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Jimmie Reese was gallant second baseman for Cardinals

Posted in Games, Hitters, Trades on June 1, 2022| 12 Comments »

One look at Jimmie Reese was all it took for the Cardinals to entrust him with a position held by a future Hall of Famer.

On June 4, 1932, the Cardinals purchased Reese’s contract from the minor-league St. Paul Saints.

On his first day with the Cardinals, Reese fielded so well at second base that manager Gabby Street kept him there the rest of the season and shifted Frankie Frisch to third.

A scrapper who energized the lineup, Reese had a short stint with the Cardinals, but a long career in baseball.

Hymie to Jimmie

Hyman Solomon was born in New York City in October 1901, a “son of an Irish mother and a Jewish father,” according to Red Smith of the St. Louis Star-Times.

The father suffered from tuberculosis and the family moved to Los Angeles when Hymie was 5. Hymie’s dad died a year later, according to the Star-Times.

The mother remarried and Hymie changed his name. Hymie was anglicized into Jimmie, and Solomon was dropped in favor of the last name of his mother’s second husband, Reese, the Orange County Register reported.

Jimmie Reese had a passion for baseball. In 1917, when he was 15, he became a bat boy for the minor-league Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League. From then until 1994, when he died at 92, Reese was employed in professional baseball over nine decades.

A left-handed batter, Reese was a second baseman with the Oakland Oaks of the Pacific Coast League before his contract was purchased by the Yankees.

Babysitter for Babe

In 1930, Yankees manager Bob Shawkey assigned Reese to be the road roommate of Babe Ruth because he hoped the clean-cut rookie might be a good influence on the notorious playboy. Ruth liked Reese and treated him well, but didn’t change his lifestyle. As Reese fondly said, “I roomed with his suitcase.”

Reese excelled as a pinch-hitter and backup at second to future Hall of Famer Tony Lazzeri. Reese hit .346 overall in 1930 and had a .519 on-base percentage as a pinch-hitter (12 hits, two walks, 27 plate appearances).

Just as impressively, Reese earned the respect of his star-studded teammates for his professionalism and demeanor. “A prince among good fellows,” Lou Gehrig wrote on a photo he autographed for Reese.

After wrenching a knee in spring training and hitting .241 in 1931, Reese was traded by the Yankees to St. Paul.

Dazzling debut

Being sent back to the minors “knocked me out,” Reese told the Star-Times. “I was broken-hearted and I couldn’t get the old spirit back. I was a complete flop in St. Paul.”

When told during a road trip to Milwaukee that his contract had been purchased by the Cardinals, “I never was so happy in my life,” Reese said.

Reese departed Milwaukee by train the night of June 4, 1932, and arrived in St. Louis the next day, just in time for the Cardinals’ doubleheader against the Reds.

With Frisch out because of leg ailments, Reese started at second base in both games, singled in his first at-bat as a Cardinal, and dazzled on defense.

With a runner on first, the Reds’ Mickey Heath “hit a sharp grounder toward second base. It looked like a sure hit, but Reese raced over for a pretty stop, stepped on the bag and then, still in full stride, cocked an eye toward first and flipped the ball to Rip Collins for a double play,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. Boxscore

For the doubleheader, Reese handled 18 chances without an error, turned five double plays, totaled two hits and a walk, and scored a run. Boxscore

Displaying desire

When Frisch returned to the lineup June 8, he moved to third base and Reese stayed at second. Three days later, Reese collided with Dodgers catcher Al Lopez and tore shoulder ligaments. After sitting out 10 days, Reese “came back, his shoulder lumpy with bandages, and played courageously despite the pain,” the Star-Times reported.

Reese played “with a grin as broad as a south side cop’s shirtfront, a pair of legs that are brothers to the west wind, and a heart simply groaning under its load of ambition,” Red Smith wrote.

His style fit well with the Cardinals, who were the reigning World Series champions and developing their Gashouse Gang persona. 

