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Wednesday, October 31, 2018

In Support of Steve Blass

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TRIVIA QUESTION:   Who is the major league player the 1969 Pirate's utility man Carl Taylor is related to?

ANSWER TO TRIVIA QUESTION IN THE PREVIOUS COLUMN: The future Yankee manager who was traded to Kansas City with Ralph Terry was Billy Martin.

Most pitchers will moan about the "lack of run support" they get from the bats of their teammates, but in 1969 the Pirates Steve Blass had no such complaint. Blass, who would win 16 of 26 decisions for a Pittsburgh team which was expected to do better, saw his team post at least 10 runs for him a lot.
  The Pirates, under Larry Shepard, would finish with 88 wins but end up in third place in the tough National League Eastern Division. They acquired aging Jim Bunning to bolster a starting staff which included Blass, Bob Veale and Bob Moose. Pirate bats were still strong with five regulars batting better than .300, led by Roberto Clemente at .345. Matty Alou hit .331 while Manny Sanguillen, rookie Richie Hebner and Willie Stargell all bested .300. Stargell added 29 homers as well.
Off the bench Carl Taylor hit .348 and was supported by veterans Gene Alley and Jose Pagan, along with youngsters in waiting Bob Robertson and Dave Cash. Freddie Patek was the shortstop, Bill Mazeroski at second and rookie Al Oliver would hit 17 homers while batting a respectable .285. 

For a change however, it was the Pirates starting pitchers which played a big positive role and Blass took the lead. The current Pirates announcer would be the first to admit the bats were working in his favor.

While Blass opened the season against Cardinal's ace Bob Gibson, with a no-decision in a 14-inning game, he was masterful. He allowed only two runs in seven innings, matching Gibson pitch for pitch. It wasn't often the Bucs scored a lowly two runs for their big guy.



In his next three wins the Pirates scored 8, 8 and 7 runs. In his losses and no decisions they weren't that productive but on June 1, the Bucco bats exploded for 14 runs to back Blass to make his record 4-2 without the aid of a home run. Five games later against the Braves the Pirates scored 10 runs behind Blass who went the distance for a six-hitter. Four days after that he started at Houston and the Pirates scored 13 runs. Included was a Clemente grand slam and while Blass was not very effective he still picked up the win to run his record to 6-2.

On August 5th, Blass started against Los Angeles at Chavez Ravine and Buc bats awoke again, scoring 11 runs with the aid of homers by Stargell, Sanguillen and Maz, as Blass bested Don Drysdale to run his record to 11-7. It would be the last double digit scoring behind Blass for the season. Five more times during the season the Pirates would score at least 10 runs with Moose (14-3) benefiting twice. 
When the dust cleared the Pirates led the league in runs, hits, triple and batting average. The team BA was .277 with non-pitchers hitting an amazing .290! While Pirate pitching ended up in the middle to later portion of the 12 team NL pack, they did lead the league in allowing the least home runs (they still played in spacious Forbes Field) and were second in strikeouts. Five Pirate pitchers finished with at least 10 wins. 

Despite his 4.46 ERA, Blass still managed a 16-10 record to lead Pittsburgh in wins. It was a far cry from his masterful 1968 season at 18-6 with a 2.12 ERA. He would go on to be the ace of the Pirates staff for years to come and 3-1 in the post season, including 2-0 in the 1971 World Series won by the Pirates.


Thank you to those of you who purchased my book after reading this column. It has been appreciated. 

Also: Please check out our new Western Short Film. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/iron-gun-western-feature-film/#/
Please share this blog with your friends and colleagues and leave a comment at the bottom of the blog if you have one. Thank YOU VERY MUCH!! Please pick up a copy of my book "Tales of My Baseball Youth; A Child of the 60's" at www.bobbrillbooks.com, or on Amazon.   


Wednesday, October 24, 2018

Ralph Terry Ends Giants World Series Hopes

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Now with MONTHLY Auctions!

TRIVIA QUESTION:  Ralph Terry was originally signed by the Yankees but was traded to Kansas City before being sent back to the Yankees. Who was the future Yankee manager involved in one of those trades?

ANSWER TO TRIVIA QUESTION IN THE PREVIOUS COLUMN: The 1963 World Series featured two opposing players who also played against each other in another professional sport; the NBA. Gene Conley was a pitcher with the Boston Braves but he also played a couple seasons for the Boston Celtics. Steve Hamilton, pitching for the Yankees, was a member of the Minneapolis Lakers from 1958-1960. The two teams faced each other in the NBA Finals in 1958-59 season in which the Celtics won in four games. 

