August 4, 1963: Mickey Mantle's Comeback

The headlines are not from this game, but they fit.

August 4, 1963: The New York Yankees lose the opener of a doubleheader to the Baltimore Orioles, 7-2 at Yankee Stadium. Steve Barber outpitched Ralph Terry. He also hit a home run, as did Boog Powell and John Orsino. So, apparently, Barber's arm was neither sore nor a little stiff. (Ball Four reference.) The Yankees got a home run from Joe Pepitone.

In the nightcap, the Yankees knocked Dave McNally out of the box in the 1st inning. But Yankee starter Jim Bouton couldn't get out of the 2nd. The Orioles got a home run from Brooks Robinson, and the Yankees one from Elston Howard.

In the bottom of the 7th, the Orioles led, 10-9, when Yankee manager Ralph Houk sent Mickey Mantle up to pinch-hit for pitcher Steve Hamilton, against George Brunet. Mantle hadn't played in 2 months, since breaking his foot in a game in Baltimore.

Batting righthanded against the lefty Brunet, Mantle crushed a pitch, 400 feet into the left-field stands. He got one of the greatest ovations of his career, telling the media, "Even if I was deaf, I could have heard them."

The game went to the bottom of the 10th inning. Yogi Berra, in his last season as a Yankee player, drove in Tony Kubek with a sacrifice fly, and the Yankees won, 11-10. They went on to win the American League Pennant.

The home run was the 416th of Mantle's career. He would finish with 536. Of all of his many injuries, the broken foot was not the most debilitating: His 1951 World Series knee injury robbed him of much of his speed, and a 1957 shoulder injury bothered him for the rest of his career. But it was the injury that kept him out of action the longest. In spite of being the 1st player to play 18 seasons in a Yankee uniform, not once did he ever sustain a regular-season injury that knocked him out for the rest of the season.

The resistance to injuries, as much as the frequency and distance of his home runs, helped to make Mantle the most popular baseball player of his generation. And, with the possible (but hardly definitive) exception of Willie Mays, the best one.

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August 4, 1963 was a Sunday. These other baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Mets lost to the Milwaukee Braves, 2-1 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Eddie Mathews hit a home run. Joe Torre went 1-for-4. Hank Aaron went 0-for-3 with a walk. For the Mets, Duke Snider drew a walk as a pinch-hitter. Roger Craig fell to 2-20 on the season, and finished 5-22, after going 10-24 in the Mets' expansion season. The Mets traded him to the Cardinals, and, while he only went 7-9, he helped them win the 1964 World Series.

* The Washington Senators beat the Boston Red Sox, 7-5 at District of Columbia Stadium (later Robert F. Kennedy Stadium) in Washington. Carl Yastrzemski went 1-for-4 with a walk.

* The Cincinnati Reds swept a doubleheader from the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5-2 and 4-1 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. Over the 2 games, Frank Robinson went 2-for-7 with a walk and 2 RBIs, rookie Pete Rose went 3-for-8 with a walk and an RBI, and Roberto Clemente went 4-for-8 with 2 RBIs. Willie Stargell appeared as a pinch-hitter in the 1st game, and did not reach base.

* A doubleheader was split at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. The Detroit Tigers won the 1st game, 2-0. Hank Aguirre pitched a 2-hit shutout. The Cleveland Indians won the 2nd game, 3-2. Over the 2 games, Al Kaline went 1-for-6 with a walk.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Chicago Cubs, 2-1 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Willie Mays hit a home run in the top of the 10th inning. Ernie Banks did not play.

* The Philadelphia Phillies swept the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-3 and 5-2 at Busch Stadium (formerly Sportsman's Park) in St. Louis. Stan Musial, in his last few weeks as an active player, went 1-for-4 in the 1st game, and got the 2nd game off.

* The Kansas City Athletics beat the Minnesota Twins, 6-2 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium. Harmon Killebrew hit a home run.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Houston Colt .45s, 4-0 at Colt Stadium in Houston. Johnny Podres took a no-hitter into the 9th inning, before Johnny Temple led off with a single. Podres then hit Bob Aspromonte with a pitch. Manager Walter Alston brought Larry Sherry in, and he finished the 1-hit shutout. The Colts became the Houston Astros in 1965.

* And the Chicago White Sox beat the Los Angeles Angels, 8-1 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, where the Angels were groundsharing with the Dodgers while their stadium was being built in Anaheim.