
