The 1947 World Series matched the New York Yankees against the Brooklyn Dodgers. The Yankees won the Series in seven games for their 11th World Series championship in team history. Yankees manager Bucky Harris won the Series for the first time since managing the Washington Senators to their only title in 1924, a gap of 23 years, the longest between World Series appearances in history.
In 1947, Jackie Robinson, a Brooklyn Dodger, desegregated major league baseball. For the first time in World Series history, a racially integrated team played.
This was the first World Series televised. However, TV broadcasting was still in its infancy, and thus the series was only seen in four markets via coaxial inter-connected stations: New York City; Philadelphia; Schenectady/Albany, New York; Washington, D.C. Outside of New York, coverage was pooled. The stations in those markets affiliated with NBC televised games 1 and 5; the DuMont stations had games 2, 6, and 7, and those affiliated with CBS broadcast games 3 and 4.
AL New York Yankees (4) vs. NL Brooklyn Dodgers (3)
There was an announced crowd of 73,365 in Yankee Stadium for Game 1. Brooklyn struck first in the first inning on Dixie Walker's RBI single off Spec Shea to score Pete Reiser from second base, but starter Ralph Branca was knocked out in a five-run fifth. A single, walk and hit-by-pitch loaded the bases before Johnny Lindell's two-run double put the Yankees up 2–1. After a walk re-loaded the bases, another walk forced in a run, then after a groundout, Tommy Henrich's RBI single to left off Hank Behrman capped the inning's scoring. The Dodgers chipped away at the Yankees lead, getting a run in the sixth on Carl Furillo's RBI single off Joe Page and another in the seventh on Page's wild pitch with Pee Wee Reese at second, but Page held the Dodgers scoreless afterward as the Yankees took a 1–0 series lead.
The Yankees struck first in Game 2 on Johnny Lindell's double-play ground ball after two leadoff singles in the first off Vic Lombardi, scoring Snuffy Stirnweiss, but the Dodgers tied the game in the third on Jackie Robinson's RBI single. The Yankees regained the lead in the bottom half of the inning on Lindell's RBI triple with a runner at third, but the Dodgers again tied the game in the fourth on Dixie Walker's home run. In the bottom half of the fourth, after a leadoff triple, Phil Rizzuto's RBI double put the Yankees back in front 3–2. In the next inning, Tommy Henrich's lead-off home run extended their lead to 4–2. After a ground-rule double knocked Lombardi out of the game, George McQuinn's RBI single off Hal Gregg made it 5–2 Yankees. The Yankees added another run in the sixth on Lindell's sacrifice fly before breaking it open in the seventh. After a leadoff single and wild pitch by Hank Behrman, Billy Johnson's RBI single made it 7–2 Yankees. After a pop out and intentional walk, Reynolds's RBI single made it 8–2 Yankees. Rex Barney relieved Behrman and allowed an RBI single to Snuffy Stirnweiss and threw a wild pitch that turned the Yanks' advantage to 10–2. The Dodgers scored one more run in the ninth on Spider Jorgensen's groundout off Allie Reynolds, who scattered nine hits in a complete-game win.
The series shifted to Ebbets Field. In the second inning the Dodgers rang up six runs. After a one-out walk, Bruce Edwards's double and Pee Wee Reese's single scored a run each. One out later, after a single and passed ball, Eddie Stanky's two-run double was the end for Yankee starter Bobo Newsom, but the runs kept coming with a Carl Furillo two-run double after a single off Vic Raschi. The rest of the day, the Yankees pecked away. Back-to-back RBI singles by Johnny Lindell and Joe DiMaggio off Joe Hatten made it 6–2 Dodgers in the third. After the Dodgers scored a run in the bottom half of the third on Spider Jorgensen's RBI single after a hit-by-pitch and wild pitch by Karl Drews, Sherm Lollar hit an RBI double in the fourth after a walk and Snuffy Stirnweiss added an RBI single. After two walks in the bottom half of the fourth off Spud Chandler, the Dodgers got those runs back on back-to-back RBI singles by Dixie Walker and Gene Hermanski, but Joe DiMaggio hit a two-run home run in the fifth after a walk. Tommy Henrich's RBI double in the next inning and Yogi Berra's home run in the seventh off Ralph Branca made it 9–8 Dodgers. Reliever Hugh Casey set down Billy Johnson, Phil Rizzuto and Berra in order in the ninth.
