Baseball in the 1960's: September 2021

Monday, September 27, 2021

Bud Daley Puts the Yankees Over the Top TWICE; 1961

TRIVIA WINNER: Congrats to Henry Menks, of Santa Fe, NM who correctly identified Sammy Ellis as the winning pitcher in Warren Spahn's last game. The Prize: Starbucks Gift Card.

NEW TRIVIA CONTEST: By answering the TRIVIA QUESTION CORRECTLY you are automatically entered into a weekly drawing for a Starbucks Gift Card. YOU MUST ENTER VIA THE EMAIL AT THE END OF THIS COLUMN. Don't forget to put your mailing address in with the answer so if you win we can send you the gift card in the mail.

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NEW TRIVIA QUESTION: How many of the 1961 New York Yankee players are enshrined in Baseball's Hall of Fame?

ANSWER to the Trivia question in the previous column: The winning pitcher in Warren Spahn's last game was Sammy Ellis. Spahn made a brief appearance as a reliever for the Giants.

When you think of Yankee pitchers making their mark in the 1960s, you normally think of Whitey Ford.You don't think of Bud Daley. Daley however was the man who pitched the 1961 Yankees (the second greatest team of all time) into first place basically to stay. It was game 80 on the season. Just one month earlier he was toiling for the Kansas City A's. The A's traded him
to the Yankees for Art Ditmar and Deron Johnson. He was 4-8 before the trade. It was the beginning of two milestones for the lefty hurler in 1961.

(Bud Daley gets Vada Pinson as the final out of the 1961 World Series)

To put it nicely, almost any pitcher would have this claim to fame on Friday, July 7th evening in front of 29,000-plus at Yankee Stadium. The Bombers put 14 runs on the board against the Red Sox but it was Daley who was on the mound and went the distance. Bud worked quickly that game which went 2:45 despite 17 runs being scored.

He gave up eight hits, walked two and struck out three and the only deep ball he allowed was late in the game to catcher Jim Pagliaroni. Otherwise he kept Boston in check. The Yankees had a field day against four Red Sox pitchers. Gene Conley opened the game and lasted just one frame, giving up six runs. Arnold Earley went the next five and by the time he was relieved New York had scored 10 of it's 14 runs. Dave Hilman and Billy Muffett left their marks as well.

New York did what it did best but only Elston Howard homered. Bobby Richardson and Roger Maris each drove in three runs while Howard plated four more. Mantle had a couple of hits as did Bill Skowron.

While the club had won the two previous games, this win pushed them into first place. And aside from a couple days when they fell to second the Bronx Bombers pretty much clinched the AL Pennant. With this win they went on a 25-9 run, dominating the American League and heading into the World Series.

While their were many bigger names in pinstripes in 1961 including Maris and his 61 homers, Mantle's .317 and 54 HR along with Berra, Ford (25 wins) and Luis Arroyo (15-5, 29 Saves), it was a career 60 game winner named Bud Daley who put them on the train to the title in game 80. Daley finished the campaign 8-9 with New York and coupled with his 4-8 in KC, he ended the season 12-17. He picked up a win in two relief appearances in the World Series, including getting Vada Pinson to pop up as the final out in the 1961 Series.

The Orange County, California native was a two time all-star, winning 16 games in both 1959 and 1960.

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Monday, September 20, 2021

Warren Spahn Wins 23 at Age 42

TRIVIA WINNER: Congrats to Rich Klein or Grand Prairie, TX, who correctly stated the player whom Darrell Evans pinch-hit for was Claude Raymond (adding he of the unzipped fly in the 1966-67 Topps cards). The Prize: Starbucks Gift Card.

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NEW TRIVIA QUESTION: Who was the winning pitcher in Warren Spahn's last game?

ANSWER to the Trivia question in the previous column: The player whom Darrell Evans pinch-hit for was Claude Raymond.

By the time 1960 rolled around, Warren Spahn had already won 20 or more games in a season nine times. He was 39 years old when the 1960 season began and no one could have foreseen the Braves hurler would add three more 20 win seasons to his total. No one in their right mind would expect him to match his single season record of 23 wins at the age of 42, in 1963.

The '63 season was a rather strange one for the Milwaukee Braves. The starting pitching was not bad but not spectacular, aside from Spahn. Spahn completed 22 of his 33 starts for 259 innings on his way to a 23-7 record. Overworked Denny Lemaster registered a 3.04 ERA but pitched 31 of his 46 games as a starter. His 11-14 record showed his overwork. The bullpen was a mess.

