Baseball in the 1960's

Sunday, July 23, 2023

The Day Baseball Got Ugly

TRIVIA WINNER: The winner of this week's trivia contest is Rich Klein of Grand Prairie, TX, who knew Preston Gomez was born in Guatamala, Cuba. The Prize: Starbucks Gift Card.

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. Please put your mailing address in with the answer so if you win we can send you the gift card in the mail.

NEW TRIVIA QUESTION: After Roseboro left the game Sandy Koufax continued to pitch and walked two batters and gave up a home run in the inning. Who hit the homer?

To say Juan Marichal was an enigma is an understatement. In the 10 years of the 1960's he started and completed 197 games for the San Francisco Giants. Six times he won 20 or more games including 26 in 1968 and 25 in 1963. Three times he pitched over 300 innings and twice more hit marks of 299 and 295. From 1963-1969 his ERA never exceeded 2.76 and twice it was in the 2.1 range (2.13 and 2.10).

Five times the man with the most varied pitches in his arsenal, completed at least 20 games and pitched 30 complete games in 1968. Five times he issued less than 50 walks and six times he struck out over 200 batters. Amazingly his WHIP was under 1.0 four times during the stretch. He never lost more than 13 and in 1965 he tossed 10 shutouts. He would throw at any angle and at any speed.

Yet, despite all of this he is best remembered for the time he went off the warpath and smacked the Dodger's Johnny Roseboro over the head with a bat, while standing in the batters box.

It was a Sunday afternoon on August 22, 1965 and my father and my God Father and I were on our way to the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles to see wrestling. My father was a major fan of "wrastlin'" and the Olympic Auditorium was the place to be for that sort of thing. We were listening to the Dodger game on the radio and were appalled and shocked at what we heard as we pulled into the parking lot.

Up in the Bay Area, the Giants were hosting the Dodgers with Sandy Koufax facing Marichal. Two of the best pitchers of the era and of all-time as it would turn out, in a game both teams wanted to win as they battled it out in the closing days of the 1965 NL pennant race.

The game started off tense. Maury Wills laid down a bunt single and the second time around, Marichal decked him. Koufax returned the favor by sending Willie Mays to the ground with a high fastball. When Marichal decked Ron Fairly, umpire Shag Crawford warned both teams. An ejection was coming the next time a pitch was too tight.

What happened next is documented by both players. It was such an important game for both teams, both sides were making sure their pitcher would not be the one ejected for throwing at a hitter. They were not. It was Marichal and it came as a hitter.

In the third inning Koufax sent a pitch inside. Roseboro dropped the ball on purpose to get a good angle on Marichal who was at the plate. He positioned himself and whipped a throw back to Koufax which came dangerously close to Marichal's face. The Giant's ace said it actually did clip his nose.

Juan confronted Johnny and the two had heated words. Roseboro moved closer. The it got ugly. Marichal clubbed Roseboro over the head with his bat. Roseboro went down and both benches emptied. A bloodied Roseboro went after Marichal and kept the pounding up until Mays came out and restrained him, bringing some peace to the party. Marichal, bat in hand, was tackled by the umpire.

"I was afraid he was going to hit me with his mask, so I hit him with my bat," Marichal said in an apology a day later.

No one was in a forgiving mood. Bat versus mask. Hmmm. Doesn't seem like a match.

Roseboro got 14 stitches, Marichal was fined $1750 and was suspended for 10 games. Roseboro did sue and the case was eventually settled for $7500.

As for the game itself, a visibly shaken Koufax gave up four runs to the Giants, including two homers. The final was 4-3 but Marichal was not the recipient of the win. Ron Herbal was. The Dodgers would go on to win the pennant and the World Series over the Twins.

Believe it or not the two men later became friends. When Roseboro died in 2002 at age 69, Marichal was one of the pallbearers and a speaker at the funeral. Marichal actually spent his last season at age 37, with the Dodgers in 1975.

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Tuesday, July 18, 2023

Padres Pray for Hits

TRIVIA WINNER: The winner of this week's trivia contest is Pete Matero of Amarillo, TX, who knew that Floyd Robinson's best season produced 66 extra base hits. The Prize: Starbucks Gift Card.

NEW TRIVIA QUESTION: Preston Gomez was the Padres first MLB manager. Where was he born?

Expansion teams aren't supposed to be contenders right away. Most won't offer a polished pitching staff but most will hit, at least to some degree. Then there were the players of the expansion San Diego Padres.

The year was 1969 and the new San Diego team was far from it's days of Tony Gwynn and Dave Winfield. Gwynn would toy with .400 at one point and offer a lifetime BA of .338. Winfield, before leaving for Free Agency, would hit 154 home runs and lead the NL in RBI with 118 in 1979.

But that was later and 1969 was now. By the time the 1969 season had come to a close 10 Padres came to the plate and closed the season with a BA of under .200. Included was the team's starting shortstop, Tommy Dean, at .176 in 101 games (308 plate appearances). Few were far better. Starting catcher Chris Cannizzaro stuck it out at .220 while starting second sacker, Jose Arcia batted .215.

