The Dodgers in New Jersey

By David Marasco

Some baseball fans will remember that the Dodgers played games in New Jersey in 1956 and 1957. It's true, on April 19 the Dodgers raised their 1955 World Champion Banner over Jersey City's Roosevelt Stadium. Bad weather limited the crowd to 12,214, but they saw quite a game.

Carl Erskine went to the mound against the Phillies' Murry Dickson. The Dodgers were first to draw blood. In the home half of the first Junior Gilliam was able to start the line moving with a walk. Pee Wee Reese popped up a ball to the infield. Third baseman Willie Jones slipped and spiked himself, letting the ball drop for a single. When Duke SniderÊmoved up the runners with a groundout, Roy Campanella was given a free pass. Gil Hodges unleashed a drive to left that Del Ennis had problems tracking down. When it got by him for a double all three runners scored, for Reese it was his 1200th career run scored. Jackie Robinson, who had been accidentally struck in the head during practice the previous day, moved Hodges to third with a single. The second out of the inning was recorded when Carl Furillo flew out to right. Jackie then tried to swipe second. In the rundown Furillo attempted to score. He was trapped off third for the last out of the inning.

Philly came back with run in the next frame and with the help of errors from Robinson and Furillo tied up the game at three in the fourth. After nine the game was still knotted up, so they went to extra innings. Clem Labine came in to face the Phillies. Richie Ashburn laced Labine's second pitch into right for a leadoff single. Ted Kazanski (no, not Ted Kazinski) failed to sacrifice and struck out, but Ashburn stole second and took third when Campy's throw sailed past second. Alston then inserted Gino Cimoli into left as a defensive replacement, but it wasn't much help as Gran Hammer doubled over Cimoli's head. Labine then settled down but the Phillies had grabbed a 4-3 lead.

Duke Snider was the first Dodger to get to the plate in the bottom of the tenth. He responded with a single to right, his first hit of 1956. After blowing a bunt attempt, Campy shot a ball down the left field line for career hit #1000, a double to score Snider. Don Zimmer was then inserted to run for Campy. Duane Pillette was brought in to pitch and gave four wide ones to Gil Hodges. Jackie got the sacrificed down and the Dodgers had the winning run at third. With first open the Phillies elected to pass on Carl Furillo and pitch to pinch hitter Rube Walker. Rube hit a fly to deep right field and Zimmer scooted home for the winning run.

They say that in Philadelphia the fans will boo Santa Claus, but in New Jersey the crowd booed the Dodgers. Roosevelt Stadium was Giants territory. The New Yorkers had operated a farm team in Jersey City from 1937 through 1950, and old loyalties ran deep. Jackie Robinson was a special target, partly because he had said that New Jersey didn't deserve major league baseball. Jackie disagreed with that reasoning, but was philosophical. "They didn't boo me any more after what I said than they did before, so I can't attribute it to saying they weren't entitled to big league ball. It's the fan's privilege to boo, I'm here to play ball, and if they want to come to the ballpark to boo, that's their business." The New York Times quotes an unnamed Dodgers official, "they wouldn't applaud if you gave them free hot dogs."

In May the Cardinals came to New Jersey. Roger Craig started for the Dodgers and ran into trouble in the third. A Red Schoendist single and a walk by Ken Boyer came back to haunt Roger when Wally Moon hit the first major league home run in Roosevelt Stadium. Walter Alston must not have had much faith in Craig, he lifted for a pinch hitter in the third. His replacement was Ken Lehman, a little used reliever.

Hemrie Wehmeier, the Cardinal's starter, was the victim of some bad luck in the fourth. He had popped up Gil Hodges for what should have been the second out, but the foul ball was dropped. Gil then singled in Snider. Wehmeier popped up Robinson, and by all rights the inning should have been over. But the previous error allowed Sandy Amoros to the plate, and he smoked a double for the inning's second run. Furillo was walked to exposed the pitcher, but Lehman stroked a single for two more runs. That was it for Wehmeier. Lindy McDaniel was brought in from the pen and allowed another run before retiring the Dodgers.

