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TRIVIA WINNER: Congrats to Dan Taguchi of Los Angeles, who correctly identified Dick Stuart as the aging slugger the Dodgers acquired down the stretch in 1966. The Prize: Starbucks Gift Card.
TRIVIA QUESTION: The Washington Senators have a connection to the Twins and the Rangers, but which previous team has a direct link to the Washington Nationals?
ANSWER TO TRIVIA QUESTION IN THE PREVIOUS COLUMN: The Dodgers picked up aging slugger Dick Stuart for the stretch drive in 1966, as a pinch hitter and right handed bat.
There
are meaningless games across the spectrum of every season but even in
those seemingly meaningless encounters there are little nuggets of
history which change the course of human life. Such as the case on May
8th, 1963 in the game between the Washington Senators and the Cleveland
Indians at D-C Stadium. Only 7, 047 fans were there that night and a
whole lot fewer when the real excitement took place in the 13th inning.
But let's not get ahead of ourselves.
It
was an early season game and even though hopes are high in May, the
Washington Senators were pretty much already out of the race. They were
11-16 and the Indians were 10-10. The Senators would finish 56-106 in
10th place, 48.5 games behind the Yankees.
What
was significant about this game is both starting pitchers pitched into
the 13th inning. Jack Kralick took the mound for the Indians in what
would be a 3:08 game. Don Rudolph, one of the fastest pitching moundsmen in MLB was on the hill for Washington. The same Don Rudolph who was
married to, by this time, retired burlesque queen; Patti Waggin.
The two pitchers kept on going, matching each other pitch for pitch. The Sens finally broke through in the sixth when light hitting Ed Brinkman doubled and Rudolph sacrificed him to third. He came home on a Jim Piersall Sac Fly to tie the game 1-1.
Nine times Rudolph would face three up and three down. Kralick for his part did the same eight times. These two journeymen pitchers were pitching the games of their lives. Then came the 13th, the unlucky 13th for some folks.
In the top of the inning de la Hoz led off with a single. With one out Johnny Romano, the slow footed catcher, belted one in the gap and ended up on third with a triple to score de la Hoz. The Indians had broken the tie, now leading 2-1. Rudolph struck out pinch hitter Al Luplow but Vic Davalillo singled to bring home Romano and it looked like the game was out of reach, 3-1.
Rudolph got Willie Kirkland and they went to the bottom of the 13th with Barry Latman taking over for Kralick. Brinkman started the inning off with a base hit to right and Dick Phillips, pinch-hitting for Rudolph did the same. Brinkman took third and the Sens were in business. Lefty Ron Nischwitz came in to relieve Latman.
Nischwitz had come over from Detroit in a deal for Bubba Phillips in 1962. He'd spent much of his time in the minors but started this season with the Indians. The 25 year old had only one decision on the young season and he lost it. He came into face Ken Retzer who was batting for Piersall. Manager Birdie Tebbits lifted the left-handed hitting Retzer for the right handed batting Marv Breeding to face lefty Nischwitz.
Breeding
singled to right sending Phillips to third and allowing Brinkman to
score, making it 3-2 Indians. Minnie Minoso hit a ground ball to third
but Phillips, trying to score was thrown out at the plate. Breeding took
second on the throw and that put runners at second and third with one
out. They walked Chuck Hinton to load the bases and set up a double
play.
I
happened to be doing research for my film script on Rudolph when I
spoke to Nischwitz several years ago about this game. The conversation
went like this.
"I know this is one game in a career 50 some odd years ago, Ron, and I don't expect you to remember much," I asked when he suddenly jumped in.
"Bob, I remember it like it was yesterday," the retired player and college baseball coach told me.
And
in a game like this you certainly would. Right fielder Don Lock stepped
to the plate. Lock had not had a hit of Kralick. With the bases loaded
Nischwitz delivered and Lock connected. He sent a towering fly ball to
the wall in right field. Kirkland went to the wall and timed his leap
perfectly. He jumped up, grabbed the ball in his glove for what should
have been the third out.
As
fate, or bad luck would have it, Kirkland did catch the ball but as he
was coming down with it, it rolled out of his glove and over the fence
for a grand-slam home run. Ball game over, the final Senators 6, Indians 3. Nischwitz said he slammed his fist into his glove and had
such an angry look on his face in the locker room, "no one would talk to me."
The
Senators, especially Lock and Rudolph, were thrilled and while the rest
of the season didn't amount to much for Washington, it turned out
really sour for Nischwitz. It was a matter of a couple weeks before he
was sent back to the minors. In that season he would pitch only 14
innings, giving up 12 earned runs. He would get only one more decision
the rest of his career which ended back in Detroit in 1965. He won his
only game that season and pitched respectfully with a 3.40 ERA in 20
games.
Nischwitz
would go on to become a successful college coach at Wright State
University in Dayton, Ohio, for 29 years before retiring in 2004. As a
big league pitcher he had one very good season leading Detroit with 48
appearances out of the bullpen in 1962 and even managed a big league
batting average of .278, batting .417 in 1962.
1963
was Breedings final season in the bigs, being sent to the Dodgers
before the year ended. Retzer never fulfilled his potential and despite
having a decent utility player season he was out of baseball after the
1964 season. He played in 237 big league games.
Lock's
you might say "had a career." He remained a steady presence in center
for Washington for several years and banged some home runs but his
lifetime average of .238 kept him above the radar and he was finally
sent packing to Philadelphia for reliever Darold Knowles. 1963 was
pretty much his best season hitting .252 with 27 home runs.
Kirkland,
the key player in the game when you come right down to it, had a
parallel career to Lock. They both were low average hitters with some
power. Aside from a few games with Baltimore, Kirkland would spend his
entire career with Washington. After the 1963 season he was traded to
Baltimore for Al Smith and less than a year later the Senators purchased
him back.
As for Kralick,
1963 was arguably his finest season, finishing 14-13 with a 3.03 ERA.
He had other fine seasons winning in double figures five times ending up
with a 67-65 life time record, over nine years with three clubs. He died in 2012 in Mexico, where he is buried. He was 77.
For Rudolph,
the journey man pitcher, this was his finest game of a career which
lasted more years in the minors than in the big leagues. At the age of
31 this would be a dismal year for him, finishing 7-19 with a 4.55 ERA,
allowing 28 home runs. It should be noted the Senators were terrible and
Rudolph, who pitched Opening Day in 1963 had his highlights. He pitched
in front of President John F. Kennedy that day on what would be JFK's
final opening day appearance.
Rudolph
pitched one more season in the big leagues, his sixth, mainly in relief
closing with a record of 1-3. Washington wanted to send him to the
minors to start the 1965 season but after breaking into baseball as a
phenom in the early 1950's he decided to hang them up. He was part owner
in a trucking business in California. In 1968 while driving a company
truck, it is believed the brakes went out and he rolled the vehicle. He
was killed on September 12, 1968 at age 37.
His
career ended 18-32 but he was extremely well liked. Known as a
practical joker the late Jim Landis once told me Rudolph convinced him
to go to the local burlesque show where Rudolph's wife Patti Waggin was
performing. The set up was when Patti tossed one of her pieces of
clothing into the audience it would land squarely on Landis' head. It
did.
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.
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