1963 Giants; Just a Bit Outside, Looking In!

FOR MORE GENERAL TRIVIA CHECK OUT MY YouTube Channel !
 
TRIVIA WINNER: Congrats to Dan Taguchi, of Los Angeles, who correctly answered the trivia question about Jim Gentile who played for the Dodgers and who in 1957 made his big league debut with Brooklyn before moving on with the club to Los Angeles. This week a new Trivia Contest. The Prize this week again is a Starbucks Gift Card. 
 
NEW TRIVIA CONTEST:  IF YOU ANSWER THE TRIVIA QUESTION CORRECTLY YOU WILL BE ENTERED INTO A WEEKLY DRAWING FOR A Starbucks Gift Card.  YOU MUST ENTER VIA THE EMAIL AT THE END OF THIS COLUMN.

================================================================
TRIVIA QUESTION:  In 1963, four of the top five NL Strikeout Leaders were either Dodgers, Giants or Cardinals. The fifth was a Cincinnati Red. Who was he?  
 
ANSWER TO TRIVIA QUESTION IN THE PREVIOUS COLUMN: Jim Gentile played for six different cities and for one team in two different cities. In 1957 he debuted with Brooklyn before moving west with the club to Los Angeles.  

The 1963 San Francisco Giants seemed to have everything a contender could want. They cranked out a massive number of home runs, they had solid starting pitching and while the defense was suspect they had some of the best sluggers in the game. And they played well, winning 88 games. They still finished in third place, 11 games back of the pennant winning Dodgers and five back of the Cardinals.

                    (JUAN MARICHAL'S FAMOUS HIGH KICK)
Were the arch rival Dodgers just that much better. The club did win 99 games behind marvelous pitching and good hitting. The answer wasn't in the head to head because they split the 18 games they played against Los Angeles. They were 8-10 with St. Louis and they destroyed the Mets as they were supposed to do winning 12 of 18. In a key statistic they were 33-28 in one-run games. They even played well down the stretch winning nine of their last 14. About a third of the season they were actually in first place, 47 days.

How could a team which powered a league leading 197 home runs with Orlando Cepeda (34), Willie McCovey (44), Willie Mays (38), Ed Baily (21), Felipe Alou (20) and Tom Haller (14) finish out of the money? They even had Harvey Kuenn at .290, while the only weak spots in the batting order were Jose Pagan and Chuck Hiller.  At .258 the Giants were second in team batting in the NL.

Starting pitching was solid with Juan Marichal 25-8, Jack Sanford 16-13 and Billy O'Dell 14-10.  The key may have been the bullpen which was suspect and unreliable all year. They lacked a closer. No one had more than 7 Saves, and aside from aging Don Larsen (3.05), Jim Duffalo (2.87), and swing man Bobby Bolin (3.28) no pitcher who had more than a cup of coffee with the club had an ERA under 4.00. 

They had two bright spots which did not do anything to speak of because their time had not come. Third baseman, 21 year old Jim Ray Hart was up for a while playing in 7 games, and Gaylord Perry was 1-6 in 76 innings at age 24.  

The team was not solid defensively, landing 6th of 10 clubs in fielding. Six players committed errors in double figures led by Cepeda's 21 and Pagan's 20.  

It all came to an end effectively in June. On June 24th they beat the Cardinals to remain a half game up in the NL. The next two days they dropped games to St. Louis by identical scores of 6-5 to fall out of first place. They never regained that lead and would end the season behind the Redbirds and the hated Dodgers. At the same time the Dodgers went on an 18-4 run taking over first place on July 2nd and never looking back. 

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.
                             SEND YOUR ANSWERS TO; brillpro@gmail.com  
 ==========================================================
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. 
 

Jim Gentile's NOT SO Gentil DAY

FOR MORE GENERAL TRIVIA CHECK OUT MY YouTube Channel !
 
TRIVIA WINNER: Congrats to TJ Strieb, of Vero Beach, Florida, who correctly answered the trivia question about Willie McCovey's 40 + homer years. McCovey belted 44 in 1963 and 45 in 1969. This week a new Trivia Contest. The Prize this week again is a Starbucks Gift Card. 
 
