Coming off a Game 6 in which his team had scored 12 runs, Casey Stengel might have been expected to go with the same line-up in Game 7. But Stengel was an inveterate tinkerer and, in fairness, had a sensible change left to make. He moved Bobby Richardson, who was having a record-setting Series, from eighth in the order to lead-off. Clete Boyer, for whom Stengel had sent up a pinch-hitter in the second inning of Game 1 before allowing him to bat even once, swapped places with Richardson.
In addition, Johnny Blanchard replaced Elston Howard behind the plate. This may well have been an enforced move; Howard had left Game 6 after being pit by a pitch. But Stengel might have preferred Blanchard anyway. Through six games, the hard-hitting reserve was 4-7 with a pair of doubles.
Danny Murtaugh, whose Pirates had scored only 17 runs in six games, made two sensible moves. Against right-hander Bob Turley, in came left-handed hitters Bob Skinner (left field, in place of Gino Cimoli) and Rocky Nelson (first base, in place of the slumping Dick Stuart). For Skinner, who had been battling a thumb injury, this would be his first start in this Series; for Nelson it would be his second. As we will see, Skinner and Nelson paid immediate dividends for Murtaugh.
The Game 7 lineups were:
New York
Richardson 2B
Kubek ss
Maris rf
Mantle cf
Berra lf
Skowron 1B
Blanchard c
Boyer 3B
Turley p
Pittsburgh
Virdon cf
Groat ss
Skinner lf
Nelson 1B
Clemente rf
Burgess c
Hoak 3B
Mazeroski 2B
Law p
With the help of a few players who began the game on the bench, these lineups would combine to produce 19 runs and 24 hits.
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