The Rare Breakout Season

TRIVIA QUESTION:   When Norm Cash hit 41 homers in 1961 for Detroit, teammate Rocky Colavito led the Tigers with 45. Cash only eclipsed the 40 homer mark once. How many times did Colavito crack the 40 home run barrier? 

ANSWER TO TRIVIA QUESTION IN THE PREVIOUS COLUMN:  When the Yankees sent Roger Maris to the St. Louis Cardinals in 1966 they got little in return for the man who broke Babe Ruth's single season home run record only five years earlier. The Cardinals shipped third baseman Charlie Smith to New York for Maris. Maris went on to help the Cards win two NL pennants and a World Series. Smith was little help to the rebuilding New Yorkers . 

There are times when a great player has a good season and then there are times when a good player has a great season. Such was the 1961 season for the Detroit Tigers slugging first baseman, Norm Cash. He had a true break out year in 1961 but never again reached anywhere near the level of that wonderful season.

Cash came up with the Chicago White Sox in 1958 and only played in a few games. In 1959 he showed only a little promise in 58 games by batting .240 and hitting only four homers, so the Sox shipped him to the Indians along with Bubba Phillips and John Romano for Dick Brown, Don Ferrarese, Minnie Minoso and Jake Striker. Cleveland didn't think enough of Cash to keep him at the start of the 1960 season sent him to the Tigers for Steve Demeter.

He immediately showed promise in 1960 with the Tigers in tiny Tiger's Stadium where he batted .286 and belted 18 home runs. Stormin' Norman was off to a good start. He was also one of the more fun players to be around according to teammates.

As the Tigers prepared for the 1961 season, they were retooling. They added Billy Bruton from the Braves and brought up some young players who helped out including Jake Wood who starred and led the league in triples with 14. Also a couple of youngsters made their debuts and they would become Tiger stalwarts over the years. Dick McAuliffe and Bill Freehan were introduced to the fans in 1961.

Steve Boros was going strong in 1961 and with Rocky Colavito (2.90 45 HR) and Al Kaline (.324 19 HR) manning the outfield, all the Tigers needed was an improved effort from their first baseman. And boy, did they ever get it.

Cash didn't get his first home run until game five of the 1961 season when he belted a deep drive off Gary Bell, but it wasn't long before he was rivaling Colavito for the long ball and swinging past Kaline in the hit parade.

When the dust had settled on the 1961 season Cash led the league with an amazing .361 average (and he didn't get leg hits), he belted 41 homers, led the league in hits with 193, Intentional walks 19, OPS 1.148 and On Base Percentage .487 while slugging .662. He scored 119 and drove in 132 RBI. Now that's a season to remember.

The Tigers finished in second place winning 98 games and it was thought they were on their way. But that is where Cash's string ended. It wasn't that his career was a bad one. He just never came close to those numbers again. He averaged 24 home runs the rest of his career but never hit over .280, most of the time lingering around .260 in an era where batting average meant a lot more than it does today.

Norm Cash left us too soon. He was killed when he slipped and fell near Lake Michigan at age 51. 


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.

The Dismal New York Yankee Years

TRIVIA QUESTION:   When Roger Maris was sent to the St. Louis Cardinals in 1966, who did the Yankees get in return for the man who hit 61 homers in 1961? 

ANSWER TO TRIVIA QUESTION IN THE PREVIOUS COLUMN:  Gil Hodges took over as manager of the Washington Senators in 1963, following two others who came before him that season. In five seasons with the Sens his clubs never finished near the .500 mark and lost 100 games in 1964. He did lead them to a sixth place finish in his final season, 1967. He of course went on to lead the 1969 New York Mets to their first World Series Title.

After losing the 1964 World Series no one expected the Bronx Bombers to begin a slide which was one of the worst in team history. After all, New York had finished in first place every year from 1960-1964. They won two World Championships and basically had the same players who made the "64 season a success. 

But Father Time was catching up to the Yanks. Over the season the team would employ 13 players who were at least 29 years old and only three of them were not at least 30. The average age of the team was 28. Aging starters were very much on the down side.

