Baseball in the 1960's

Tuesday, September 7, 2021

Barney's Blunder Costs Cardwell

TRIVIA WINNER: Congrats to Ken Levasseur of Amherst, NH, who correctly stated the first strikeout victim of Nolan Ryan was Atlanta Braves pitcher Pat Jarvis. The Prize: Starbucks Gift Card.

NEW 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. Don't forget to put your mailing address in with the answer so if you win we can send you the gift card in the mail.

Just a note to add; If you look at the top right hand corner of the side bar you will see a link to daily sports scores. We made an agreement with Baseball 24 in a mutual sharing situation. Hope its helpful to fans of several sports.

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NEW TRIVIA QUESTION: Who was the final strikeout victim of Satchel Paige?

ANSWER to the Trivia question in the previous column: Nolan Ryan's first strikeout victim was Atlanta pitcher Pat Jarvis.

Sometimes a pitcher just runs a string of bad luck, but not often as the string of bad luck Barney Schultz had in September 1961 game. Pitching for the Cubs in relief against the Phillies, Schultz just did not have it. In fact, it was one of those games where he probably left the mound, headed for the locker room and slammed his glove against the wall. And unfortunately for Schultz, it did not stop there.

The game on September 10th, 1961 started with a pair of solid pitchers. The Phils sent Robin Roberts to the mound against Don Cardwell. Chicago sent Roberts to an early shower, scoring six runs before Roberts was pulled in the fifth. Don Cardwell was pitching well up until that point as well.

Cardwell's demise came in the 7th when the Phillies scored five runs including a grand slam by Don Demeter. That blow signaled the end for Cardwell who was still in line to be the winning pitcher. That is, IF, Barney Schultz and the Pen could hold Philadelphia. It was not Schultz's day.

After giving up a single to Wes Covington, he hit Charley Smith. Then he uncorked a wild pitch. After walking light hitting Clay Dalrymple and Ruben Amaro, he was replaced by Bob Anderson. He did not record a single out. Before the inning ended all of the batters Schultz faced, scored.

The Phillies scored seven runs that inning and six in the next and won 14-6. Schultz was credited with a Blown Save and the Loss. But it wasn't over for Barney. The next night he gave up two earned runs on two hits in one-third of an inning. Following on that he pitched in his third consecutive game and took the loss pitching two thirds of an inning, giving up a run on two hits and a walk. We should point out the run was unearned.

Of course there was that other inning where Schultz did not get an out in the 9th inning of Game Three of the 1964 World Series. He faced lead-off batter Mickey Mantle with the score tied 1-1 and gave up the Walk Off homer (see video above).

The year 1961 might be Schultz's best year, 7-6, with a 2.70 ERA with 7 Saves. A few years later he had a better ERA (1.64) but was 1-3, although he did record 14 Saves. His career ended after the 1965 season at 20-20 3.63 and 35 Saves. If it wasn't for the one little stretch he might have ended up with a record over .500. Schultz died in 2015 at the age of 89.

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Tuesday, August 31, 2021

McLain's 27th Gave Us Hope

TRIVIA WINNER: Congrats to David Wright of Wilmington, DE who correctly stated Red Schoendienst was the other Cardinal Hall of Famer who retired during the 1963 season. The Prize: Starbucks Gift Card.

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NEW TRIVIA QUESTION: Who was the first strikeout victim of Nolan Ryan? (Question submitted by Scott Hitchcox, who doesn't remember the 60's because he was too young. Of course there are a lot of you readers out there who probably don't remember the 60's either, but for different reasons.)

ANSWER to the Trivia question in the previous column: Red Schoendienst was the other Cardinal Hall of Famer who retired during the 1963 season.

September 1, 1968 was a significant day in baseball history because it was the day which gave hope there could be a 30 game winner in the modern era. Until then only Sandy Koufax had won 27 games (1966). Before that you had to look back to 1956 when Don Newcombe won 27, 1952 when Robin Roberts won 28 and no one had won 30 since Dizzy Dean in 1934. Then, here comes Denny McLain.

With 30 days left in the 1968 season McLain got lots of support against the second place Baltimore Orioles that fall day. Facing 17 game winner Jim Hardin, McLain would go the distance, limiting the O's to three runs on seven hits while striking out nine. He would run his record to 27-5.

The support came mainly from center-fielder Mickey Stanley and right-fielder Jim Northrup. Each had three hits with Northrup blasting his 17th homer of the season in the first to counter Curt Blefary's first inning homer for the Orioles. The score was tied 2-2.

Hardin didn't last long. As wild as wild could be he was gone in the second after walking four batters and uncorking three Wild Pitches!! Manager Earl Weaver had seen enough. With Hardin allowing four runs, he brought in Wally Bunker who walked one of the two batters he faced before giving way to reliable Pete Richert. It didn't matter. The game at that point had been decided.

The Tigers went on to win 7-3 and McLain had his 27th win on his way to 31 in the Tigers pennant winning season of 1968. The O's finished in second place 12 games back.

Tuesday, August 24, 2021

When Stan Certainly Was "The Man!"

TRIVIA WINNER: Congrats to David Rolfe's of Las Vegas, NV who correctly stated Clete Boyer (brother of Ken) failed to get a hit in the game on August 17, 1961 while his brother played a key role in the Cardinals game on that same day. The Prize: Starbucks Gift Card.

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NEW TRIVIA QUESTION: Stan Musial wasn't the only Cardinal great who retired after the 1963 season. Which outstanding infielder who spent 15 seasons with the Red Birds also called it quits at the conclusion of the 1963 NL season, playing his last game July 7, when he failed to get a hit as a pinch-hitter?

ANSWER to the Trivia question in the previous column: Clete Boyer failed to get a hit in three AB's on August 17th, 1961.

Sometimes when the writing is on the wall you really wish the text were written one year later. Such is the case of one of the greatest to ever play the game of baseball; Stan Musial.

(Musial's last At Bat)
For more than two decades Musial, the Donora, PA native, patrolled the outfield and some at first base for the St. Louis Cardinals. He hit milestones with the bat which would make him a $50 million a year player today. When he retired after the 1963 season, his final salary was $50,000.

Musial was voted to the all-star team in every year he played. He missed the 1945 season due to military service. He went into the Hall of Fame with an amazing 93.2% of the vote. He finished with 475 home runs, a lifetime BA of .331 and nearly 4000 combined RBI and Runs Scored. And he was a good fielder.

The point of the story is when he retired. The 1962 Cardinals finished in sixth place. A year later they finished in second. Musial had an amazing 1962 when you consider he was 41 years old and still batted .330 with 19 homers in over 500 AB's. He fell off as could be expected in 1963 at age 42. He dropped to .255 and just 12 homers in 124 games. It was only the second time his average dipped so low (he also hit .255 in 1959).

With young Mike Shannon, a power hitting and good defensive outfielder pushing for a chance to play, and with an aging body on the line, Musial hung them up. If he'd have hung on for one more year the headlines would have read "Musial Bows Out a World Series Champion!"

The Cardinals did indeed go to the World Series in 1964 and they beat the Yankees in seven games. Musial was watching from the good seats at that point however, and oh how the fans would have loved to see no. 6 on the field for those seven games and go out a winner.

Shannon would eventually move into the infield and play third base after Kenny Boyer was traded to the Mets after the 1965 season for Al Jackson and Charley Smith. The Smith experiment didn't pan out so when Roger Maris arrived in 1968, Shannon became the permanent fixture at third.

As for Musial's records; he led the league in hits six times. In addition to those seasons he belted more than 200 hits twice (6 times overall). Nine times he had more than 40 doubles (thrice hitting 50), five times he led the league in triples while hitting the 20 mark twice, in six seasons he hit at least 30 home runs and led the league in batting seven times (.376 in 1948). Add to that 10 times driving in over 100 RBI and 11 times scoring 100 or more and you have one of the greatest compilation of numbers you will ever see, and never see again in MLB.

AND; Probably the most amazing statistic when it comes to consistency. Musial had the exact same number of hits "on the road" as he did "at home." In both cases he had 1815 hits in his career for 3630 total.

Stan Musial truly was "The Man."

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