On the positive side, powerful Nate Colbert led the team in homers with 24, batting .255 while striking out 123 times (no big deal today but back then over 100 K's was a setback). Downtown Ollie Brown led the hitters at .254, adding 20 dingers, and Ed Spiezio and former Dodger Al Ferrara had double figure home run totals with 27 between them. The basic starting lineup rounded out with Cito Gaston's .230 mark.

The Padres finished last (12th place) in nearly every hitting category in 1969 including runs, hits, doubles, walks, strikeouts, BA (.225) and every important other percentage statistic including on-base and slugging figures. They were dismal. They finished 52-110, 41 games out of first place. Only eight times did they beat an opponent by five runs or more, but lost by five runs or more 30 times!

Perhaps their season can be summed up this way. Twice they lost to opposing teams 19-0 and twice more 10-0. There were other double digit scoring losses but those embarrassments were the top of the heap for the 1969 Friars.

The pitching wasn't much better overall but the starters were not bad. Despite losing 20 of 27 decisions 21-year old Clay Kirby finished with a 3.80 ERA. In fact, the four main starters were all under 4.00 in the ERA department. Only one pitcher who pitched any kind of innings however finished with a winning record. Reliever Jack Baldschun was 7-2.

Of all the players on that inaugural team for San Diego, probably the only offensive player who went on to a strong big league career was Colbert. He hit 173 home runs during his MLB life. On the mound it was Joe Niekro who won 221 games in his career while losing 204. His brother Phil won 318 giving them a combined record of 540-478, which in itself is pretty amazing.

Monday, July 10, 2023

The Day the "Other" F. Robby Ruined the O's Day

TRIVIA WINNER: The winner of this week's trivia contest is Augusto Medina of Puerto Rico, who knew that Wilbur Wood's 1960's era accomplishments included twice leading the AL in games pitched and once in Games Finished. The Prize: Starbucks Gift Card.

NEW TRIVIA QUESTION: In what could be considered Floyd Robinson's best season, how many extra base hits did he have?

If ever there was a turning point in a season it came for the 1962 Baltimore Orioles at the hands of F. Robby, and we don't mean Frank Robinson. It was Floyd Robinson, the slick fielding outfielder who patrolled the outfield for the Chicago White Sox. And it came on June 1, at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. And it came at the expense of one of the games best relievers.

The Orioles only finished with less than 80 wins twice during the 1960s. It happened in 1962 and again in 1967 with the collapse of the World Champion Orioles who had both Brooks and Frank to lead the team. The 1962 version was not a bad club. They had power with Jim Gentile's 33 homers leading the way, Brooks hit 23 and batted .303 while Russ Snyder hit .305 and with Jerry Adair, Boog Powell and Jackie Brandt all hitting double figures in homers.

The pitching was fairly solid with a young Steve Barber, Milt Pappas, Hoyt Wilhelm, Dick Hall and an aging but competent Robin Roberts. They were better than the 77 wins they recorded but the end really began on the first day of June.

The O's had never been less than 5.5 games back of first and actually spent a few days in April tied for at the top of the AL. The didn't have long losing or winning streaks but did have some in the 4-5 game range. Still they were pretty consistent. Then on June 1, 1962 they faced Ray Herbert and the White Sox. Pappas took the mound for the Birds.

The game was uneventful with both starters going eight innings and heading into the ninth with Chicago holding a 2-1 lead. Hall pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning but Herbert who was still in the game was tiring. After giving up a single to Gentile he was replaced by Frank Baumann. Charlie Lau sacrificed and Turk Lown came on to pitch. Two singles later the game was tied and it was Wilhelm, manager Billy Hitchcock called on as they went into extra innings. Lown stuck around.

A scoreless White Sox 10th led to trouble for Lown in the bottom of the inning. After striking out Johnny Temple, Russ Snyder doubled. An intentional walk to Brooks Robinson brought up Wilhelm. A wild pitch put runners on second and third before Lown K'd his opposite number and Lau to end the inning by striking out the side.

The top of the 11th was when F. Robby of the American League made his play. He worked Wilhelm for a walk and then promptly stole second. After Bob Farley popped out, Charlie Smith laced a single to bring Robinson home. With Sammy Esposito at the plate Smith was thrown out trying to steal. Good thing for the O's because Esposito followed with a single and a Wilhelm knuckler got away from Lau sending pinch runner Luis Aparicio to second. The key to the inning was Smith getting thrown out as Cam Carreon struck out.

The O's went quietly in the 11th and the Sox had a 3-2 win and the O's were now six games back. Little more than week later they were 8 back and 7th in the 10 team AL. While they would get better for a couple weeks and actually move up in the standings by July 27th they were back to double digits behind the leader, 10 games off the pace. They would eventually finish the season at 77-85, 19 games back of the first place Yankees, losing their final four in a row.

Hitchcock would bring his team back in 1963 by almost identically reversing the teams 1962 record and finishing in fourth place. The O's had basically the exact same lineup as the previous year but Steve Barber turned into a 20 game winner and both Roberts and Pappas had outstanding seasons. 1963 also marked the year Wilhelm joined Robinson as a member of the White Sox in a trade which involved players who played in the above storied game.

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