The NEVADA DUSTERS The Story of a Major League Baseball Franchise

1962 World Series NEVADA DUSTERS vs NEW YORK YANKEES

Home     October 1962     Game One The New York Yankees had gone to the World Series twelve of the previous fifteen years -- and won nine World Championships in the process, including in 1961. Led by the M&M Boys -- Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris, the latter fresh off his record-breaking 61-homer season in '61 -- and buoyed by the acquisition of slugging third baseman Eddie Mathews, the Yankees had posted 210 long balls in '62 and scored a total of 878 runs with an All-Star at every position. The Nevada Dusters led the National League in homers with 173 and 772 runs scored. Though New York had Whitey Ford and Ralph Terry, the Dusters seemed to hold their own where the starting rotation was concerned, with three pitchers -- Bob Shaw, Joe Horlen and Dave McNally, bringing ERAs under 3.00 to the Fall Classic. But were they good enough to stifle New York's offensive capabilities? Most didn't think so. The pundits and the bookmakers made the Yankees heavy favorites. The only question in a lot of minds was how many games it would take for the New York dynasty to add another trophy to its collection. A reporter asked Conn Hudson if his players were awed by their pinstriped opponents. "Not at all," replied Hudson, "but I am in awe -- of our boys for the great season they've put together." When asked his opinion of the apparent mismatch based on statistics, Ben Naylor remarked, "Yeah, but you know what they say -- games aren't played on paper."

	New York Yankees	Nevada Dusters
C	Elston Howard .297, 18, 91	Johnny Blanchard .234, 38, 99
1B	Bill Skowron .301, 15, 72	Vic Power .298, 15, 60
2B	Bobby Richardson .269, 3, 46	Johnny Schaive .249, 4, 30
3B	Eddie Mathews .277, 37, 109	Clete Boyer .274, 21, 87
SS	Tony Kubek .267, 8, 67	Jerry Adair .289, 9, 56
LF	Yogi Berra .288, 26, 122	Hector Lopez .320, 26, 95
CF	Mickey Mantle .316, 49, 134	Lee Maye .300, 11, 50
RF	Roger Maris .303, 42, 109	Billy Williams .314, 32, 110
Bench	Mike Rourke  c .250, 0, 3 Roy McMillan  ss .263, 2, 10 Jacob Urban  of .160, 0, 1 Joe Pepitone  1b .289, 6, 21 Steve Bilko  1b .192, 2, 7 Billy Gardner  if .197, 2, 14	Gordy Coleman  1b .303, 10, 36 Tom Tresh  ss/cf .219, 6, 44 Ken Hubbs  2b .232, 0, 9 Lou Johnson  lf .275, 0, 6 Mack Jones  of .224, 1, 21 Cam Carreon  c .259, 0, 8
Starting Pitchers	Whitey Ford  lhp 22-11, 3.24 Al Downing  lhp 13-9, 4.01 Ralph Terry  rhp 19-7, 2.97 Bob Turley  rhp 10-9, 4.31	Bob Shaw   rhp 23-3, 2.32 Joe Horlen  rhp 16-8, 2.54 Dave McNally  lhp 11-8, 2.77 Tony Cloninger  rhp 14-8, 3.57
Relief Pitchers	Rollie Sheldon  rhp 5-1, 4.93 Hal Reniff  rhp 5-8, 2.12 (15 sv) Marshall Bridges  lhp 6-5, 3.99 (4 sv) Luis Arroyo  lhp 6-5, 3.39 (10 sv) Jim Coates  rhp 4-3, 2.91 (2 sv) Bud Daley  lhp 3-2, 6.47 Tex Clevenger  rhp 1-1, 2.28	Pete Richert  lhp 6-4, 2.46 (3 sv) Bill Dailey  rhp 6-5, 2.45 (17 sv) Barney Schultz  rhp 8-1, 2.71 (3 sv) Claude Raymond  rhp 6-1, 5.16 (13 sv) Jim Brewer  lhp 2-4, 4.84 (3 sv) Bob Duliba  rhp 5-6, 4.84 (5 sv) Jim Umbricht  rhp 1-1, 5.95
Mgr.	Ralph Houk	Ben Naylor