Regarding Frisch, Reese told the Los Angeles Times, “What a money player. He wasn’t as good when there was nothing at stake.”

Reese also saw similarities between Babe Ruth and Cardinals pitcher Dizzy Dean. “Dean thought he could get any human being out, and Ruth thought he could hit any human being,” Reese said. “Dean and Pepper Martin, they were pranksters, but they never hurt anybody. They were kids at heart.”

Reese’s contributions to the 1932 Cardinals included:

 _ A two-run walkoff double to beat the Cubs. Boxscore

_ Four RBI in a game against the Giants. Boxscore 

_ Four hits in a game versus the Dodgers. Boxscore

“He uses his head at the plate, waits out the pitcher, chokes his bat and slices line singles over the heads of the infielders,” the Star-Times noted.

Described by Smith as “a scintillating defensive player,” Reese made 71 starts at second base for the 1932 Cardinals and had a mere nine errors in 645 innings. He hit .265.

Gentleman of the game

After the season, the Cardinals couldn’t resist signing Rogers Hornsby, who was released by the Cubs. Hornsby, the former Cardinal and future Hall of Famer, was projected to be a pinch-hitter and backup to Frisch at second base.

Seeing he wasn’t in the Cardinals’ plans, Reese asked for permission to make a deal for himself with another club, the St. Louis Globe-Democrat reported. The Cardinals agreed. In February 1933, Reese’s contract was purchased by his hometown Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League.

Reese never again played in the majors, but he stayed in baseball the rest of his life. After his playing career, he primarily was a scout and minor-league coach. He tried managing in the minors but didn’t like it. “Ballplayers can be like children,” he told the Los Angeles Times, “and I just couldn’t get tough. When I was managing, all I did was worry.”

Reese was 70 when he became a big-league coach for the first time with the 1972 Angels. He continued to serve in uniform for the Angels until his death 22 years later. Los Angeles Times columnist Mike Penner pegged Reese “the spirit-lifter” for the club.

“He elevated the status of those around him simply by his presence,” Penner wrote. “He generated more goodwill and publicity for this team in a single day than a thousand spin-doctoring press conferences.”

Reese was a mentor and friend to several players, including Nolan Ryan, who named his second son Reese in honor of the coach. “There are special people in your life who make an impact on you,” Ryan told the Los Angeles Times. “Jimmie was that to me. He helped me on and off the field.”

Reese amazed players with his ability to place a ball almost anywhere he wanted with a fungo bat. He created the bats from hickory or oak, one side rounded, the other flat, in a workshop behind his house. He also had a hobby of making wood picture frames and giving them to friends, the Orange County Register noted.

At the memorial service for Reese in July 1994, uniforms from the Yankees, Cardinals and Angels were displayed. The Angels retired his uniform No. 50.

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Stranger things for Ozzie Smith and Garry Templeton

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents on May 28, 2022| 6 Comments »

On the weekend he returned to St. Louis for the first time as an opponent of the Cardinals, shortstop Garry Templeton got booed, but he also got the last laugh.

In May 1982, Templeton was with the Padres when they played a series versus the Cardinals at Busch Memorial Stadium. Templeton hadn’t been to St. Louis since being traded by the Cardinals for Ozzie Smith after the 1981 season.

Templeton’s departure from St. Louis was prompted by his outburst in August 1981 when he made obscene gestures to fans at a home game.

Welcome back

On May 28, 1982, a Friday night crowd of 31,733 gathered for Templeton’s return. “The moment Templeton took batting practice, the hecklers went to work,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

During the game “each time he batted, fielded ground balls, or merely stepped out of the dugout, he was booed and harassed,” according to the Post-Dispatch.

Two spectators unfurled a banner that declared, “To forgive is human, to error is Templeton.”

“The fans were what I thought they’d be,” Templeton said to the Post-Dispatch. “I played here before, and there was no change … Common sense should have told you what to expect.”

