Rico Reaches 40 Home Runs

From This Week in 1960s Baseball …

(September 29, 1969)  Going deep off Washington Senators pitcher Jim Shellenback, Rico Petrocelli today became the first shortstop in American League history to hit 40 home runs in a season.

Rico Petrocelli

The Boston Red Sox infielder’s record-setting home run was a seventh-inning solo shot that put the Red Sox ahead 6-3. The Red Sox would eventually win the game by a score of 8-5.

The winning pitcher for Boston was Sonny Siebert (14-11). Lee Stange pitched 2.2 scoreless innings to earn his second save of the season.

For the game, Petrocelli got 3 hits in 5 at-bats to raise his batting average to .301. He would finish the 1969 season hitting .297 with 40 home runs and 97 runs batted in. In 1969, he was also named to the American League All-Star team for the second time.

Only 3 shortstops have hit 40 or more home runs in a season. The first to do it – and the only National Leaguer – was Ernie Banks of the Chicago Cubsin 1955 when he hit 44. Banks topped the 40-home run mark 4 times in his Hall of Fame career. His career best was 47 in 1958.

Petrocelli was the only American League shortstop to reach that plateau until 1998, when Alex Rodriguez blasted 42 bombs while playing for the Seattle Mariners. As a shortstop, Rodriguez topped 40 home runs 6 times. He hit 57 home runs with the Texas Rangers in 2002.

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The Glove Club: Willie Mays

If he had been a career .250 (instead of batting, .302 over 22 seasons), Willie Mays may not have made it to the Hall of Fame. But he almost certainly would have been a starting center fielder throughout his career on the strength of his multiple defensive skills.

Willie Mays

Mays was as fast as any center fielder in his prime, able to run down fly balls others couldn’t reach. He had a strong, accurate throwing arm and practically had a patent on the “basket” catch, catching the ball with his glove at his waist rather than above his head.

That’s how Mays naturally caught the ball. So much of his excellent baseball skills just came naturally.

He was a Gold Glove winner from 1957 through 1968, a dozen altogether. He had more career putouts (7,095) than any outfielder before or after him. His career fielding average was .981. 

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DC Power Source

From Player Profile at 1960s Baseball ...

Don Lock was a lanky right-handed batter who hit with substantial power but would never compete for a batting title. He was also an excellent outfielder and a fixture in the Washington Senators’ line-up in the early-to-mid 1960s.

Don Lock

Lock was signed by the New York Yankees in 1958 and spent 4 seasons in the Yankees’ minor league system before being traded in 1962 to the Senators for first baseman Dale Long. He appeared in 71 games for the Senators in 1962, batting .253 with 12 home runs and 37 RBIs while patrolling left field.

In 1963, Lock was installed as the Senators’ starting center fielder and responded by hitting .252 with 27 home runs and 82 RBs. In 1964, he had a nearly identical season, batting .248 with 28 homers and 80 RBIs.

American league pitchers finally caught up with Lock in 1965, and he hit only 16 home runs in each of the next 2 seasons, averaging 43 RBIs. Following the 1966 season, he was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies for pitcher Darold Knowles and responded by batting .252 in 1967 with 14 home runs and 51 RBIs. He would play 2 more seasons, in Philadelphia and with the Boston Red Sox, hitting a total of 9 home runs with 36 RBIs. He retired after the 1969 season with a career batting average of .238 and 122 home runs.

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Oh, What a Relief: Ron Perranoski

It was pitching that carried the Los Angeles Dodgers to their World Series championship in 1963. It wasn’t their hitting. Despite having the league’s batting champion in Tommy Davis, the Dodgers as a team batted .251, only fourth best in the National League. They were fifth in the league in runs scored.

Ron Perranoski

But that kind of offense was enough for a team that featured Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale and Johnny Podres in its starting rotation. And even though those 3 starters accounted for 47 complete games in 1963, the Dodgers’ success also came from a solid bullpen, led by a left-hander who won 16 games in relief in 1963, Ron Perranoski.

Signed off the Michigan State University campus by the Chicago Cubs, Perranoski was traded to the Dodgers in 1960. (While attending Michigan State University, he was a teammate of Dick Radatz, the ace reliever for the Boston Red Sox in the mid-1960s.)