Lehman and McDaniel pitched well, matching zeros across the board. Lehman made it until two outs in the ninth, and then he ran out of gas. He surrendered a full count walk to Schoendist and then gave Musial a free pass on four pitches. Alston again went to his pen, this time bringing in Clem Labine. Labine got Boyer to pop to Robinson to end the game. Lehman got the win, his first since he beat the then Boston Braves in 1952.

Big league ball would not return to New Jersey until the Cubs came to town in late June. The Dodgers started Carl Erskine. When he gave up a two-run homer to Ernie Banks in the first Brooklyn had good reason to worry; after tossing a no-hitter against the Giants Carl had gone six straight starts without posting a win. In fact, his opposite member Don Kaiser had debuted against him and beat him in Chicago earlier in the month. The Dodgers cut the lead in half in the bottom of the first when they parlayed an error, a Reese double and a sacrifice fly into a run. The double was the 500th extrabase hit of Pee Wee's career, and at the time only Zack Wheat and Duke Snider had accomplished the feat in a Dodgers uniform.

Once again, the pitchers settled in and shut down the hitters. And also once again the Dodgers were recipients of some New Jersey luck. Ernie Banks booted an Al Waller grounder, and this allowed Junior Gilliam to tie the game with a triple, only the fourth hit off of Kaiser. The center fielder then dropped an easy fly ball and Junior trotted home with the go ahead run. That was it for Kaiser. The Cubs were able to get out of the tinning, but only three outs separated them from defeat. Alston left that to Clem Labine, and after giving up a hit and a walk he sewed up the win.

In the 1950's there was a communist under every bed, so it was the Redlegs and not the Reds who were the next attraction. A rainstorm briefly delayed what promised to be quite a pitcher's duel. Don Newcombe vs. Lawrence. Newk came into the game at 13-5 and Lawrence posted and even more impressive 14-1. A young Frank Robinson got the Redlegs on the board in the third with a solo home run. This was answered by Carl Furillo's homer to left in the fourth. Outside of fireworks by those two fine sluggers, the pitchers were living up to their billing. Going into the bottom of the ninth the score was still tied at one. Newcombe had been able to keep league-leading Ted Kluszewski in the ballpark, could Lawrence do the same with Snider? No. Gus Bell ran to the 411 sign in centerfield and watched Duke's blast carry over the fence. This tied Snider with big Klu at 24 on the season. Given the rooting preference, many of the 23,454 must have gone home unhappy.

Even if the fans didn't like the Dodgers, they did like to watch them play. When the Braves came to town 26,141 poured into the ballpark, larger than the gate to any single Ebbettts Field game to that point in the season. Carl Erskine got the nod for the Dodgers and Gene Conley started for the men from Milwaukee. One of the Braves who was trouble was Joe Adcock. In his previous eight games against Brooklyn he had hit nine home runs. After the second inning it was ten homers in nine games. Jackie Robinson responded right away with a two-run homer that secured the lead. As was the pattern in New Jersey, the two team's bats then went into an extended hibernation.

Things were looking good for the Dodgers, the Braves had tallied but one single off of Erskine since the second. But with one out in the ninth he lost the magic. Eddie Mathews launched a ball to right to even the score and then Hank Aaron doubled to left. Out went Erskine, in came Labine. Clem set up the double play by giving a free pass to the very dangerous Adcock and then faced a man burned into Dodger history - Bobby Thompson. The former Giant rocketed an infield single off of Jackie Robinson to load the bases. The next man to the plate was Braves shortstop Johnny Logan. He sent a grounder to Robinson who fired home for the force. Rube Walker then turned to throw to first, but held up realizing that he had no chance on Logan. Joe Adcock must have thought that the action had gone to first, he came barrelling around third and headed for home. He found the ball waiting for him at the plate. The double play ended the Brave's half of the inning.

Pee Wee Reese opened the bottom of the ninth with a single and was sacrificed to second. Furillo was walked and this brought Jackie Robinson to the plate. He drove the ball to the wall in center that Bruton couldn't track down. Reese, who was holding on the play, made a dash for the plate and beat the throw. It was the fifth Dodger victory against no defeats, and they had won the last three in their final at bats.

