June 30, 1959: Two Balls In Play

June 30, 1959: The St. Louis Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs, arch-rivals, play each other at Wrigley Field in Chicago. A strange thing happens, as they occasionally do when the Cubs are involved.

The Cardinals scored a run in the 1st inning, and another in the 2nd. The Cubs pulled one back in the 3rd, so that it was Cardinals 2, Cubs 1, with 1 out in the top of the 4th, when... this happened.

Stan Musial came to the plate. With a count of 3 balls and 1 strike, Cub pitcher Bob Anderson threw a bad pitch, which got past catcher Sammy Taylor, and rolled to the backstop. Musial had checked his swing. Home plate umpire Vic Delmore called ball 4, and awarded 1st base to Musial. That should have been the end of the play.

Anderson and Taylor argued with Delmore, saying that, in checking his swing, Musial had foul-tipped the ball, meaning it should be strike 2, and the at-bat should continue. Seeing this, and knowing that neither Delmore nor any other umpire had stopped play, Musial -- in his 18th season in the major leagues, so he'd seen it all, or thought he had -- broke for 2nd base, as he was entitled to do, since no umpire had declared a dead ball.

Alvin Dark, former New York Giants shortstop, was the Cubs' 3rd baseman on this day. In his 13th season, he'd seen his share of big situations, and realized that the play was still alive. He ran to the backstop, and got the ball, intending to throw Musial out at 2nd.

Delmore was still dealing with Anderson and Taylor, so he didn't see Dark. As the plate umpire, Delmore had the supply of baseballs, and gave a new one to Taylor -- without calling time out or saying that the previous play was dead.

Only then did Anderson notice Musial trying to reach 2nd base. He threw the ball to 2nd baseman Tony Taylor, and the ball went into the outfield for an error. Musial saw this, and decided to break for 3rd base. At the same time, the original ball was thrown by Dark to shortstop Ernie Banks, who tagged Musial out.

At this point, nobody seemed to know what was going on. After conferring with the other umpires, Delmore realized that he hadn't called play dead, or called time out. Therefore, the ball with which Musial was tagged was live, and Musial was out.

The rest of the game was comparatively uneventful. Hal Smith singled, meaning that if everything had gone like it was supposed to, the Cards would have had Musial on 2nd and Smith on 1st with 1 out. Instead, Smith was on 1st with 2 outs, and Anderson struck Dick Gray out to end the inning.

Both managers, Bob Scheffing of the Cubs and Solly Hemus of the Cards, told Delmore they were playing the game under protest. The Cards went on to win, 4-1, and dropped their protest. Larry Jackson went the distance to be the winning pitcher for the Cardinals. Musial went 1-for-2 with 2 walks, and was later removed for defensive purposes. Banks went 1-for-3 with a walk. The Cubs' protest was not upheld. Both teams finished under .500, and the game had no effect on the Pennant race. It was just one game, with one weird occurrence.

Except it wasn't. Delmore became an object of ridicule, even though it was Anderson and Taylor distracting him with a phony argument that caused the confusion. The National League did not renew his contract for the 1960 season. On June 10, 1960, less than a year after the incident, Delmore died, apparently of heart disease, but perhaps depression over the event had a physical effect as well. He was only 44 years old.

In his memoir, Dark said, "It was a mess and I really felt sorry for Vic Delmore... I don't remember everything about it but I do remember everyone laughed at Vic Delmore. That play ruined him, and he was a great fellow and a good umpire."

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June 30, 1959 was a Tuesday. Actor Vincent D'Onofrio was born. And these other baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles, 4-1 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Duke Maas started, but didn't get through the 5th inning, not qualifying to be the winning pitcher. Art Ditmar was credited as such. Yogi Berra went 1-for-3 with a walk and 2 RBIs. Mickey Mantle and Brooks Robinson did not play.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-3 at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. Roberto Clemente did not play.

* The Washington Senators beat Boston Red Sox, 6-1 at Griffith Stadium in Washington. Pedro Ramos went the distance for the win. Faye Throneberry, brother of "Marvelous Marv," hit a home run. Harmon Killebrew went 3-for-4 with 2 RBIs. Ted Williams went 1-for-4.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Chicago White Sox, 3-1 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* The Cincinnati Redlegs beat the Milwaukee Braves, 8-5 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. Frank Robinson went 2-for-4 with an RBI, and the Reds got home runs from Gus Bell, Vada Pinson and Jerry Lynch. Hank Aaron went 1-for-4, while Eddie Mathews and Joe Adcock hit home runs.

* And the Detroit Tigers beat the Kansas City Athletics, 4-0 at Briggs Stadium (now Tiger Stadium) in Detroit. Al Kaline did not play for the Tigers. Roger Maris went 0-for-4 for the A's.

* And the San Francisco Giants beat their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers, 2-0 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Sam Jones took a no-hitter into the 8th inning, and gave up a single to Jim Gilliam. He kept the 1-hitter, outpitching Don Drysdale. Willie Mays hit a home run, while Duke Snider went 0-for-4.