October 4, 1964: Baseball's Greatest Season Concludes

October 4, 1964: Perhaps the greatest season in Major League Baseball history comes to a close. Why did I choose this one as the greatest? It was well after the re-integration of the game. There were still several of the classic old ballparks left, but, as yet, no domes, and no artificial turf. There were as many all-time legends of the game active as we are ever likely to have -- on the field, and in the broadcast booth. And both Leagues' Pennant races came down to 3 teams on the last weekend.

I submit this knowing that I was not born yet, and also knowing that my team did not win the World Series that season, although it came very close.

In the American League, the New York Yankees finished 1 game ahead of the Chicago White Sox, and 2 ahead of the Baltimore Orioles. The Yankees won their 29th Pennant, all in the last 44 seasons. As it turns out, it is the last in their Dynasty.

The Yankees had clinched the day before, so it did not matter that, on this last day, they had lost to the Cleveland Indians, 2-1 at Yankee Stadium. No usual Yankee starter was in the starting lineup, although as the game went on, most appeared as pinch-hitters, but Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris got the whole day off.

The starting pitchers were Jim Bouton for New York and Luis Tiant for Cleveland, and neither got into the 7th inning. Both of them would go on to be viewed by the baseball establishment as weird, though for different reasons.

Tommy John pitched 2 innings in relief of Tiant, who had hit a home run in his own cause. Stan Williams allowed the winning run in the top of the 13th inning, on a groundout by Leon Wagner. Sam McDowell, usually a starter, pitched the 12th and the 13th, and was the winning pitcher.

This was also the last game as a Yankee broadcaster for Mel Allen, who was fired after 26 years. No reason was given. Rumors abounded: He was an alcoholic, he was a prescription drug addict, he'd had a nervous breakdown, he was gay. Most likely, none of these were true.

Apparently, though, in this era when sponsors still had an iron grip on broadcasting, the real reason was that Ballantine beer, the Yankees' sponsor and beneficiary of Mel's calling home runs "Ballantine blasts," saw their sales dropping, and they blamed Mel, the greatest salesman they ever had.

The National League race remained undecided going into this last day, thanks to the Philadelphia Phillies' nosedive, and the surges of the Cincinnati Reds and the St. Louis Cardinals.

The Phillies bombed the Reds, 10-0 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. Jim Bunning went the distance to finish 19-8, and NL Rookie of the Year Richie Allen -- later to insist on being called Dick Allen -- went 3-for-5 with 2 home runs and 4 RBIs. For the Reds, Frank Robinson went 2-for-4, and Pete Rose went 1-for-4.

In those pre-Internet, pre-satellite TV days, the 2 teams then joined forces, and sat in the visitors' clubhouse at Crosley, listening to a radio (which was appropriate, since longtime Reds owner Powel Crosley made his fortune selling radios), hoping that the Cardinals would lose to the New York Mets at Busch Stadium in St. Louis (the 1st of 3 ballparks to have now had that name, it was named Sportsman's Park from 1909 to 1952), which would keep both teams alive, and force a 3-way tie for the Pennant.

Since the possibility had already arisen in 1956, when the Reds, the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Milwaukee Braves had a close race -- the Dodgers ended up beating the Braves by 1 game and the Reds by 2 -- a plan for such an eventuality was already in place.

It wasn't a head-to-head tiebreaker. If it had been, the Cards would have had the edge over the Phils (13-5), the Reds would have had the edge over the Phils (10-8), and the Reds and Phils would have split (9-9). Overall, the Cards would've been 21-15, the Reds 19-17, and the Phils 14-22.

NL President Warren Giles -- who would have to remain neutral, despite having once been the Reds' general manager -- would have drawn lots. The team whose name was written down on the 1st slip of paper he pulled out of a hat or box would be designated "No. 1," followed by "No. 2" and "No. 3." The schedule would have been as follows: No. 1 would have hosted No. 2, then No. 2 would have hosted No. 3, and No. 3 would have hosted No. 1. In other words, all 3 teams would have played each of the other 2 teams, and all 3 teams would have had 1 home game.

If 1 team ended up 2-0, with another 1-1 and another 0-2, the 2-0 team should have been declared the Pennant winner. Instead, the 0-2 team would have been eliminated, and Giles would have drawn another lot to determine home field for a 1-game Playoff. But if all 3 finished 1-1, they would do it all over again.

That's what would have happened over the coming days if the Mets had beaten the Cardinals on October 4, 1964.

