Baseball in the 1960's

Monday, February 7, 2022

NL Batting Race 1960 - The Bull Durham Case

TRIVIA WINNER: Congrats to Craig McGraw of Middletown, DE, who correctly stated Lou Gehrig and Mike Schmidt were the only two current Hall of Famers who hit four consecutive home runs. 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: What NBA team did Dick Groat play for?

ANSWER to the Trivia question in the previous column: Lou Gehrig and Mike Schmidt were the two Hall of Famers who hit four consecutive home runs. Gil Hodges also hit four consecutive and was this year elected to the Hall but is not there yet.

The 1960 national Laague batting race was among the closest in history. It came down to the final game of the season between league MVP Dick Groat of the Pirates and Norm Larker of the Dodgers. Either one could have sat out game no. 154 and taken their chances but with the title on the line, both chose to play.

Going into the final game Groat was hitting .32513 to Larker's 3226. If Groat gets a hit against Milwaukee, Larker must get at least two hits against the Cubs. Pittsburgh is at home for a Sunday day game three hours ahead of the Dodgers in Los Angeles. Vin Scully and the Dodger broadcast team would know well in advance what Larker would need to do to beat out Groat. It was Forbes Field versus the L-A Memorial Coliseum, and Lew Burdette for the Braves while Dick Drott was on the mound for the Cubs.

Through four innings Groat was hitless in two at bats. He led off the fifth with a single. Now 1-for-3 that meant in all likelihood Larker would need at least two hits. Groat would fly out in his final at bat in the 6th. He was scheduled to hit in the 8th inning but manager Danny Murtaugh chose to pinch-hit with Bill Mazeroski with the Bucs leading 9-5.

Was it to bring in the defensive whiz at second base and move Dick Schofield to short, or was Murtaugh trying to preserve the batting title for his MVP candidate? There is no evidence of that we could find but it has been suggested. Groat would finish with .32460. Larker would need two hits to take the crown.

Larker had gone two-for-nine in his last three games. He usually hit in the middle of the order. However, in game no. 154 manager Walt Alston had him batting second. Perhaps to give him more chances to hit. He was foiled in his first at-bat. After a lead off single by Maury Wills, Drott walked Larker. No official at bat there.

Larker led off the third and grounded out to second base facing Dick Burwell. Moe Drabowsky came on in the fifth and with one out Larker hit a ground ball back toward the mound which Drabowsky couldn't handle and it went for a single. Larker had the first hit and at 1-for-3, he was one shy of a batting title.

In the seventh, facing Don Cardwell, Larker hit a flyball. It would all come down to the ninth inning with the score tied 3-3. Bob Lillis led off the inning for the Dodgers and hit a groundball back to Cardwell who threw wildly to first for an error. Pinch-hitter Wally Moon walked and Johnny Roseboro laid down a bunt. It was perfect and the bases were loaded as Roseboro reached first base.

Maury Wills stepped to the plate with Larker in the on-deck circle. If Wills just got out without a run scoring, Larker could be the hero in the final at bat of the season and with a hit, win the NL batting title. It wasn't to be. Wills lifted a fly ball to left field deep enough to bring home Lillis from third and a 4-3 Dodger win. Larker would go back to the dugout wondering what might have been.

Groat would win the batting title by .19. What was it Crash Davis said in "Bull Durham?" Let me paraphrase; One more flair, one Texas Leaguer, one squib through the infield, one dink more on the season and you are a legend forever. Groat lives on as the legend, Larker is pretty much forgotten to all but baseball purists. Larker died in 2007 at the age of 76.

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                             SEND YOUR ANSWERS TO; brillpro@gmail.com
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Monday, January 31, 2022

Mays and Aaron Blast Six Homers in One Game

EDS NOTE: Last week's column on Frank Howard solicited more feedback and comments as well as great personal stories of meetings with Howard than any other column of the past four years. Thank you.

TRIVIA WINNER: Congrats to Dylan Woodyatt, of Ontario, Canada, who correctly named Phil Ortega and Dick Nen as the only players in the Frank Howard trade who did not appear on a World Series roster. The Prize: Starbucks Gift Card.

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NEW TRIVIA QUESTION: Of the six players who hit four "consecutive" home runs only two of them are in the Hall of Fame, one from each league. Who are they?

ANSWER to the Trivia question in the previous column: Phil Ortega and Dick Nen were the only players in the Frank Howard trade who never appeared on a World Series roster.