In the 1960's if you asked most people who was the ace of the Yankee's staff and a stalwart in a World Series, most people would probably say Whitey Ford. In 1962 it was another long time major leaguer; Ralph Terry

Terry had an awesome 1962, winning 23 games to Ford's 17 and leading the team in innings pitched with 298. He walked but 57 batters and struck out 176. All figures which outdistanced Ford. Perhaps, his most amazing feat was a 1.05 WHiP to Ford's 1.21. 
It was in the World Series where he really stood out. That cool October day when Game One against the Giants began in San Francisco's Candlestick Park, it was Ford who got the call. He did not disappoint and neither did his Bronx Bomber teammates, responding with six runs as they defeated Billy O'Dell and the Giants 6-2. The six runs would be the second most scored by a winning team in the series which was supposed to be a slug-fest. In Game One Clete Boyer homered and Roger Maris drove in a pair, which was pretty much all the Yanks needed.  

Terry got the start in Game Two but Yankee bats went silent, managing only three hits off Jack Sanford. A Willie McCovey homer was all the Giants needed as Terry gave up only six hits but two runs. San Francisco tied the series a 1-1. 
New York came back in game three to back the four hit pitching of Bill Stafford 3-2 and take a one game lead in the best of seven series.  Ford got the call in Game Four and lasted six good innings before giving way to the relief corps. The Yankee staff gave up a total of seven runs in losing 7-3, to bring the series even again at 2-2.

Terry took the mound for his second start in Game Five and was neck and neck with Sanford until the eighth. Tom Tresh, batting third, got his second extra base hit of the night; a three run blast to put the Yanks ahead for good. Despite striking out 10, Sanford was on the losing end and Terry went the distance with an eight hitter.

New York hoped to close it out in Game Six but Ford was not up to it and the Giants were not going away. Whitey gave up five runs on nine hits in 4.2 innings and was gone along with the Yankee fans desire to avoid a Game Seven. San Francisco stayed alive with a 5-2 win.
Pitching on five days rest (he went the distance on October 10th), Terry faced the Giants in Game Seven on October 16th. Over 43,000 people filled Candlestick to see Terry take on  Sanford again. It was a Tuesday afternoon in October and as anyone knows October near the Bay can be treacherous. The temperature was in the 60's with a 20 mile per hour wind - the wind tunnel so to speak in those days.

The game was scoreless until the fifth when Moose Skowron led off the inning with a single. Boyer followed with a single sending Skowron to third with nobody out. Sanford then did the unthinkable; he walked the opposing pitcher to load the bases. Lead off man Tony Kubek hit a sharp ground ball to shortstop Jose Pagan who quickly turned the double play allowing Skowron to score, making it 1-0. 
It was a good move by the defense figuring one run would not make the difference. Unfortunately for the Giants it did. Terry was masterful until the ninth. The ninth inning involved one of the most memorable plays in World Series history.

Matty Alou led the Giants off with a bunt single. Brother Felipe and Chuck Hiller struck out. With San Francisco down to it's final out, Willie Mays banged a double off Terry, sending Matty to third and bringing up the dangerous McCovey. McCovey had tripled earlier in the game and today never would have gotten to swing the bat. Orlando Cepeda, just as dangerous but batting a lowly .158 in the series, was on deck.
With the game on the line McCovey smashed a wicked line drive which second baseman Bobby Richardson grabbed for the final out. The game and the Series was over and Terry had pitched two complete games, winning two including the final Game Seven. 

Terry allowed just four hits, striking out four and did not walk a batter, going 2-1 in the Series with a 1.80 ERA. He gave up only five runs in 25 innings and walked just two batters in leading New York to a 4-3 Series victory.

  Thank you to those of you who purchased my book after reading this column. It has been appreciated. 

Also: Please check out our new Western Short Film. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/iron-gun-western-feature-film/#/
Please share this blog with your friends and colleagues and leave a comment at the bottom of the blog if you have one. Thank YOU VERY MUCH!! Please pick up a copy of my book "Tales of My Baseball Youth; A Child of the 60's" at www.bobbrillbooks.com, or on Amazon.  

 


Wednesday, October 17, 2018

Saving Face, June 8, 1969

We wish to welcome our sponsor; Huggins and Scott Auctions, one of the premier sports trading card and memorabilia auctions house in the U-S. 
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TRIVIA QUESTION:  Bill Stoneman pitched for eight Major League seasons. How many seasons did he finish with a winning record?

ANSWER TO TRIVIA QUESTION IN THE PREVIOUS COLUMN: Steve Hamilton pitched in the World Series in both 1963 and 1964 for the Yankees. He also played in the NBA finals against the Boston Celtics when he was a Minneapolis Laker in 1959. The only other player to play in the World Series and the NBA Finals was also a pitcher; Gene Conley. He tossed for the Milwaukee Braves in 1957 and was with the Celtics from 1959-1961. He ironically played against Hamilton in the Finals in 1959.