Batting third in the Padres’ order, Templeton was hitless in four at-bats versus Bob Forsch, who boosted his record to 6-1 in the Cardinals’ 5-2 victory. Rookie Willie McGee, playing in his third home game, scored three times. Boxscore

Running wild

Templeton got satisfaction in Game 2 of the series on Saturday night May 29. In addition to scoring a run and driving in another, he had a key role in a bizarre play involving Ozzie Smith.

In the eighth inning, with the score tied at 2-2, one out and none on, Cardinals pitcher Joaquin Andujar lined a single against Padres starter and former Cardinal John Curtis.

Smith followed with a groundball single into right field. Andujar rounded second but “stopped dead in his tracks when Sixto Lezcano’s throw came in quickly behind him,” the Post-Dispatch reported.

Templeton took the throw and tossed to third baseman Luis Salazar, who tagged out Andujar.

Before Salazar could fire to second, where Smith was headed, Andujar swiped at the ball and knocked it from Salazar’s grasp, according to the Los Angeles Times. As the ball rolled toward the dugout near third base, catcher Terry Kennedy and left fielder Alan Wiggins chased after it.

Smith sped to third and rounded the bag, but Templeton came up behind him, took a throw from Wiggins and tagged out Smith, ending the inning.

In a baseball rarity, Smith had singled into a double play.

“If you are keeping score, the play went 9-6-5-7-6,” the Los Angeles Times noted.

“That was the weirdest double play I’ve ever been in,” Templeton said.

In the ninth, the Padres scored twice for a 4-2 lead. Leading off the bottom half of the inning against reliever Eric Show, McGee laced a sinking liner that Templeton caught near his shoestrings, preventing the ball from bounding into the outfield for an extra-base hit.

Fans booed Templeton for making the play, prompting Padres manager Dick Williams to tell the Los Angeles Times, “How do people boo a play like that? I’m ashamed to admit I was born in St. Louis. It was totally embarrassing.”

Show retired the next two batters, Lonnie Smith and Keith Hernandez, to seal the Padres’ victory. Boxscore

Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog lamented the base running mistakes that contributed to Smith’s rally-killing double play in the eighth.

“Even if Ozzie stays on third, we’ve got a crack at a run,” Herzog said. “If we go ahead, I bring (closer) Bruce Sutter in, but we never got the chance.”

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Fit to be tied: How Cardinals got a goofy win vs. Reds

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents on May 14, 2022| 8 Comments »

The Reds thought they beat the Cardinals on a home run that didn’t count. The Cardinals thought they won on a home run that did count. The unsatisfying result was that neither team won. A tie score was declared and a makeup game was scheduled.

The adventure began on a Saturday afternoon, May 14, 1938, when the Reds and Cardinals played at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis.

In the sixth inning, the Reds led, 3-1, and had runners on first (Billy Myers) and third (Lonny Frey), two outs, when Dusty Cooke hit a deep drive to right-center against Cardinals rookie starter Max Macon.

“The ball soared on and on,” The Sporting News reported, and still was rising as it carried over the outfield wall and the bleacher seats. It struck an iron girder just below the roof “at a point where the pavilion is not protected by screen,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch observed, and caromed back into the playing field.

Lee Ballanfant, the umpire with the closest view, ruled the ball was in play. Center fielder Enos Slaughter retrieved it and threw to third baseman Joe Stripp. Cooke, sliding, arrived just ahead of the ball.

Cooke was credited with a two-run triple, extending the Reds’ lead to 5-1, but the Reds argued that he hit a three-run home run, making it a 6-1 score.

According to the Associated Press, Sportsman’s Park had no ground rule for a ball striking a beam underneath the pavilion roof and falling back into the playing field.

Ballanfant, backed by the other two umpires, Bill Klem and Ziggy Sears, determined it was a judgment call.

