The end of an era

The final game at Brooklyn’s hallowed Ebbets Field is played 66 years ago tonight with the Los Angeles-bound Dodgers shutting out the Pittsburgh Pirates 2-0.

Even with a pitching staff loaded with front-end starters like Don Drysdale, Don Newcombe and Johnny Podres – not to mention a raw, 21-year-old native New Yorker named Sandy Koufax – the Dodgers turn to rookie Danny McDevitt to start the final game at the iconic, 44-year-old ballpark.

McDevitt does just fine, too, striking out nine Pirates en route to a five-hit shutout.

The last of those strikeouts comes against Bob Skinner, retiring him for the second out of the ninth inning.

Pittsburgh’s Dee Fondy follows with a stadium-closing groundout to shortstop Don Zimmer.

Zimmer also has the distinction of recording the last hit at Ebbets Field, a single to center off Pittsburgh starter Bennie Daniels with one out in the seventh inning.

The final RBI fittingly belongs to Hall of Famer Gil Hodges, the Dodgers’ longtime cleanup hitter, who records 534 of his 1,274 career RBIs in 751 games at Ebbets Field. This one comes on a third-inning single to right field that scores Gino Cimoli from second base for a 2-0 lead.

Not that many see Hodges’ final RBI at Ebbets or McDevitt’s five-hitter as the final game attracts a Tuesday night crowd of just 6,702.