Here's what actually did happen: The Mets took a 3-2 lead into the 5th inning‚ but the Cards scored 3 runs to regain the lead. The Mets scored once more, but the Cardinals completed their scoring with 3 in the 8th, to win 11-5. Cardinal manager Johnny Keane took no chances: When Curt Simmons was knocked out of the box, he put his best starter, Bob Gibson, into the game, and Gibson was the winning pitcher.

For St. Louis‚ it was their 1st Pennant since 1946, 18 years. For Cincinnati, it was a crushing defeat, as, even though they had won the Pennant just 3 years earlier, they wanted to win this one for their manager, Fred Hutchinson, who was dying of cancer.

For Philadelphia, which hadn't won a Pennant in 14 years, it was even more devastating: The Phils had led by 6 1/2 games with 12 to play, but went on a 10-game losing streak to blow it. The Phillie Phlop would define the franchise for a generation, and even fans who lived long enough to see the titles of 1980 and 2008 remained scarred by it.

To rub it in further, Simmons had been a star on the previous Phils Pennant team, the 1950 "Whiz Kids," but had to miss that year's World Series because his U.S. Army Reserve unit was called to serve in the Korean War just as the regular season was winding down. Now, Simmons had a Pennant, at the Phils' expense. To make it even weirder for the Phillies, the Reds' interim manager, filling in for Hutchinson, was the man whose home run against the Dodgers in the 10th inning of the last game clinched their 1950 Pennant: Dick Sisler, son of Hall-of-Famer George Sisler.

In the end, it was the closest race in NL history: 3 teams within 1 game, 4 within 3, 5 within 5. The Cards won over the Reds and the Phils by 1 game each, the Jints by 3, the Braves by 5, the Dodgers and the Pittsburgh Pirates by 13, the Chicago Cubs by 17, the Houston Colt .45s by 27, and the Mets by 40.

In 1964, the Phillies won 92 games, and lost the Pennant, and were regarded as a failure. In 1980, the Phillies won 91 games, 1 fewer in than in 1964, but it was enough to win the NL East, and they went on to win the Pennant and the franchise's 1st World Series, and they're regarded as the greatest Phillies team ever.

Or, to put it another way: The 1967 Red Sox also won 92 games, but it was enough to win the Pennant by 1 game on the final day, and they're an iconic baseball team for good reasons. The '64 Phils remain iconic for bad reasons.

*

October 4, 1964 was a Sunday. These other baseball games were played that day:

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Washington Senators, 14-8 at Fenway Park in Boston. Carl Yastrzemski went 1-for-4 with a walk. For the Senators, the team that started in 1961 and became the Texas Rangers in 1972, Roy Sievers hit his 318th career home run. As it turned out, it was the last for the slugger, who had starred for the "Old Senators," who became the Minnesota Twins in 1961.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Kansas City Athletics, 6-0 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Bruce Howard pitched a 2-hit shutout.

* The Milwaukee Braves beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-0 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Bill Southworth, whose father Billy had managed the Boston version of the Braves to the 1948 NL Pennant, hit his one and only major league home run, in what turned out to be his 3rd and last major league game. Joe Torre went 1-for-4 with 2 RBIs. Neither Hank Aaron, nor Roberto Clemente, nor Willie Stargell played.

Bob Sadowski pitched 8 innings of 2-hit ball, and Warren Spahn pitched the 9th for the save, to finish the shutout. It may have been because the Braves were already trying to move to Atlanta for the 1965 season, and the team wanted Spahn, who started the 1st game at County Stadium in 1953, to pitch the last game. It also explains why Eddie Mathews, whose 1st full season was 1953, and didn't start the game, was put at 3rd base for the 9th inning.

As it turned out, an injunction forced the Braves to stay in Milwaukee for a lame-duck season, and they moved to Atlanta for 1966. Then the Brewers came in 1970, and County Stadium remained open until 2000.

* The Los Angeles Angels beat the Minnesota Twins, 3-0 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. The game was called due to rain after 6 innings. Harmon Killebrew went 1-for-3.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Houston Colt .45s, 11-1 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. This was the last game the Houston franchise played under that name. In 1965, with the Astrodome opening, they became the Houston Astros.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the San Francisco Giants, 9-2 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Jimmy Stewart hit a home run for the Cubs. No, not the It's a Wonderful Life actor, who once played a real-life baseball player in The Stratton Story. Ernie Banks went 2-for-3 with 2 RBIs. Willie Mays hit a home run, but Gaylord Perry got knocked out of the box in the 3rd inning.

