“How in the world do you get 4 runs?” – Bob Gibson
June 10, 1964
Game 1
St. Louis Cardinals (27-25)
at
San Francisco Giants (30-20)
The game 53 lineup:
- Curt Flood CF
- Carl Warwick RF
- Dick Groat SS
- Ken Boyer 3B
- Charlie James LF
- Bill White 1B
- Julian Javier 2B
- Bob Uecker C
- Bob Gibson P
The first thing that strikes me as interesting is Bob Gibson taking game one. Last time out, if you’ll recall, Bob had the nightcap, and pitching in the shadows basically made him unstoppable. So, here we are with another double header, and they have Bob…going first? Maybe it’s under the theory he doesn’t need the extra help, whereas game 2 starter Glen Hobbie…uh…does.
The hitless wonder Cardinals were still somehow 4th in the league in scoring – partially helped by having a few games on most of the teams – but were sinking fast. The previous day they won 1-0, and perhaps the thought was there best chance of winning a game was Gibson pitching great, and the offense having a chance to score in the sunshine.
The Cardinals loaded the bases in the 1st inning, which might make you think the bats came alive. But it was 2 walks off of Giants’ starter Bob Hendley that sandwiched one of two catcher’s interference calls on the Giants of the day. But Bill White was still 1964 Bill White, and he hit a lazy fly ball to end the threat.
The Giants – including Willie Mays and Duke Snider – went down in order in the 1st, traditionally Gibson’s biggest issue – and perhaps a sign this would be a big day for him.
In the bottom of the 2nd, Orlando Cepeda led off with a pop up that Dick Groat lost in the sky, and then the legendary Candlestick Park winds got a hold of, resulting in a scrambling, desperate dive for the 1st out of the inning:
It was a good thing, too, as Willie McCovey followed it with a single. But the Giants were unable to bring him home.
In the bottom of the 6th though, things went awry. Bob Gibson was an awesome, inner tier Hall of Fame pitcher. But sometimes you have to face awesome, inner tier Hall of Fame hitters. And they are pretty good too. Mays singled on him. A few batters later, Willie McCovey hit an opposite field home run off of him. What more is to say? 2-0 Giants. That meant the Cardinals would have to score 3 runs to win the game. At this point in the game, they had one hit. One. And yes, it was a single.
And yeah, that’s basically how the game went. Bill White walked and Julian Javier hit a groundball single up the middle in the 7th…all for nothing.
In the 8th, Curt Flood and Carl Warwick opened with singles. That caused the Giants to make a move to a new pitcher, their young reliever/spot starter named Gaylord Perry. The Giants didn’t know they had a Hall of Famer on their hands, but boy, what a guy to go to to get out of a jam.
Dick Groat hit a foul ball down the 1st base line that Cepeda was able to track down. Curt Flood tried tagging from 3rd, but was thrown out at the plate for a double play. Awesome, guys, awesome. Ken Boyer, who was Mr. Clutch, Mr Consistency nearly the entire season was actually starting his own slump. He would go 0 for the west coast. And here, he struck out to end the threat. If Boyer ain’t hitting, how would this team ever score?
Duke Snider doubled to start the bottom of the 8th, and later came around on a sac fly to make it 3-0 Giants. Really, this was running up the score against the Cardinals. There wasn’t a chance they were going to score 2 in the 9th, let alone 3. And Gaylord Perry set them down 1-2-3, including 2 strikeouts.
Another sad loser. 3-0. The Cardinals had scored 1 run in 2 games against the Giants. In Bob Gibson’s last 5 starts they’d scored a total of 5 runs. He was upset, naturally.
As you read to start this post – the Cardinals would travel to play the Dodger’s next. On the team bus headed to L.A. they heard the Dodger’s score on the radio. They were in a 4-4 tie with the Reds. “How in the world do you get 4 runs?” Gibson would sarcastically shout to his teammates.
There’s no report if anyone answered. I don’t think they could. In this game they got a total of 4 hits.
