TRIVIA WINNER: Congrats to Steve Tighe of Monaca, PA, who correctly identified Dick Schofield as the 1960 Pirates infielder who had the same batting average during the regular season as he did in the world series; .333. ** 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.
Just a note to add; If you look at the top right hand corner of the side bar you will see a link to daily sports scores. We made an agreement with Baseball 24 in a mutual sharing situation. Hope its helpful to fans of several sports.
===============================================================NEW TRIVIA QUESTION: In 1968 who drove in the run which ended Don Drysdale's consecutive shutout innings streak of 58 2/3?
ANSWER to the Trivia question in the previous column: Dick Schofield as the 1960 Pirates infielder who had the same batting average during the regular season as he did in the world series; .333. Ducky went 1 for 3 in the Series, 34 for 102 during the regular season.
It is almost time for the Fall Classic once we get through the Playoffs (which did not exist until 1969) so for the next couple of weeks we'll be looking back at some interesting World Series Games of the era.
Larry Jaster struck fear into the hearts of Dodger fans and hitters during the 1966 season but there was a World Series moment in time where Jaster made ironic history. First let's explore. He became known as the "Dodger Killer" or the "Creeper"
because of the way he handled Los Angeles. Against the rest of the
league he was well, rather pedestrian. And then there was that whole
"Grand Slam" thing which you may be surprised to learn was more than
just a World Series match up.
Jaster came to the Cardinals in 1965 as a reliever about to become a
starter. The Redbirds had fine pitching including ace Bob Gibson, Nellie
Briles and a young rookie by the name of Steve Carlton. Throw in Ray
Washburn, Curt Simmons and Ray Sadecki and you had a formidable starting
staff. Jaster got into four games, started three, completed all three,
won all three and finished the season 3-0 with a 1.61 ERA.
On April 25th he squared off against Claude Osteen. Jaster tossed a 7-hit shutout, striking out seven and walking none. He was 2-1. On the July 4th weekend he would face Los Angeles again, and again he tossed a shutout allowing just three hits in beating Don Drysdale. Jaster was now 3-2. Three weeks later he beat Drysdale again with a five-hit shutout, striking out eight to run his record to 6-2.
But it did not stop there because in the 1968 World Series Jaster came to grips with another legacy; the Grand Slam Home Run. He came in to relieve in Game 6; a game the Tigers would go on to win 13-1. The key was in a big 10 run inning, Jaster would face Jim Northrup. The significance might be lost on the average fan but not baseball historians.
It was analytics on steroids. It was the perfect match up of the guy with the most grand slams versus the guy who gave up the most grand slams, on the biggest stage in the sport. The result was to be expected; Northrup blasted a Jaster pitch into the right field seats to clear the bases. It made the score 8-0 and Jaster was removed.
When the series ended Jaster was gone to Montreal and he set another milestone; he threw the first major league pitch in Canada. He would finish the season 1-6 and moved onto Atlanta where by the end of 1972 his career was over.
During the 1970 season it should be noted he was involved in another bit or irony. He was struggling and in a game against his old club, Montreal, he faced former Dodger Ron Fairly. Fairly hit a grand slam and a few days later Jaster was back in the minor leagues.
Jaster ended his career with a record of 35-33 and forever many places in baseball history.
TRIVIA CONTEST; After reading this column you can enter the weekly trivia contest for a chance to win a Starbucks Gift Card. Enter via the following email. Send 1) your answer to the trivia question at the top of the column, 2) your name, address and email so where we know where to send the card if you win 3) any
comment you have on the column. One winner will be selected at random
each week based on correct answers with the odds being based on the
number of correct entries. Please cut and paste or enter the following
email into your email system.