On This Date in Sports June 26, 1944: Tri-Cornered Baseball Game

In collaboration with the Sportsecyclopedia.com

The Polo Grounds is the host for one of baseball’s most unique events as the New York Yankees, Brooklyn Dodgers, and New York Giants participate in the Tri-Cornered Baseball Game to sell money for War Bonds. Each team plays six innings, two-inning against each team, with Dodgers scoring five runs, the Yankees 1, and Giants getting blanked. Legends from each team were on hand, though an expected appearance from Babe Ruth was canceled due to the Bambino’s failing health.

The idea was the brainchild of local sports reporters, who thought such an exhibition would be a boon for the war effort, which was kicking into high gear with the Allies recently invading France. Each team would play two straight innings and taking an inning off, with the round-robin game adding up to nine innings. A Mathematics Professor created the formula at Columbia named Paul A. Smith.

New York Daily News. Getty Images.

The event helped raise $56 million in bond purchases, with the city funding much of the effort. The Dodgers got on the board first, scoring against the Yankees in the first inning as Goody Rosen, Augie Galan, and Dixie Walker delivered three straight hits off Al Lyons. In the second inning, Brooklyn scored two more runs against the Giants as Eddie Stanky had an RBI double and later scored on a single by Frenchy Bordagaray against Johnnie Allen. At the same time, Ralph Branca pitched two scoreless innings. The Dodgers later added two more runs. Stanky would add another RBI in the eighth as the Dodgers added two more runs against the Giants. The Yankees and Giants remained scoreless until the Bronx Bombers scratched out a run in the ninth after the Dodgers had begun leaving, completing their portion of the game as the ultimate winner as they needed to be in Chicago for a doubleheader two days later, in the days when teams still traveled by train. The game featured many unusual circumstances, as the Dodgers and Yankees had to share the visitors’ dugout with the Giants using their home dugout. This particularly strange in the two innings where the Dodgers and Yankees faced each other.

Besides the game, there were several skills competitions held before the first pitch. Cal McLish of the Dodgers won a Fungo Hitting contest with a drive over 416 feet. The Dodgers also won a catching contest as Bobby Bragan came the closest to throwing the ball into a barrel from behind home plate. A third contest saw George Stirnweiss of the Yankees beat the Giants Johnny Rucker in a sprint from second base with a time of 7.8 seconds. There was even entertainment after the game, with Milton Berle hosting a music and comedy variety show for the more than 50,000 in attendance.