NEW TRIVIA CONTEST:  IF YOU ANSWER THE TRIVIA QUESTION CORRECTLY YOU WILL BE ENTERED INTO A WEEKLY DRAWING FOR A Starbucks Gift Card.  YOU MUST ENTER VIA THE EMAIL AT THE END OF THIS COLUMN.

================================================================
TRIVIA QUESTION:  Jim Gentile played for five different clubs in six different cities in his big league career. For what city did he play his first major league season; 1957?  
 
ANSWER TO TRIVIA QUESTION IN THE PREVIOUS COLUMN: Willie McCovey twice bettered 40 home runs. McCovey had 44 in 1963 and 45 in 1969. 

 Jim Gentile spent nine seasons in the big leagues and had a lot of big games, but none bigger than against the Twins on May 9, 1961. It was one of those games the Baltimore Orioles slugger would remember for the rest of his life. It put him into the conversation for the best in the league and the MVP award.

               (Jim Gentile ties record 49 years later and gets PAID for it!)

He was batting clean-up that day, behind all-star Brooks Robinson. The Twins sent Pedro Ramos to the mound against Chuck Estrada. It was early in the season but neither team was playing impressive baseball. The Twins were at .500 and the O's were just two games over.
  

The game had a great start for Baltimore. The 4,514 fans at the game were frustrated right off the bat. Whitey Herzog opened with a walk and Jackie Brandt followed with a double. Robinson walked to load the bases, bringing up the slugging Gentile. Gentile, who would finish with 46 homers that year, sent a Ramos pitch to deep center and over the wall at Metropolitan Stadium to clear the bases. The Grand Slam gave the O's an instant 4-0 lead.

The Twins failed to score in the bottom of the inning but the top of the second it was more of the same for the O's including more Gentile. Marv Breeding opened with a flyout but then Ramos did the unthinkable. He gave up a single to the opposing pitcher, Estrada which was followed by a walk to Herzog. That was enough for Ramos who was replaced by Paul Geil.

Brandt then hit a ground ball back to Geil which could have been a double play, but the pitcher made an errant throw and Estrada scored to make it 5-0. Robinson walked again, again bringing up Gentile with the bases loaded. For the second straight inning Gentile blasted the ball into the seats. This time to right for his second grand slam of the game and a 9-0 O's lead.

The rest of the game was pretty much uneventful. Gentile would draw a walk and go down on a strikeout in two subsequent at bats, but in the eighth he came up with a runner on third. A sac fly gave the slugging first sacker nine RBI on the day and the Orioles defeated Minnesota 13-5. It was a day the left handed hitting Gentile would never forget. Two grand slams in consecutive innings and a sacrifice fly to boot. 

He'd finish the season with 46 homers, a league leading 141 RBI, a .302 batting average and a .646 slugging percentage. He would finish third in the MVP voting behind Roger Maris who hit 61 home runs and Mickey Mantle who belted 54.  His outstanding defensive skills helped him be involved in 129 double plays which was good for second in the American League.

With 179 homers in his career, 1961 was far and away his best season. The Orioles that season would finish third despite winning 95 games. They closed the season 14 games behind New York as the Yankees went on to have the second greatest Yankee team of all time.  

But on this day, Jim Gentile ruled the baseball world. 
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.
                             SEND YOUR ANSWERS TO; brillpro@gmail.com  
 ==========================================================
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. 


 

Ralph Terry - Giant Killer

FOR MORE GENERAL TRIVIA CHECK OUT MY YouTube Channel !
 
TRIVIA WINNER: Congrats to Hank Farley, of Atlanta, GA who correctly answered the trivia question about Harry the Hat Walker's batting title. Walker won the batting title in 1947 with a .363 average. He started the season with St. Louis batting .200 in 10 games but on May 3rd, he was traded to Philadelphia where his hitting stroke took hold. He batted .371 the rest of the way with a league leading 16 triples. This week a new Trivia Contest. The Prize this week again is a Starbucks Gift Card. 
 