Reds manager Bill McKechnie disagreed and filed a protest, saying the umpires deprived Cooke of a home run. The Reds contended it was a home run because the ball cleared the outfield wall and would have landed on the pavilion roof or in the seats if it hadn’t struck the girder.

Diamond drama

Trailing 5-1, the Cardinals rallied for four runs in the bottom of the ninth. If Cooke had been allowed a home run instead of a triple, the Reds would have held on for a 6-5 victory. Instead, the score was 5-5 and the game went to an extra inning.

In the 10th, Frank McCormick’s two-out single scored Lonny Frey from second, giving the Reds a 6-5 lead.

Joe Stripp led off the bottom of the inning with a single against Ray Benge. Gene Schott relieved and fell behind in the count, 3-and-1, to Enos Slaughter.

Given the sign to swing away, Slaughter crushed a home run above the pavilion roof in right, turning “an impending defeat into a glorious Cardinals victory,” the Post-Dispatch reported. Cardinals rushed onto the field and “mauled and hauled Slaughter from the plate to the dugout” in celebration of the 7-6 comeback triumph. Boxscore

According to the Sporting News, McKechnie called National League president Ford Frick at his New York office and was assured a hearing would be held.

“Even officials of the St. Louis team anticipate Frick will allow the protest,” The Cincinnati Post reported.

Play it again

Frick decided to visit Sportsman’s Park and see for himself the spot where Cooke’s drive struck the beam near the pavilion roof.

On June 3, two days after he made his inspection, Frick ruled Cooke’s hit was a home run, but instead of awarding the Reds a 6-5 victory, Frick declared the outcome a 7-7 tie. He ruled that all statistics from the game counted in the record book, but the outcome did not. He ordered the game replayed in its entirety.

The Reds had hoped Frick either would award them a win, or rule for play to resume in the sixth, with the Reds batting, two outs, and a 6-1 lead.

“If that was a home run, the Reds won the game, and it must be difficult for manager McKechnie to understand Frick’s ruling to replay,” J. Roy Stockton wrote in the Post-Dispatch.

McKechnie, a former Cardinals manager who led them to the 1928 National League pennant, told The Cincinnati Post, “Frick’s decision that we must replay the entire game is unjust.”

“Frick showed a distinct lack of courage,” McKechnie said to the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Frick told the Associated Press that awarding the Reds a win, or resuming the game in the sixth inning, would penalize the Cardinals “for an error which was in no part its own and concerning which they had no responsibility.”

The Cardinals, though, were unhappy, too. They thought Frick should have upheld the decision of the umpires and validated the 7-6 victory.

Just peachy

The makeup was scheduled as the second game of a Saturday doubleheader on Aug. 20 at Sportsman’s Park.

The Cardinals scored four in the first, knocking out Reds starter Peaches Davis.

In the seventh, with the Cardinals ahead, 5-1, Johnny Mize hit a ball that struck near the edge of the pavilion roof atop the screened section in right. Mize stopped at second base, but umpire Dolly Stark incorrectly ruled it a home run. The Reds argued, and plate umpire George Barr overruled Stark, declaring the hit a double.

The Reds scored three in the eighth, but the Cardinals held on for a 5-4 victory. Boxscore

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Ken Boyer, Julian Javier had knack for clinching clouts

Posted in Games, Hitters on May 10, 2022| 4 Comments »

Julian Javier hit only four home runs for the 1968 Cardinals, but two of those resulted in 1-0 victories.

Three times in his career, Javier hit a home run in a 1-0 Cardinals victory. The only other player to hit a home run in three 1-0 Cardinals triumphs is Ken Boyer, according to researcher Tom Orf.

Just as noteworthy is the list of Cardinals who never hit a home run in a 1-0 win. Stan Musial never did it, according to Orf. Neither did Lou Brock, Jim Edmonds, Mark McGwire, Johnny Mize, Ted Simmons or Enos Slaughter as Cardinals.

Boyer blasts

Boyer ranks third in most career home runs (255) for the Cardinals.

