Johnny Kucks, World Series hero for the Yankees in 1956, dead at 80

Johnny Kucks, a born and bred “Jersey Boy” who went from the sandlots of Jersey City to a 1956 Yankee World Series hero, died Thursday after a long bout with cancer. He was 80.

Kucks, a side-arming righthander who had what Yogi Berra said was one of the “heaviest sinkerballs” he ever caught, spent 4½ seasons with the Yankees from 1955-59 and appeared in eight games over four World Series with a 1.89 ERA in them. But his finest hour was when Yankee manager Casey Stengel gave him the ball for Game 7 of the 1956 World Series at Ebbets Field — after the Dodgers had tied the Series 3-3 the day before on a 1-0, 10-inning shutout by Clem Labine — and Kucks responded by pitching a three-hit shutout in a 9-0 Yankee win.

There is even more story here although not specifically involving Johnny Kucks. This was the last World Series Game played at Ebbets Field and the man responsible for that was a quintessential BIG GOVERNMENT guy, New York City Construction Coordinator Robert Moses.

When Dodger's owner, Walter O'Malley decided that the Dodgers had outgrown Ebbets Field and wanter to find a new place for a Dodger's owned stadium, Moses would only permit a NY City built and owned site where Citi Field is now (next to the future !964 World's Fair site.) However Moses, who was doing much of the same to the NY Giants [baseball], was not thinking about other cities in his calculations.

At this very game were representatives from Los Angeles who had been thinking of luring the AL Washington Senators out there but had no difficulty in switching gears to consider the name of Los Angeles Dodgers! The 1957 season was the last for the Brooklyn Dodgers as well as the baseball NY Giants and their first game of the 1958 season was played against each other as the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants!

It strikes me as being very telling that an unelected but extremely powerful NY City bureaucrat allowed his myopic vision of what needed to be done to fit into HIS PLAN to destroy two local traditions and many hearts. Gee, I wonder why this sounds so fresh?

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