* And the Baltimore Orioles and the Detroit Tigers completed their respective schedules against each other the day before.

Since it was Sunday, there was also professional football. In the NFL:

* The New York Giants lost to the Detroit Lions, 26-3 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. As the Yankees would the next season, the Giants' best players seemed to get old, or get hurt, or both, all at once. They had won their Division in each of the last 3 seasons, and in 6 of the last 8, but finished this season 2-10-2.

* The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 21-7 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.

* The Baltimore Colts beat the Los Angeles Rams, 34-20 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore.

* The football version of the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Washington Redskins, 23-17 at District of Columbia Stadium in Washington. (It was renamed Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in 1969.)

* The Cleveland Browns beat the Dallas Cowboys, 27-6 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* The Minnesota Vikings beat their arch-rivals, the Green Bay Packers, 24-23 at Green Bay City Stadium. (It was renamed Lambeau Field the next year.)

* And the San Francisco 49ers beat the Chicago Bears, 31-21 at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco.

And in the American Football League:

* The New York Jets and the San Diego Chargers played to a tie, 17-17 at Shea Stadium.

* The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Houston Oilers, 28-7 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium.

* The Boston Patriots beat the Denver Broncos, 39-10 at Bears Stadium in Denver. (It was renamed Mile High Stadium in 1968.)

* And the day before, the Buffalo Bills beat the Oakland Raiders, 4-0 at War Memorial Stadium in Buffalo.

July 17, 1959: The Invention of Instant Replay

July 17, 1959: The New York Yankees are playing the Chicago White Sox at Yankee Stadium. After 8 innings, the game is tied, 0-0, but Yankee pitcher Ralph Terry is pitching a no-hitter.

In the top of the 9th inning, Jim McAnany ruins the no-hitter with a single to center field. Mel Allen, broadcasting the game on New York's WPIX-Channel 11, asks his station director to re-play the videotape on the air.

The broadcast does not survive, so it's not clear whether he wanted to see whether the ball was caught cleanly for an out, or whether the throw to first was close.

Nothing changed with how the hit was scored, of course. Opposing pitcher Early Wynn bunted McAnany over, and, despite being 39 years old, beat it out. Luis Aparicio then bunted the runners over. Nellie Fox was walked intentionally, to set up the inning-ending double play. It didn't work: Jim Landis singled home McAnany and Wynn. Wynn held the Yankees off in the bottom of the 9th, and the ChiSox won, 2-0.

This game turned out to be typical of the season, for both teams. The Yankees were heavily frustrated, going only 79-75 and finishing 3rd in the American League, their worst season in 34 years. But the scrappy, slap-hitting, base-stealing "Go-Go Sox" won their 1st Pennant in 40 years, led by the flashy Aparicio, Most Valuable Player Fox, and Cy Young Award winner Wynn. The Pale Hose ended up losing the World Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers, and this would be the only Pennant they would win between 1919 and 2005.

On March 24, 1962, the Middleweight Championship fight in which Emile Griffith killed Benny "the Kid" Paret" was reviewed in slow motion by ABC announcer Don Dunphy. This was the 1st use of slow-motion replay, but it wasn't instant.

CBS' Tom Verna is widely credited with inventing instant replay during the Army-Navy Game on December 7, 1963. The setup was glitchy, and was only used once, after a touchdown scored by Army's Rollie Stichweh. It was played at normal speed, and the announcer, Lindsey Nelson, told viewers, "Ladies and gentlemen, Army did not score again!" (Navy won the game, 21-15.)

Tom Verna in a CBS "control truck"

The problem with the older technology was the difficulty of finding the desired starting point. Verna's system used audio tones activated as an interesting event unfolded, which technicians could hear during the rewinding process.

By 1967, CBS had figured out how to get the kinks out, and instant replay became key to watching football on television, helping to make the NFL America's most popular sports league. Indeed, CBS used the technique so many times on Bart Starr's quarterback sneak to win that year's NFL Championship Game, the Ice Bowl, for the Green Bay Packers that the guard whose block made it possible, Jerry Kramer, titled his diary of that season Instant Replay.

But baseball did it first. As Mel Allen himself would have said, "How about that?"

*

July 17, 1959 was a Friday. This was also the day that Billie Holiday, the most beloved jazz singer of all time, died. I have a separate entry for that event.