Perranoski made the Dodgers’ squad in 1961, appearing in 53 games (including the only start of his career), and going 7-5 with 6 saves and a 2.65 ERA. He established himself as the Dodgers’ closer in 1962, appearing in 70 games and finishing 39 of them, with 20 saves and a 2.85 ERA.

In 1963, Perranoski had a career year, with a 16-3 record and 21 saves with a 1.67 earned run average. He appeared only once in the World Series, shutting down the Yankees in the bottom of the ninth to earn a save in preserving a 4-1 victory for the Dodgers and Podres. (Every other game was a complete-game victory for the Dodgers’ starter.)

Over the next 4 years, Perranoski appeared in 256 games for the Dodgers, saving 54 while going 23-27 with a 2.73 ERA. He was traded to the Minnesota Twins following the 1987 season, and saved 65 games for the Twins over the next two years, leading the American League in that category both seasons. His performance tailed off sharply after that, and Perranoski retired in 1973 after 13 seasons.

Perranoski’s 179 career saves made him the all-time leader among left-handers at the time he retired. Today his save total still leaves him ninth on the all-time list among left-handed relievers. His 16 wins in relief in 1963 tied him with Philadelphia’s Jim Konstanty for the second highest total in a season. (Roy Face set the record with 18 in 1959, a record that still stands.)

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600 Club Welcomes Willie

From This Week in 1960s Baseball …

(September 22, 1969) Today Willie Mays reached a monumental career milestone when he hit home run number 600.

The National League’s all-time home run leader became the second player in major league history to reach the 600-homer mark. Babe Ruth sat atop the list with 714 career home runs.

Willie Mays

The Mays home run came in the seventh inning of a game tied 2-2 between the San Francisco Giants and the San Diego Padres. Batting against Padres starter Mike Corkins, Giants second baseman Ron Hunt singled to lead off the inning. Mays entered the game as a pinch-hitter for George Foster. His 2-run homer was enough for the Giants to win the game 4-2, with Corkins (1-3) taking the loss.

The winning pitcher was Don McMahon (6-6), who allowed one run on 4 hits in 4 innings of relief work.

The Giants scored first in the game. Hal Lanier opened the third inning with a walk, and advanced to third base on 2 ground outs. Lanier scored the game’s first run when Hunt singled. Then Jim Ray Hart singled to drive in the Giants’ second run.

The Padres scored one run in both the third and sixth innings on an RBI single from Ollie Brown and a Nate Colbert triple.

The 1969 season had been a struggle for Mays. After averaging 37 home runs and 105 RBIs in the 1960s, his power production in 1969 slipped to 13 home runs and 58 runs batted in. He would add 60 more home runs before retiring in 1973.

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Swap Shop: How the Yankees Found Their Savior for 1964

On September 4, 1964, the New York Yankees looked like they might not repeat as American League champions after 4 consecutive pennants.

Pedro Ramos

After beating the Kansas City Athletics that day, the Yankees found themselves in third place, 3 games behind the Baltimore Orioles and Chicago White Sox. The Yankees had been stuck in third place for nearly a month after leading the league at the end of July. They struggled through a 14-16 August, and were 2-2 thus far in September.

That was about to change in 24 hours.

Ralph Terry

On September 5, the Yankees announced that they had acquired pitcher Pedro Ramos from the Cleveland Indiansfor cash and players to be named later. Ramos had started and relieved for the Tribe, and brought with him a record of 7-10 with a 5.14 ERA.

Ramos was a career innings-eater who had made a career of pitching for bad teams – and mostly losing. He led the American League in losses for 4 consecutive seasons from 1958 through 1961, when he lost 20 games for the Minnesota Twins. The Twins traded him to Cleveland in 1962, when he posted only the second winning season (9-8) of his 9-year career.

No one in the media saw Ramos as a season saver. But that’s what he turned out to be.

Over the final 24 games of the season, the Yankees would capture the American League pennant by winning 20 games. Ramos appeared in 13 of those games, finished 11 and saved 8 games. He was 1-0 with a 1.25 ERA for the Yankees, and his addition, along with the emergence of Mel Stottlemyre following his call-up in August, propelled the Yankees to their fifth consecutive American league pennant.

