Sept. 26, 1963 - Take it from the Voice of Experience, Lippy Leo Durocher — the Dodgers are mentally ready for the Yankees. “This club is really up. It’s got momentum, and it can keep going,” said the Dodger coach before tonight’s game with the Mets. The dudish Frenchman is a veteran of five World Series. He played shortstop for the 1928 Yankees and the 1934 Cardinals and managed the 1941 Dodgers and the 1951 and 1954 New York Giants. “This club has a much better mental attitude than the ’41 Dodgers,” Durocher continued. “That year, we had to battle right down to the wire, and there was a big letdown once we won it. Then, in ’51, the Giants had no idea they’d ever catch the Dodgers and beat ‘em on Bobby Thomson’s home run in the playoff. Believe it or not, the World Series was anticlimactic after that frantic finish. This Dodger club is in the same spot as the ’54 Giants. They won with plenty of room to spare and were ready for the Series. They went out and beat Cleveland four straight.” Durocher is convinced that Willie Davis could make the difference against the Yankees. “Willie can run those Yankees ragged,” he said, “and if he has a good series, I’m sure he’ll hop up our other jackrabbits too. The Yankees never have seen speed like we’ve got on this club.” After wallowing in the doldrums most of the season, Willie is streaking down the stretch. In his last 11 games, Davis has batted .475. If he can maintain any semblance of his current pace, he will get aboard often enough to give the Yankees a few dizzy spells trying to keep track of him.
