The World Series continues tonight in St. Pete, as the Rays host the Brewers in Game Four. This is just the second World Series in a century to match teams that have never won it all.
But Milwaukee as a city, does own one World Series title, thanks in large part to an amazing pitching performance from a Kanawha Valley native, who never even pitched in high school at Nitro.
In 1957, Yankee Stadium stood as a towering monument to baseball invincibility. For decades, pinstripes meant autumn glory, and a Game 7 in the Bronx felt less like a sporting event and more like a coronation.
Standing in their way was a relentless right-hander named Selma “Lew” Burdette, a man about to complete one of the most astonishing pitching masterpieces in World Series history.
Burdette was an exceptional multi-sport athlete at Nitro High, graduating in 1944. Nitro didn’t have a baseball team in those days, so Burdette’s early athletic success came on the basketball court and the football field.
Burdette didn’t truly learn how to pitch until after high school, sharpening his skills playing industrial league baseball for the local American Viscose Corporation team in Nitro.
To understand the magnitude of what Burdette accomplished in that Game 7 masterpiece, you have to look at the Yankees lineup that was loaded with legends: Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Hank Bauer, Tony Kubek, and more. They had dominated the decade, few outside of Milwaukee gave the Braves a fighting chance.
Burdette possessed more on the mound than pure heat that afternoon; Lew had a heavy sinker, supreme command, and perhaps most importantly, loads of confidence.
Braves Manager Fred Haney handed Burdette the ball for Game 7 on just two days’ rest. It was a monumental gamble. Burdette had already beaten the Yankees in Games 2 and 5, needing only 87 pitches to win that fifth game in a complete game shutout, but coming back on short rest would require something extra.
In Game 7, Burdette shutout the Yankees again, scattering seven hits. He only struck out three Yanks, but induced a symphony of harmless ground balls and lazy fly balls en route to the 5-0 win.
In the ninth, when Eddie Matthews backhanded Moose Skowron’s sharp grounder to third and stepped on the third base bag for a force out, the Braves exploded out of the dugout as World Series champs.
Burdette was an obvious choice as the 1957 World Series MVP; three complete-game victories, a 0.67 ERA and two shutouts over 27 innings.
Nitro didn’t forget him. Following his legendary performance, the city of Nitro officially declared a “Lew Burdette Day” to honor the hometown kid who conquered the Yankees.
As Milwaukee competes for a World Series title this week, this time against the Rays, the legend of Lew Burdette’s rubber arm still echoes through baseball lore—a testament to what happens when supreme grit, execution, and unwavering belief meet on the biggest stage in sports.