Walter Alston, Dean Among Managers

TRIVIA QUESTION:  How many World Series titles did Walter Alston's clubs win during his career?  

ANSWER TO TRIVIA QUESTION IN THE PREVIOUS COLUMN:  While first sacker Jim Gentile made his main mark with the Baltimore Orioles, it was the Brooklyn Dodgers who signed him originally. After a season in Los Angeles he was traded to the O's. 

No one could ever deny having great pitchers such as Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale made the basis of a winning team, but it takes a great manager to make that base into a formidable unit lasting more than a decade. While Walter Alston's teams won 2040 regular season games during his 23 year stint managing the Dodgers, 878 of those came in the decade of the 1960's.

Aside from finishing in 8th place twice at the end of the decade (after Koufax retired) and one 7th place finish, Alston won three pennants and finished in second place twice from 1960-69. His two World Series titles speak volumes as well. 


He didn't have the hitters Ralph Houk of the Yankees had. Houk also had the likes of Whitey Ford and other substantial pitchers. Alston stressed speed, pitching and defense along with a history of making the right moves at the right time.

In a game against Pittsburgh for instance in 1965, with the game scoreless in the 10th, he let pitcher Koufax lead off the bottom of the inning! Koufax drew a walk from Don Cardwell and came around to score the winning run. His mastery of using Maury Wills, whose On Base Percentage never reached higher than .355, to lead off and terrorize pitchers with his base stealing prowess, was masterful. Wills led the league in steals six times in the 1960s.

Dodger baseball in the mid 1960's basically consisted of the following. Wills walked, he stole second, Jim Gilliam sacrificed him to third and Willie Davis hit a sacrifice fly to bring Wills home. Koufax pitches a shutout and the Dodgers win 1-0. 

Alston was at his best in the middle years considering he won both pennants in 1965 and 1966. The 1965 team, which went on to beat the Twins in the World Series, finished in 7th place in NL hitting at .245 and a paltry 78 home runs. The 1966 team fared much better with 108 dingers and a .256 team BA. Still 8th in the league in homers, they were crushed by the O's in the Series 4-0.

During the 60's the club for the most part hung around the middle to bottom of the pack as a hitting team. Early on they did get strong years from Tommie Davis, Frank Howard and some others but pitching and defense is what held the Alston clubs together. The 1967 season was probably the Skipper's most frustrating. 

After losing Koufax, who retired after the 1966 season, due to arthritis, Drysdale remained strong despite his 13-16 record. Hitting was non existent as the club only smacked 82 home runs and finished 10th in team batting at .236, even lower the following year. In the year of the pitcher (1968) they only hit 67 homers with a .230 BA.

It was change which permeated 1967. The club traded Wills to Pittsburgh and Gene Michael took his place batting .202, while the newly acquired Bob Baily didn't deliver (.227), Koufax was gone, Gilliam retired and Ron Hunt arrived. Ron Fairly declined to hit .220, Wes Parker had an off season and while the pitching held up, only 23-year old Bill Singer had a winning record among the starters, 12-8. The team leader in home runs was part-time outfielder, Al Ferrara who belted 16 in only 122 games. He also lead the squad in batting .277.

Alston would manage through the 1976 season, winning one more pennant in 1974. By the way he spent his entire career as a manager on a one year contract, year to year. 

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

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

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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.

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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.

   "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.