These other baseball games were played:

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Boston Red Sox, 8-7 at Fenway Park in Boston. Rocky Colavito hit a home run for the Tribe. The Indians finished 2nd to the White Sox, and if they had won the Pennant instead, Colavito probably would have won the MVP. Ted Williams went 0-for-2 with a walk for the BoSox, then was removed for defensive purposes. The Indians nearly blew an 8-1 lead, as the Sox scored 3 runs in the 7th and 3 in the 9th, but it wasn't enough.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 3-2 at Connie Mack Stadium (formerly Shibe Park) in Philadelphia. Duke Snider went 1-for-3 with 2 walks and an RBI. Harry Anderson (no relation to the Night Court star of the same name) hit a home run for the Phils.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Detroit Tigers, 3-2 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Brooks Robinson hit a home run for the Orioles. Al Kaline did not play for the Tigers.

* The Kansas City Athletics beat the Washington Senators, 7-4 at Griffith Stadium in Washington. Roger Maris went 3-for-5 with an RBI for the A's. Harmon Killebrew went 1-for-4 for the Senators. Each had just gone to his 1st All-Star Game

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

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds, 1-0 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Art Ceccarelli pitched a 6-hit shutout. Ernie Banks went 1-for-4. Frank Robinson went 0-for-1... with 3 walks.

* And the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Milwaukee Braves, 4-3 at Busch Stadium (formerly Sportsman's Park) in St. Louis. Hank Aaron went 2-for-5 with an RBI. Stan Musial did not play for the Cards.

April 1, 1977: "This Week In Baseball" Premieres

April 1, 1977: The greatest show in the history of television premieres in syndication: This Week In Baseball.

It is hosted by former "Voice of the Yankees" Mel Allen. Before ESPN's SportsCenter and Baseball Tonight, let alone the establishment of the MLB Network, this half-hour show was the best way to see baseball highlights from around the country.

Mike Vickers -- oddly, an Englishman, a former member of the band Manfred Mann -- composed both the opening theme, "Jet Set," and the closing theme, "Gathering Crowds." The opening theme would play over Allen's introduction, while the closing theme would play over recent highlights from baseball, such as the previous season's postseason, no-hitters, and milestone moments such as a 3,000th hit or a 500th home run.

"TWIB" was typically picked up by stations that also had television rights to major league franchises, like WPIX-Channel 11 in New York, KTTV-Channel 11 in Los Angeles, and WGN-Channel 9 in Chicago, airing on Saturdays or (in New York's case) Sundays before those stations would broadcast their games. In markets without a major league team, it preceded NBC's Saturday Game of the Week.

After the 1989 season, NBC lost the rights to MLB games, and it got shuffled off to "independent stations." Mel died in 1996, and Warner Fusselle, the voice of Major League Baseball Productions (which owned the show), became the announcer, while Ozzie Smith became the host.

It was canceled after the 1998 season, falling behind Fox's Saturday pregame show In the Zone. But in 2000, Fox made a deal with MLB Productions, and brought back the TWIB name, continuing the show until 2011, with Cam Brainard as announcer, and doing 21st Century versions of the old divisional closeups and highlight and blooper reels.

*

April 1, 1977 was a Friday. Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season. There were 9 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 116-109 at the Milwaukee Exposition & Convention Center Arena, a.k.a. The MECCA. (It's now the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.) Earl "the Pearl" Monroe led the Knicks with 28 points, while Brian Winters scored 34 in defeat for the Bucks.

* The New York Nets lost to the Indiana Pacers, 89-88 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Kansas City Kings, 111-105 in overtime at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. Julius "Dr. J" Erving scored 32 points.

* The Houston Rockets beat the Washington Bullets, 91-85 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the New Orleans Jazz, 115-106 at the Superdome in New Orleans. "Pistol" Pete Maravich led all scorers on the night with 41 points.

* The Chicago Bulls beat the Denver Nuggets, 107-97 at the Chicago Stadium.

* The Phoenix Suns beat the Detroit Red Wings, 133-116 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix. Paul Westphal scored 40 points.

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the San Antonio Spurs, 107-102 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

* And the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Golden State Warriors, 109-98 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum. Bill Walton scored 30 points and grabbed 14 rebounds.

There were 2 games in the NHL. The Atlanta Flames beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 6-4 at The Omni in Atlanta. And the Colorado Rockies beat the Vancouver Canucks, 6-3 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.

And there were 2 games played in the World Hockey Association. The Houston Aeros beat the Cincinnati Stingers, 5-4 at The Summit in Houston. (It's now the Central Campus of televangelist Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church.) And in what would become known as The Battle of Alberta, the Calgary Cowboys beat the Edmonton Oilers, 3-1 at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton.