I was later told that before the Yankee infielders took the field in the ninth, Billy Martin took them aside and gave them a pep talk, saying “nothing gets through.” I was too nervous to realize it at the time, but apparently Casey and Frankie Crosetti were also shouting out instructions and flapping their arms wildly to signal Slaughter, Mantle, and Bauer to their respective positions in the outfield. Stengel later told reporters, “I had more managers helping me than I knew what to do with.”

After the game, some sportswriters questioned why Casey didn’t put in a replacement for Enos Slaughter, who wasn’t as fleet of foot as in his younger days. I never did find out, but Casey was superstitious. Maybe he just didn’t want to do anything to shake up things.

There’s been a great many stories written about the tension in that ninth inning as I readied myself to pitch to the first Dodger hitter, Carl Furillo. One of the best I’ve ever read came from sportswriter Arthur Daley, who described what the atmosphere was like in Yankee Stadium as the two teams began the ninth.

For almost four innings, wily Sal Maglie had matched Larsen putout for putout. Folks were beginning to wonder if this would be the first double no-hitter since Fred Toney of the Cincinnati Reds and Hippo Jim Vaughn of the Chicago Cubs tangled almost 40 years ago [Vaughn lost in the tenth].

But then that precocious youngster, Master Mickey Mantle, tagged the ancient Barber for a homer in the fourth. Another run trickled in later. But the Barber, pitching far better ball than he had in his victory in the opener, was left holding an empty bag.

Somewhere in the middle of the game the crowd seemed to get a mass realization of the wonders that were being unfolded. Tension kept mounting until it was as brittle as an electric light bulb. The slightest jounce and the dang thing might explode.

Or perhaps it was more like a guy blowing air into a toy balloon. He keeps blowing and blowing with red-faced enthusiasm. But every puff might be the last. Larger and larger grew Larsen’s balloon. It was of giant size at the start of the ninth.