July 31, 1964: The 1st Close-Up Pictures of the Moon

July 31, 1964: Ranger 7 provides the people of Earth with the first close-up pictures of the surface of the planet's only Moon.

Ranger 6 was supposed to be the probe that did that. It was launched on January 30, 1964 from Cape Canaveral on the Atlantic coast of Florida, and it reached the Moon 3 days later. Everything worked -- except the cameras. Like the hockey team in New York and the later baseball team in Texas named the Rangers, when its big moment came, Ranger 6 choked.

The source of the problem was found and corrected. On July 28, Ranger 7 was launched, also from Cape Canaveral. It arrived 3 days later, and worked perfectly, taking over 4,300 photographs in 17 minutes before it crash-landed on the lunar surface.

It would be another 5 years, to the month, before human beings landed on the Moon.

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July 31, 1964 was a Friday. This was also the day on which country music singer Jim Reeves was killed in a plane crash. I have a separate entry for this event.

These baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Minnesota Twins, 4-3 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Al Downing took a 3-1 lead into the bottom of the 8th, but gave up a home run to Bob Allison. In the bottom of the 9th, he allowed a single to Rich Rollins, and a game-winning home run to Harmon Killebrew. Mickey Mantle went 1-for-4.

* The New York Mets swept a doubleheader from the Houston Colt .45s, 3-0 and 6-2 at Shea Stadium. Frank Lary pitched a 2-hit shutout against the Astros-to-be in the opener.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 6-1 at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Washington Senators, 6-0 at District of Columbia Stadium in Washington. (It was renamed Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in 1969.) Juan Pizarro pitched a 4-hit shutout, striking out 14 and walking just 1.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 8-6 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Willie Mays went 3-for-4 with a walk and an RBI. Roberto Clemente went 1-for-5 with 2 RBIs.

* The Cleveland Indians swept a doubleheader from the Detroit Tigers, 12-3 and 4-2 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Al Kaline went 3-for-8 with 3 RBIs over the 2 games.

* The Milwaukee Braves beat the Chicago Cubs, 13-3 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Hank Aaron, Joe Torre and Denis Menke hit home runs for the Braves. Ernie Banks went 0-for-3 with a walk.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-6 at Busch Stadium (formerly Sportsman's Park) in St. Louis. Frank Robinson went 2-for-3 with 2 walks and an RBI. Pete Rose went 1-for-5 with an RBI.

* A doubleheader was split at Kansas City Municipal Stadium. The Baltimore Orioles won the opener, 6-1. The Kansas City Athletics won the nightcap, 7-6. Brooks Robinson went 1-for-8 with a home run, a walk and an RBI. Dick Brown hit 2 home runs for the O's, but the A's won, scoring 6 runs in the 8th, and with Ed Charles hitting a home run in the bottom of the 9th.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Los Angeles Angels, 4-3 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. The Angels groundshared with the Dodgers until their Anaheim stadium was built. Carl Yastrzemski went 0-for-3 with 2 walks.