The first time he hit a home run in a 1-0 Cardinals victory was Sept. 7, 1956, against the Reds’ Joe Nuxhall at St. Louis.

Swinging at a Nuxhall curve with one out in the seventh, Boyer hit “a tremendous shot that cut through a strong headwind to land well up in the left field bleachers” at the original Busch Stadium, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported.

The home run was Boyer’s first since July 26 and helped snap Nuxhall’s six-game winning streak. Boyer hit .330 with five home runs versus Nuxhall in his career. Boxscore

Two years later, on July 19, 1958, the Reds again were the opponent when Boyer hit a home run in a 1-0 Cardinals win at Cincinnati.

Leading off the 10th, Boyer hit an Alex Kellner curve over the Crosley Field wall in left for his fifth home run against the Reds that season, helping end a seven-game Cardinals losing skid. Boxscore

The final time Boyer hit a home run in a 1-0 Cardinals win was June 25, 1960, at Philadelphia. Leading off the ninth, he lined the first pitch from Jim Owens just over a railing into the first row of seats in left at Connie Mack Stadium.

“It was a good pitch, high and inside,” Boyer told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “I hit it good.”

Curt Simmons, facing the Phillies for the first time since they released him in May, earned his first Cardinals win. Boxscore

Good timing

While Julian Javier was visiting children at a Pittsburgh hospital, a 6-year-old boy asked him to hit a home run that night against the Pirates. Javier delivered, connecting against Steve Blass for a 1-0 Cardinals victory at Forbes Field on May 15, 1968. Boxscore

Four months later, as the Cardinals were closing in on clinching a second consecutive National League pennant, Javier hit another improbable home run to give the Cardinals a 1-0 victory.

On Sept. 2, 1968, at Cincinnati, Javier led off the 10th against the Reds’ Ted Abernathy, who had a 2.07 ERA and hadn’t allowed a home run since July. Abernathy threw low strikes with an underhanded submarine delivery. Javier, who batted .174 versus Abernathy, called him Abernasty, the Post-Dispatch reported, “because he doesn’t give you many good pitches to hit.”

To Javier’s surprise, he got a hanging curve from Abernathy and drove the pitch into the left field screen at Crosley Field for a home run.

“I do not see many high pitches from Abernathy, so I am glad I got a good cut at the one he gave me,” Javier said to the Dayton Journal Herald.

The home run gave the Cardinals a 1-0 victory and earned the 20th win of the season for Bob Gibson, who was on his way to winning the National League Most Valuable Player and Cy Young awards. The shutout was the 12th of Gibson’s 13 that season. Boxscore

Javier, who had 76 regular-season home runs for the Cardinals, got the last of his 1-0 game-winners on Aug. 26, 1969, against the Astros at St. Louis. His home run beat Larry Dierker, who allowed two hits in seven innings. Boxscore

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Familiar foes: Ernie Broglio versus Lou Brock

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents, Pitchers on April 29, 2022| 8 Comments »

(Updated June 12, 2022)

Facing Ernie Broglio for the first time since they were traded for one another, Lou Brock ignited a rally with a bunt.

On July 28, 1964, Broglio started for the Cubs against the Cardinals at Wrigley Field in Chicago. It was the first time the Cardinals and Cubs played one another since the June 15 deal of Brock and pitchers Jack Spring and Paul Toth to the Cardinals for Broglio, pitcher Bobby Shantz and outfielder Doug Clemens.

Broglio, who was 3-5 with a 3.50 ERA for the 1964 Cardinals, entered the series with a 1-4 record and 5.70 ERA for the Cubs. Pitching with an aching right elbow, he lost his first four decisions with the Cubs before beating the Mets with a 10-hit complete game.

Brock, who batted .251 for the 1964 Cubs, entered the series with a .338 batting average and 11 stolen bases for the Cardinals. Brock’s speed, base running and hitting drew comparison’s with former Cardinals standout Enos Slaughter.

