1961 O's, Gentile but Hard Luck

TRIVIA QUESTION:  First baseman Jim Gentile became a star player only after he was traded from the team which originally signed him. Name the team he signed with, and which sent him to Baltimore.  

ANSWER TO TRIVIA QUESTION IN THE PREVIOUS COLUMN:  While the three teams battling it out for the National League pennant in 1964 had numerous 19-game winners on their pitching staff, only the Cardinals Ray Sadecki won 20. He finished the season 20-11 with a 3.68 ERA.

It must be tough if you are a fan when your teams wins 95 games and is not even close to winning the pennant. Imagine being Jim Gentile in 1961 and having the season of your life, only to see your very good club finish out of the money, way out of the money. Such were the 1961 Baltimore Orioles. Diamond Jim did get some "respect" a number of years later!

The reason the 95 win Orioles were destined to finish in third place, 14 games out of first, were two fold. The Yankees won 109 and the Tigers won 101. If the O's felt bad, how about Detroit. They had 101 wins and were still eight game back at the end. 

The Orioles started off slowly but recovered nicely by mid season. At the half way point they were 44-36 and already seven games out of first. It didn't help the club began the season losing five of their first six. The second half is where the club stood out. They won 51 games after the midway point including streaks of 9-of-11, 14-0f-17, along with several five game win streaks and no substantial losing runs.

Good pitching and a solid offense led by Gentile kept them in it all the way. Gentile had a career year, blasting 46 home runs, driving in 141 (see video above, originally 140 RBI) to lead the league with Roger Maris, while batting .302. He scored 96 in 148 games. The 27 year old first sacker seemed headed for greatness.   He would never again achieve such lofty heights, however. A 19-year old Boog Powell would push him from the bench. 

Gentile did hit 85 home runs over the next three seasons but never again batted over .251. He was out of baseball in 1966 finishing with 179 home runs, one fourth of which came in the 1961 season. His lifetime BA of .260 and his 549 RBI were reflective of the fact 25-percent of his ribbies came in the "61 season, as well.

Jackie Brandt, Whitey Herzog and Brooks Robinson all had good seasons at the plate, surrounded by a cast of average players who bounced around the big leagues. Ron Hansen, Gus Triandos and Dick Williams were among them. Interestingly enough, two of the better managers to lead clubs in the big leagues were on this team in Williams and Herzog.  

On the pitching side, the staff was led by four pitchers who would not see their 24th birthday in the 1961 season. Steve Barber was the ace with 18 wins (23 years),  Jack Fisher (22), Milt Pappas (22), Chuck Estrada (23) and the old man of the staff at 36 years old was Hal Brown. They all won in double figures capping 66 wins between them.

The bullpen saw the aging Hoyt Wilhelm with 18 saves. Three "relievers" pitched over 100 innings but only Wilhelm did it all in relief. Billy Hoeft and Dick Hall did start 25 games between them. Wes Stock did a good job with his 5-0 record and three saves. Hoeft was marvelous, recording a 2.02 ERA, seven wins and three saves. His 1.16 WHIP would standout in any time frame. Hoeft won 20 games as a starter for Detroit a handful of years earlier.

In fact, Pappas, Brown, Stock, Wilhelm, Hoeft and Hall were all at 1.18 or below when it came to WHIP. It was a strong staff and a good solid team, and while it lacked the name power of the Yankees and Tigers, the 1961 Baltimore Orioles were a solid club which deserved better. 

It is interesting to note, Paul Richards led them to 89 wins and second place, finishing behind the Yankees in 1960. He was replaced by Lum Harris with 27 games to go on the teams way to finishing third despite improving by 6 wins in 1961. Richards left the team on September first to take over as GM of the new Houston Colt .45's. The 1962 season saw the Orioles, under Billy Hitchock fall to 77 wins and a 7th place finish of the 10 teams. 


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Aces Wild in Final Game 1964

TRIVIA QUESTION: The Cardinals, Phillies and Reds all had pitchers who won big during the 1964 season but only one pitcher on these three teams won 20 games in 1964. Who was he?  

