John bracket: 1924 Pirates defeat 1961 Yankees in seven games

Game 1: Yankees 7, Pirates 5
WP: Ford (3-1)
LP: Cooper (1-1)
Save: Arroyo (4)
HR: Mantle 2 (2)

Game 2: Pirates 9, Yankees 7
WP: Adams (1-1)
LP: Coates (2-1)
HR: Mantle (3)

Game 3: Pirates 6, Yankees 5 (16 innings)
WP: Morrison (3-0)
LP: Coates (2-2)

Game 4: Yankees 7, Pirates 5 (10 innings)
WP: Coates (3-2)
LP: Stone (0-1)
HR: Mantle (4)

Game 5: Yankees 8, Pirates 5
WP: Ford (4-1)
LP: Cooper (1-2)
Save: Sheldon (1)
HR: Cerv (1), Cuyler (3)

Game 6: Pirates 8, Yankees 3
WP: Yde (2-1)
LP: Daley (0-1)
Save: Adams (1)
HR: Cuyler (4), Wright (2)

Game 7: Pirates 7, Yankees 5
WP: Kremer (4-0)
LP: Terry (2-1)
HR: Maranville (1), Mantle (5), Berra (2), E Smith (3)


The 1924 Pirates won three games in Yankee Stadium to oust the favored 1961 Yankees.

Game One was the only home win for the Yankees. Mickey Mantle hit a three-run homer in the first inning, his first circuit clout of the tournament, to give the Yankess a lead they would not relinquish. Whitey Ford allowed two earned runs in seven innings for the win

The Pirates evened the series in Game Two despite a six-run sixth inning from the Yankees, Pittsburgh hit five triples and six doubles. Babe Adams threw three perfect innings in relief and was credited with the win.

The series moved to Pittsburgh's Forbes Field, circa 1924, for the next three games. Game Three was a marathon affair, with both Johnny Morrison and Luis Arroyo throwing six innings of relief. Arroyo entered in the bottom of the 10th with a man on second and no outs and wriggled out of the jam. The Yankees broke through in the 16th for an unearned run off Morrison, but but Kiki Cuyler tripled home the tying run off Jim Coates in the bottom of the inning and scored the winner on a single by Pie Traynor.

Game Four went 10 innings. Mantle's three-run homer in the fifth gave New York a 5-0 lead, but the Priates got a run in the eighth and four in the ninth off Tex Clevenger and Coates to tie it. Errors by Pittsburgh's middle infielders set up a pair of unearned runs in the 10th, and Coates held Pittsburgh off the board in the bottom of the inning.

New York won Game Five with a seven-run seventh. Pittsburgh had taken a 5-0 lead after four innings, with Wilbur Cooper driving in three runs with a single and double and Cuyler hitting a two-run homer off Ford. But Pittsburgh committed a pair of errors to ioen the top of the seventh, and Bob Cerv capped the rally with a three-run shot.  All eight Yankee runs were unearned, but they all counted.

The series returned to 1961's version of Yankee Stadium for Game Six. The hoem tem led 3-2 after seven innings, but Cuyler's lead-off homer tied it in the eighth, and later in the inning pinch-hitter Carson Bigbee tripled in two runs to cap a four-run rally. Glenn Wright hit a two-run homer in the ninth for the final margin.

Mantle hit another three-run first-inning homer in Game Seven, but the game and series turned on the fourth inning when left fielder Johnny Blanchard could not corral a ball hit by Charlie Grimm that went for a two-out RBI single. Rabbit Maranville followed with a two-run homer that put Pittsburgh up 4-3. The Pirates plated two more runs in the fifth with triples from Max Carey and Traynor. Ray Kremer went the distance for Pittsburgh, alloing just one earned run over the final eight innings.

Player of the series: Kiki Cuyler

Pitcher restrictions: Pirates bullpen will be fully rested for Round 4

Projected rotation: Cooper-Meadows-Kremer-Yde-(Cooper)-(Meadows)-(Kremer)