The first and only five-peat

1953 New York YankeesHome Field: Yankee Stadium
World ChampionsHit: #1 R, BA
W - 99 L - 52Pitch: #1 OR, ERA
Manager: Casey StengelDef: #3t FA

The 1953 Yankees did something no other team in baseball history has ever accomplished. They won an unprecendented fifth consecutive World Series title when they defeated the Brooklyn Dodgers in six games that October. What makes their accomplishment possible, and in some sense more remarkable is that this was a total team effort.

On paper, this was far from the greatest group of players ever. Pitcher Ed Lopat, with a 2.42 ERA and an .800 winning percentage was the only Yankee to lead the league in even a minor statistical category. No Yankee ranked among the top five in batting average. Yogi Berra led the team with 108 RBIs, a figure that tied for fourth in the league. Mickey Mantle ranked third in runs scored. Whitey Ford led the team in wins with 18, a mark topped by four other pitchers. In short, this was a team victory, just as were all of manager Casey Stengel's pennants. New York did not have a player finish higher than third in any of the triple crown categories during this run. Although Raschi, Lopat, and Reynolds were all 20 game winners during this period, none led the league.

The 1953 crew finished 99-52 and captured the American League pennant by 8 1/2 games over Cleveland. For the fourth time in seven years, the Yankees faced Brooklyn in the World Series. This year's Dodgers looked formiddable, having won a franchise record 105 games. A year earlier, the Dodgers had taken the Bronx Bombers to the limit, and this year the seemed poised to finally outduel the Yankees. But New York came through as they had in past seasons with a six game triumph over the Dodgers.


Pos Player Bats AB H R HR RBI BA    AL Rank
C Yogi Berra L 503 149 80 27 108 .296    #4 HR, #4t RBI
1B Joe Collins L 387 104 72 17 44 .269  
2B-SS Billy Martin R 587 151 72 15 75 .257  
SS Phil Rizzuto R 413 112 54 2 54 .271  
3B-2B Gil McDougald R 541 154 82 10 83 .285  
LF Gene Woodling L 395 121 64 10 58 .306  
CF Mickey Mantle B 461 136 105 21 92 .295    #3 R
RF Hank Bauer R 437 133 77 10 57 .304  
                   
OF Irv Noren L 345 92 55 6 46 .267  
1B Don Bollweg L 155 46 24 6 24 .297  
OF Bill Renna R 121 38 19 2 13 .314  
1B Johnny Mize L 104 26 6 4 27 .250  
C Charlie Silvera R 82 23 11 0 12 .280  
3B Andy Carey R 81 26 14 4 8 .321  
                   
Total: Team:   5194 1420 801 139 762 .273  
  League Average   42358 11117 5512 879 5197 .262  

Pitcher Throw G IP W L ERA PCT    AL Rank
  Whitey Ford L 32 207 18 6 3.00 .750    #4t ERA
  Ed Lopat L 25 178 16 4 2.42 .800    #1 ERA
  Johnny Sain R 40 189 14 7 3.00 .667    #4t ERA
  Vic Raschi R 28 181 13 6 3.33 .684  
  Allie Reynolds R 41 145 13 7 3.41 .650  
  Jim McDonald R 27 130 9 7 3.81 .563  
  Bob Kuzava L 33 92 6 5 3.33 .545  
  Tom Gorman R 40 77 4 5 3.39 .444  
                   
Total: Team       99 52 3.20    
  League Average           3.99    

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