May 1, 1964
Pittsburgh Pirates (7-6)
At
St. Louis Cardinals (8-6)
“I’m not a slowball pitcher” – Roger Craig
The game 15 lineup:
- Curt Flood CF
- Dick Groat SS
- Bill White 1B
- Ken Boyer 3B
- Tim McCarver C
- Charlie James LF
- Johnny Lewis RF
- Julian Javier 2B
- Roger Craig P
Uh oh, a Roger Craig start. What kind of luck is this one going to have?
The days before he did have a visit with his former manager, Casey Stengal.
I just…I just don’t even understand why this photo op was worth it.
Anyway, this game was a glorious showcase of Roger Craig’s personality. That is, if you thought Craig seemed like he was a bit rough around the edges when he was a Giants manager in the 80s, yeah. Guy wouldn’t have made it through the common day soundbite era. It’s actually what makes me so much more interested in older baseball than recent baseball. Players had personalities!
As for the game, it started off rather boring. Craig struck out Roberto Clemente to end the 1st, which I find to be pretty cool, and each team pretty much got 0 or 1 runners on, with no real threat. The most exciting part would be Roger Craig drawing a walk in the 3rd inning, he was going through the hottest offensive period of his life!
“I’ve been walked 4 times. They’ve been scared of me ever since I hit that screaming double in San Francisco.”
Honestly, I have no idea what he’s talking about. His first game of the year he did hit a screaming double in San Fran. And he walked TWICE in this game. It was his first 2 walks of the season. And the dude was in his age 34 season, he’d walked way more than 4 times in his career. But Craig strikes me as someone who…definitely believed in his legend a little more than the stat sheet would suggest he should.
The Pirates took a 1-0 lead on a sac fly in the top of the 4th, and then the Cardinals came roaring back.
Withe Vern Law on the mound, Dick Groat started off the inning by hitting an infield single to 2B. Bill White followed with an infield single to 2B. You heard me right. This is how the Cardinals offense roared in the early part of ’64. Back to back infield singles to 2B.
Ken Boyer then hit an RBI single to CF to tie the game – I can see no description of the single, so we can assume it was a grounder up the middle that just made it passed Bill Mazeroski‘s glove.
Charlie James then hit a stretch double to left to give the Cardinals a 2-1 lead, and I’m proud to say we have real, actual photos of James digging in to second base. This is a rarity folks, enjoy it.
Johnny Lewis than singled to right – so, probably just by the 2B, scoring both runners home to make it 4-1 game, and a HUGE inning for this Cardinals team.
“Getting runs early makes things easier,” said Craig, “You don’t have to press all the time.”
I think it says something about his Mets days, that the Cardinals scoring in the 4th inning felt early to him.
The Cardinals added two more in the 7th when Curt Flood singled, and NO it was not a dinky little infield single to 2B, how dare you. It was an infield single to SS. Groat followed with an RBI double, and later in the inning Tim McCarver drove him home. I hope you enjoyed those nice photos before, because this time you get this one:
Craig was masterful in the game, giving up only one other run on a Clemente RBI single. No shame in that.
After the game? Yeah, he was Craig.
“Some of those guys were looking for my curve, they think I’m some old sore-armed pitcher.” said Craig in what appears to be just a fantasy he was making up in his head. “This was a routine game for me. I pitched a good game.”
And then my favorite…
“It’s nice to have a good team behind you. I’m not knocking the Mets, but some of the Cardinals aren’t being paid $40,000 or $50,000 dollars for doing nothing.”
That’s just great. Unlike the Mets, some of the Cardinals aren’t just making $50K to do nothing.
God bless you Roger Craig, I spent my youth hating you and this won’t change anything. In fact, it sort of underscores that I was right to, but at least 60 years later, it made me laugh.
Oh, and I know you’re all wondering this – this was teen night. Nearly half the crowd was teenagers. I’m glad I wasn’t there. And no, I have no updates on Miss Red Bird, but I’m certain that’s coming.