“He’s about as close to Slaughter as you can get,” Cardinals manager Johnny Keane told the Associated Press, “and he’s faster. His running has made a great difference to this ballclub.”

Brock said, “Stealing bases is like hitting. It’s timing and rhythm. I don’t study pitchers much. When you have the timing and rhythm, a pitcher can do anything and you can still steal the base.”

Lighting a spark

The Tuesday afternoon game was played before 16,052 spectators on a day when the Chicago temperature exceeded 90 degrees.

Brock grounded out and struck out in his first two plate appearances against Broglio.

In the sixth, with the Cubs ahead, 4-1, Brock gave the Cardinals a chance to climb back. With one out and none one, he pushed a bunt toward the mound. Broglio fielded the ball, but Brock streaked to first with a single. Ken Boyer drove him in with a triple, and Bill White followed with a home run, tying the score at 4-4.

Though the Cubs regained the lead in the bottom of the sixth against an ineffective Bob Gibson, Broglio couldn’t protect it and the Cardinals knocked him out with two runs in the seventh. Broglio and Gibson each gave up six runs.

The game was delayed for five minutes before the start of the ninth because of excessive heat and humidity. Plate umpire Doug Harvey was overcome by exhaustion and was replaced by Lee Weyer.

The Cardinals prevailed, 12-7, in 10 innings, with another of their former pitchers, Larry Jackson, taking the loss. Boxscore

Chicago blues

Brock faced Broglio twice more in 1964, going 0-for-2 with a walk on Sept. 6 and 2-for-4 (two singles) on Sept. 11.

In the Sept. 6 game, Broglio pitched 6.1 innings and allowed one earned run, but he told The Sporting News, “I felt as if I had pulled everything inside the elbow.” Boxscore

The last match between them was on June 27, 1965, when Brock drove in a run with a groundout. Boxscore

As a Cardinal, Brock was 3-for-10 versus Broglio. As a Cub, he was 7-for-31, with two home runs. His home run on July 19, 1962, ended a streak of 11.1 scoreless innings for Broglio. Boxscore

Overall, Brock hit .244 versus Broglio with five RBI.

Brock excelled against the Cubs throughout his Cardinals career. His .334 batting mark versus the Cubs was his best against any opponent. Brock also had career highs in hits (342) and doubles (64) against the Cubs.

In four starts against the Cardinals, Broglio was 0-2 with a 5.32 ERA. He underwent right elbow surgery after the 1964 season for removal of four bone fragments, and told The Sporting News he had been taking cortisone shots once every two weeks for two years.

In March 1965, Broglio said to United Press International, “I’d felt pain in my elbow for four seasons … Those chips which were removed looked to me like four pearls. They must have been calcifying since I was playing high school basketball.”

Broglio pitched two more years (1965-66) for the Cubs and was 30 when he played his last game in the majors.

Brock and Broglio developed a friendship after their playing careers. Broglio displayed a photo from Brock, who inscribed it to “a hell of a player.”

“Ernie is top of the charts,” Brock told ESPN. “He is a good man, a man with integrity. We have a good relationship.”

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Bob Gibson took a walk on the wild side in Philadelphia

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents, Pitchers on April 25, 2022| 5 Comments »

What happened to Bob Gibson on a frigid night at Connie Mack Stadium was weird even by Philadelphia standards. Almost as weird as Santa Claus being booed and pelted with snowballs, or a team mascot getting attacked by an opposing manager.

On April 16, 1962, Gibson gave away a six-run Cardinals lead in the first and didn’t last the inning against the Phillies.

For a pitcher who usually excelled at protecting leads and dominated the Phillies, the failure by Gibson defied the odds and illustrated just how difficult and unpredictable the game could be, even for those at the top of the profession. 

Frozen tundra

After winning their first three games of the 1962 season, the Cardinals were in Philadelphia to play the Phillies on a Monday night. According to the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, the temperature at game time was “a bone-chilling cold” 32 degrees.