NEW TRIVIA CONTEST:  IF YOU ANSWER THE TRIVIA QUESTION CORRECTLY YOU WILL BE ENTERED INTO A WEEKLY DRAWING FOR A Starbucks Gift Card.  YOU MUST ENTER VIA THE EMAIL AT THE END OF THIS COLUMN.

================================================================
TRIVIA QUESTION:  Willie McCovey made the final out of the 1962 World Series and in his career he was known as one of the game's most feared sluggers. How many times did McCovey hit more than 40 homers in a season?  
 
ANSWER TO TRIVIA QUESTION IN THE PREVIOUS COLUMN: In 1947 Harry the Hat Walker won the batting title with a .363 average playing only 10 games for the Cardinals before being traded to Philadelphia where he batted .371 the rest of the way as a full time player. 

In the 1960's if you asked most people who was the ace of the Yankee's staff and a stalwart in a World Series, most people would probably say Whitey Ford. In 1962 it was another long time major leaguer; Ralph Terry. 
 

Terry had an awesome 1962, winning 23 games to Ford's 17 and leading the team in innings pitched with 298. He walked but 57 batters and struck out 176. All figures which outdistanced Ford. Perhaps, his most amazing feat was a 1.05 WHiP to Ford's 1.21. 

 

It was in the World Series where he really stood out. That cool October day when Game One against the Giants began in San Francisco's Candlestick Park, it was Ford who got the call. He did not disappoint and neither did his Bronx Bomber teammates, responding with six runs as they defeated Billy O'Dell and the Giants 6-2. The six runs would be the second most scored by a winning team in the series which was supposed to be a slug-fest. In Game One Clete Boyer homered and Roger Maris drove in a pair, which was pretty much all the Yanks needed.  

Terry got the start in Game Two but Yankee bats went silent, managing only three hits off Jack Sanford. A Willie McCovey homer was all the Giants needed as Terry gave up only six hits but two runs. San Francisco tied the series a 1-1. 

New York came back in game three to back the four hit pitching of Bill Stafford 3-2 and take a one game lead in the best of seven series.  Ford got the call in Game Four and lasted six good innings before giving way to the relief corps. The Yankee staff gave up a total of seven runs in losing 7-3, to bring the series even again at 2-2.

Terry took the mound for his second start in Game Five and was neck and neck with Sanford until the eighth. Tom Tresh, batting third, got his second extra base hit of the night; a three run blast to put the Yanks ahead for good. Despite striking out 10, Sanford was on the losing end and Terry went the distance with an eight hitter.

New York hoped to close it out in Game Six but Ford was not up to it and the Giants were not going away. Whitey gave up five runs on nine hits in 4.2 innings and was gone along with the Yankee fans desire to avoid a Game Seven. San Francisco stayed alive with a 5-2 win.

Pitching on five days rest (he went the distance on October 10th), Terry faced the Giants in Game Seven on October 16th. Over 43,000 people filled Candlestick to see Terry take on  Sanford again. It was a Tuesday afternoon in October and as anyone knows October near the Bay can be treacherous. The temperature was in the 60's with a 20 mile per hour wind - the wind tunnel so to speak in those days.

The game was scoreless until the fifth when Moose Skowron led off the inning with a single. Boyer followed with a single sending Skowron to third with nobody out. Sanford then did the unthinkable; he walked the opposing pitcher to load the bases. Lead off man Tony Kubek hit a sharp ground ball to shortstop Jose Pagan who quickly turned the double play allowing Skowron to score, making it 1-0. 

It was a good move by the defense figuring one run would not make the difference. Unfortunately for the Giants it did. Terry was masterful until the ninth. The ninth inning involved one of the most memorable plays in World Series history.

Matty Alou led the Giants off with a bunt single. Brother Felipe and Chuck Hiller struck out. With San Francisco down to it's final out, Willie Mays banged a double off Terry, sending Matty to third and bringing up the dangerous McCovey. McCovey had tripled earlier in the game and today never would have gotten to swing the bat. Orlando Cepeda, just as dangerous but batting a lowly .158 in the series, was on deck.

