RetroSimba

Dave Marshall got a big hit against the Cardinals and took some painful hits from them as well.

Marshall played in the big leagues from 1967-73 as an outfielder for the Giants, Mets and Padres.

A left-handed batter, Marshall hit his first home run in the majors against the Cardinals’ Ray Washburn after the Giants benefitted from a controversy involving Willie Mays and Willie McCovey.

A year later, Marshall took his lumps, getting hit by pitches from the Cardinals’ Bob Gibson three times, including twice in one game.

Pro potential

Marshall was a standout football player at Lakewood High School in California and at Long Beach City College. After a coach suggested he try baseball, Marshall excelled and impressed a scout for the Angels, who signed him to a professional contract at age 20 in 1963.

On April 6, 1966, after three seasons in their minor-league system, the Angels traded Marshall to the Giants for infielder Hector Torres. Marshall continued to progress in the minors and hit .294 for Phoenix in 1967.

Marshall made his major-league debut on Sept. 7, 1967, as a pinch-runner. After hitting .444 in 20 exhibition games at training camp the following spring, Marshall made the Giants’ 1968 Opening Day roster.

“He possesses a classic swing at the plate and throws with strength and accuracy,” The Sporting News reported.

The Giants began the 1968 season with an outfield of Mays in center, Jim Ray Hart in left and Jesus Alou in right. Hart and Alou batted right-handed, so manager Herman Franks used Marshall to fill in for them against some right-handers.

Odd start

On May 5, 1968, Marshall got the start in left field and batted sixth against the Cardinals at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

After the Cardinals loaded the bases with one out in the first inning against Mike McCormick, Mike Shannon hit a drive to deep left.

“I thought it was going to land 15 rows up in the stands, but the wind pulled the ball back,” Marshall said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Marshall caught the ball near the fence for the second out.

Lou Brock, the runner on third, should have scored, but he “started for the plate, then went back to third, feeling he had broken from the bag before the ball was caught,” the San Francisco Examiner reported.

Marshall’s throw caught Brock in a rundown and he was tagged for the third out. What started out looking like a grand slam turned into a double play.

New rules

The unusual play foreshadowed more bizarreness.

In the fourth, Mays led off with a single. As the next batter, McCovey, swung and missed a third strike, Mays attempted to steal second. Catcher Tim McCarver made a throw, but the ball struck McCovey’s bat and Mays reached second.

In taking a mighty cut at Washburn’s pitch, McCovey’s bat “circled over his head and he finished up with it across the plate,” the San Francisco Examiner reported.

McCarver told the Post-Dispatch he threw the ball in the proper direction, but McCovey’s bat got in the way.

Cardinals manager Red Schoendienst said Mays “would have been out easily” if McCarver had made an unimpeded throw.

Plate umpire Bill Jackowski called interference on McCovey and ruled Mays out. After Franks objected, the four umpires met and reversed Jackowski’s call, allowing Mays to take second base.

According to the Post-Dispatch, “Schoendienst said the umpires admitted there had been interference, but they said also that the interference was not intentional.”

Schoendienst called the decision “a crime” and pointed out “the rule doesn’t say a thing about the interference having to be intentional.”

Said McCarver: “The umpires butchered the call and we’re expected to swallow it.”

First homer

When play resumed, Mays advanced to third on Jim Davenport’s groundout.

If the umpire’s interference call had stood, Davenport’s out would have been the third of the inning. Instead, it was the second, and Marhsall got to bat.

Washburn threw a low slider and Marshall drove it to right.

“He tried to get the pitch inside, I think, but it was out away,” Marshall told the Oakland Tribune.

The ball carried over the right-field fence for Marshall’s first major-league home run, giving the Giants a 2-0 lead.

“I got it up in the wind and I watched it all the way over the fence,” Marshall said to the San Francisco Examiner. “It sure felt good to make contact.”

An inning later, Marshall made a diving catch of Brock’s sinking liner.

The Giants won, 8-4, giving Washburn his first loss of the season and leaving him dispirited about dusty, wind-blown Candlestick Park. Boxscore

“It’s all right with me if I don’t see the place again,” Washburn said.

Four months later, Washburn pitched a no-hitter against the Giants at Candlestick Park.

Ouch!

On July 25, 1969, Marshall was involved in another Giants-Cardinals classic. Bob Gibson pitched 13 innings and scored the winning run in a 2-1 victory at St. Louis.

Marshall scored the lone Giants run. He led off the game with a single, advanced to third on Ron Hunt’s hit and scored on a groundout.

In the sixth, Gibson hit Marshall with a pitch and Marshall was thrown out attempting to steal second.

In the ninth, Marshall was hit again by a Gibson pitch. He advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt, but was stranded.

Marshall suffered “painful bruises on his right hand and right shoulder” from being hit by Gibson’s pitches, the Oakland Tribune reported. Boxscore

A month later, on Aug. 10, 1969, Gibson hit Marshall with a pitch in the third inning at Candlestick Park in a game won by the Cardinals, 7-4. Boxscore

Marshall batted .179 (7-for-39) in his career versus Gibson and .204 against the Cardinals. Overall, he batted .246 in the majors, with 16 home runs and was hit by pitches 10 times.

Broken-hearted

In 1984, Marshall began working security for the operators of the Queen Mary ocean liner, according to the Long Beach Press-Telegram. He married his wife, Carol, aboard the Queen Mary, the newspaper reported. In 2002, Marshall took a job with the Long Beach Convention Center.

On June 4, 2019, Carol, 82, who had multiple sclerosis, died with her husband at her side. He died two days later.

“I think he may have died of a broken heart,” Charlie Beirne, general manager of the Long Beach Convention Center, said to the Press-Telegram.