It was April 30, 1961 when a mere 13,000 fans in Milwaukee County Stadium witnessed an historic yet bizarre game which saw Braves pitchers give up eight home runs to the Giants who scored 14 runs on those eight blasts. The historic part was Willie Mays had four of them! It was also the day the other "greatest" player of the era, Hank Aaron, blasted two homers in a losing cause. To be one of those 13,000 would have been a fans dream date.

Lew Burdette opened the game for the Braves and promptly served up a gopher ball to Mays hitting third in the inning. A blast to deep center. Billie Loes started for the Giants and gave up singles to Roy McMillan and Frank Bolling before Aaron took him deep for a 3-1 lead.

Things were quiet until the third when the Giants Jose Pagan lifted a Burdette pitch into the seats to make it 3-2. It was Pagan's first of two homers on the day as well. Three batters later and after Jim Davenport was hit by a pitch, Mays took Burdette deep again, to left-center. Giants 4 - Braves 3.

Leading off the top of the fourth Orlando Cepeda homered to send Burdette to the showers and bring on Carl Willey. Felipe Alou greeted him with a home run. Just a few batters later Pagan would stride to the plate and belt his second homer of the game. Giants lead 7-3.

In the fifth Moe Drabowsky was pitching for Milwaukee and was the only pitcher to get Mays out that day. Willie lifted a flyball out to center fielder Aaron in a scoreless inning. By the sixth Seth Morehead was hurling for the Braves and with two men on faced Mays. Again Say-Hey would go deep; this time to left field for a three run blast. Giants 11-3. In the bottom of the inning Hammerin' Hank would take Loes deep one more time to make it 11-4.

It was in the eight inning Mays would tie the record of four homers in a game and finish with eight RBI. This time with Don McMahon pitching Jim Davenport tripled in a run to bring Mays to the plate. Mays timed a McMahon pitch and again sent it over the left-center field wall. Final score Giants 14-Braves 4. Billy Loes went the distance for his second win.

In the end, who in the world would have ever guessed Hank Aaron and Jose Pagan hitting two homers in a game each, would be a footnote to history?

Monday, January 24, 2022

Fear Equals Frank Howard - Ask A Pitcher

TRIVIA WINNER: Congrats to Jack Webster of Derry, NH, who correctly named Roy Sievers as the player the Phillies traded for to replace Pancho Herrera who was traded to Pittsburgh. The Prize: Starbucks Gift Card.

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NEW TRIVIA QUESTION: Of the seven players involved in the massive Frank Howard trade between Los Angeles and Washington, only two did not appear on World Series rosters during their career. Who were they?

ANSWER to the Trivia question in the previous column: Roy Sievers was traded to the Phillies to fill the role left void when Pancho Herrera was traded to Pittsburgh.

If 1968 was the year of the pitcher, and it was; how on earth did the Senators Frank Howard have one of his best years at the plate? Simply put; 6'7" 255 and a bat that looked like a tooth pick in his hands. While the rest of the Washington Senators were bumbling and stumbling around the .224 team batting mark, the 31 year old Howard was hitting .274. It had to be plain fear.

The Sens clubbed 124 home runs in 1968 which was good for fourth in the American League. Howard would blast 44 of them. Only Ken McMullen (20) and Mike Epstein (13) also hit homers in double figures. Howard's 106 RBI accounted for almost 25-percent of the teams total. He was the only hitter with more than 20 doubles (28) far outdistancing the runner up, Del Unser with 13.

In a year when the league's batting leader hit .301, Denny McLain won 31 games and Bob Gibson's ERA was 1.12, Howard set marks which drove opponents crazy. Yet, only 12 of his 54 walks were Intentional. They could have pitched around him every time but maybe they feared this gentle giant of a man would just reach across the plate and send one into the Upper Deck. Maybe that's why he struck out 141 times but no one cared.

Never known for his speed he even had three triples although he didn't attempt to steal a base. Can you imagine the fear a shortstop might feel taking the throw with a lumbering Howard coming your way? It makes one cringe to think of such a career ending collision.

When Howard was traded from the Dodgers to the Senators everyone knew Los Angeles was giving up a slugger. What it got in return helped the Dodgers win pennants. It was expected to put butts in the seats in Washington. It never did. Washington was last in attendance in 1968 and many other of Howard's earlier seasons with just over 500,000 fans coming through the turnstiles. And Howard played in almost every game, 158 of the 162 in 1968. Of course winning only 65 games probably had something to do with it. In fact, it wasn't until 1969 the Senators even came close to One Million fans.

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