“But he won’t be an all-star” – Bing Devine on their trade expectations
Game 2
St. Louis Cardinals (27-26)
at
San Francisco Giants (31-20)
The game 54 lineup:
- Curt Flood CF
- Dick Groat SS
- Bill White 1B
- Ken Boyer 3B
- Charlie James LF
- Tim McCarver C
- Johnny Lewis RF
- Julian Javier 2B
- Glen Hobbie P
For the nightcap, the Cardinals were now one loss away from being a .500 team. I know, watching in 2024, that doesn’t seem so bad. Yay! A .500 team! But you wouldn’t realize it, some fans of teams that are supposed to be a lot better than .500 aren’t all that happy when their team is OK. The Cardinals HAD been 8 games over .500 just a few weeks before. And now? Well, why talk about now when it’s only going to get worse.
And it got worse pretty quickly!
Harvey Kuenn, the Giants first batter of the game, singled to left, went to 2nd on a groundout, and scored on a Willie Mays single. 1-0 Giants. Great, now the Cardinals are going to have to score TWO runs to win.
Well it took until the 5th inning of the 2nd game to actually get a run. Bill White drove in Dick Groat after he had singled and stolen second, and the Cardinals were able to tie the game 1-1. A parade erupted in St. Louis the moment the run was announced. Schoolchildren were given the day off. Paralyzed people were able to rise up and walk once again. June 10th became a local holiday.
Oh, and Charlie James later struck out. I say that because at some point he hit a funny foul ball that the Giants couldn’t catch. I only know it happened in game 2, so it might as well be here. He lofted a ball down the 1st base line, and well, this:
In the meanwhile, Hobbie was on to something. That Willie Mays RBI single in the bottom of the 1st was the last hit he’d given up. In fact, he’d only give up 1 baserunner in the rest of his time on the mound. One lone walk to Jim Ray Hart.
Now, could the Cardinals score some runs?
In the top of the 7th, the Cardinals repeated the formula. Curt Flood singled. Curt Flood stole second. Curt Flood scored on a Bill White single. The two of them had 4 of the 7 hits on the day for the Cardinals. They now had the lead, 2-1.
Was Bill White back? Nah. “I didn’t hit the ball hard. I’m still not driving the ball,” he said of his two hits.
But they counted! And Hobbie shut down the Giants. The Cardinals scored 3 runs in 3 games against the Giants, and won 2 of them.
“We really stopped ’em,” said Johnny Keane with more than a hint of happy sarcasm.
As for Hobbie – who had twirled 2 brilliant games in a row for his new team – maybe Bing DeVine knew what he was doing to trade for him?
“Give Hobbie all the credit,” he said, “We weren’t all that smart when we got him.”
Hobbie thought the trade was a last minute decision. The Cubs just sort of picked him, and the Cardinals kinda said OK!
The Cardinals also thought he sucked because he said all the right things about how the Cubs managed him. But soon, it started to be revealed that…ok…maybe it wasn’t all sunshine and lollipops in Chicago. Hobbie was super happy to be traded to St. Louis. And management, the team, and fans alike all were thinking they’d found a new diamond in the rough.
Nope. This was his last quality start in the major leagues.
Ah well, it was an important one. Without Hobbie’s 2 hitter, 1964 simply doesn’t happen. Give the man his due.
In the meanwhile, the assessment of the NL was still that it was up for grabs. Boyer’s preseason prediction of needing 99 (or was it 100?) wins to take the NL he’d dialed down to 94. He was still too high. Devine was cautioning against expecting anyone good out of the trade deadline, but the Cardinals were hard at work. Stan Musial and others visited young phenom Rick Reichardt at his home. Rick was a power hitting 21 year-old outfielder who would find his way to the majors that year – with his chosen team, the Angels. They won a bidding war so high, it is known as the reason MLB would soon institute the draft.
It won’t shock current Cardinals fans to know that apparently, the offer wasn’t enough.
