Connie Mack Stadium, Philadelphia - September 29, 1966
The 1966 Pittsburgh Pirates have been battling with the big boys, the Giants and the Dodgers, all summer. And the Bucs’ (as they’re affectionately referred to) have been battling well.
For a long stretch from August 4 - September 10, the Pirates held 1st place over the defending World Series champion Dodgers who are led by Sandy Koufax, the 1963 MVP. They’ve also fended off the perennially contending Giants, with their superstar, Willie Mays, the MVP last year in 1965.
But now as we come down the stretch with just 5 games to go, the Pirates have fallen 3 back and the Giants are 4 behind the Dodgers.
Here were the standings coming into the games of September 28th:
The Pirates Tough Draw
The schedule in September has not been kind to the Pirates. Prior to arriving here in Philadelphia they had to play 4 games vs. the Braves in Atlanta as part of a 15 game road trip. Atlanta is led by the NL’s leading home run hitter, Hank Aaron.
Prior to the Pirates’ arrival in Atlanta, the Braves, who have been long out of contention, ran off greatest September stretch by a sub .500 team in baseball history. They had just won 18 of their past 20 games, and then they walloped the Pirates 14 - 1 in the first of the 4 meetings to make it 19 - 2 in their past 21 games.
The Braves had been 63 - 69 on September 1st, and improved their record to 82 - 71. No team has ever had a run like that from under .500 this late in the season.
And yet the Pirates still managed to beat the Braves in 2 of the next 3 games.
This Pirates’ team has such great spirit, it’s hard not to fall prisoner to these Pirates and get hooked on following them every day.
After the sojourn south, the Pirates trekked north to Philly where they had to face the new hottest team in baseball. The Phillies had won 4 straight games and squeaked past the Pirates in 11 innings in the first match up of the series to make it 5 in a row, the present longest winning streak in the majors.
It also didn’t help the Pirates that Bob Gibson, one of the top 5 starters in baseball, lost to the Dodgers 3 nights ago, and then 2 nights ago Don Drysdale continued his late season resurgence by throwing his 2nd consecutive shutout 2 nights ago.
Add it all up and the Pirates were suddenly 3 back going into last night’s twilight doubleheader in Philly.
The First Gamble
Desperate times call for desperate measures so Pirates’ manager Harry Walker decided to gamble.
While the Phillies’ were starting another top 5 starter in baseball, Jim Bunning, Harry Walker decided not to send out his ace Bob Veale. Instead he would save Veale for the nightcap against a weaker Phillies’ pitcher. And then in an even bolder move, Walker decided to go with Billy O’Dell as the starter for the opener against Bunning after learning that his intended starter, Vern Law, had shoulder stiffness and an upset stomach.
The 33-year-old O’Dell had been a starter earlier in his career but had been a reliever the past 3 years, and a good one. Last year, in 1965, he had an ERA of 2.18, pitching 61 relief appearances for the Braves. His average stint on the mound was less than 2 innings. This year, he’s been nearly as good with a team low ERA of 2.69 coming into last night’s contests.
Harry Walker told Lester J. Biederman of the Pittsburgh Press, “I just wanted to get a few good innings out of O’Dell and maybe we could get lucky and get a run and or two from Bunning.”
The start of the game was delayed by rain. When play began, Walker got more than just a few good innings from O’Dell, he got 4 of the best innings of O’Dell’s career. O’Dell took a no-hitter into the 5th inning.
And the Bucs’ batters also got the 2 runs off Bunning that Walker had hoped for. One of those runs coming from Donn Clendenon’s 28th homer of the season. So the Pirates led 2 - 0 going into the 5th.
At this point, O’Dell’s arm tired, he had been pitching on just 2 days rest after putting in relief stints 3 days in a row. In the top of the 5th, he gave up 3 singles and a run before Walker replaced him with Steve Blass.
The Second Gamble
This was another gamble by Walker. Blass, who had been a starter most of the season, had been demoted to the bullpen after a poor start on September 5th. And that marked his 24th straight start in which he failed to go the distance. This was to be the 4th game in 6 days that Blass would be appearing in relief.
Blass proved to be the right pitcher to bring in. He was brilliant in putting down 10 straight Phillies.
The game entered the bottom of the 9th with the Pirates still clinging to the 2 - 1 lead over Jim Bunning.
The Third Gamble
At this point, Harry Walker made another gamble. He took our the hard hitting 3rd baseman Bob Bailey for defensive purposes and replaced him with Jose Pagan.
Steve Blass came back out to the mound in the 9th and got the first 2 batters out. He had now retired 13 of the 14 batters he had faced. But the next batter was one of the most dangerous hitters in baseball in 1966, Richie Allen. Allen came into the game 2nd in the NL with 40 HRs, 3rd in the NL with 110 RBIs, and 6th in the NL with a .316 batting average.
Allen blasted Blass’s 2nd pitch. It hit the wall and Allen wound up on 3rd with a triple. Now with 2 outs but the tying run on 3rd, Harry Walker made some traditional managerial decisions. He took out the righty Blass, and inserted the lefty Luke Walker to pitch to Bill White. Luke promptly hit White, putting the potential winning run on 1st base.
Now Harry Walker made another traditional move. He replaced the lefty Luke, with a righty, Tommie Sisk, another starter, to face the Phillie’s right handed batter due up next.