With the game on the line McCovey smashed a wicked line drive which second baseman Bobby Richardson grabbed for the final out. The game and the Series was over and Terry had pitched two complete games, winning two including the final Game Seven. 

Terry allowed just four hits, striking out four and did not walk a batter, going 2-1 in the Series with a 1.80 ERA. He gave up only five runs in 25 innings and walked just two batters in leading New York to a 4-3 Series victory.  
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.
                             SEND YOUR ANSWERS TO; brillpro@gmail.com  
 ==========================================================
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. 

Houston; We Have a "Break-Even" Season

FOR MORE GENERAL TRIVIA CHECK OUT MY YouTube Channel !
 
TRIVIA WINNER: Congrats to Tim Fealy, a Reds fan, who correctly answered the trivia question about Pirate losing pitchers in 1966. Only Bob Purkey and Luke Walker had losing records for the 1966 club, both at 0-1, combined 0-2. This week a new Trivia Contest. The Prize this week again is a Starbucks Gift Card. 
 
NEW TRIVIA CONTEST:  IF YOU ANSWER THE TRIVIA QUESTION CORRECTLY YOU WILL BE ENTERED INTO A WEEKLY DRAWING FOR A Starbucks Gift Card.  YOU MUST ENTER VIA THE EMAIL AT THE END OF THIS COLUMN.

================================================================
TRIVIA QUESTION:  In 1947 Harry Walker won a batting title while playing for two different teams in the same year. What were those teams?  
 
ANSWER TO TRIVIA QUESTION IN THE PREVIOUS COLUMN: In 1966 the Pittsburgh Pirates had only two pitchers on the roster with losing records. Bob Purkey and Luke Walker were both 0-1 on the season or a combined 0-2.

It took them until the end of the decade, or seven seasons of losing at least 90 games a year, but the 1969 Houston Astros finally broke the spell and had their first "non-losing" season. Led by super hitter's instructor, Harry 'the Hat' Walker, the club would produce only one .300 hitter, barely reaching the 100 homer mark, and not one regular batting better than .269. However, the starting pitching was solid and they had one aging relief pitcher who put together an impressive Save record along with a young strikeout king in the bullpen.

The team wasn't going anywhere in the first year of divisional play but if not for a September slide they might have finished over .500 for the first time, finishing 5th out of six clubs. They lost 8 of the last 12 down the stretch. They cemented a .500 season with a 5-4 loss to the Dodgers on the final day of the season before less than 10,000 fans in Los Angeles. 

With the score tied 4-4 in the ninth, Fred Gladding gave up a pair of singles and with men on first and third, Walker called on former Dodger, Jack Billingham who promptly wild pitched across the winning run, 5-4. The season was over and an 81-81 record had been achieved. 
                                                  
Only part timer Marty Martinez bettered .300 with a .308 BA in 78 games. Denis Menke, believe it or not, led the regulars with a .269 average tied with Jim Wynn. Wynn did crank out 33 home runs or one-third of the club's total production of 104. Menke hit 10 homers, while Joe Morgan added 15 with 49 steals. The entire team registered 101 stolen bases.  This was really an unusual team when it came to batting. Pitcher Tom Griffin's two homers were more than any non-regular in the line-up.
                                                           
Pitching carried this team certainly, led by Larry Dierker's 20-13 record and 2.33 ERA at the age of 22. Don Wilson was 16-12, Griffin 11-10 while Denny Lemaster was a hard luck 13-17 with a 3.16 ERA. Jim Ray's bullpen action was good, striking out 115 batters in 115 innings and was 8-2. Gladding at 33 didn't have the impressive ERA but he did Save 29 games to lead the league with a career personal best. The team's 153 errors on defense were good for 7th in the league with Menke and Doug Rader committing 53 between them. 

For the first seven years of it's existence the club lost an average of 94 games. They would not better the record of the 1969 season until 1972 when they had their first winning season. 

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.
                             SEND YOUR ANSWERS TO; brillpro@gmail.com  
 ==========================================================
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.