Last game of the 1954 season, Yankees vs. A’s. Casey Stengel “experiments.” Plays Mickey Mantle at Third Base, Yogi Berra at Shortstop, Moose Skowron at Second.
For the Philadelphia Athletics it’s the end of a 54-year run.
The New York Yankees won five consecutive World Series between 1949 and 1953. Their streak ended in 1954, even though the ’54 team posted a better record (103-51) that year than all of the championship teams of the previous five seasons. Despite posting the fourth best record in the history of the franchise, the Yankees closed out the 1954 campaign eight games behind the Cleveland Indians.
The Philadelphia A’s brought a record of 51-102 into Yankee Stadium that day. They were a mere 61 games out of first place. The game was played before a crowd of (if that’s what you want to call it) of 11,670.
For the most part, the Yankees re-positioned players did fine in the field. Berra handled his two opportunities at third without incident. Mantle had two put-outs and four assists, and even participated in a double play. Skowron, playing second base for the first (and next to last) time in his 15-year career, had six fielding opportunities and committed one error.
A month later, Connie Mack, the A’s iconic owner and former manager (1901-1950) announced that he had sold the team, and that Philadelphia Athletics would be moving to Kansas City at the start of the 1955 season.