Elston Howard at 36 hit .233 with nine home runs, Mickey Mantle batted .255 with 19 homers and Roger Maris at .239 with eight home runs in only 46 games.  The subs were not counted on either. Johnny Blanchard, often a long ball hero, batted only 42 times and hit .147. The pitchers who were getting long in the tooth included Whitey Ford, who at 36 still managed 16 wins and 244 innings. Thirty year olds Steve Hamilton and Pete Ramos both had good years.

Other players on their final run were Bobby Richardson, Tony Kubek and Hector Lopez. 

The good news however was the Yankees were a team in transition. It was just Yankee fans were not at all used to seeing their team "in transition." It would take a few years for them to develop and while they were making progress it was still a struggle.

The 1964 season saw manager Johnny Keane employ these youthful players; Joe Pepitone 24 with 19 homers, Tom Tresh 26 and 26 home runs to lead the team, Roger Repoz 24, Horace Clarke 25, Roy White 21, Bobby Murcer 19, Jake Gibbs 26, Mel Stottlemyre 23 (20 win season), Al Downing 24 and a bevy of guys in the 26-28 year old range. It was a wild mix of guys who would go on to have decent careers and guys who had a major league cup of coffee.

New York finished under .500 with 77 wins and fans were screaming for something to be done. Some of the faithful were saying wait until "the kids mature." They didn't mature fast enough. It got so bad, the following year they fell into last place. After a 4-16 start General Manager Ralph Houk fired Keane and went back into the dugout himself. Salvaging a 10th place finish in a 10 team league was not to Houk's liking. 

The last time the club finished in last place was when they were the New York Highlanders in 1912, losing 102 games the same year the Titanic went down.  They were led by Birdie Cree .332, Hippo Vaughn, Iron Davis and Russ Ford who lost 21 games. No relation to Whitey by the way.

Stottlemyre lost 20 in 1966, Mantle rebounded to hit 23 homers and bat .288 but was limited to 108 games as his faltering body was so banged up everyone wondered how long he could play center field. It would be the following year, 1967 when he was moved to first base permanently.  There he ended up playing 144 games while still giving the fans a thrill 22 times with home runs. The "66 season also saw the debut of pitcher Fritz Peterson into the starting rotation.  

Clarke and White became regulars and showed some promise but fans were not amused. Pepitone led the team in home runs with 31 and RBI with 83. It's hard to drive in big runs when there is nobody getting on base in front of you. 

When 1967 rolled around White fell off while Clarke began to shine. Pepitone was on his way out failing to hit even close to 20 homers and batting only .251. Whitey Ford was limited to seven starts and a 2-4 record and the team was again a mix of undeveloped youth and aging utility players.  Elston Howard was shipped off to the hated Red Sox. Houk's ninth place finish was enough to keep him in the manager's chair in 1968.

More of the same but the team improved slightly in 1968 finishing fifth with an 82-80 record. This was despite the fact three regular starting players batted no better than .229 with Tresh well below the Mendoza line at .195.  Stottlemyre really rebounded winning 21 games and Stan Bahnsen picked up 17. To show what kind of team this was, the highlight of the year had to be Rocky Colavito, the long-time and former Detroit and Cleveland slugger, coming in during one game to pitch for New York. In two and two-thirds innings the Rock faced 11 batters, walked two of them, struck out one, gave up one hit and picked up the win! Now that's bizarre.

It also marked the quiet end to Mantle's career. The Mick put on his spikes for a final time. It was supposed to be Bobby Murcer's time, but Murcer went to right while a bizarre cache of players patrolled center including Ron Woods and Jim Lyttle.  

The team closed out the decade back in fifth place at 80-81 with Houk still at the helm. Pepitone banged 27 homers, White hit .290 while Stottlemyre again won 20 and they debuted a young catcher by the name of Thurman Munson. It seemed New York was back on track. It was true. They started the era of the 70's by finishing in second place in the new AL East and the track was set to get them going again. Fans? They were relieved.


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.
 