Don Newcombe was on a roll when the Pirates made their stop in the Garden State. He had won seven straight and had a string of 24 scoreless innings. Newk would get all the support the would need when Duke Snider blasted a two-run homer in the third. The Dodgers would add another run in the following frame when they brought home Jackie Robinson. Jackie was roundly booed by the New Jersey Fans. Newcombe had men on base all day, but was aided by good defense. He also did not allow the Pirates to bunch their hits, and this was one of his keys to success. At the end of the day he had another win and nine more scoreless innings.

The Dodgers closed their 1956 New Jersey adventure with their arch rivals the Giants. They sent Don Newcombe to the mound against Johnny Antonelli. Newcombe pitched a whale of a game. He gave up only three hits, but one of them was a fourth inning homer by Willie Mays. The rest of the story is Antonelli's pitching. Duke Snider was the first Dodger to reach base, with a single in the second. Antonelli then kicked it into a higher gear and retired the next fifteen batters before he gave up a walk to Randy Jackson. A Charley Neal double in the eighth accounted for the only other Brooklyn baserunner. The shutout was significant in that it was the first time that a left hander had blanked the Dodgers over two years. The one to nothing loss was the Dodgers only setback in New Jersey in 1956.

How well did things work out with the Dodger's little experiment? In the standings Roosevelt Stadium was friendly, the Dodgers posting a 6-1 record in New Jersey. That record looms large when it is realized that Brooklyn took the pennant by only one game. While the fans seemed like a thorn in the side, at least there were a lot of them. The Dodgers drew 1,213,562 people to their 77 home games. 148,371 of those were in New Jersey. That means that Roosevelt drew 21,196 a game while Ebbetts could manage only 15,217. That's an almost 40% increase in attendance. While in the short term the New Jersey arrangement worked for the Dodgers in the long run it failed. The Bums had been playing outside of Brooklyn in hopes of forcing the replacement of Ebbetts Field. They would get a new stadium, but it would be in Chavez Ravine.

1957 would be the Dodger's last year in New Jersey, the following season would see then basking in the sunshine of California. As they had the year before, Brooklyn opened its New Jersey season with the Phillies. Like previous Roosevelt Stadium contests, honest runs were hard to find. The Dodgers scored first in the fifth. After blowing an inning-ending double play Philadelphia gave up a two-run double to Duke Snider. The next inning would see a third Dodger tally when Don Zimmer came in on a Gilliam single. Roger Craig pitched effectively, allowing only one run over seven and a third innings of work. As usual, Clem Labine finished the game. The Dodgers triumphed by a final of five to one.

Before he was a Brooklyn Dodger Don Newcombe was a member of the Newark Eagles of the Negro National League. He certainly seemed to be a fixture in New Jersey, he would start seven of the fourteen games that the Dodgers played in the Jersey City. When the Cardinals visited in May, he drew Tom Cheeny as an opponent. The rookie didn't impress the Dodgers. They pushed across a pair of runs and were spoiling for more during his 1/3 inning. Lloyd Merritt let across another run completing the first. The Dodgers would scrape together three more runs over the course of the day, but it wasn't necessary. Newcombe was performing at his top level. Five singles and a pair of walks were charged against Newk, but the game was never in doubt. Another shutout for Newcombe, six to nothing.

The Cubs returned to New Jersey in June and gave the ball to the previous year's hard luck loser, Don Kaiser. This time he would not face Erskine, but a 20-year-old by the name of Don Drysdale. Both pitched well, but Drysdale was a little better. The Dodgers were able to manufacture a run in the sixth, while the Cubs could do nothing against the Brooklyn righthander. Kaiser was pulled for a pinch hitter in the eighth, and the Dodgers feasted upon his replacements for three more runs. Drysdale would go on to complete the game, the first shutout of his career. The Dodgers had run their New Jersey record to 9-1.

