September 23, 1962: The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 12-2 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. (This was the 1st ballpark with that name. From 1909 until 1952, it was the last ballpark named Sportsman's Park.) Larry Jackson went the distance for the Cards. Stan Musial went 2-for-3 with a walk and 3 RBIs.
For the Dodgers, Don Drysdale didn't get out of the 4th inning. Duke Snider, Jim Gilliam and Tommy Davis each got 3 hits. Maury Wills went 2-for-5. More importantly, Wills stole his 96th and 97th bases of the season, tying and breaking the major league single-season record set by Ty Cobb in 1915.
Born in 1932 in Washington, D.C., the switch-hitting Wills debuted with the Dodgers in 1959, and became their regular shortstop the next year. He stole 50 bases in 1960, and 35 in 1961. In 1962, he did what no player -- not even Brooklyn Dodger star Jackie Robinson or the 1959 "Go-Go" Chicago White Sox of Luis Aparicio and Nellie Fox -- had done since Babe Ruth started hitting home runs like crazy in 1920: He made the stolen base a viable weapon again.
He finished the season with 104. He was caught stealing only 13 times. He batted .299, hit 6 home runs, and had 48 RBIs, otherwise typical statistics for a leadoff hitter at the time.
It was the Dodgers' 156th game of the season, the 1st with the expanded National League, and thus going from 154 games to 162, so, as with Roger Maris and his 61 home runs the year before, there would be 2 records in the book, Wills' 104 and Cobb's 96, until Lou Brock got his 97th in his 126th game, his 104th and 105th in his 134th, and his 118th and last in his 152nd. In 1982, Rickey Henderson would break all records, stealing 130.
The Dodgers lost a Playoff for the Pennant to their arch-rivals, the San Francisco Giants. Wills stole "only" 40 bases in 1963, but he batted .302, his 1st time over .300, and, this time, the Dodgers went all the way, and so he got his 2nd World Series ring. He got a 3rd in 1965, in which he stole 94, at that point 2nd in NL history behind his own 104 in '62. It would be the 6th straight season in which he led the NL in stolen bases.
It would also be the last time he led the NL, despite stealing 52 in 1968 and 40 in 1969. The Dodgers won the Pennant again in 1966, with Wills making the All-Star Game for the 5th and last time, but lost the World Series.
After the 1966 season, the Dodgers traded him to the Pittsburgh Pirates. After 2 years with the Bucs, he was taken by the Montreal Expos in the expansion draft, but was traded back to the Dodgers the following June, with Manny Mota, for Ron Fairly and Paul Popovich.
He played until 1972, and finished his career with a .281 batting average, 2,134 hits, and 586 stolen bases. At the time, the total ranked 10th in baseball history, 5th among players who had played all or most of their career in the 20th Century, and far and away the most of anyone whose career began after 1910. He now ranks 20th all-time.
He became a manager, overcame a drug problem, and became a broadcaster. He died in 2022.
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September 23, 1962 was a Sunday. This was also the day that the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts opened in New York. I have a separate entry for that event.
These other baseball games were played that day:
* The New York Yankees beat the Chicago White Sox, 5-1 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Elston Howard hit a home run off Early Wynn, part of a 4-run 10th inning. Mickey Mantle went 0-for-1 with 4 walks. Probably because Roger Maris wasn't playing, so it was Hector Lopez playing right field and batting behind him. Yogi Berra also didn't play. Bill Stafford went the distance for the win.
* The New York Mets beat the Chicago Cubs, 2-1 at the Polo Grounds. Roger Craig, the closest thing those 1st-year expansion Mets had to an ace, advanced to 10-23 on the season. Frank Thomas (not the later White Sox Hall-of-Famer) hit a home run. Ernie Banks went 0-for-4 for the Cubs.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-2 at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. Frank Robinson and Vada Pinson hit home runs. Pinson's won the game in the top of the 10th inning.
* The Minnesota Twins beat the Baltimore Orioles, 9-2 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Harmon Killebrew and Vic Power hit home runs for the Twins. Brooks Robinson went 1-for-3 for the Orioles.
* The Milwaukee Braves beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 10-3 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Hank Aaron hit 2 home runs, Eddie Mathews 1. Roberto Clemente went 1-for-4. Rookie Willie Stargell went 2-for-3 with 2 RBIs.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the Kansas City Athletics, 3-1 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium. Al Kaline went 2-for-5.
* The San Francisco Giants beat the Houston Colt .45s, 10-3 at Colt Stadium in Houston. (The Astrodome opened next-door in 1965, and the Colts changed their name to the Astros.) Willie McCovey hit a home run, and Willie Mays went 1-for-5.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Los Angeles Angels, 11-5 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, where the Angels groundshared with the Dodgers until their stadium opened in Anaheim in 1966.
* And the Boston Red Sox and the Washington Senators were rained out at District of Columbia Stadium in Washington. (It was renamed Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in 1969.) The game was never made up.
Since it was a Sunday, there were NFL games:
* The New York Giants beat their arch-rivals, the Philadelphia Eagles, 29-13 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.
* The Washington Redskins beat the Cleveland Browns, 17-16 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.
* The Detroit Lions beat the San Francisco 49ers, 45-28 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit.
* The Green Bay Packers beat the NFL version of the St. Louis Cardinals, 17-0 at Milwaukee County Stadium.
* The Baltimore Colts beat the Minnesota Vikings, 34-7 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.
* The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Dallas Cowboys, 30-28 at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.
* And the Chicago Bears beat the Los Angeles Rams, 27-23 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
And in the American Football League:
* The Houston Oilers beat the San Diego Chargers, 42-17 at Balboa Stadium in San Diego.
* The Dallas Texans beat the Oakland Raiders, 26-16 at Frank Youell Field in Oakland. The Texans won the AFL Championship, but still couldn't compete with the still-losing Cowboys for North Texas fan acceptance. In the off-season, they moved, becoming the Kansas City Chiefs.
* The previous day, the New York Titans beat the Buffalo Bills, 17-6 at War Memorial Stadium in Buffalo. The Titans were renamed the Jets the next season.
* The night before that, a Friday, the Boston Patriots beat the Denver Broncos, 41-16 at Boston University Field (later renamed Nickerson Field).
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