But this was no normal Phillies’ batter coming up. This was a man who was a former Pirate, and a former Pirate legend at that. He was the man who won the 1960 MVP and batting crown while leading the Pirates to their last World Series victory. He was Dick Groat.
24-year-old Tommie Sisk had never pitched in a game this consequential. He now had one of the biggest moments of his career. One out is all he needed. One out and the game is over, and the Pirates are still breathing in this pennant race. But if he allows an extra base hit, the Pirates lose and their pennant hopes are shot.
The veteran Dick Groat turned on Tommie Sisk’s 2nd pitch and drilled it down the 3rd base line.
Now Jose Pagan was the one who gambled. Lester J. Biederman wrote, “Pagan leaped on the ball, then set himself on the slippery turf for the long throw that brought gasps of amazement from the 7213 fans.”
Donn Clendenon snagged the throw and Dick Groat was out. The Pirates had won. They had beaten Bunning without using up Veale. The Bucs were still alive. The gambles had paid off.
The Nightcap
But there was still another game to play last night.
In the top of the 2nd inning, Bill Mazeroski hit a triple off Phillies’ starter Larry Jackson. That drove in a run and then Maz turned it into a little league homer when Dick Groat’s relay throw was wild. How many times has Maz had big hits down the stretch here in September? The Pirates led 2 - 0.
Bob Veale held the Phillies scoreless through 4 innings, but the Phillies managed 2 runs, 1 of them unearned, in the 5th to tie the game.
The game remained tied through 7 innings.
Now it became desperation time for the Pirates again. This was a game they just had to win, especially with it being the likely last start of the season for their ace Bob Veale.
In the top of the 8th, the Pirates had the top of their order. This was the Pirates’ big chance. Late Night Lightning had to come through.
Matty Alou, the leading hitter in the majors at .342 did his job and singled to right field. Gene Alley, batting .300, then bunted Alou over to 2nd. With 1 out, Manny Mota, batting .335, hit a grounder that moved Matty to 3rd base.
But now there were 2 outs.
The Great One
The next batter was the man they’re starting to call The Great One in Pittsburgh - Roberto Clemente. He’s an MVP candidate here in 1966. He started the day 5th in batting in the NL at .318 and 2nd in RBIs at 116. In addition, he just might be the greatest right fielder in history. Possessing a devastating arm, he’s won the gold glove every year since 1961, and he’s on his way to leading all right fielders in assists for the 5th time.
Clemente swung at the 1st pitch from Larry Jackson. He told Biederman, “I wasn’t going to give him a chance to walk me.” Clemente connected and hit a long drive to left-center that put him on 2nd base with a double and drove home Matty Alou with the go ahead run. Moments later Clemente scored when Donn Clendenon’s infield hit was mishandled by Dick Groat.
Roberto Clemente had put the Pirates ahead 4 - 2.
Now Bob Veale had the chance to close out the win. Veale told Biederman he had to stick with his fast ball most of the game because he didn’t have much of a slider. He got the Phillies out in order in the 8th with none of the batters hitting a ball out of the infield. In the 9th, he gave up a leadoff single. Then he got Bob Uecker to fly out. The 2nd batter Jimmie Schaffer struck out.
Pirates catcher Jesse Gonder told Biederman, “When he had to, Veale was able to reach back and get a little more steam.”
With one more out to go, the batter was Cookie Rojas. He hit a shot down the 3rd base line. Just as in the 1st game, Harry Walker had inserted Jose Pagan for defense at 3rd base. Just as he did in the opener it was Pagan, “spearing Cookie Rojas’ drive and throwing him out.” Game over. Veale had won it in a complete game with 1 earned run. It was his biggest victory of the season. And the Pirates had swept the hot Phillies.
Pirates’ pitchers had yielded just 2 earned runs in the 18 innings of doubleheader play.
The Dodger Killer
Halfway across the nation in St. Louis, history was being made. Second year pitcher Larry Jaster, age 22, recorded his 5th shutout of the season in defeating the Dodgers 2 - 0.
What made this truly remarkable is that all 5 shutouts were against the Dodgers.
And Larry Jaster made major league baseball history by becoming the only pitcher to ever shutout the defending World Series champions 5 times in the following season.
And Jaster went 5 for 5 in shutting out an opponent, thus making him the only pitcher in history to shutout a team 5 times in a row. Jaster shutout the Dodgers every time he faced them in 1966. It’s quite astonishing.
It gets even more remarkable when you dig deeper into those 5 shutouts. Jaster never gave up an extra base hit. He allowed just 22 singles in the 5 games.
St. Louis Cardinals’ teammate Phil Gagliano created a nickname for Larry Jaster. He calls him “The Creeper” because he’s so silent by nature.
Jaster did talk to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch about his good fortune against the Dodgers. “I don’t feel I throw any differently against the Dodgers… I just try not to walk anybody and keep the lead off man off base.”
After last night’s game, Jaster has now earned a new nickname, one a little more flattering and well deserved, “The Dodger Killer.”
You know you’ve earned that nickname when even Sandy Koufax heaps praise on you. When asked by Post-Dispatch reporter Neal Russo if Jaster was impressive, Koufax responded, “He’s better than impressive. I don’t know what the next adjective is.”
The Dodgers loss combined with the Phillies double win tightened up the pennant race. Here’s the standings with 3 games left for the Pirates:
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To open the twilight doubleheader last night against the Phillies