The New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers will renew their World Series rivalry when the series begins on Friday. It will be the 12th meeting between the once cross-town rivals. The first meeting dates back to the last calm months of 1941 before the United States entered WWII and stretched uninterrupted, decade after decade, until the last meeting in 1981 when the Dodgers beat the Yankees four games to two, closing the Yankees’ lead in head-to-head series to 8-3.
Yankees and Dodgers, a 43-Year Hiatus
After meeting literally every decade from the 1940s to the 1980s, it’s been 43 years since the two storied franchises met in the “Fall Classic.” The New York Yankees fell on hard times for the rest of the 1980s and the early part of the 1990s. The club rebuilt through the farm system in owner George Steinbrenner’s forced absence from the team and emerged to win championships in 1996, 1998, 1999, and 2000 before stumbling into the Arizona Diamondbacks in the ninth inning of game 7 in 2001.
The Dodgers would win one more World Series in the 1980s, the iconic win over the Oakland A’s in 1988, highlighted by the miraculous pinch-hit walk-off home run by Kirk Gibson that still numbers among the World Series clips shown to audiences every year. Many of whom weren’t even born yet. The Dodgers’ own title drought lasted from 1988 until 2020 in the pandemic-shortened season. Many in Dodger land would like to win a “real” World Series to shut up critics of the 2020 title.
Highlights from New York Yankees and Dodgers Past
The names of the players alone who have played in this rivalry are highlights in and of themselves. For the New York Yankees, the list includes Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, Allie Reynolds, Mickey Mantle, Billy Martin, Whitey Ford, Don Larsen, Elston Howard, Casey Stengel, Roger Maris, Thurman Munson, Graig Nettles, Reggie Jackson, Ron Guidry, Lou Pinella, and Dave Winfield. Even this lengthy list leaves out so many great baseball players.
On the Dodgers’ side of the ledger, great players include Leo Durocher, Pee Wee Reese, Jackie Robinson, Gil Hodges, Roy Campanella, Duke Snider, Ralph Branca, Carl Erskine, Don Newcombe, Sandy Koufax, Tommy LaSorda, Don Drysdale, Maury Wills, Moose Skowron, Burt Hoten, Charlie Hough, Tommy John, Steve Garvey, Manny Mota, and Reggie Smith. Hopefully, younger readers will recognize a handful of these great players because so many others were left off out of fear of total obscurity.
Time for Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani, and Others To Shine
As the New York Yankees and the Dodgers prepare to renew their 83-year-old World Series rivalry, the stage is set for a whole new cast of characters to make their impression on the 2024 World Series. Most of the names from the past date back to the 1940s and the 1950s. The new stars like Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge are ready to make their debut.
But be on the lookout for the unlikeliest of heroes. Two of the biggest moments in postseason history for the New York Yankees came off the bats of Bucky Dent and Aaron Boone, both of whom were donned with colorful adjectives to connect their Christian names and their surnames.
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