The Fall Classic of 1956 marked the sixth time in 10 years that the New York Yankees and Brooklyn Dodgers met in the World Series. Brooklyn, fresh on the heels of their first World Championship, opened the Series at home and won both games. But New York bounced back with wins in Games Three and Four, setting the stage for the pivotal fifth game scheduled in Yankee Stadium.

Brooklyn sent their 39-year-old veteran Sal Maglie to the mound. In the twilight of his career, Maglie found new life when traded to the Dodgers earlier in the season. He finished with a 13-5 regular season mark, including a no-hitter, and had beaten Whitey Ford in the Series opener. Slated to start for New York was 27-year-old Don Larsen. During the regular campaign Larsen started 20 games, completed six, and relieved in another 18. With his unorthodox no-wind-up delivery he started Game Two of the Series but was wild and banished to the showers during the second inning. Now, three days later, the story would be much different.

Larsen’s first inning of work was inauspicious. Fifteen pitches included a full count to Pee Wee Reese and a line drive to right by Duke Snider. In retrospect, Reese’s appearance marked the only three-ball count of the day for Larsen.

Leading off the second, Brooklyn’s Jackie Robinson sent a vicious, head-high line drive to the left of third baseman Andy Carey. The ball glanced off his glove but fortuitously bounded to Gil McDougald at shortstop. McDougald alertly fielded it and threw to first, nipping Robinson by a half step.

Larsen needed only seven pitches to retire the Dodgers in the third. In the top of the fourth, Duke Snider smashed a drive into the lower right field seats as umpire Ed Runge gave it a long hard look before calling it foul. During the action, radio announcer Mel Allen commented that, given the sellout crowd, the dark canvas backdrop normally in center field, which contrasted with the white ball and thereby aided hitters, had been removed.

The home half of the fourth provided the game’s first baserunner and all the runs Larsen would need when Mickey Mantle stroked one just inside the foul pole, not far from where Snider’s clout landed a half inning earlier. Yogi Berra then lined a ball into center where Snider made a diving shoestring catch.

In the top of the fifth with one out, Gil Hodges hit a deep fly to left-center on which Mantle made a spectacular one-handed running catch. The next batter, Sandy Amoros, sent another long fly ball into the seats in right field. The announcers paused while waiting for Runge to call it foul. Later in the clubhouse, right fielder Hank Bauer claimed the ball was foul by no more than three inches. Runge said it was more like six inches foul.

The Yankees added a second run in the sixth when Carey led off with a single, was sacrificed to second by Larsen, and scored on Hank Bauer’s single.

In the top of the seventh the crowd began to buzz with anticipation as Larsen retired Brooklyn on seven pitches. His assortment of fastballs, sliders, and slow curves had the Dodgers stymied. The eighth saw the visitors hit the ball hard but to no avail, while Maglie in the bottom of the inning kept his club alive by striking out the side.

The Dodgers’ last chance opened with Carl Furillo fouling off four balls before flying out to right. Roy Campanella then grounded out to second, setting the stage for what announcer Vin Scully called the “most dramatic plate appearance in baseball history.”

Sal Maglie was the scheduled batter, but pinch-hitter Dale Mitchell strode to the plate. The first pitch was a ball outside. Two strikes followed, one called and one swinging. Mitchell next sent a foul into the left field stands. Then, on Larsen’s 97th pitch, home plate umpire Babe Pinelli called strike three! Pandemonium erupted. Berra ran to meet Larsen and jumped into his arms as teammates encircled the pair. Yogi called it the best-pitched game he ever caught, despite having worked two no-hitters by Allie Reynolds. Pinelli, who called balls and strikes for 31 years, described Larsen’s effort as the “greatest pinpoint control I’ve ever seen.” A most unlikely character had tossed not only the first no-hitter in World Series history but also baseball’s first perfect game in 34 years.

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