The White Sox started Game 5 in dire straits. They needed a win to stay alive after the Dodgers won three straight following an 11-0 clobbering in Game 1.

A third straight record-setting crowd of 92,706 filled Memorial Coliseum on a sunny Tuesday afternoon with most of them hoping/expecting their Dodgers to clinch the crown.

Chicago manager Al Lopez sent his Game Two starter, Bob Shaw, to the mound. The 6'2" 195lb righthander, 18-6 during the season, had pitched six strong innings before the Dodgers rallied in the 7th for three runs on their way to a 4-3 victory.

Bob pitched masterfully in Game 5, holding LA scoreless through six. Meanwhile, the Sox scratched out a run against 23-year-old not-yet-a-superstar Sandy Koufax in the 4th on singles by 2B Nellie Fox and CF Jim Landis and a double-play grounder off the bat of C Sherm Lollar.

The bottom of the 7th, which remains one of the most interesting half-innings in World Series history as two future Hall of Fame managers matched wits, must have been "deja vu all over again" (to quote Yogi Berra) for Shaw. In Game Two, he went into the 7th with a one-run lead and faced John Roseboro to lead off the inning. As in the earlier game, Bob got Roseboro on a fly ball. But instead of facing SS Maury Wills next - and hopefully getting him out as happened in Game Two, Shaw saw Dodger skipper Walt Alston send reserve outfielder Chuck Essegian to pinch hit for Wills. Four days earlier, Essegian smashed a pinch-hit, game-tying homer off Shaw. This time he drew a walk and was replaced on the base paths by Don Zimmer. Dodger great Duke Snider, sidelined by a bad knee, batted for Koufax and hit a grounder to SS Luis Aparicio. With Dodger fans groaning at the prospect of a double play, Duke hustled down the line and beat the throw to 1st by an eyelash. Johnny Podres, the Brooklyn star of the 1955 World Series, ran for Snider. Leadoff man Jim Gilliam cracked his fourth single of the afternoon, Podres stopping at 2nd.

Lopez then made a defensive move that would make a big difference in the outcome of the inning and the game. He moved Al Smith from right to left field, replacing Jim McAnany, and sent speedy Jim Rivera to right field.

The next hitter was 2B Charlie Neal, who smashed a go-ahead homer off Shaw in the 7th inning four days earlier. To make matters worse for himself, Bob uncorked a wild pitch to put runners and third and second. Neal got good wood on the ball as in Game Two, driving a liner into RCF. Speedy CF Jim Landis couldn't reach it, but Rivera came over from RF and caught the ball over his shoulder like a football wide receiver.

After the White Sox failed to add to their lead in the top of the 8th, Lopez surprisingly sent Shaw back to the mound. But he didn't last long. Singles by Wally Moon and Gil Hodges, sandwiched around a fly out by Norm Larker, put runners at 2nd and 3rd as Hodges took an extra base on the futile throw to get the lead runner. The managerial wheels continued to turn as Alston chose left-hand hitting Ron Fairly to pinch hit for righty CF Don Demeter. Lopez responded by calling on veteran southpaw Billy Pierce to relieve Shaw. So Walt retaliated by sending up a righthanded batter, Rip Repulski, to hit for Fairly. With first base open, Lopez ordered an intentional walk for Repulski. When another Dodger veteran from Brooklyn days, Carl Furillo, was announced as hitting for Roseboro, Al called in Dick Donovan, his righthanded starter in Game Three. Donovan got Furillo to pop up to third and Zimmer to fly to left to preserve the 1-0 lead.

Stan Williams set down the White Sox 1-2-3 in the 9th. But Donovan did the same in the bottom of the inning to record what has retroactively been scored as a save.