The American League Mets

TRIVIA QUESTION:   Which one of the original New York Mets went on to manage the Washington Senators finishing a five season run without a winning record? 

ANSWER TO TRIVIA QUESTION IN THE PREVIOUS COLUMN:  In 1964 when the Cardinals won the pennant, Ken Boyer drive in 119 runs to lead the league in RBI. It was his second straight 100-plus RBI year, clocking 111 in 1963. A clutch hitter, in six other years he drove in at least 90 runs, twice putting up 98 RBI in a season. In a 15 year career he drove in 1141 runs or 76 per season.

When expansion came to the major leagues at the start of the 1960's most of the focus was on the National League where the New York Mets debuted and would go on to become the losing-est team in major league history. While the Mets were floundering in the NL, over in the AL the team representing the nation's capitol was holding court with equal risk. 

The Washington Senators proved to be as inept as their counterparts in government. While the Senators on Capitol Hill were struggling with a changing population and an explosion of an advancing America, the Senators on the ball field were just trying to find a way to win a game. 

In an unusual situation the two leagues expanded in consecutive years. The Senators opened their franchise playing in 1961. New York would have to wait until 1962 to see the Mets try to replace the NL Giants and Dodgers who had moved on four years earlier. 

While the Mets would lose 120 games under Casey Stengel in the first season, the Senators would lose 100 under Mickey Vernon. New York was saddled with players who would never reach the plateau they so wanted in the bigs. Names such as Elio Chacon, Charlie Neal, Rod Kanehl and Choo-Choo Coleman would send as much fear into the opposing pitching staff as would the Senators Gene Green, Coot Veal, Willie Tasby and Billy Klaus.

Each team had it's fading stars. Gil Hodges, Richie Ashburn, Frank Thomas, Roger Craig and Clem Labine were big time players in the 1950's. So were Dale Long, Danny O'Connell, Dick Donovan and Mike Garcia who twice won 20 games with Cleveland. 

The fact would remain of the young players on those two rosters only two players, one from each team, would have much of a future as it were after the 1962 season. The Mets Ed Kranepool, a top and highly touted signee would only play in 17 games in the clubs inaugural season and bat .167. He would be a member of the 1969 Amazing Mets World Series winning team. Big Ed would hit .261 in parts of 18 seasons and drive 118 of his hits into the bleachers. 

On the AL side, the Senators had a 21 year-old left-hander named Claude Osteen. Osteen only pitched 18 innings, starting three games and splitting two decisions. His ERA was 4.91 but he showed promise. Signed by the Reds in 1957 he was traded in September of 1961 to Washington for Dave Sisler. He would pitch well enough for the cellar dwelling Washington club but he was a key figure in a much bigger trade in 1964.  

The Senators sent him along with John Kennedy and $100,000 to the Los Angeles Dodgers for a player to be named later, Frank Howard, Ken McMullen, Phil Ortega and Pete Richert. The Dodgers sent Dick Nen (December 15, 1964) back to Washington to complete the trade. 

Osteen would go on to win in double figures nine times for the Dodgers, twice winning 20 (1969 ad 1972) and won a total of 196 games. He was a much better pitcher than his 195 losses would indicate. In the World Series he fashioned a five-hit shutout against the Twins in Game 3 of the 1965 classic.

When the dust had settled on those first seasons few players would stick around. Garcia who won 142 games in his career failed to win even one for Washington and retired after the season. Gene Woodling, Washington's best hitter at .313, was sold to the Mets halfway through the 1962 season. After the season Washington's home run leader with 18, Gene Green was traded to Cleveland in a four player deal for Jimmy Piersall. 

In New York, while Jay Hook lost 19 games, Al Jackson and Roger Craig both lost 20. Craig dropped 24, Jackson lost 20. Not to feel too bad about the opening season, Craig hung around and lost 22 the following year. Jackson would wait until 1965 to duplicate the same season with a record again of 8-20.