Bud Daley

And best of all, the Yankees gave up nothing for Ramos until after the season. The players to be named later turned out to be 2 pitchers: right-hander Ralph Terry, who was 7-11 with a 4.54 ERA in 1964, and Bud Daley, a lefty who went 3-2 with a 4.63 ERA in 1964. Essentially, the Yankees traded two pitchers on the downside of their careers for a pennant. No brainer.

There was one downside for the Yankees. Since Ramos was acquired in September, he was not eligible for the World Series. They could have used him, dropping the 1964 World Series 4 games to 3 to the St. Louis Cardinals.

The Ramos acquisition continued to pay benefits to the Yankees in 1965. Working exclusively out of the bullpen, Ramos made 65 appearances in 1965 with a 5-5 record and a 2.92 ERA. He finished 42 games and saved 19, eighth most in the league. 

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Success in the Shade of a Palm

From Player Profiles at 1960s Baseball …

Dave Giusti had 2 pitching careers spanning 15 major league seasons. Starting out with the Houston Colts, he was an innings-eating starter who had limited success with a team of decidedly limited abilities. Then after 7 years as a starter, Giusti became one of the most effective relief pitchers in the National League once transplanted in the bullpen of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Dave Giusti

Perfecting the off-speed palm ball transformed Giusti into a devastating reliever, and made him a critical part of the Pirates’ success in the early 1970s.

But prior to his big breakout in Pittsburgh, Giusti was a promising young starter in Houston, the team that signed him as an amateur free agent in 1961. He made his major league debut in 1962, and earned a permanent spot on the Houston pitching roster in 1964, finishing the season as a long reliever and occasional starter with an 8-7 record and a 4.32 ERA. By 1966 he was the ace of the staff, going 15-14 with a 4.20 ERA, and pitching over 200 innings, which he would repeat in each of the next 2 seasons.

Giusti won 11 games in both 1967 and 1968, and then was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for catcher Johnny Edwards. He struggled to a 3-7 record with the Cardinals, and was subsequently dealt to Pittsburgh.

In Pittsburgh, Giusti found immediate success as the team’s closer. He was 9-3 in 1970 with a 3.06 ERA and 26 saves. He led the National League in saves with 30 in 1971, and recorded more than 20 saves in both 1972 and 1973. From 1970 through 1973, Giusti averaged 61 appearances and 24 saves per season, with a combined ERA of 2.61.

In 1975, Giusti was now 35 and his fastball had lost some of its zip, but he still managed to go 5-4 for Pittsburgh with a 2.95 ERA and 17 saves. He repeated with another 5-4 record in 1976, but with only 6 saves and a 4.32 ERA.

Giusti was traded to the Oakland Athletics in 1977, but despite a 2.98 ERA, he saved only 6 games with a 3-3 record. Giusti finished the 1977 season with the Chicago Cubsand retired with a career record of 100-93 and a 3.60 ERA. He was a member of the National League All-Star team in 1973.

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Career Year: Jimmie Hall

After 7 years in the minor leagues, a 25-year-old outfielder named Jimmie Hall was pleasantly surprised to find himself accompanying the Minnesota Twins north following 1963 spring training. His expectations for significant playing time during the 1963 season had to be modest, as the Twin’s outfield line-up was set with Lenny Green in center field flanked by 2 All-Stars, Harmon Killebrew and Bob Allison.

Jimmy Hall

At the end of May, Hall was hitting only .188 in limited action. Then an injury to Green opened up center field for Hall. He batted .322 in June with 5 home runs and 16 runs batted in. He hit 7 more home runs in July, and then had a huge August: .333 batting average, 13 home runs, 27 RBIs. A healthy Green didn’t have a chance of displacing Hall the way he was hitting.

Hall closed out the season strong, hitting 6 more home runs in September. He closed out the 1963 season with a .260 batting average, 33 home runs and 80 RBIs. He finished third in the Rookie of the Year voting behind Gary Peters and Pete Ward.

Hall opened the 1964 season as the team’s starting center fielder, but he couldn’t match the hitting productivity of his rookie campaign. Hall hit 25 home runs in 1964 and 20 homers in both 1965 and 1966. He was traded to the California Angels in 1967, and played for a total of 6 major league teams before retiring after the 1970 season.

