May 14, 1964
St. Louis Cardinals (16-12)
At
Milwaukee Braves (15-12)
“Tief did a great job for Atlanta” – Jeoff Long
The game 29 lineup:
- Curt Flood CF
- Carl Warwick RF
- Dick Groat SS
- Ken Boyer 3B
- Jeoff Long 1B
- Charlie James LF
- Julian Javier 2B
- Bob Uecker C
- Bob Gibson P
I have to say, of all the teams, the 1964 Braves lineup scares me. I would have been telling everyone I know that they were the team to beat – at least the moment the Dodgers slumped away from contention.
Let me tell you something about the 1964 Braves. Felipe Alou – who was a FANTASTIC player – was a rotating starter/utility sub on the 64 Braves. Ed Bailey was an All Star in 1963 with a 147 OPS+. On the 1964 Braves, he was a backup.
Hank Aaron and Eddie Mathews headlined the Hall of Famers. Joe Torre was a deserving HOFer, who made it as a Manager first. Rico Carty was an insane talent up there with anyone, who would have made the Hall if not for illness, injuries, and generally being a hard to work with fellow. Freaking Lee Maye was a stud in his prime, are you kidding me?
The Cardinals were 2nd in the league in runs scored in 1964. They averaged 4.4 a game. The Braves? They averaged 5.0. If Warren Spahn were 33 instead of 43 that year…
Oh, and the wind was blowing out this game.
So when Bob Gibson gets shelled, don’t be shocked.
In the first inning Eddie Mathews doubled, Hank Aaron singled him home, moved to 2nd on a walk, and then Joe Torre singled him home. It sounds like I’m describing an all-time legends game.
The trouble wasn’t over for Gibson.
The Braves loaded the bases in the 2nd, but he got out of it by inducing a double play. Torre doubled in the 3rd, but remain stranded. In the 4th Lee Maye followed a single with a 2-run homer, and so ended Gibby’s night. 3 innings. 4 runs. 8 hits and 3 walks. Z-E-R-O strikeouts. These Braves were something.
But the Cardinals got to bat too.
Denny Lemaster took the mound, he was a 1960s version of a strikeout artist, with one major issue – let’s put it this way – he led the league in exactly two categories in his career. In 1963 he gave up 30 home runs, and in 1964 he uncorked 20 wild pitches. You know the type.
Curt Flood led off with a walk. This is what I mean, no shock there. Carl Warwick singled to left, and somehow Flood was able to make it to 3rd. Dick Groat singled to center to drive him home.
Now it was the big boy’s turn. Ken Boyer. He struck out. Of course. That’s how these power v power matchups go.
Jeoff Long played 1B for Bill White, and he hit a single to load the bases for Charlie James who…also struck out.
That brought up Julian Javier, who was batting 7th only because with a lefty on the mound that meant Uecker was in the lineup. Normally Javier would have been buried a tad deeper as to not be up with the bases loaded.
Good thing he wasn’t. Javier launched a grand slam to left field to cap off a 5 run inning for the Cardinals. I told you about the 4 Bob would give up? Already erased.
Now, I just told you about a Julian Javier grand slam. You’d think that would have been all the talk the next day. But it wasn’t. There was no description of the play, no quotes from Javier, nothing. That’s because all the talk would be the exploits of Javier’s roommate.
Now, I should mention here that Charley James hit a homer in the 4th. Also, Charley James hit a homer in the 7th. It barely warranted a mention.
Heck, Roger Craig singled and scored later in the game. Who cares? No one. Usually Roger Craig hits are the inspiration for PARAGRAPHS of words spilled. Quotes galore! Not here.
And why not tell you that the Braves also scored a few more runs on the night. 6 total. Fine. Fine. That’s over with.
Let’s get to the point here: Today belonged to Jeoff Long.
Long led off the top of the 5th against Bobby Tiefenauer, a Milwaukee knuckleballer, and he was hit by pitch, later to be erased on a double play.
Tied got out the inning unscathed, set the Cardinals down in order in the 6th, and got the 1st two outs in the 7th before Ken Boyer singled off of him. Up stepped Long to get his HBP revenge (which was probably a knuckler and not exactly revenge worthy).
Now, we should mention why Long was in the lineup, with his first MLB game at 1B. You might think it was because of a platoon situation, with Denny Lemaster being a lefty – and maybe that had something to do with it – but White’s shoulder was hurting, and this game actually ended a 284 game streak for him. His hurt shoulder had been in the papers for a while, and was the later given rational for why he struggled in the first half.
Now what if I told you that White’s bat was actually in the lineup?
I mean that literally. Long used his bat to hit.
It worked. He uncorked a home run off of the knuckler that landed on the flapping Cardinal to the left of the scoreboard. I cannot even fathom how far it was. This was still the talk the next day, when they actually diagramed out how far his hit went.
Insane. Absolutely insane. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was the longest home run in Sportsman’s Park/Busch I history.
But here’s the thing: What we just learned about? That was Jeoff Long’s only home run of his career. If you’re going to hit just one, make it count.
“It was a knuckler and you have to be lucky to hit a home run against him,” Long said after the game.
But no. That’s not luck. You don’t luck into something like that. Someone, ANYONE, get me some measurements on how far that went.
Oh, the Cardinals won 10-6.