Originally, the Dodgers’ World Series matchup against the Yankees was a fascinating inner-city matchup of two New York City enclaves, blue-collar Brooklyn endowed with a neighborhood called Gravesend, and the swanky Bronx against the swanky Grand. Confluence.

It was an intriguing matchup that brought home bragging rights to the city as well as the world title in baseball, and caught the eye of the brilliant sports cartoonist Williard Mullin, who gave it the catchy nickname “The Subway Series.” After all, New York City’s rapid transit system can take you from one ballpark to another for just 5 cents.

The journey will cost a lot more when baseball’s most frequent World Series rivalry restarts for the 12th time Friday with its Broadway-Sunset Boulevard version. It brings together this season’s winningest teams in a coast-to-coast clash featuring some of the game’s biggest stars, including the Yankees’ Aaron Judge and Juan Soto and the Dodgers’ Shohei Otani and Mookie Betts.

The October matchups produced some of the game’s most memorable moments, from Don Larsen’s perfect play and Reggie Jackson’s three consecutive home runs to Al Gionfriddo and Sandy Amoros’ one-handed catches in the circus.

Yankees vs Dodgers have modest start to World Series

The Dodgers won their first National League pennant in 21 years in 1941 and found the Yankees, already building a dynasty, waiting for them in the World Series. This was the first of their 12 Fall Classic meetings.

Mullin also gave them cartoon images: a ramshackle but very proud Brooklyn Bum shuffling next to a rag wardrobe, and a dashing and powerful New York Yankee strutting around with his chest out, celebrating his baseball dominance.

This will be a match of the haves and have-nots. The winners prevailed, but not without one of the strangest plays in World Series history – the final inning that turned into a game-changing rally for the Yankees.

The teams split the first two games at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees won Game 3 at Ebbets Field, but the Dodgers were clinging to a 4-3 lead in Game 4; Looks like it tied the Series. Reliever Hugh Casey retired the first two batters and broke up a bad curveball by striking out Tommy Henrich for a 3-2 count; some thought it might have been a spitball. Henrich swung and missed, but the ball sailed past catcher Mickey Owen. Henrich ran to first base. The Yankees had life.

Casey still needed one to secure the win. He didn’t understand at all. Joe DiMaggio singled and Charlie Keller drove in a double, driving in two runs. The Yankees added two more for a 7-4 victory that stunned the Dodgers and left Owen looking like a goat. The Yankees won the next day to clinch their ninth World Series victory.

There was Yogi and Jackie in the 1947 World Series, but Bill Bevens was the story

When the sides met once again in the World Series in 1947, several notable new faces were involved. Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Brooklyn that season and won Rookie of the Year. And in Game 3, New York got the first hit home run in Series history by a rookie catcher named Yogi Berra.

But Game 4 was the most memorable game of this series because Bill Bevens, a marginal Yankees pitcher who won just seven games during the season, flirted with the first no-hitter in World Series history.

Bevens took a 2-1 lead in the ninth inning despite issuing eight walks. He then walked Carl Furillo by mistake and Pete Reiser on purpose. Cookie Lavageto batted for Eddie Stanky and hit a double over the right field wall, ending the no-hit bid and winning the game for Brooklyn. This was Bevens’ last pitch in the major leagues.

The Yankees won Game 5, 2-1, to send the series back to the Bronx. The Dodgers led 8-5 in Game 6, but New York rallied in the sixth inning with two men on base, two outs, and DiMaggio at bat. The Yankees star made a move that appeared to be headed for the left field seats. AL Gionfriddo, who entered the game for defense at the beginning of the kick, went on a dead run with his back to the ball, twisted his body at the last moment and kicked the shot out. DiMaggio, who never showed emotion on the field, kicked the dirt in frustration.

The Dodgers went on to win that game, but New York took Game 7 and the Series. Like Bevens, Lavageto and Gionfriddo never played a major league game again.

The golden age of the Dodgers-Yankees game

Two years later, the two rivals faced each other again; this time Casey Stengel was managing the Yankees. The opening game of the 1949 Series was a classic. The two teams were held scoreless through eight innings, with Brooklyn’s Don Newcombe dueling with Allie Reynolds. Tommy Henrich led off the bottom of the ninth with a home run, giving the Yankees a 1-0 victory over the Dodgers ace who never earned a World Series start.