The Yankees entered Game 4 aiming to take a three games to one lead in the best-of-seven series, and came one out away from doing this. They scored a run in the first on a bases-loaded walk off Harry Taylor and another in the fourth on Johnny Lindell's double after a leadoff triple off Hal Gregg. Bill Bevens, the Yankee starter, pitched 8+2⁄3 innings without allowing a base hit, but allowed a run in the fifth on Pee Wee Reese's fielder's choice after two walks and a sacrifice bunt. No pitcher had ever thrown a no-hitter in a major league World Series game.
Going into the bottom of the ninth inning, Bevens and the Yankees led 2–1. Bevens got Bruce Edwards to fly out, and then walked Carl Furillo. Spider Jorgensen fouled out for the 2nd out. Al Gionfriddo pinch-ran for Furillo. Pete Reiser pinch-hit for pitcher Hugh Casey; during the at-bat, Gionfriddo stole second base. The Yankees then intentionally walked Reiser. Eddie Miksis pinch-ran for Reiser, and the Dodgers sent Cookie Lavagetto to pinch-hit for Eddie Stanky. Lavagetto lined a 1–0 fastball to right field; the ball ricocheted off the wall with a peculiar bounce and hit Yankee right fielder Tommy Henrich in the shoulder, as Gionfriddo and Miksis raced around to score. The play ended the no-hitter and won the game for the Dodgers.
The hit was the last of Lavagetto's career. Additionally, neither Lavagetto nor Bevens nor Gionfriddo would play in the majors again following this Series.
The Dodgers, with this hit, avoided a three-games-to-one deficit, avoided becoming the victim of a no-hitter, and tied the Series at two games each. The rapid and dramatic reversal of fortunes may have provided a momentum swing. The Dodgers were the first of two teams in MLB history to win a playoff game while being held to one hit (the Oakland A's would later do so in the 1974 ALCS)
As was the case in their only previous World Series encounter six years earlier, the Yankees and Dodgers again played a dramatic Game 4 which was decided on a lead change with two outs in the ninth inning. In both instances the Yankees entered the game with a 2–1 series lead and Hugh Casey ended up being the pitcher of record for the Dodgers (losing in 1941, winning in 1947).
Game 4 was the first of three times that the Dodgers won a World Series game after trailing through eight innings. This would also happen in 1988 during Game 1, and in 2025 during Game 7.
Nine walks in fewer than five innings proved the undoing of Rex Barney in this start for Brooklyn. A pair of walks and RBI single by opposing pitcher Spec Shea in the fourth put the Yankees up 1–0. Joe DiMaggio homered to left in the fifth. That was all the runs the visiting Yanks would get at Ebbets Field, but this was all Shea needed. A hit by Jackie Robinson in the sixth scored Al Gionfriddo to pull the Dodgers within 2–1. Then in the ninth, after a Bruce Edwards leadoff single and sacrifice bunt by Carl Furillo, the tying run died on base. Shea got Spider Jorgensen on a fly to right, and with Brooklyn's fans on their feet, pinch-hitter Cookie Lavagetto struck out.
The Dodgers won Game 6 to force a seventh and deciding game. Three straight singles loaded the bases in the first with no outs, then Dixie Walker's double play and Allie Reynolds's passed ball scored a run each. In the third, three straight doubles by Pee Wee Reese, Jackie Robinson and Walker made it 4–0 Dodgers. In the bottom of the inning, after a double and wild pitch by Vic Lombardi, an error on Snuffy Stirnweiss's ground ball allowed a run to score. After a single, Johnny Lindell's RBI single cut the Dodgers' lead to 4–2. After another single knocked Lombardi out of the game, RBI singles by Billy Johnson and Bobby Brown off Ralph Branca tied the game. Yogi Berra's RBI single next inning put the Yankees up 5–4. In the sixth, after a leadoff single and double off Joe Page, Cookie Lavagetto's sacrifice fly tied the game, then Bobby Bragan's RBI single put the Dodgers up 6–5. A single knocked Page out of the game, then Reese's two-run single off Bobo Newsom made it 8–5 Dodgers.