The New York Yankees, long time residents of the second division in the AL and the only franchise to never be in the World Series, finished in last place in 1955. At the start of 1956, the Yankees surprised everyone and jumped out to the top of the standings and by the beginning of August, held an 8 game lead over the second place Kansas City Athletics. New York, however, cooled and Kansas City got hot enough to catch the Yankees by the end of the month. The two teams remained nose-to-nose and were tied heading into the final four games. The Yankees then lost their next three of four and Kansas City won the AL pennant on the next to last day of the season. The Athletics were led the hitting of Duke Snider (.319-54-139), who finished 2nd in the league in home runs and led the league in RBIs. The Yankees finished in 2nd place, 1 game behind, thanks to the hitting of Carl Furillo (.332 avg) and the pitching of Johnny Antonelli (20 wins, 2.71 ERA, 222 K), the AL's Cy Young award winner. The Cleveland Indians finished in 3rd place, 11 games behind Kansas City, due to the AL's MVP, Mickey Mantle (.336-56-121).
The race in the National League was just as tightly contested as the junior circuit. The New York Giants took the early lead and led the second place St.Louis Cardinals by 5 1/2 games heading into September. Lightning struck the club in Manhattan as the Giants faultered and the Cardinals got hot. The two teams were tied with just 3 games to go. St.Louis won their last 3 games but New York lost the first game of their final 3 games as the Cardinals clinched the NL title on the last day of the season. St.Louis was led at the plate by Ted Kluszewski (.348 avg) and on the mound by Bill Fischer (2.24 ERA) and Don Cardwell (17 wins, 2.90 ERA). The New York Giants ended up in second place, 1 game behind, thanks to the hitting trio of Yogi Berra (.337 avg), Ernie Banks (52 HR, 145 RBI) and Bill White (48 HR, 137 RBI) and the pitching of Clem Labine (19 wins), the NL Cy Young award winner, and Milt Pappas (18 wins). Pittsburgh finished in 3rd place, 15 games back, thanks to the 2nd best pitching staff in the league, led by 17-game winner Claude Pascual.
Kansas City stunned the Cardinals, owners of the best record in baseball, by taking the first two games of the World Series by the scores of 5-3 and 5-4. The clubs headed to Kansas City and, thanks to the power of Gil Hodges and AL Rookie of the Year Roger Maris, the Athletics completed their 4-game sweep of St.Louis to win the franchise's 7th world's championship.
Code:
American League W L PCT GB National League W L PCT GB
Kansas City 93 61 .604 -- St.Louis 98 56 .636 --
New York 92 62 .597 1 New York 97 57 .630 1
Cleveland 82 72 .532 11 Pittsburgh 83 71 .539 15
Detroit 81 73 .526 12 Milwaukee 72 82 .468 26
Baltimore 77 77 .500 16 Cincinnati 71 83 .461 27
Chicago 66 88 .429 27 Philadelphia 69 85 .448 29
Boston 65 89 .422 28 Chicago 64 90 .416 34
Washington 60 94 .390 33 Brooklyn 62 92 .403 36
Batting AVG AVG Batting AVG AVG
M.Mantle,CLE .336 T.Williams,BRO .363
C.Furillo,NY .332 T.Kluszewski,STL .348
D.Snider,KC .317 Y.Berra,NY .337
Homeruns HR Homeruns HR
M.Mantle,CLE 56 E.Banks,NY 52
D.Snider,KC 54 B.White,NY 48
F.Robinson,KC 50 T.Williams,BRO 45
Runs Batted In RBI Runs Batted In RBI
D.Snider,KC 139 E.Banks,NY 145
F.Robinson,KC 132 B.White,NY 137
W.Mays,DET 128 T.Williams,BRO 127
Runs Scored RS Runs Scored RS
F.Robinson,KC 134 B.White,NY 143
M.Mantle,CLE 133 T.Francona,NY 114
W.Mays,DET 111 T.Williams,BRO 114
Stolen Bases SB Stolen Bases SB
W.Mays,DET 38 J.Rivera,BRO 22
F.Bolling,DET 14 B.Skinner,PIT 20
M.Mantle,CLE 14 J.Gilliam,CHI 16
Earned Run Average ERA Earned Run Average ERA
J.Antonelli,NY 2.71 B.Fischer,STL 2.24
C.Simmons,DET 3.09 S.Rogovin,PIT 2.67
R.Face,BAL 3.23 C.Pascual,PIT 2.89
Wins W Wins W
R.Negray,KC 21 C.Labine,NY 19
J.Antonelli,NY 20 M.Pappas,NY 18
R.Narleski,KC 16 D.Cardwell,STL 17
Saves SV Saves SV
B.Birrer,NY 22 E.Johnson,PIT 22
T.Hurd,BAL 17 S.Consuegra,PHI 20
D.Bessent,CHI 16 W.McCall,MIL 19
Strikeouts SO Strikeouts SO
H.Score,WAS 254 G.Witt,PHI 233
B.Pierce,WAS 243 D.Cardwell,STL 205
J.Antonelli,NY 222 K.Spooner,CHI 200
1956 World Series
Game #1
Kansas City 1 0 0 2 1 0 1 0 0 - 5 8 0
St.Louis 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 - 3 9 0
B.Grim, T.Poholsky (8), B.Miller (9) and H.Peterson, R.Lamanno (7)
W.Ford, R.Roberts (6), H.Brown (8) and J.Shepard
WP - B.Grim (1-0)
LP - W.Ford (0-1)
SV - B.Miller (1)
HR - none
Game #2
Kansas City 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 3 0 - 5 9 1
St.Louis 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 - 4 5 0
C.Van Cuyk, T.Poholsky (5) and H.Peterson
R.Roberts and J.Shepard
WP - T.Poholsky (1-0)
LP - R.Roberts (0-1)
HR - KC: G.Hodges (1) STL: G.McDougald (1)
Game #3
St.Louis 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 2 - 6 12 0
Kansas City 0 1 4 2 0 0 0 0 x - 7 11 0
B.Fischer, A.Worthington (4) and J.Shepard
R.Narleski, F.Baumann (6), B.Miller (9) and H.Peterson, R.Lamanno (9)
WP - R.Narleski (1-0)
LP - B.Fischer (0-1)
SV - B.Miller (2)
HR - STL: J.Shepard (1), J.Piersall (1), T.Kazanski (1) KC: G.Hodges (2), R.Maris (1)
Game #4
St.Louis 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 - 3 4 1
Kansas City 4 2 0 2 0 0 1 0 x - 9 10 0
D.Cardwell, A.Worthington (3), B.Lemon (8) and J.Shepard
R.Monzant, C.Van Cuyk (8) and H.Peterson
WP - R.Monzant (1-0)
LP - D.Cardwell (0-1)
HR - STL: R.Colavito (1) KC: F.Robinson (1), R.Maris 2 (3)