Brooklyn responded with a 1-0 win of their own in Game 2, with Preacher Roe striking out Vic Raschi. Game 3 was tied 1-1 in the ninth inning as the Yankees scored three and then held on for a 4-3 victory. Brooklyn was on the ropes and New York started killing, beating Newcombe again in Game 4 and then taking a 10-1 lead in Game 5 and holding on for a 10-6 victory in the final game.

Competition resumed in 1952, launching four Subway Series within five years. Stengel’s Yankees won three of them, but in 1955, “Wait ’til next year!” The Dodgers finally captured their first World Series championship.

Brooklyn led the ’52 Series 3-2 before Berra’s home run in Game 6 and Mickey Mantle helped New York survive. Mantle’s homer and RBI single gave New York a 4-2 lead in Game 7 as the Dodgers loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the seventh. Robinson hit an infield popup that appeared to fall before second baseman Billy Martin made a wild dash to circle it for third. Brooklyn never threatened again and the Yankees captured their fourth straight World Series title.

The Stengel dynasty captured their fifth straight championship in 1953, again defeating the Dodgers. Martin’s RBI in the bottom of the ninth made it happen in Game 6, and the future Yankees manager batted .500 in the Series.

After a one-year hiatus, the Subway Series resumed in 1955, eventually beating the Brooklyn Yankees after five tries. The Dodgers also became the first team in Series history to lose their first two games and recover to win the championship. The star was left-hander Johnny Podres, who won Game 3 to start the Dodgers’ recovery and Game 7 to clinch the championship. Gil Hodges drove in two runs and Brooklyn took a 2-0 lead when first-year manager Walt Alston made a defensive change in the sixth inning, sending Cuban Sandy Amoros to play in left field.

With two runners on, Amoros positioned himself to center when Berra sent a slashing drive down the left field line. Amoros chased the ball, took off his glove to catch it, and then sent the ball to Pee Wee Reese, who threw it to Hodges, completing the double play that destroyed the rally. Podres picked it up from there and it finally arrived in Brooklyn the next year.

A year later, Yankees right-hander Don Larsen pitched a perfect game, becoming the first no-hitter in World Series history. Larsen was struck out in the second inning of Game 2 but returned to pitch his gem in Game 5. He needed just 97 pitches, and when plate umpire Babe Pinelli struck third on hitter Dale Mitchell, Berra darted into his arms.

The Dodgers responded primarily with a reliever, Clem Labine, who pitched 10 innings in a 1-0 victory. The Yankees came back to win another championship with a 9-0 victory on Bill Skowron’s grand slam and Johnny Kucks’ airtight pitch in Game 7. It was the last game of Robinson’s career and the last time Brooklyn hosted a World Series. .

Dodgers leave Brooklyn and Koufax, Jackson and Steinbrenner enter competition

After the Dodgers left for Los Angeles in 1957, the rivalry cooled until 1963, when a coast-to-coast showdown took place. This time the Dodgers avenged the old disappointment with a four-game sweep. In the opener, Sandy Koufax scored 15 points, breaking Erskine’s Series record. Podres won Game 2 4-1 and then Los Angeles completed the win on home soil as Don Drysdale defeated New York 1-0 and Koufax came back to win 2-1.

By 1977, free agency had changed the face of baseball, and the biggest prize at the start of that era was slugger Reggie Jackson, who signed with the Yankees.

Jackson’s relationship with manager Martin was controversial, but his outfielder appearance against the Dodgers in the World Series carved out a place for himself in Series history. In the decisive sixth game, Jackson hit three home runs, each on the first pitch, matching the Series record set by Babe Ruth. His five home runs in the series helped lead the Yankees to another world title and earned Jackson the nickname Mr. October.

The two teams returned for the 1978 Series, with the Dodgers taking the lead and securing the second with Jackson’s shutout in the final out. But the Yankees weren’t done. They returned to New York and won the next four games, becoming the first Series team to lose the first two and then win the Series in six games.

In their next meeting in 1981, the Dodgers reversed the outcome, losing the first two games and then winning four consecutive games to capture the crown. Are the Yankees disappointed? Hotel owner George Steinbrenner got into a hotel elevator dispute with some fans and emerged with his hand in a cast.

Now, 43 years later, the rivalry begins again with two very different casts. It’s no longer a Subway Series, but it’s still interesting for the history it’s already written.

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Hal Bock was an AP Sports Writer from 1963-2004 and covered 30 World Series for the Associated Press.

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