So it comes down to Brooklyn and St. Louis for the National League title and although the Cardinals won 6 of the 8 games played between the two teams the Dodgers where coming off a sweep of the Pirates and a second half record of 15-4 and appear to be peaking at the right time.
Sportsman's Park, St. Louis
Gregg vs Munger
The game started well for Brooklyn as leadoff man, Eddie Stanky, triples to right and scores one out later for an early 1-0 Dodger lead. Through the first 4 innings the Cards had their opportunities but Gregg pitched out of trouble stranding 5 runners. St. Louis finally broke through to tie the score in the 5th on a Johnny Hopp leadoff single, an intentional walk to Stan Musial and an RBI single by Ray Sanders. Meanwhile, Red Munger was in a groove giving up only 4 hits through the first 7 innings. The Cardinal offense finally got untracked in the 7th inning with a lot of help from a tiring Hal Gregg. Walker Cooper doubles with one out and "The Man" gets another intentional pass, his 3rd of the game. Gregg than loses his control and walks Sanders to load the bases and promptly wild pitches the lead run home for a 2-1 Cardinal lead. Whitey Kurowski than sends a ground ball to SS Eddie Basinski who airmails it into the first base stands which allow 2 more runs to score. Then with 2 out Marty Marion singles and Emil Verban doubles to bring in the 4th run of the inning and a 5-1 St. Louis lead. Brooklyn adds one in the 8th and Blix Donnelly comes on to save game one for a 5-2 Cardinal win.
St. Louis leads series 1-0
Sportsman's Park, St. Louis
Davis vs Cooper
Game 2 begins like the first with Brookly scoring a run in the opening frame on a Dixie Walker solo shot to the right field bleachers for a 1-0 Dodger lead. Brooklyn extended the lead to 2-0 in the top of the 3rd when Tommy Brown, after singles by Curt Davis and Eddie Stanky, grounded out to score the run. The Cards narrowed the lead to one in the bottom of the inning when Johnny Hopp singled to score Marty Marion. The score remained 2-1 until the 5th. Emil Verban lead off with a single and pitcher, Mort Cooper, followed with a single of his own. One out later, Mort's brother, Walker, singled to score Verban and tie the score. That brought Musial to the plate with the Cooper brothers on 1st and 2nd. Brooklyn's manager had walked "The Man" 3 times in the first game, once with runners on first and third, but this time he elected to pitch to him. Brooklyn paid the price for that decision as Musial hit the first pitch he saw and deposited 361 feet away into the right center field bleachers for a 3 run homer and a 5-2 Cardinal lead. The Redbirds added one more in the inning to put up a 5 spot and the damage was done. Brooklyn added 1 in the 6th and after adding 2 more in the 9th, Blix Donnelly came on with one out to notch his second save and a second St. Louis win, 7-5.
St. Louis leads series 2-0
Ebbets Field, Brooklyn
Lanier vs Lombardi
Trailing the series 2-0, Brooklyn is glad to return to the friendly confines of Ebbets Field and the home town crowd. The raucous crowd of Dodger fans was quieted early when Walker Cooper singled in the first with one out and came around to score on Stan Musial's triple who, in turn, scored on a Vic Lombardi wild pitch for a 2-0 Cardinal lead after a half inning. However, that quieted crowed came back to life with a vengeance when "Dem Bums" scored 3 in the bottom of the first on a 3 run blast by Goody Rosen for an early 3-2 lead. The decibel level doubled in the second inning when Brooklyn tacked on another run for a 4-2 lead and all looked bright in Brooklyn Borough . In the 3rd Walker Cooper cracked a leadoff HR to narrow the lead to 4-3 and then he drove in another in the 4th to tie game 4-4. The pitchers settled in after that and after 7 it was still a 4-4 game. As has been the case all season, St. Louis is the most dangerous in the late innings and this game was no different. Emil Verban got a leadoff single and Lanier sacrificed him to second. Cy Buker, who had come on after Verban's single, was the victim of some shoddy defense. Hopp popped up to 3B but Frenchy Bordagar dropped the ball putting men on 1st and 3rd. Cooper than hit a SF to score the lead run for the Cards. After Musial was intentionally walked, Ray Sanders got aboard on an error by 1B Augie Galen that loaded the bases. If the lack of defense behind him wasn't enough to unnerve Buker the passed ball by his catcher was. St. Louis now leads 6-4 after 8. To make sure of the win the Cardinals added 3 more in the 9th topped off by a 2 run double by Walker Cooper who had an outstanding game with 5 hits 2 runs and 5 RBI. Cards win game 3, 9-4.
