Red Sox-Dodgers in the 46 World Series? Not part of the program

BOSTON – It has taken more than a century for these clubs to finally find themselves back in the fall clbadic.

They had a lot of stars, including Golden Era baseball, including Ted Williams, Jackie Robinson and The Duke of Flatbush.

But a world series between the Red Sox and the Dodgers was just not part of the program.

Where was it?

Because some lucky ones still have a memory of their greatest escape: a copy of the "official program" of the 1946 World Series between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Boston Red Sox.

Of course, they did not play that year, it was a ghost series. The St. Louis Cardinals swept Brooklyn in the playoff series for the NL pennant and defeated Boston in the seventh game of the championship.

"We never met the Red Sox," recalls Carl Erskine, a 91-year-old Brooklyn thrower, recalled this week. "I have launched in the World Series five different years, still against the Yankees. I have never had the opportunity to pitch in Fenway Park.

Still, Harry M. Stevens was ready. He was the dealer of the Dodgers, Yankees and Giants and he had to be ready in case the Dodgers would advance.

So he printed the program for the games in Brooklyn, just in case. The 40-page booklet, with a sharp and elegant photo of Ebbets Field on the cover, was sold for 25 cents.

Inside, the expected alignments and batting orders were listed. Eddie Stanky, Pee Wee Reese and Carl Furillo would go for the Dodgers, and Williams, Johnny Pesky and Dom DiMaggio for the Red Sox.

Brief biographies have been made about the players. The report on Williams noted, "He's the only .400 hitter in the last decade."

The Rickey Branch briefly summarized the season: "The 1946 Dodgers pennant marks its first success as president and co-owner of the Brooklyn Club."

There were many announcements, including one signed by the President of the Brooklyn Trust Company: "Congratulations! We join the millions of other baseball fans to congratulate the Brooklyn Dodgers for winning the National League pennant. "

What happened to most of these programs, nothing to say. But some are on the internet for several hundred dollars.

Years later, the clubs came together a few times.

The Red Sox then qualified for the World Series in 1967, a season after the Los Angeles Dodgers. Boston was back in 1975, a year after the Dodgers.

It is only Tuesday night in Fenway that they will face each other in October, for the first time since Babe Ruth and the Red Sox defeated Brooklyn in 1916.

Erskine said he will watch this week from his home in Anderson, Indiana, to cheer on his former club.

He signed with the Dodgers in 1946 at the age of 19 and played this season in the Clbad B Third-I League, which had teams in Illinois, Indiana and the United States. # 39; Iowa.

Erskine recalled having rooted Brooklyn in the playoffs of the Dutch fanfare – the Dodgers lost 4-2 at St. Louis Sportsman's Park and lost 8-4 at home. The World Series began three days later on the Cardinals' field.

The following year, the great baseball league changed forever when Jackie Robinson joined the Dodgers and broke through the color barrier. He played this fall when Brooklyn faced the Yankees.

"I remember listening to this world series on the radio. We did not have television at home, "Erskine said. "I could not have imagined playing with Jackie in major tournaments next year."

Erskine made his debut in 1948. In 1953, he set a World Series record with 14 strikeouts in a game.

Erskine has seen a lot of Yankees over the next few years. But he never met the Red Sox in a game that mattered.

"They had good clubs at that time, but the Yankees were dominant," Erskine said.

"It's funny, the Red Sox wanted to sign me," he laughs. "Who knows, if I had signed with them, maybe there would have been a global series of Red Sox-Dodgers."