(Spahn's 300th win)
On the offensive side of the ledger, the usual suspects performed as usual. Hank Aaron had 44 homers again to match his uniform number, Eddie Mathews hit 23 and drew nearly as many walks (124) as hits (144).

After Aaron's .319, Joe Torre clocked in at .293 and Lee Maye hit .271, but the rest of the squad was mainly under .250. No one on the bench batted better than .236 and most were not good defenders.

So how in the world did the ace of the staff, 42-year old Warren Spahn win 23 of his teams 84 wins. The Braves finished 84-78 in sixth place.

The Braves could score runs in bunches and while there were a couple close games early on, Spahn was 4-1 by the end of April. Included was a 4-hit shutout of the Phillies. In May he was 3-2. June saw him pick up a 4-0 record with a pair of three-hit shutouts. Again he blanked the Phillies and then shutout the Dodgers, besting Don Drysdale 1-0.

July was a little sloppy for Milwaukee but the ace still managed a 2-2 record with another shutout, this time against the Astros. He was unstoppable in August taking it to a 5-0 record. September was magnificent with a 5-2 record. There was a 3-hitter to shutout the Cubs and then on the final day of the season, with nothing hanging in the balance, he bested the Cubs and Bob Buhl just eight days after blanking the Cubs and Larry Jackson. This time it was a three hitter 2-0 in 1:38.

He was pitching like he was double parked and ready to head on home. He did in grand fashion. Two years later he retired, having won only 13 more games, the final season with the Mets and Giants. He was 44 years old, and finished with 363-245 record. His 3.09 ERA was strong and his 363 wins is good enough for 6th all time, and of course Cooperstown.

Monday, September 13, 2021

Darrell Evans Finally Says "YES"

TRIVIA WINNER: Congrats to Tim Nathan of Berkley, MI, who correctly stated the last strikeout victim of Satchel Paige was pitcher Bill Monboquette. The Prize: Starbucks Gift Card.

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NEW TRIVIA QUESTION: In his major league debut, who did Darrell Evans pinch-hit for?

ANSWER to the Trivia question in the previous column: The last player struck out in the big leagues by Satchell Paige was pitcher Bill Monboquette.

Every once in a while an athlete gets multiple opportunities but just keeps saying "no." Eventually, if the player is good enough, he makes the grade. Darrell Evans was just such a player. Evans came from a baseball family. His father was a professional fast pitch softball player, his Uncle Bob Evans played in the Cardinals organization and his grandfather Dave Salazar played in the White Sox system. Evans was destined if not reluctant.

He was drafted by the Cubs right out of John Muir High School in southern California in 1965. He chose to go instead to Pasadena City College. In January of 1966 the Yankees drafted him in the second round. He was leading both the baseball and basketball teams to championships at PCC and had hoped to get a full scholarship to USC. The latter didn't happen but he did score 12 points against the Lew Alcindor led UCLA Bruins.

Choosing to stay in college the Tigers drafted him later that year. College beckoned again as he was killing it at PCC. The Phillies and the A's drafted him in 1967. We don't know what his PCC basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian said to him but Evans was named to the school's Hall of Fame.

Later in 1967 he finally decided to become a pro baseball player and signed with the A's for $15,000. He finished the season at .326 with a pair of homers but found his way into the United States Marine Corps. A sore arm after his commitment to the military left him with a sad 1968 at .241. The A's had seen enough. They left him unprotected in December and Braves decided to take a chance for $25,000. They would never regret it.

While Evans was called up in 1969 he didn't play much. His major league debut on April 20th in the expansion 1969 season saw him pinch-hit against the Red Jim Maloney who was on fire. Maloney would pitch a six hit complete game win and Evans struggled to get a fly ball out in his only appearance. In 12 games he came to bat only 28 times and hit .231 with no home runs. But while 1969 closed out, Evans went on to a great career in the big leagues.

Before it was over "Howdy Doody," as him teammates called him, would bang 414 home runs in a 21 year big league career. He hit 41 and drove in 104 in his breakout 1973 season. He would hit 40 again playing for Detroit becoming the oldest player ever to lead the AL in homers at age 38. Evans was also the first player to hit 40 homers in each league. There were several productive seasons with the Giants, too. In 1989 he finished up where it all began in Atlanta, hitting his last 11 home runs. After his playing days were over Evans managed several minor league clubs.

Baseball historian Bill James rated Evans as "the most underrated player in baseball history."

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