This season was basically a culmination of the careers of many legendary Dodger players. Catcher
Roy Campanella won the 1955
National League Most Valuable Player award, his third in five years.
Center fielder Duke Snider led the league in
runs batted in and was second in the MVP voting. He also hit his 200th career
home run on May 10.
Jackie Robinson and
Pee Wee Reese, both 36 years old, could still play.
Gil Hodges, 31, hit 27 home runs (and drove in both Dodger runs in the seventh game of the Series), while
Carl Furillo, 33, hit 26 home runs with a .314 batting average. The pitching staff was anchored by
Don Newcombe, who was 20–5. It was the first time a black pitcher had won 20 games in a season. The 22-year-old
Johnny Podres was only 9–10 but became the hero of the
1955 World Series by shutting out the Yankees in the seventh game.
MVP controversy Duke Snider finished second to teammate Campanella in the MVP voting by just five points, 226–221, with each man receiving eight first place votes. The voting then as now was conducted by the
Baseball Writers' Association of America. Each voting member, one from each major league city, filled out a ballot selecting ten men. A player receiving a first place vote got 14 points, then values of 9–8–7–6–5–4–3–2–1 for those in places 2 through 10. A writer from Philadelphia who was sick and who had become hospitalized had turned in a ballot with Campanella listed in position number 1 as well as position number 5. The assumption had been that the writer had meant to write Snider's name into one of those slots. Unable to get a clarification from the ill writer the BBWAA, after considering disallowing the ballot, decided to accept it, count the first place vote for Campanella and count the fifth place vote as though it were left blank. Had the ballot been disallowed, the vote would have been won by Snider by three points. Had Snider gotten the fifth place vote, the final vote would have favored Snider 227–226. Duke did, however, win the Sporting News National League Player of the Year Award for 1955 and the Sid Mercer Award.
Season standings Record vs. opponents Opening Day Lineup Notable transactions • June 7, 1955:
Ron Negray was traded by the Dodgers to the
Philadelphia Phillies for
Dave Cole and cash. • June 9, 1955:
Joe Black was traded by the Dodgers to the
Cincinnati Reds for
Bob Borkowski and cash. • September 12, 1955:
Glenn Cox was purchased from the Dodgers by the
Kansas City Athletics.
Roster == Player stats ==