When the Montreal Expo's opened their inaugural season with an 11-10 victory on April 8, 1969, few of the people who were excited over the win would realize only two months to the day later, how distant a memory that game was. It was the only day the Expos were in first place all season but then again no one expected miracles from an expansion team. What they did not  expect began on May 13th.
On May 10th, Mack Jones homered in support of Dan McGinn who relieved Bill Stoneman and the Expos edged Cincinnati 7-6. Longtime Pirate's reliever Roy Face picked up the Save at age 41 in his final year in the big leagues. In their next game, three days later, Montreal lost to Houston, 10-3 with McGinn taking the loss in relief. 

The Expos continued to lose their next 19 straight games. During that span McGinn would lose three more and Face once. Ace Bill Stoneman would go 0-5 during the stretch, including No. 20 of the streak. The date was June 7, 1969.

June 8th was an unusually cool 68 degrees at game time at Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles as the Expos and the Dodgers took the field for a Sunday afternoon game. A slight 10 mile per hour breeze was wafting through the ball park as a weaker than usual crowd poured into the stadium. The weather was so clear visibility was 20 miles and the view from the top deck was amazing. Only 15,628 people turned up to see the pathetic team from Montreal, which had lost 20 games in a row.

Announcer Vin Scully more than likely mentioned the fact Montreal was a Dodger AAA team in the 1940s and it was where Jackie Robinson made his home until the big club called him up in 1947 to break the MLB color barrier. He also no doubt mentioned the string of games the Expos had lost and the fact the Dodgers had beaten them two straight with Don Sutton and Claude Osteen getting the wins. It would be Bill Singer on this day facing Jerry Robertson. 
The game started off quiet enough until the fourth when former Dodger Maury Wills led off with a walk and Rusty Staub followed with a blast into the bleachers to give Montreal a 2-0 lead. Jones followed with a single and went to third on a base hit by Coco Laboy. Gary Sutherland squeezed him home with a bunt, scoring Jones to make the score 3-0. 

The Dodgers scored a run in the fifth when, with runners on second and third, Billy Sudakis hit a ground ball which first baseman, Ty Cline muffed to allow the unearned run to score, 3-1. The next inning there was that man again. Mack Jones led off the sixth with a solo homer just as he had two months previous and the Expos led 4-1.

It stayed that way until the ninth. The Dodgers began to rally and despite the fact the crowd had thinned out considerably,  they were still in it. Andy Kosco led off with a single. After Tom Haller singled, Jerry Robertson had had enough. Manager Gene Mauch had seen enough. He called on his aging right-hander and Save king, 5'8" Elroy Face. 
Face was far removed from his 18-1 year in 1959 and his long history of sub 3.00 ERA's with Pittsburgh. He'd been to Detroit since and was now playing out the string with Montreal. He still had something left in the tank, or so Mauch figured. He almost figured wrong.

Jimmy Lefevbre greeted Face with a ground ball which Cline fielded, stepped on first for the out as Kosco and Haller both moved up. Ron Fairly, who would later become an Expo, singled home Kosco to make it 4-2 Montreal. Haller stopped at third. There was still only one out. Sudakis drew a walk to lead the bases and then the unthinkable happened. 

While facing another aging player, Ken Boyer, Face balked. The run came home making it 4-3 with runners at second and third. There was still only one out. Face worked Boyer and the former Cardinal MVP popped to Laboy at third. Willie Crawford stepped up. Crawford the power hitting, striking out bonus baby of the Dodgers had not had much of a career to this point. He had been in the majors for five years and was still only 22 years old. This season was his first as what you can consider a regular and he'd bat .247. Still he was dangerous and Face knew it.

He worked the count and hit a towering fly ball to right, which Staub hauled in for the final out. Face once again saved the day as he had so many times in his career, but more importantly the streak had come to an end. Montreal lost 20 games in a row. They would go on to win the next one. In fact, they would win 8 of their next 20, before finishing 48 games out of first place with a 52-110 record.

Face would close out the season 4-2, and would Save 5 of the 6 games he was called on to Save. He finished with a 3.94 ERA. Lifetime he saved 191 of 251, with 104-95 record over 16 seasons. He saved three of the four games Pittsburgh won in the 1960 World Series. It was his only post season appearance. 


Thank you to those of you who purchased my book after reading this column. It has been appreciated. 

Please share this blog with your friends and colleagues and leave a comment at the bottom of the blog if you have one. Thank YOU VERY MUCH!!


 
Please pick up a copy of my book "Tales of My Baseball Youth; A Child of the 60's" at www.bobbrillbooks.com, or on Amazon.