Rubino: When Brooklyn won it all, Jackie Robinson sat

Roger Kahn celebrated them with his lyrical 1972 book, “The Boys of Summer.” But those boys, who were of course actually men who superbly played a boys’ game, shined brightest in one particular autumn.

They were the Dodgers, and on Oct. 4, 1955, in Game 7 of the World Series at Yankee Stadium, they gave Brooklyn its only World Series championship.

The most significant among them, though, didn’t play in that historic game. Jackie Robinson watched from the bench.

Why?

From a hard-hearted strategic viewpoint, Dodgers manager Walter Alston had reasons to bench Robinson for Game 7. He was 36 and concluding a season both injury-plagued and mediocre. In 105 games, his .256 batting average was 55 points below what would be his career mark. He had played every inning of the first six games of the Series, but the results were a .182 average and two errors in Game 6. In an era in which players rarely publicly complained nor did the media do much digging, it was simply a manager’s decision - end of story.

On the other hand, Alston wasn’t benching just any aging, ailing, slumping player. He was benching an iconic figure, a cultural hero.

With the possible exception of Babe Ruth, Robinson was (and remains) the most important player in the entire history of baseball. In 1947 he became the first African American big-league player since Fleet Walker in 1884, and his first eight seasons with the Dodgers were nothing short of sensational. Despite his off year in ’55, his on-base percentage was .378 and he had stolen 12 bases in 15 attempts. In Game 1 of the ’55 Series, he had tripled off Whitey Ford and then stole home.

In other words, he was still a ballplayer. He was still Jackie Robinson, perhaps the most ferociously competitive player since Ty Cobb. And it was Game?7 of the World Series.

So, the question persists. Why didn’t Jackie Robinson play in Game 7 of the 1955 World Series?

Ten years ago, when the Los Angeles Dodgers commemorated the 50th anniversary of their Brooklyn championship, there were only hazy recollections.

Rachel Robinson, Jackie’s widow, when asked about her husband sitting out Game 7 in ’55, was quoted, “I don’t know why Jack didn’t play. I really don’t know. That was 50 years ago, buddy.”

Don Newcombe, the Dodgers ace and a 20-game winner in ’55, whom Alston curiously chose not to use after a Game 1 loss, said Robinson sat out Game 7 because “he had a sore Achilles.”

Carl Erskine, the Dodgers Game 4 starter, said, “It was his knees. Jackie had chronic bad knees from his college football playing days.”

In a biography of Robinson published in 1997, Arnold Rampersad wrote that Newcombe and Robinson had butted heads with Alston during the 1955 season, but the author didn’t offer a definitive reason for either of their Game 7 absences.

Writing for MLB.com in 2005, Barry Bloom offered: “The real reason why Robinson didn’t play … probably went with Robinson and Alston to their graves.”

So, in observing the 60th anniversary of Brooklyn’s only World Series title, we have a mystery. But we also have a bat rack full of intriguing Game 7 facts. Such as:

Johnny Podres, whose regular-season record was 9-10, pitched a shutout in the Dodgers’ 2-0 win, but he yielded eight hits and two walks and was in jams throughout much of the game. Alston, though, eschewed his bullpen.

Newly inserted left fielder Sandy Amoros made a running one-handed catch of Yogi Berra’s fly down the left-field line and turned it into a rally-stifling double play in the sixth.

Gil Hodges’ two-out single in the fourth drove home Roy Campanella, and Hodges’ sacrifice fly in the sixth brought home Pee Wee Reese.

Mickey Mantle, who was limited to pinch hitting because of a leg injury but who had homered off Podres in Game 3 and who represented the tying run, popped out to end the seventh.

The Yankees threatened again in the eighth, getting two runners on with one out, but Podres got Berra on a fly to shallow right and struck out Hank Bauer.

When Alston opted to use a pinch hitter for Don Zimmer in the sixth, he bypassed Robinson and used George Shuba, who grounded out.

Don Hoak, who started at third base in place of Robinson, had a single and a walk.

In photos of the Dodgers’ on-field celebration immediately after the final out, a clearly jubilant Robinson is among the first to embrace Podres, having sprinted from the dugout like the UCLA track star he had been.

Despite “bad knees.”

Or a “sore Achilles.”

Or, perhaps, despite wounded pride.

Robert Rubino can be reached at RobertoRubino@comcast.net.