World Series Under Lights

Jackie Robinson of the Brooklyn Dodgers bats at Ebbets Field in Game 5 of the 1949 World Series, the first time lights were turned on in a series contest. The Yankees won the game, 10-6, becoming world champions for the 12th time in team history.

“For the first time in a world series the great batteries of electric lights atop the stands were turned on in the ninth inning to safeguard against the possibility that encroaching darkness might interfere with a definite decision,” The Times wrote Oct. 10, 1949. “But the additional illumination, which cast an eerie light in the autumn dusk was scarcely needed to reveal the disparity between the two teams.

“The incomparable Joe Page, making his third appearance of the series, took over with two out in the seventh and from that moment to the end they might just as well have plunged the entire arena into total darkness.”