Don Newcombe proved that he was human when the Milwaukee Braves came to town in June. In the fourth he got Johnny Logan to open with a grounder, but it was mishandled by the third baseman. Eddie Mathews was the next man up and he deposited one of Newk's offerings over the center field fence for a two-run jack. Newcombe would work his way in and out of a jam in the eighth at the cost of another run. On the other hand, Bob Buhl was fooling everyone but Gil Hodges. Buhl would toss a four-hitter, three of those hits coming off the bat of Hodges. One of those would lead to the Dodger's sole run. In the fourth he would lead off with a single, and after a sacrifice he came home on Gino Cimoli's single. Unlike some of Newcombe's games, one run would not be enough. The Dodgers would end up on the wrong end of a three to one score.

Newcombe wouldn't be down for long. He won his next four starts and then returned to New Jersey to face the Redlegs. Gil Hodges got off to an early start with a second inning triple. He would score on a Campanella sacrifice fly. Newcombe returned to form, falling into only one jam. He would give up a pair of singles to start the seventh and Cincinnati would take advantage of the situation to score the tying run. Don would not allow another runner to reach first for the rest of the contest. He was so dominant that not a single batter reached three balls.

With Newcombe cruising all that remained was for the Dodgers to score some runs. When Junior Gilliam drew a leadoff walk in the eighth the pump was primed. Although Snider couldn't get down the sacrifice, the Dodgers had men on the corners after Elmer Valo singled to right. Gino Cimoli left the bat on his shoulders and Klippstein dug himself into a 3-0 hole. Cimoli then smacked the next pitch into right center for a bases-clearing triple. This great play drew cheers even from the partisan New Jersey crowd. The final would be three to one Dodgers.

The previous year the Newcombe-Antonelli pairing had been one for the highlight films. The rematch was an exciting game, but not a pretty one. Going into the bottom of the fifth the scored was tied at three. Neither pitcher looked very sharp. With two out Hodges blasted a triple, scoring on a Campy single. Neal then put one into right and it looked like he might have a chance at an inside-the park home run. Mueller nailed him at the plate. This gave the Dodgers a five to three lead.

Even though Newk wasn't firing on all cylinders the prospects looked rosy for Brooklyn when they entered the ninth. But a pair of infield singles set the table for pinch hitter Hank Sauer. He drew a full count from Newcombe and then rocked him for a three-run blast. That broke Newcombe. He couldn't hit the strike zone on his first three pitches to the opposing pitcher, and was replaced by Labine. Only this time Clem couldn't slam the door. After a sacrifice, the Giants hit a comebacker to the mound. Labine tried to catch the runner off of second, but failed. Willie Mays reached on an error to load the bases. Ray Jablonski singled to left to drive in a pair of runs. The Giants then ran themselves out of the inning on a blown double steal. Marv Grissom silenced the Dodgers in the ninth to complete the victory

The Pirates wouldn't make it to Roosevelt Stadium in 1957, but their cross state rivals the Phillies would make up for it by appearing twice. Jack Sanford and Don Drysdale put in performances that were becoming commonplace in New Jersey. The Dodgers got on the board in the fourth. Pee Wee drew a leadoff walk and stole second. Hodges then broke up Sanford's no-hitter and shutout with a single to left. Hodges scored himself in the seventh. He lead off the inning with a single. After being sacrificed to second he came home when Charlie Neal doubled to right. The fielder had problems with the ball and Neal tried for third. He would have been out if Gran Hamner's relay throw had been true. The ball got away from Kazanski and Neal streaked home. Sanford was on his game. He called for the ball and stepped on third, something that Neal had neglected. The inning was over and the third run was taken off the scoreboard.

Still, with Drysdale on the mound things looked good. Although he had a man on second, he had the Phillies down to their last out and faced a rookie at the plate. Harry Anderson took the first pitch he saw and placed it into the rightfield bleachers. Good bye shutout. Both teams would struggle in extra innings until the twelfth. In that frame Chico Fernandez tripled to right center. More controversy took place at third. The throw had appeared to have beaten Fernandez, but the umpire ruled the runner safe. After a discussion with the men in blue, Walter Alston resigned himself to the situation. A sacrifice fly brought in the Phillies shortstop. Brooklyn did nothing in their half, much to the joy of the local fans. The Dodgers would close their New Jersey saga with a heart-breaking loss.