Baseball in the 1960's

Monday, June 12, 2023

31 Games Sets the Mark for Hitting in the 1960s

TRIVIA WINNER: The winner of this week's trivia contest is Aaron Wolen, of Fishers, IN. He knew that Roger Craig started and finished has career in the month of July. The Prize: Starbucks Gift Card.

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. Please put your mailing address in with the answer so if you win we can send you the gift card in the mail.

NEW TRIVIA QUESTION: What was Joe DiMaggio's longest hitting streak in the minor leagues?

Joe DiMaggio's 56 game hitting streak remains the cornerstone of records and while the longest streak of the modern era was Pete Rose at 44, the longest hitting streak in the 1960s belongs to two different players. Both Vada Pinson in the 1965-66 seasons and Willie Davis in 1969 were tied at 31 games for the decade. The interesting thing is the fact that it really wasn't a huge deal because in the history of MLB, there were a total of 11 players tied at 31. The list includes Rico Carty in 1970 and four other modern era players.

Since we are focused on the 1960s, we'll delve into Davis and Pinson's marks. Pinson was in his heyday in 1965. It would be one of the four seasons where he garnered 200-plus hits. On September 7, 1965 Pinson doubled off Wilbur Wood in a 5-0 win over Pittsburgh. He hit in every game the rest of the season. When Opening Day rolled around in 1966, he continued the streak until April 19, 1967, ironically also against the Pirates. Steve Blass went the distance and Pinson went 0-4.

During the streak he had 48 hits in 126 ABs for a .381 average. When the streak ended the Reds outfielder went into a slump, getting one hit in his next 17 AB. He would finish the 1965 season at .305 and the 1966 season at .288. He would never bat .300 again in a season.

Willie Davis streak differed from Pinson in that his hits came all in one year; 1969. It might be considered his best season overall finishing .311 with 11 home runs. When it came to his streak it was almost the Pittsburgh Pirates again. On August 31, the last game of the series against Pittsburgh, Davis went 0-6, but the following day he doubled against Steve Carlton. He got a hit in every game for 30 more.

The streak ended when Dick Kelley and Gary Ross of the Padres shut-out Los Angeles on September 4, in a 3-0 game. Davis went 0-4. The next night however, Davis got right back up on the horse and went 4-5 against Joe Niekro in another Dodger loss. All four were singles.

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.
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Monday, June 5, 2023

Roger Craig Til the End

TRIVIA WINNER: The winner of this week's trivia contest is Ken Levasseur of Amherst, NH. The answer is Floyd Robinson was the oldest player on the 1968 A's who finished his career in Boston. The Prize: Starbucks Gift Card.

NEW TRIVIA QUESTION: Roger Craig began and ended his career in the same month on the calender 11 years apart. What was that month?

Roger Craig passed away this week. The Dodger pitcher who made his mark with Brooklyn in the 1950's but pitched and managed as the years went on into the 1960's and beyond. We are not going to explore his beginnings but rather his endings. After Brooklyn, the Mets, Cardinals and the Reds, he spent his final season with the Phillies. The 6'4" Craig made the most of that season.

He won in relief of Chris Short on Opening Day against the Cardinals in 1966. Two days later in relief of Jim Bunning he won the last game of his career, against the Reds. He would lose the last game of his career in mid-June when in relief, he gave up a home run to Lou Brock in the ninth inning of a 2-2 tie. He picked up a Save that year as well, the 19th of his career.

The last game he would pitch was July 10th when he finished a game against the Cubs. He faced some of the toughest hitters of the day in those two scoreless innings. The final batter he faced was fittingly the great HOFer, Ernie Banks who lined out. His last strike out was of Byron Browne.

He finished his career 74-98 with a respectable 3.83 ERA and 803 strikeouts. He also won Game 5 of the 1955 World Series, the only Brooklyn Championship in history. He went on to manage a number of teams, a lot with the Giants and finished with a record of 738–737. As a Player, Manager and Coach he was a winner in four World Series including the 1989 Giants. It was the first title for the club in 27 years.

Sunday, May 28, 2023

A New City and a Turned Corner

TRIVIA WINNER: For the first time there is NO WINNER in the trivia contest. There were lots of great guesses and lots of entries and research, but NO ONE was able to come up with the answer we sought. The MLB Record Bobby Tolan tied in the game highlights was the fact he made two of the three outs in an inning when the Reds scored multiple runs. No one in the modern era of MLB has ever made three outs in one inning. The Prize: Starbucks Gift Card.

NEW TRIVIA QUESTION: The oldest player on the 1968 A's also played with one other team that seasons. Who was he and for which other team did he play in his final season in the big leagues?

It is a fact that the Kansas City Athletics never finished in the positive when it came to their seasonal record. In 1968 that all changed and for the first time since 1950 when they were the Philadelphia A's, did the Athletics get to .500. And they did it by two games.

This was a team made up of newbies who would become great players and oldies who were average to decent major league players playing out the string. Danny Cater led the team in batting at .290 but Reggie Jackson led the club in homers with 29. He only hit .250 however. Jackson's 29 dingers was almost one third of the club total of 94. The team only hit .240 on the season. It no longer had a coach by the name of Joe DiMaggio either.

Youngsters Joe Rudi (.177), Sal Bando (.251) and Rick Monday (.274) would form the nucleus of a team which would win for years afterwards. However, this club also had Phil Roof, Jim Pagliaroni, a young Bert Campanaris, Dick Green, Tony La Russa and Floyd Robinson. It was basically the same team (give or take a few players) who lost 99 games in 1967.

They also had pitching. They had six pitchers under age 26 who would become household names. Starting with Catfish Hunter there was also Blue Moon Odom, Lew Krause, Jim Nash, Chuck Dobson and a 21 year old reliever named Rollie Fingers.

They finished 82-80-1 and a sixth place finish in a 10 team league while they were in 8th place when it came to the 837,000 fans Charlie O. Finley watched come through the turnstiles. It was their first year in Oakland after finishing with only 62 wins and 99 losses in KC. They avoided a 5th, 100 loss season in Kansas City. They also lost 103 in the club's final season in Philadelphia.

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