ANSWER TO TRIVIA QUESTION IN THE PREVIOUS COLUMN:  Sam McDowell spent most of his flame throwing career with the Cleveland Indians but he did pitch the last few years of his career with several other teams. After short stints with the Giants and Yankees he finally came home to play his final year with his hometown Pittsburgh Pirates. McDowell, born in Pittsburgh in 1942 went 2-1 with a 2.86 ERA in 34 innings before calling it a career after the 1975 season and 15 years in the big leagues.

It was October 4, 1964 and it was the most important day of the National League season. The Cardinals held a one game lead over the Phillies and were tied with the Reds on this final day of the wild 1964 season. The Cardinals, needing a win to avoid a playoff or clinch, were facing the Mets in St. Louis. The Phillies were taking on the Reds in Cincinnati. The Cardinals had 92 wins as did the Reds. The Phils had 91. The Cardinals had to win and hope the Phillies beat Cincinnati. A Cardinals loss and a Reds win would hand the pennant to Cincinnati.

(The actual broadcast of the Cardinals game telescoped into 12:00 minutes)
The Phillies had already blown a huge lead while the streaking Cardinals and Reds were making up ground in the closing weeks of the season. It was a season which hinged on just one game for three different teams.

The Phils were throwing their ace, Jim Bunning who was gunning for his 19th win. The Reds would counter with nine game winner John Tsitouris and a host of bullpen pitchers. Tsitouris was no match for the ever powerful Bunning. 

The Phils established themselves right away. They scored three runs in the third to send Tsitouris to an early shower. Before it was over Dick Allen would blast a pair of homers to back the six hit pitching of Bunning who went the distance in registering a 10-0 shutout. Every Phillies and Reds player was watching the scoreboard from the Eastern Time Zone, as the Cards were simultaneously playing the Mets but in the Central Time Zone. All they could do is watch and wait.

The Cardinals did not have an easy time with New York. Manager Johnny Keane chose to start 18 game winner Curt Simmons against 18 game loser Galen Cisco. He held ace (also an 18 game winner) Bob Gibson in reserve. Gibby would come in on one days rest if needed. A smart move as it turned out because with the Cards leading 2-1 in the fifth, Simmons got into trouble. 

A lead off single in the fifth by George Altman led to a strange play. Cisco bunted Altman to second and Bobby Klaus hit a double to right field which the strong armed Mike Shannon played well enough to hold Altman at third base. Light hitting Roy McMillan followed with another double driving in two, to give the Mets a 3-2 lead. It chased Simmons and Keane brought on Gibson.

Gibby quickly disposed of Joe Christopher and Jim Hickman to end the rally. The Mets led 3-2. Gibson would stem the tide and the Mets. The bottom of the fifth saw the Cards rally chasing  both Cisco and Bill Wakefield. Cisco gave up a walk to Lou Brock to start the fifth and Bill White followed with a single. Kenny Boyer brought home Brock with a double to tie the score and Cisco was gone. Wakefield came on, gave up a ground ball to score one run, and a single to score another before Jack Fisher arrived to get the final out. The Cards had a 5-3 lead and the Phillies hopes began to sink along with the Reds.

Gibson gave up a run in the sixth to make it 5-4. Before the dust had settled however White and Flood each homered to back Gibson's pitching and the ace of the Cardinals staff would pick up his 19th win, this time in relief. He would go four innings giving up but two hits, and two runs while walking an uncharacteristic five batters. Two of them were intentional and he did hit a batter and toss a wild pitch. He gave his all before coming out with not much left.

The Phillies could only sulk as they knew the season was theirs to control. On September 17th, they were 6.5 games up. They would lose 12 of their next 13 games heading into the final two games of the season.  During that time the Reds would win 11 of 12 games. The Cardinals would win 9 of 10 including eight in a row. 

After losing games 160 and 161, they had to win 162 on the final day of the season to clinch the dream. The Reds would finish tied with the Phils just one game back of the pennant winning Cardinals.

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1968 Indians Up and Back Down

TRIVIA QUESTION: Sudden Sam McDowell finished his career in the city where he was born. Where was that city?   

ANSWER TO TRIVIA QUESTION IN THE PREVIOUS COLUMN:   While the San Francisco Giants trio of Mays, McCovey and Hart amassed 302 home runs from 1965-1967, no other team in the NL came close using the same three players during those three years. The Chicago Cubs threesome of Billy Williams, Ron Santo and Ernie Banks finished second with 251 while the Braves trio of Hank Aaron, Eddie Mathews and Joe Torre were third with 246.

In 1959 the Cleveland Indians looked like a team to be reckoned with. By 1960 they were the old Cleveland Indians and for the rest of the decade, save for two seasons, they were no better than a .500 club at best. They ended the decade of the 1950's with a second place finish and 89 wins only to turn the corner into the 1960's almost into oblivion.

(The Tribe of the 60's summed up, Who's on First?)
The Tribe of the 60's was an enigma. They had power and they had pitching but never at the same time, or so it seemed. When 1968 rolled around, the year of the pitcher, it seemed the Cleveland Indians might be ready for a resurgence, or were they?

They didn't hit home runs. Led by Tony Horton's 14 and Duke Sims 11, no one else on the club hit in double figures. They finished 9th of 10 teams in dingers. They didn't hit for average resting in with non pitchers at .234 which was good for 5th in the 10 team league. They did steal bases, and were no. 2 in the league in steals. Led by Jose Cardenal's 40 and Dave Nelson's 23, they were a running team. But the adage remains; "you can't steal first base."

Pitching is where this club stood out. It's not often a team has four pitchers toss 200 innings and while the Indians didn't, they did come close. Led by Sam McDowell's 269 and Luis Tiant's 258, Sonny Siebert had 206 and Stan Williams finished with 194, the starters were innings eaters. They had to be, aside from Vicente Romo and Eddie Fisher in the bullpen, they pretty much sucked. 

They finished third in team defense which was pretty special for the time. Max Alvis at third, and the dependable Horton at first anchored the infield. The rest of the team, Chico Salmon, Dave Nelson, Cardenal, Larry Brown and Sims were adequate enough. 

This team's starting pitching however, is where it was at. They didn't need a lot of defense as Sudden Sam McDowell struck out 283 and Tiant added 264 more.  McDowell was his usual wild thing (borrow that from "Major League") by putting it "just a bit outside" a lot, issuing 110 walks. 

Tiant led the staff with 21 wins (21-9), McDowell was 15-14, Siebert 12-10 and Williams 13-11.  Young Steve Hargan (25) still showed promise despite a 4.15 ERA and a record of 8-15 in 27 starts. It was backslide for him after winning 27 games in the two previous seasons combined. McDowell and Tiant completed 30 games between them. The staff finished first in the AL in ERA 2.66, shutouts 20, strikeouts and fewest hits allowed. 

Cleveland would finish with a record of 86-75 good for third place in the AL, and just one win fewer than their best of the decade in 1965. They were victim to the 1968 Tigers and finished 16.5 games back. If they could have only beaten Detroit. The club was a dismal 6-12 against the eventual AL champs. They were just as bad against the mid-league A's at 6-12 and 7-13 against the bottom dwelling Senators.

However, even with the promise of an uptick and division play in 1969, the Indians were destined to fall back again. The new 1969 season saw them fall back to 62-99 finishing last in the AL Eastern Division.
 
"NEW SPECIAL OFFER"
Need to get out of a baseball hitting slump, or a golf swing slump? Order my new book "Beating the Slump; An athlete's guide to a better career." See it on Amazon for only $5.99. That is for the Paperback, you can also order Kindle on that link. You can also order paperback copies directly from me via the email below for my other books.

You can get a signed paper back copy of the above book

"Tales of My Baseball Youth - a child of the sixties"

for $15 Shipping Included 

Use PayPal to brillpro@prodigy.net or contact us at the same email for other payment. 

Thank you to those of you who purchased my book after reading this column.

Also: Please check out our new Western Short Film. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/iron-gun-western-feature-film/#/
 
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.