Out of Left Field : Five Who Were Stars for a Day of World Series Past

They appear in October, not every year, but just often enough that we expect them to show up in the World Series. They seem to come out of nowhere, plop down in the dugout, brush up against fame, then wander off, often never to be heard from again.

They are part of baseball’s lore and their Warhol-tracked 15 minutes of stardom comes in baseball’s grand spectacle, the World Series, which proves that if nothing else they have an acute sense of timing.

They do not count among their peers the giant constellations from whom greatness is casually expected. These are not your normal World Series superstars, betrayed even by their names. They do not answer to Mickey or Duke or Whitey or Babe or Reggie, but are called Al or Gene or Don or Hal or Brian.

Maybe one or two of them will happen by in this year’s World Series, turning up unannounced, of course. By their legacy you shall know them.

Call them Temporary Heroes.

Al Gionfriddo, 1947

He shouldn’t have even been a Dodger playing the Yankees in the World Series, but the Pirates traded him to Brooklyn after one game of the season. The 25-year-old from Dysart, Pa., wasn’t much of a hitter--only .175 in 63 games in 1947, his fourth year in the major leagues--but had developed a reputation as a spry late-inning defensive replacement.

At 5 feet 6 and 165 pounds, Al Gionfriddo was not exactly an imposing figure, but then came the sixth inning of Game 6. It was Gionfriddo’s call to glory.

The underdog Dodgers had battled the Yankees to a near standstill, but trailed, three games to two, going into Game 6 on Oct. 5 at Yankee Stadium. Four runs in the top of the sixth inning against reliever Joe Page gave the Dodgers an 8-5 lead and left it up to Brooklyn reliever Joe Hatten to protect.

Brooklyn manager Burt Shotton made a defensive switch in the bottom of the sixth, removing Gene Hermanski and sent Gionfriddo trotting out to left field. Hatten found himself in trouble when the Yankees put two runners on base and with two out, Joe DiMaggio, the best player in baseball, stood at the plate.

Hatten threw and DiMaggio swung hard. The crowd of 74,065 gasped as DiMaggio sent a shot streaking on a line straight toward the bullpen. Gionfriddo turned and started running at the sound of the bat. At the last moment, Gionfriddo twisted his glove out and the ball landed inside just as he collided with the bullpen fence.

There was a moment of stunned silence, disbelief. The Yankee Clipper was sunk by Little Al, whose one-handed stab came to be regarded as one of the most clutch catches in World Series history.

DiMaggio rounded second base and kicked the dirt in the infield. It was one of the only times DiMaggio ever showed any emotion. The Yankees went on to beat the Dodgers in Game 7. DiMaggio retired in 1951 and went on to the Hall of Fame. Gionfriddo never played another game in the major leagues.

Don Larsen, 1956

In Game 2, right-hander Don Larsen was knocked out of the box in the second inning of a 13-8 Yankee loss to the Dodgers after allowing four walks and four runs. But with the Series tied, 2-2, Yankee Manager Casey Stengel gambled and decided to try again with Larsen.

Larsen, a 6-foot-4, 27-year-old Hoosier, had won 11 games for the Yankees, who rescued him from the Baltimore Orioles after the 1954 season when Larsen experienced a nightmarish 3-21 won-loss record.

There was no reason to really expect anything special on Oct. 8 in Yankee Stadium. A crowd of 64,519 showed up, wondering if Larsen could last longer than the second inning, hoping his heart would be as big as his rather prominent ears.

But on a cool autumn day, Larsen found his niche in history. He retired the Dodgers in order inning after inning. No one could get a hit. In fact, no one seemed to able to get on base at all. With one out in the fifth inning, Mickey Mantle chased down a deep drive in left-center field by Gil Hodges and made a one-hand catch.

There were no other tough chances. Mantle and Hank Bauer had knocked in runs to give Larsen a 2-0 lead, which he protected through the sixth, seventh and eighth innings. With only the ninth inning to go, Larsen had not allowed a Dodger to reach base. He retired Carl Furillo on a fly ball to Bauer in right. Roy Campanella was out on a grounder to second baseman Billy Martin.

Dodger Manager Walter Alston sent Dale Mitchell to pinch-hit for pitcher Sal Maglie. With the count one ball and two strikes, Larsen caught Mitchell looking for strike three.

Little-known and little-used Don Larsen had pitched the only perfect game in World Series history.

Larsen found it impossible to improve on perfection. He spent 10 more years in the major leagues, had seven losing seasons, played for seven different teams and retired at 36 in 1967 after pitching four innings for the Chicago Cubs.