St. Louis leads series 3-0
Ebbets Field, Brooklyn
Brecheen vs Herring
Down to their last game and trying to avoid a St. Louis sweep, the Dodgers send Art Herring to the mound to try and tame the St. Louis mighty offense. Once again the Dodger's score in the first inning on a Luis Olmo base hit but once again St. Louis comes back to tie it in the 2nd on another throwing error by the Dodgers. The Cards take the lead in the 4th inning when Marty Marion drives an 0-2 pitch from Herring into the left field bleachers for a 2-1 Cardinal lead. Then to the delight of the Brooklyn fans the home team scores 2 runs in the bottom of the 5th. Goody Rosen gets a one out double and scores on a Fats Dantonio single to tie the game. After the runner goes to 3rd on a wild pitch Art Herring takes matters into his own hands and gets himself an infield hit to plate the run and the Dodgers lead 3-2. Herring retires 12 batters in a row before Ray Sanders singles in the 8th and he allows a walk but he gets out of the inning. After the Brooklyn is retired in the 9th the Dodger fans come to their feet for the start of the 9th inning. Herring begins the 9th by retiring Marion on a ground ball to 2nd and Verban on a fly ball to RF. Needing one more out, Herring walks PH Augie Bergamo, and the Brooklyn manager brings in Les Webber to get the last out as Art Herring tips his hat to the appreciative crowd as he heads for the dugout. Webber is able to seal the deal as he gets Hopp to ground out to 2B and the hometown crowd erupts as their is a sliver a light at the end of the tunnel. Brooklyn wins game 4, 3-2 behind an outstanding pitching performance by Art Herring as he went 8.2 innings allowing 4 hits and one earned run.
St. Louis leads series 3-1
Ebbets Field
Gregg vs Munger
As the series moves back to St. Louis it is a match up of game one pitchers, Hal Gregg for the Dodgers and Red Munger for the Cardinals. The two had locked into a 7 inning pitching duel in game one and the Brooklyn fans who didn't have a ticket for the game and were listening on their RCA radios at home were hoping for more of the same but with a different outcome. For those Dodger fans who were late getting to their radios because they were in the kitchen fixing a "Dagwood" for lunch more than likely couldn't believe what they heard when they sat back down. St. Louis was taking no prisoners in this game. As has been the case for the series, shoddy defense has been a large part of Brooklyn's undoing and to the Cardinal's credit they have taken advantage of those miscues. After getting the first out Walker Cooper gets on base on a throwing error by 1B Ed Stevens. Brooklyn manager again elects to intentionally walk Musial and Hal Gregg than loses his control. He walks Ray Sanders to load the bases, Whitey Kurowski to plate the first run of the game and then walks Danny Litwhiler to score the second run. Marty Marion hits a fly to center that Goody Rosen drops to allow the 3rd run to score. Emil Verban than doubles to to plate 2 more runs. With 2 out Johnny Hopp gets himself and infield hit to score the 6th run of the inning and just like that the Dodger fans, both in the park and at home, are stunned and quiet and realize if they are going to win this game they have to come from a long way back. After a half inning they trail 6-0. Brooklyn gets one back in the 2nd on a Johnny Peacock single. The teams trade runs in the 4th and the score is 7-2. That remains the score until the 7th when once again the Redbirds turn on the offense in the late innings. A walk and 3 singles add up to two runs to extend the St. Louis lead to 9-2. Again, in the 8th, a walk and 3 more singles lead to 3 more runs and a 12-2 St. Louis advantage and by now the Brooklyn fans pretty much know that their season is nearing an end. They do add a run in the 8th but that was it as St. Louis wins game 5, 12-3 and move on to the World Series against the king of the American League, Detroit Tigers. Emil Verban was the star of the game as he had 3 hits and 3 RBI.
St. Louis wins series 4-1
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