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Wednesday, October 5, 1955, Brooklyn @ New York - Yankee Stadium

KUCKS TOSSES PERFECT GAME AT DODGERS, SEND SERIES TO DECIDING SEVENTH GAME

The Yankees returned home to the Bronx following three straight losses in Ebbets Field, down three games to two to their cross-town rivals, and without a clear plan of just who would start Game Six.  All the Yankees players and their fans knew was they needed someone to give them a strong outing and a chance to win so as to bridge the Series to a Game Seven, already set up for their ace, Whitey Ford. Under consideration were Don Larsen, Bob Grim, Tommy Byrne, and Rip Coleman, but ultimately the decision was made to go to Johnny Kucks, who dabbled with great success on the mound as both a starter and a reliever during the regular season. Nine innings and 99 pitches later, Kucks made history by tossing a PERFECT GAME at the Brooklyn Dodgers, extending the Series to a pivotal seventh game with a 9-0 victory.

Kucks was provided an early 1-0 lead when Mickey Mantle stroked his fourth homerun of the Series in the bottom of the first inning, then appeared well on his way to a win after New York posted a six-spot off Carl Erskine to drive him from the mound in the third inning. Irv Noren’s triple scored the first of the six runs, followed by another RBI from Mantle, this one on a single. The inning turned ugly from there, as Erskine walked a pair of batters leading to his hastened exit, then Jim Hughes made his first appearance of the World Series and promptly walked two more, unloading three wild pitches in the sequence.

It wasn’t long before attention turned from the size of the Yankee lead to the performance of Kucks on the mound. Kucks took to the mound up 7-0 in the fourth, having retired the Dodgers quietly the first time through the order, masterfully moved the ball around the strike zone like a skilled surgeon. Frank Kellert, pinch-hitting in the sixth, challenged Kuck’s perfection to that point with a ground ball into the hole on the left side, but Billy Hunter, inserted moments earlier for his glove work over an aging Rizzuto, fielded the ball to his backhand and threw a strike to first to nail the lumbering Kellert for the out.

Kucks finished his masterpiece with four strikeouts, and threw 67 of his 99 pitches for strikes, running up three-ball counts to four hitters along the way. Gil Hodges worked the count to full in the fifth, before popping out to first. Duke Snider had a full count in the seventh before grounding out to shortstop to end that inning. Kucks fell behind 3-0 to Roy Campanella to lead off the eighth, before rallying to get Campy on a fly ball to center field. Then in the ninth, down to their last out, the dangerous George Shuba came off the bench and battled back from a 1-2 hole to run the count full.  Shuba fouled off Kuck’s next offering before swinging through a fastball in on he hands to end the game. The Yankee fans poured on to the field en masse, the Yankee players sprinted to the mound, but meeting the 21 year old youngster first was Yankees catcher Yogi Berra, who hoisted Kucks up off his feet in celebration. 

To be sure, the Yankees evened up the Series in a most special way.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP

Brooklyn 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

New York 1 0 6 0 0 0 0 2 x 9 9 0 8 0

Dodgers AB R H BI AVG Yankees AB R H BI AVG

Gilliam 2b 3 0 0 0 .261 McDougald 2b 4 1 1 0 .320

Reese ss 3 0 0 0 .227 Noren lf 4 2 1 1 .222

Snider cf 3 0 0 0 .292 Mantle cf 5 2 3 2 .292

Campanella c 3 0 0 0 .381 Berra c 4 1 2 2 .136

Hodges 1b 3 0 0 0 .240 Collins 1b 2 1 0 0 .286

Furillo rf 3 0 0 0 .176 Bauer rf 3 1 0 0 .227

Amoros lf 3 0 0 0 .286 Carey 3b 4 1 1 2 .435

Hoak 3b 3 0 0 0 .200 Rizzuto ss 2 0 0 0 .176

Erskine p 1 0 0 0 .000 Hunter ss 1 0 1 0 1.000

Hughes p 0 0 0 0 .000 Kucks p 4 0 0 0 .200

Kellert ph 1 0 0 0 .000 33 9 9 7

Meyer p 0 0 0 0 .000

Shuba ph 1 0 0 0 .000

27 0 0 0

Dodgers INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA

Erskine L 0-1 2.1 4 6 6 4 0 63 38 14.85

Hughes 2.2 2 1 1 2 2 41 25 3.38

Meyer 3.0 3 2 2 2 3 64 32 5.40

8.0 9 9 9 8 5 168 95

Yankees INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA

Kucks W 1-0 9.0 0 0 0 0 4 99 67 2.08

9.0 0 0 0 0 4 99 67

Brk: Kellert batted for Hughes in the 6th

Shuba batted for Meyer in the 9th

NYA: Hunter inserted at ss in the 6th

2B-Mantle. 3B-Noren. HR-Mantle(4), Berra(1). K-Hodges 2, Amoros, Shuba,

McDougald 2, Mantle, Bauer, Carey. BB-McDougald, Noren, Berra, Collins 3,

Bauer, Rizzuto. WP-Hughes 3, Meyer.

GWRBI: Mantle

Temperature: 51, Sky: clear, Wind: right to left at 7 MPH.