Hal Smith, 1960

Hal Smith of West Frankfort, Ill., a 30-year-old right-handed-hitting backup catcher with his third team in six years, played 77 games in his first year with the pennant-winning Pirates. Smith sat while regular catcher Smokey Burgess played.

The Yankees were heavily favored in the World Series, but they couldn’t put away the pesky Pirates, who despite losing games by scores of 16-3, 10-0 and 12-0, still tied the Series at 3-3 to force a seventh game.

Smith, who had played in two of the previous six games, watched from his customary spot on the bench. But Burgess left the game after he singled in the seventh inning and Pittsburgh Manager Danny Murtaugh sent Joe Christopher in to run for the tortoise-paced Burgess. Smith went behind the plate in the top of the eighth and the Yankees scored twice to take a 7-4 lead into the bottom half of the inning.

It didn’t seem likely Smith would get a chance to bat in the eighth since six hitters preceded him, but the Pirates came back again. Two runs were in, two Pirates were on base, two were out and the Yankees lead was just 7-6 when Smith went to the plate for his date with destiny.

The Yankee pitcher was hard-throwing right-hander Jim Coates, who tried to get a pitch past Smith. But Smith wasn’t fooled. He connected with the pitch and sent it soaring deep to left field, over Yogi Berra’s head. The ball landed over the wall at Forbes Field for a three-run home run and a 9-7 Pirate lead.

Although the Yankees eventually tied the score in the top of the ninth and Bill Mazeroski’s World Series-winning home run naturally overshadowed Smith, the Pirates would not have won if Hal Smith had not hit the home run of his life.

Smith played four more years and hit 15 more home runs. He retired at 34 after spending the 1964 season with the Cincinnati Reds where he had one extra-base hit.

Gene Tenace, 1972

Reggie Jackson was out with a hamstring injury, so the Oakland A’s didn’t quite know what to expect in the World Series against the Cincinnati Reds. They certainly couldn’t have expected what they got from backup catcher Gene Tenace.

It was the first World Series for the A’s since 1931 when brainy Connie Mack had led the team. His modern-day counterpart, Dick Williams, played a hunch, benched Dave Duncan and started Tenace, a 26-year-old from Russellton, Pa., against Reds’ right-hander Gary Nolan in Game 1 at Cincinnati.

In the second inning, Tenace hit a home run over the left-field wall. In the fifth inning, Tenace hit another home run, this one into the seats in left field. Tenace’s second home run broke a tie and won the opening game, 3-2, for Ken Holtzman.

Tenace hit his third home run of the Series in the A’s 3-2 win in Game 4. In the second inning of Game 5, he hit another home run, a three-run shot into the left-field stands, although the Reds won in the ninth inning, 5-4.

Tenace singled in Game 6, which the Reds won to tie the Series, 3-3, then doubled and singled and knocked in two of the three Oakland runs as the A’s wrapped up their championship, 3-2, in Game 7.

For the Series, Tenace batted .348 and led all players with his four home runs, nine runs batted in and five runs scored. Although Tenace developed into an accomplished power-hitter with both the A’s and later the San Diego Padres, he never came close to duplicating his performance in two other World Series with Oakland. He hit .158 in 1973 and .222 in 1974. He did not hit another home run in the World Series.

Brian Doyle, 1978

Only 23, Brian Doyle was a rookie second baseman from Kentucky who had appeared in just 39 games for the Yankees of Reggie Jackson and Thurman Munson. The Yankees snuck into the World Series by beating Kansas City for the pennant, but not before winning a one-game playoff against the Boston Red Sox for the East division title on Bucky Dent’s three-run home run.

Going into the World Series, few would have challenged Doyle’s light-hitting credentials. He hit just .192 during the season, did not drive in a run and managed just 10 singles.

But something happened to Doyle in the World Series against the Dodgers. Maybe he was only waiting for his moment. It didn’t come until Game 5. The Series was tied, 2-2, heading back to Yankee Stadium and Doyle was his normal self--one hit.

Then before 56,448, Doyle rapped out three hits and scored twice in a 12-2 Yankee victory. He was batting eighth in the lineup. He stayed there for Game 6 as the Yankees tried to wrap it up. Doyle once again was the catalyst with three hits, one of them a double, two runs scored and two RBIs.

The Yankees won the game, 7-2, and took the Series. To most everyone’s surprise, 5-10, 160-pound Brian Doyle batted .438 and was the Series’ hitting star.

Doyle never played in another World Series. He never managed to equal his .192 first-year average and was out of the American League at 26 after spending the 1981 season at Oakland. His career batting average was .161.

Game 1 of the World Series will air Saturday at 5 p.m. on CBS. The remaining games, all on CBS at 5 p.m., will be played Oct. 20, 22 and 23 and Oct. 24, 26 and 27, if necessary.