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Jackson Wins 20th

From This Week in 1960s Baseball …

(September 15, 1964) – Playing before only 904 fans at Wrigley Field, Larry Jackson today became the first pitcher in the major leagues to win 20 games as the Chicago Cubs defeated the Cincinnati Reds6-1.

Larry Jackson

Jackson (20-10) allowed 6 hits and 3 walks while striking out 5.

The losing pitcher was Bob Purkey (10-9).

Third baseman Ron Santo had a big day for the Cubs, getting a double, a triple and 2 RBIs. Andre Rodgers drove in 3 runs with his 12^th home run in the sixth inning off Reds pitcher Joe Nuxhall.

Jackson’s 20^th victory was also his fourteenth complete game. In running his season’s record to 24-11, Jackson would not need a relief pitcher the rest of the season, pitching complete games in all 5 of his remaining starts.

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Lights Out: Sandy Koufax

Sandy’s Perfect Moment

When: September 9, 1965

Where:  Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles, California

Game Time: 1:43

Attendance: 29,139

It was the best game he ever pitched. And it would be the best major league game that Cubs left-hander Bob Hendley would ever pitch.

Sandy Koufax

But a one-hitter on this day wouldn’t be good enough to beat baseball’s best pitcher, Sandy Koufax, as the Los Angeles Dodgers’ ace outmatched Hendley and the Chicago Cubs1-0 … with a perfect game.

For Koufax (22-7), it was the fourth no-hitter of his career. He was the first major league pitcher to throw more than 3. In retiring all 27 Cubs batters in order, Koufax struck out 14 of them.

Hendley (2-3) was nearly as dominant against the Dodgers’ hitters. He struck out 3 batters and walked one, giving up only one hit, a seventh inning double to outfielder Lou Johnson.

Johnson scored the game’s only run in the bottom of the fifth. He walked to lead off the inning, and moved to second on Ron Fairly’s sacrifice bunt. Then Johnson stole third, and scored on an errant throw by Cubs catcher Chris Krug.

Bob Hendley

Hendley finished the season at 4-4. Koufax went on to claim his second Cy Young Award with a 26-8 record while leading the league in strikeouts (a record 382) and ERA (2.04).

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Hero to the Hapless

From Player Profiles at 1960s Baseball …

Right-hander Jack Fisher was 86-139 during an 11-year major league career. He played for 5 different teams, and pitched his best for baseball’s worst team ever, the New York Metsof the 1960s.

Jack Fisher

Nicknamed “Fat Jack” by Hall of Fame pitcher Hoyt Wilhelm, Fisher was a large man who could throw hard and could pile up quality innings, a strength that made him more valuable than his won-lost record alone. Fisher was a good enough pitcher to be in the position to lose a lot of games. The teams he pitched for were bad enough to hang losses on him despite his talent and competitive toughness.

Fisher signed with the Baltimore Orioles in 1957 and made his major league debut at age 20 in 1959, going 1-6 for the Orioles. Fisher won 12 games for the Orioles in 1960 and 10 in 1961. Because he threw hard, Fisher was susceptible to giving up home runs, and he gave up two of the most famous home runs of the early 1960s. He was on the mound in Boston for Ted Williams’ last at-bat in 1960, serving up the home run pitch that sent the Splendid Splinter into retirement. A year later, it was a Fisher pitch that Roger Maris sent into the seats for home run number 60, tying Babe Ruth’s single season record.

Following a 7-9 1962 season, Fisher was traded to the San Francisco Giants in the deal that brought Mike McCormick and Stu Miller to Baltimore. After going 6-10 for the Giants in 1963, he was drafted by the New York Mets and was a starter for those woeful Mets teams over the next 4 seasons, going a combined 38-73. He led all National League pitchers in losses in 1965 (8-24) and 1967 (9-18).

Fisher spent one season each with the Chicago White Sox (8-13 with a 2.99 ERA in 1968) and with the Cincinnati Reds (4-4 in 1969) before retiring. His career earned run average of 4.06 would have made him a winner with a lot of teams, but not with the Mets and White Sox of the 1960s.

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