“The ball was slick and cold, just like a piece of ice,” Cardinals manager Johnny Keane told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The starting pitchers were Gibson, 26, and Cal McLish, 36, whose full name was Calvin Coolidge Julius Caesar Tuskahoma McLish.

Both were making their first appearances of the season. Against the Phillies in 1961, Gibson was 3-0 with an 0.67 ERA, allowing two earned runs in 27 innings. An Oklahoma native who followed the Cardinals as a youth, McLish was making his Phillies debut after being acquired from the White Sox a month earlier. (In 1982, McLish was the pitching coach for the Brewers, who opposed the Cardinals in the World Series.)

An audience of 3,895 settled in to see the show.

Out of control

Struggling to get pitches over the plate, McLish “was in the showers before you could pronounce his whole name,” Neal Russo of the Post-Dispatch observed.

McLish walked the first two batters, Don Landrum and Julian Javier. Bill White doubled, scoring Landrum and moving Javier to third. After Stan Musial was walked intentionally, loading the bases, Ken Boyer walked unintentionally, scoring Javier.

Gene Oliver made the first out, popping up to third. Doug Clemens, who grew up in Leesport, about 70 miles northwest of Philadelphia, cleared the bases with a double, making the score 5-0.

Phillies manager Gene Mauch replaced McLish with Dallas Green. “It wasn’t that bad pitching out there,” McLish said to the Post-Dispatch, “but I kept fighting myself and got in a rut.”

Green drilled Julio Gotay with a fastball. “It was a knockdown pitch,” Keane told the Post-Dispatch.

The next batter, Gibson, wasn’t intimidated. He rapped a grounder into the hole on the left side for an infield single, and, when shortstop Ruben Amaro made a wild throw after gloving the ball, Clemens scored, giving the Cardinals a 6-0 lead.

Not worth the wait

“Thirty minutes elapsed before Dallas Green got the side out, and, by that time, Gibson was as stiff as a fungo bat,” Stan Hochman noted in the Philadelphia Daily News.

Keane told the Post-Dispatch, “Gibson was cooled off by the time he got to the mound. Maybe we missed the boat by not sending him to the bullpen while we were at bat so long.”

Like McLish did in the top half of the inning, Gibson walked the first two batters (Tony Taylor and Johnny Callison), but Tony Gonzalez struck out and Wes Covington flied out to center.

Then the next six Phillies batters reached base.

Billy Klaus singled, scoring Taylor. Frank Torre walked, loading the bases, and Clay Dalrymple followed with a two-run single, getting the Phillies within three at 6-3.

Amaro walked, reloading the bases, and Gibson was relieved by Ernie Broglio.

“I have no excuses,” Gibson said to the Post-Dispatch. “I was just wild. My ball was moving real good _ in fact, it was moving a little too much. I had good stuff.”

Keane said, “Gibson, with his fastball, usually knocks the bats out of their hands on a cold night like this one.”

Roy Sievers batted for Dallas Green and drew a walk from Broglio, scoring Torre from third. Tony Taylor followed with a two-run single, tying the score at 6-6.

With Broglio shutting out the Phillies over the last eight innings, the Cardinals rallied for four runs against Don Ferrarese and two versus Jack Baldschun, winning 12-6. Boxscore

(Two weeks later, Ferrarese was traded to the Cardinals for Bobby Locke.)

Back on track

In his book “Stranger to the Game,” Gibson recalled, “After that, our pitching coach, Howie Pollet, made me throw more pitches and simulate game conditions in the bullpen, which seemed to help.”

Two weeks later, Gibson pitched a two-hitter to beat the Houston Colt .45s. Boxscore

Gibson was 15-13, including 3-1 versus the Phillies, in 1962 before he broke his right leg during batting practice before a September game against the Dodgers.

For his career, Gibson was 30-12 with a 2.59 ERA versus the Phillies. He had more career wins against the Phillies than he did versus any other club.

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