Baseball
October 13, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
Back when I followed baseball closely, I sometimes heard hardcore fans say that the playoffs will expose a team’s weakness. I never really believed this, though. The playoffs provide too few games to guarantee a full, searching probe of a baseball team. The limits of the playoffs as arbiter of pure baseball quality seem even clearer in these days of “wild card” teams. Except in cases of an exceptional injury
»
October 10, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
On Wednesday, October 10, 1962, the New York Yankees took a 3 games to 2 lead over the San Francisco Giants in the World Series. The Yankees accomplished this by coming from behind to win Game 5 by a score of 5-3. Game 5 was supposed to be played the previous day, but rain postponed it. This meant that both starting pitchers, Jack Sanford and Ralph Terry, would pitch with
»
October 8, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
On October 8, 1962, the San Francisco Giants and the New York Yankees played Game 4 of the World Series at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees took a 2 games to 1 lead into the contest. The pitching matchup featured two future Hall of Famers, young Juan Marichal (18-11, 3.35) and veteran Whitey Ford (17-8, 2.90). This was the first matchup of Hall of Famers since 1958, when Ford and Warren
»
October 7, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
On Sunday, October 7, 1962, the San Francisco Giants and the New York Yankees played Game 3 of the World Series at Yankee Stadium. The pitching matchup was Billy Pierce (16-6, 3.49) against Bill Stafford (14-9, 3.67). For the 35-year old Pierce, this was a long awaited opportunity to start a World Series game. In the 1959 Series, Chicago White Sox manager Al Lopez had limited his long-time ace to
»
October 3, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
On Wednesday, October 3, 1962, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants played the final game of their playoff series. Though the 1962 playoff series is all but forgotten, it was a classic, made so by an epic second game and a dramatic finale. If these two teams had still been in New York, as they were during their legendary 1951 series, I suspect this playoff would still
»
October 2, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
On Tuesday October 2, 1962, the Los Angeles Dodgers played a must-win game against the San Francisco Giants, who led them by one game to none in a best of three games playoff for the National League pennant. Dodgers manager Walter Alston turned to his ace, 25-game winner Don Drysdale. Although Double D would have to pitch on only two days of rest, he seemed a better option than rookie
»
October 1, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
On October 1, 1962, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants played the first game of a best-of-three playoff to determine the National League pennant winner. It was the fourth such playoff in National League history and the fourth involving the Dodgers. They had lost to St. Louis in 1946 and to the then-New York Giants in 1951, before defeating Milwaukee in 1959. The Dodgers and the Giants
»
September 30, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
The Los Angeles Dodgers entered play on Sunday September 30, 1962 — the last day of the regular season — with a one game lead over the San Francisco Giants. The Dodgers could win the National League pennant by beating the St. Louis Cardinals in Los Angeles. And even if the Dodgers lost, the Giants would still need to beat the Houston Colt 45s in San Francisco to force a
»
September 29, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
On Saturday, September 29, 1962, the Los Angeles Dodgers squandered an opportunity to clinch the National League pennant when they lost 2-0 to the St. Louis Cardinals. 25-game winner Don Drysdale pitched brilliantly for the Dodgers, limiting St. Louis to 5 hits and no earned runs. But the Cards scored 2 in the second inning thanks to an error by lumbering Frank Howard on a Dal Maxvill fly ball. Ernie
»
September 28, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
On September 28, 1962, the Los Angeles Dodgers lost 3-2 to the St. Louis Cardinals in 10 innings. They thus missed the opportunity to clinch at least a tie for the National League pennant. The Cardinals opened the top of the tenth with singles by Curt Flood and Stan Musial off of Ron Perranoski, who was pitching his third inning of relief. With two out, Charley James singled in the
»
September 25, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
On Tuesday, September 25, 1962, the outcome of a pair of close games ensured that the National League pennant race would come down to the final games of the season. Heading into the previous weekend, this didn’t seem very likely. The Los Angeles Dodgers held a 4 game lead over the San Francisco Giants with just 9 games remaining. But the Dodgers dropped two of three games in St. Louis,
»
September 22, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
On this day, September 22, 2012, Washington Nationals pitcher Gio Gonzalez won his 20th game of the season. You’re probably asking yourself when the last time was that Washington had a 20-game winner. The answer is 1953, when Bob Porterfield won 22 games. To put Gonzalez’s accomplishment into further perspective, Washington’s top winner last season (a decent year in which the Nats won 80 games) was John Lannan, with 10
»
September 20, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
On this day, September 20, 2012, the Washington Nationals clinched a spot in this year’s baseball playoff. They accomplished this by defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-1. A Washington baseball team hasn’t played in the post-season since 1933. That year, the Washington Senators represented the American League in the World Series, losing to the New York Giants 4 games to 1. What the Nationals clinched tonight was the right, at
»
September 12, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
On September 12, 1962, the Washington Senators played the Baltimore Orioles. Going into the game, which was played in Baltimore, the Senators were in last place, well behind ninth place Kansas City and 31 games behind first place New York. Washington manager Mickey Vernon thus fielded a line-up that featured four rookies — Ed Brinkman, John “Red” Kennedy, Don Lock and Ron Stillwell — plus two undistinguished reserves — Joe
»
September 3, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
Many baseball fans of a certain age remember the extraordinary National League pennant race of 1962, in the which the Los Angeles Dodgers needed a playoff to best the San Francisco Giants. But few recall that the American League race was also tightly contested well into September. At the close of play on September 3 1962, the Giants had pulled to with 2.5 games of the Dodgers, having defeated their
»
August 15, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
Steven Strasburg is an enormously talented 24 year-old baseball player, who has already established himself as one of the very best pitchers in the Major Leagues. Strasburg missed most of last season after undergoing “Tommy John surgery” to repair his elbow. The normal protocol in the year after Tommy John surgery is for a pitcher to throw between 160 and 180 innings, and then stop for the remainder of the
»
July 31, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
Jim Hibbs was an All-American catcher for Stanford University, a member of the 1964 Olympic baseball team, a minor leaguer for eight years, and, briefly, a major leaguer with the (then) California Angels. He is also a Power Line reader. Jim has written the story of his baseball playing career in a book called A Catcher’s Story. I like the book a lot, and believe that those who followed baseball
»