Mets Slugger Frank Thomas had his second highest homer total with 34, one shy of his final year in Pittsburgh in 1958. He hung around a couple more seasons while Ashburn's only season with the Mets was his last one and a good one at that. The former Phillie Wiz Kid batted .306, retired and later became a broadcaster. He even stole 12 bases at age 35. 

Through the clubs first four years the Mets would drop 452 games. The Senators during the first four years lost 407. Such ineptness may never be seen again. By the time the 1972 season rolled around the Senators would leave Washington for the friendly confines of Arlington, Texas, having never won more than 86 games. They closed out the decade in 1969 with the clubs only season where they won more than they lost, finishing with a .531 winning percentage.  
  
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!!

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Biggest Day for NY Mets

TRIVIA QUESTION:   In the 1964 World Series Ken Boyer hit a grand slam for the Cardinals. In what hitting category did Boyer lead the NL that season? 

ANSWER TO TRIVIA QUESTION IN THE PREVIOUS COLUMN:  While most people consider him synonymous with the Brooklyn Dodgers when it came to his baseball career, first baseman Chuck Connors only played in one game and batted one time for Brooklyn. He played nearly a full season in 1951 with the Chicago Cubs. He smashed two homers and batted .239. From 1946-48 he was a member of the Boston Celtics of the NBA where he averaged 4.5 points a game in just over 50 games. The 6'5" Connors was of course more famous as a movie and TV actor, starring for years as Lucas McCain as the legendary "Rifleman."

Most people don't think of Ken Boyer as a New York Met, preferring his career with the St. Louis Cardinals, but he was a Met and also played with more teams including the White Sox and the Dodgers. However, it was as a Met where he made history. Few people remember it but it was Boyer who drove in the winning run in a non essential game in 1966.

It was a Tuesday night at Shea Stadium and the 14-thousand-plus fans in attendance would probably not even remember this one. The game had one significant factor; a Mets win assured they would NOT end up in last place for the first time in franchise history. The club was destined to finish near the cellar. In fact, the Mets had never finished out of the cellar in their history. They wouldn't the following year either.

In the four previous seasons  the club had lost 120, 111, 109 and 112 games. In 1967 they again would lose 101. But in 1966 for the first time they would lose in double digits. The number nine grew large in New York and for the first time since the Dodgers and Giants fled the Big Apple, New Yorkers had a National League team which was not no. 10 in the standings. 

The game on September 6th, would assure it. Reds ace Jim Maloney was facing off against Mets youngster, Dennis Ribant. Maloney was looking for his 15th win, Ribant hoping for his 11th. It was the latter's night. 

Ribant made it through the first retiring the side in order. When the home town boys came to bat Maloney was wild. He walked lead off hitter Bud Harrelson who promptly stole second. Ron Hunt, as was customary with the second sacker, was hit by a pitch. He would go on to record 11 times being hit by the pitch that year, and would get hit 243 times in his bruised body career. 

So with runners at first and second Maloney, K'd Johnny Lewis but walked Al Luplow. Ken Boyer came to bat. The aging Boyer's best days were behind him but he was still hanging on at age 35. Maloney uncorked a wild pitch scoring Harrelson and everyone else moved up ninety feet. Boyer then drove a single to left scoring both Luplow and Hunt and the Mets led 3-0. 

The Reds would score two in the seventh; one on a Deron Johnson homer, but for the rest of the game it was all Ribant. The young righty went the distance giving up six hits while walking one and striking out three. Maloney took the loss. In six innings he walked seven, uncorked a wild one and hit a batter. All that came to unravel him in the three run inning.

The bottom line is that was win no. 60 for the Mets. The Cubs would only win 59. While Wes Westrum's team would go on to win 66 for New York, the key was finishing out of last place. And they did. 

The win was Ribant's last for the Mets. They shipped him off to Pittsburgh after the season for Don Cardwell in a four player deal.  Maloney would remain one of the aces of the Reds staff through the decade and Boyer would move onto the White Sox midway through the 1967 season before getting his release and ultimately finishing up with Los Angeles. 

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

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.

Hoops; There They Were

TRIVIA QUESTION:   What 1950's Dodger player also played pro basketball before going onto a more prominent career out of sports? 

ANSWER TO TRIVIA QUESTION IN THE PREVIOUS COLUMN:  In 1935, for the third time in his career, Babe Ruth changed teams. When the Yankees released the Bambino, he was signed the very same day by the Boston Braves of the National League. He went on to have his worst season ever and was released not long after. For only the third time in his illustrious career did he hit under .300, and the only time under .200 finishing .181. He had 13 hits in 72 at bats. And just like the Babe he was, six of those 13 hits sailed over a fence for a home run. The last three came on May 25, at Forbes Field against the Pirates. Even at age 40 the Babe could still muster a three homer game.  

A reader of this column wrote in and asked if we could do a column on two Chicago White Sox players who also played in the 1960's NBA. So here goes.

To say Dave DeBusschere was a better basketball player than a baseball player is saying a lot but in reality the New York Knicks forward might have had a really great career in both if he'd had stuck with it. DeBusschere's pitching career with the Sox only lasted two seasons but one of them would have gotten him a multi-year, multi-million dollar contract today.

In 1962 the 21-year old righty pitched well out of the bullpen for Chicago. Recording 18 innings in relief his ERA settled in at 2.00 over 12 games in which he finished nine of them. He only allowed five hits but that might be attributed to the fact hitters could not settle in against the 6'6" future NBA star. He walked 23 batters in 18 innings and proved wild enough to keep hitters off balance.

The following year the Sox decided he should be a starter and he proved himself there as well. Appearing in 24 games he started 10 of them and completed just one. He picked up a save in relieve and tossed a shutout on his way to a record of 3-4. The highlight had to be the shutout.

On the evening of August 13th with the Sox sailing 17 games over .500, DeBusschere got the call against the lowly Indians and Jim Mudcat Grant. Big Dave was never really in trouble on his way to a six-hitter except in the fourth. He gave up three singles in the inning but the lack of speed in the form of Johnny Romano, Tito Francona and Al Luplow probably kept the Tribe from scoring. The Indians only managed one walk while DeBusschere struck out three.

The Sox would go onto win 94 games and finish in second place in the American League but DeBusschere was done. Perhaps it was the long dual season. After being drafted by the Detroit Pistons in 1962 as the fourth overall pick, he couldn't pass up playing in the NBA (80 games) and when that season ended joining the baseball White Sox. In 1963 he chose to only play 15 games for Detroit and a full seasons for the Sox. Either way after the 1963 season the right handed pitcher hung up his cleats and donned his sneakers for good.

While he actually had a Topps baseball card in 1965, he had been gone for a couple of seasons.  His NBA career put him in the Hall of Fame. He averaged 16 points a game and made the All-Star team eight times. Interestingly enough, he was under the basket and fell to the floor when Jerry West fired off his 55 foot shot as time ran out to tie a playoff game with Knicks.

The other White Sox NBA player was Cotton Nash. Nash had a less than exciting 1967 season with the Sox before moving onto the Twins for his final two years. The first baseman failed to get a hit in three at bats for Chicago before being traded to Pittsburgh for Ed Hobaugh. The trade was voided and the Twins got involved a couple months later.

Earlier in the decade Nash spent the 1964-65 season playing basketball, first with the Lakers and then the Warriors. He only averaged 3.0 points per game before moving onto a very short career in the ABA with the Kentucky Colonels where he averaged 8.5 in one season. He played in the ABA after his baseball career ended, trying a comeback at age 25.

His baseball claim to fame might be on September 10, 1967, in the ninth inning of Joel Horlen's no-hitter he came in defensively for Ken Boyer at first base and recorded all three outs. The White Sox may be the only team in history to have two NBA players grace the confines of White Sox Park.

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.

The No Home Run Guy

TRIVIA QUESTION:   While Henry Aaron at one point was the greatest home run hitter in major league history, which other player who hit 700 home runs played for the same franchise? 

ANSWER TO TRIVIA QUESTION IN THE PREVIOUS COLUMN:  In1964 the San Francisco Giants had an abundance of outfielders and decided to trade Matty Alou to Pittsburgh. The one guy they decided to keep for another year was Orlando Cepeda. The following year when they sent Cepeda to St. Louis, he won the MVP award. They trade Alou and he wins the NL batting crown, they trade Cepeda and he wins the NL MVP.  

Few position players who reach the major leagues and stay for "a career" ever go through that entire career without hitting a home run. Woody Woodward was that guy; almost. When Woodward broke into the big leagues in 1963 with the "then" Milwaukee Braves no one figured him to break Babe Ruth's records or even challenge teammate Henry Aaron. He was known as a decent field-no hit infielder in a group of lesser fielding players who were on the team rotating around the second sack.

Mike de la Hoz, Frank Bolling, Denis Menke, Sandy Alomar and Roy McMillan. None of them would drive fear into opposing pitchers and none of them, save McMillan possibly, would hold out hope for a gold glove. Woodward himself would fit right in. Between them in 1964 they would smack 24 home runs. Twenty of them by Menke. The 1960's Braves could hit with the likes of Aaron, Joe Torre, Felipe Alou, Eddie Mathews and at times players such as Rico Carty, Mack Jones and Gene Oliver. Hitting was not their problem and even the pitching was at times outstanding.

On the mound they had stalwarts such as Tony Clonigar, Denny Lemaster, Wade Blasingame and an aging Warren Spahn. These Braves were good but what they lacked was that strong middle infield duo to back the pitching and get on base ahead of the hitters. They traded for players, they worked the farm system and really nothing much happened.

Woodward himself was a sort of strange case. He was adequate in the field. As a hitter he was serviceable. Dependable probably is more the word Braves fans might use to describe him. The interesting thing about Woodward though was his lack of power. He spent the 1960's without a home run.

In 1964 he batted 123 times without a dinger. Forgivable since he really was a rookie getting his feet wet. The following season he played in 112 games and came to the plate 280 times. Still no homers. In 1966 he became  a regular, playing in 144 games and reaching his lifetime best 516 plate appearances. Of his 26 extra base hits that season, none left the park. The following year, 1967 at age 24, it was pretty much the same scenario. Limited to 80 games in 1968 the Braves sent him to Cincinnati who needed an infielder and thought Woodward would be their guy. No home runs there either. When 1969 rolled around he would close out the decade playing in 644 games and still never leaving the park.

WoodyWoodward has spent nearly the entire decade of the 1969's, seven seasons and 1825 plate appearances without ever hitting a home run. Today, in the days of launch levels and "lift" he may not even make the major league club; any major league club.

Then on July 10, 1970 after nearly 2000 trips to the plate,  he would hit his first and only home run. Ironically it came as a two run shot off Ron Reed of the Atlanta Braves, the team which he played for until two years earlier. Woodward would say afterwards "If I hit one home run for every seven seasons, it will take me 4,998 seasons to catch babe Ruth."

 In a nine year career Woodward would play in 880 games and hit .236 with the lone home run. His slugging percentage would come down to .287.

While Woodward was never the Babe Ruth of anything he did end up being a pretty good general manager. Early in his GM career he didn't last long with the Yankees or the Phillies, but as head of the Seattle Mariners he took the team to the playoffs in 1995 and 1997. During that time he drafted Alex Rodriguez, Jason Varitek, Bret Boone and Derek Lowe. He also acquired Randy Johnson from Montreal. He also traded away David Ortiz who became of the greatest clutch home run hitters in baseball. Then again, Woody Woodward never did know much about home runs.


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.
 

When Christmas 1965 Came Early

RIVIA QUESTION:   When the Giants traded Matty Alou to Pittsburgh it was because they had an abundance of outfielders. Which of those outfielders was counted on in 1966, but did not make a difference and was traded the following year to another NL city where he became the NL MVP? 

ANSWER TO TRIVIA QUESTION IN THE PREVIOUS COLUMN:  In his nine year major league career, slugging first baseman, Jim Gentile would play in six home cities, although he only played for five clubs. He spent time with the Indians, The Orioles, the Kansas City A's, the Houston Astros and both the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers.

 In 1965 the Pittsburgh Pirates were at a crossroads. It was a club in transition. It had a solid core but an aging core. Several key players were on the cusp while several more were in their prime and a few longtime Buc stalwarts were over the hill or ready to move on and out. On December 1, 1965, the Pirates made one of the best trades in their history  They acquired outfielder Matty Alou from the Giants for reliever Joe Gibbon and catcher Ossie Virgil.

Alou was the middle brother of the major league playing Alou's. Felipe, the slugger was the oldest, Jesus the potential star was the youngest and in the middle was the fastest of the trio, Mateo. All three were good defensively and it goes without saying Felipe was the guy no one wanted to give up. The Giants had a crowded outfield and needed a left-handed arm in the bullpen. 

The Pirates needed to replace the aging Bill Virdon in center-field with a swift outfielder who could cover lots of ground in spacious Forbes Field. They needed someone too who could back up Willie Stargell and Bob Bailey in left. Roberto Clemente was a fixture in right so having a center-fielder who could really go get it was essential. The problem was, while earlier in his career Matty showed some signs of a consistently good average, he'd only hit .231 in 1964 and .264 the year before that. Virdon was hitting higher for an average but still was not the lead off man the Bucs always sought.

Pittsburgh needed a guy who could get on base ahead of Clemente, Stargell, Donn Clendenon and Bailey. Could the 5'9" 160 pound Alou be that guy? New manager Harry "the Hat" Walker thought so. Walker was a solid hitter in his day and even won a batting title, but more importantly he knew how to teach hitting. He figured by using the extra hard infield in front of home plate at Forbes Field, Alou should be able to bounce his way to at least .290. With some bunt singles and his speed from the left side of the plate, there could easily be another 15 or 20 hits in the season.

No one ever dreamed what Alou really did accomplish. In the first three games little Matty had five hits in 15 at bats. By the time the end of the season rolled around he would hit .342, 111 points above his previous season's average and would take the National League batting title. He was the driving force behind a pirates club which dominated the NL hitting stats. Walker was right. By bouncing the ball off the hard turf and spraying the ball around using an oversized bat, Alou became a master hitter.

Gene Alley and Clendenon both hit .299 (Clendenon also banged 28 homers), Clemente won the MVP with a .329 average and 29 homers, Stargell hit a a .315 clip and led the team in home runs with 33, Bill Mazeroski had one of his best hitting seasons at .262 but added 16 dingers and Bailey and Jose Pagan combined for 17 home runs and an even 100 RBI. The team batting average was an amazing .279 with 158 home runs in 1966. If the pitching had not faltered so badly, they would have had more than their 92 wins and a third place finish behind the Dodgers.

Alou would go on to hit ,338, .332, .331 and .297 in the following four years. He missed out on his second batting title when he ended in a virtual tie with Pete Rose at .332 and lost by a the fourth number to the right of the decimal point. One more bunt single and he'd have had a second NL batting crown. After batting .297 he was traded to St. Louis where he had three more seasons above .300 but his defensive skills were fading and eventually played with several teams including the Yankees, A's and Padres before finishing his 15 year career in 1974. Based on his work with Harry Walker and his years in Pittsburgh, Alou concluded with a .307 lifetime average and he got to the World Series twice. In the 1972 ALCS he batted .381 for Oakland.

Gibbon had a couple of good seasons with the Giants before coming back to Pittsburgh in 1969 and having perhaps his best year, recording a 1.93 ERA in 51 innings. Virgil hit .213 for the Giants in 1966 and was out of baseball. He did come back in 1969 for one game with San Francisco. Virdon, the NL Rookie of the Year in 1955, was released by the Pirates before the 1966 season despite hitting .279 and retired. He did come back for a few games with the Pirates in 1968 but went onto a good managing career with the Yankees, Pittsburgh and Houston before calling it a career. 

In the end when it came to career batting average, Matty bested his brothers, finishing at .307 to .305 for Jesus, although Felipe finished with 206 home runs and a near .290 average.

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.