September 28, 1955: Jackie Robinson Steals Home Plate In the World Series

September 28, 1955: Game 1 of the World Series, at the original Yankee Stadium. Yes, a World Series game was played on a September 28. This was also the 1st World Series game broadcast in color, on NBC, although hardly anyone has a color TV set at this point. No TV recording of it, in color or otherwise, is known to survive. (All World Series from the 1st telecast of one in 1947 were on NBC, until 1975.)

There is film footage, though. That footage shows Jackie Robinson of the Brooklyn Dodgers stealing home plate against the New York Yankees. Home plate umpire Bill Summers rules him safe. Yankee catcher Yogi Berra says Jackie was out, and has a fit.

To the end of his life, Yogi insisted that he wouldn't have argued that strenuously if he wasn't sure, or if Jackie was definitely safe. Monte Irvin of the New York Giants stole home on Yogi in the 1951 World Series, and Yogi did not argue that time.

Whitey Ford was pitching, and he insisted to the end of his life that Jackie was out. But Phil Rizzuto claimed that Jackie was safe, and he said he knew, because he was playing shortstop, and had the best view of the play.

Whitey didn't like that, so he looked it up. The steal was in the top of the 8th inning -- and in the bottom of the 6th, manager Casey Stengel had pinch-hit Eddie Robinson (white, and thus not related to Jackie) for Rizzuto! In the top of the 7th, a new shortstop took the field: Jerry Coleman (normally a 2nd baseman). Coleman was playing short when Jackie stole home. Oops on the Scooter.

So who was right? Judge for yourself. Here's the film. It's hard to tell from there. But the photo shown above makes it obvious: He was out! See: Yogi's mitt was between Jackie's foot and the plate.

And if the Yankees had lost the game, and the World Series, because of this, there would have been an uproar -- or, as the Dodgers' legendary broadcaster, ironically now with the Yankees, Red Barber, would have put it, a rhubarb.

But the Yankees did not lose the Series, or even the game, because of the steal. Indeed, the Yankees won the game, 6-5. Left fielder (and backup catcher) Elston Howard, the 1st black player for the Yankees and a "rookie" at age 30, hit a home run off Don Newcombe in the 2nd inning, while 1st baseman Joe Collins hit 2 homers off Big Newk. Carl Furillo and Duke Snider hit home runs off Ford.

Like Carlton Fisk's home run in Game 6, 20 years later, Robinson's steal of home was a spectacular moment, but, ultimately, it had no effect on the result of the Series.

Still, stealing home plate became Jackie Robinson's signature, along with his grace under more pressure than any American athlete has ever faced. He stole home plate 19 times in the regular season, plus this 1 time in the World Series -- still the last steal of home in a World Series game. (One of the many records that Ty Cobb set, and one that he still holds, is the most steals of home in a career: 54.) It even became a point of reference in Buddy Johnson's 1949 song about Jackie, with the Count Basie Orchestra having made the best-known recording:

Did you see Jackie Robinson hit that ball?
Did he hit it?
Yeah!
And that ain't all:
He stole home!
Yes, yes, Jackie's real gone.

"Gone" meaning "cool." Not as in "has left the vicinity" or "gone in the head." No player ever kept his head -- or had to -- as much as Jack Roosevelt Robinson of Pasadena, California (and Stamford, Connecticut).

Eddie Robinson was the last surviving player from this game, living until 2021.

This Series was a classic, and it went to 7 games. In the end, as would be said in the Brooklynese accent, the Dodgers finally dooed it. After World Series losses in 1916, 1920, 1941, 1947, 1949, 1952 and 1953 (the last 5 of those 7 against the Yankees), losses in Playoffs for the National League Pennant in 1946 and 1951 (the latter against the hated New York Giants), losing the Pennant on the final day of the regular season in 1942 and 1950, and finishing 2nd to the Giants in 1954 -- 10 close calls in a span of 14 years -- 1955 turned out to be the "Next Year" that Dodger fans from Williamsburg to Coney Island, from Morristown to Montauk, from Poughkeepsie to Point Pleasant, had waited for.

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September 28, 1955 was a Wednesday. Football was in midweek, and it was too early for the 1955-56 NBA and NHL seasons to start. So this was the only score on this historic day.