July 31, 1964: The Death of Jim Reeves

July 31, 1964: Country singer Jim Reeves is killed in a plane crash. He was 3 weeks short of his 31st birthday.

James Travis Reeves was born on August 20, 1923 in Galloway, in eastern Texas. He pitched in the St. Louis Cardinals' farm system before an injury ended his career. After failing his U.S. Army draft exam, he became a radio announcer, and had the perfect voice for it. But that voice was so good that, like many other disc jockeys, he began to think he could sing as well as anybody whose records he was playing. Unlike most of those deejays, he turned out to be right.

He was announcing for KWHK in Shreveport, Louisiana, the station that broadcast the South's most popular music program, The Louisiana Hayride. One night, a performer was late, and Reeves was asked to substitute. By the Autumn of 1955, "Gentleman Jim" was a country-singing star. "Four Walls" was his 1st big hit, in 1957. In 1960, "He'll Have to Go" hit Number 1 on Billboard magazine's country chart, and Number 2 on its pop chart. Now, Jim was popular from coast to coast, and from border to border.

He became popular in Britain, and in 1963, with "Welcome to My World" a big hit, he toured U.S. military bases there, and in Europe. But on July 2, 1964, he recorded 3 songs whose titles would prove retroactively foreboding: "Make the World Go Away," "Missing You," and "Is It Really Over?"

Jim was a licensed pilot, and on July 31, 1964, with Dean Manuel -- his business partner, manager, and the pianist of his backing group, the Blue Boys -- he took off from Batesville, Arkansas in a Beechcraft Debonair. They had almost gotten to Nashville, to the suburbs of Brentwood, when they flew into a thunderstorm. Reeves turned to his left, to stay over the road leading to Nashville International Airport, but this put him deeper into the storm. The FAA's investigation suggested that he had suffered spatial disorientation, let his airspeed get too low, stalled, and crashed at 4:52 PM. Contrary to rumor, the plane was not upside down when it hit.

Country singer Marty Robbins, a friend of Reeves', had heard the explosion. He contacted another singer who was a friend of Reeves', Ernest Tubb, and they led the search for the wreckage. But the plane went down in the woods, and it took 2 days to find it. Reeves left behind a wife, but no children, and was laid to rest in Carthage, Texas, near his childhood home.

Buddy Holly, Jim Reeves, Otis Redding, Jim Croce: All died in the crashes of Beechcraft planes.

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July 31, 1964 was a Friday. This was also the day that the probe Ranger 7 took the first close-up pictures of the surface of the Moon. I have a separate entry for that 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.