50 years ago today, an epic game. . .

[Kibitzer]

. . . when Juan Marichal and Warren Spahn hooked up in a game for the ages. Milwaukee Braves vs. San Francisco Giants.

The game went 16 innings, 4 hours and 10 minutes.

Spahn was 42 years old, Marichal, 25.

Spahn threw 201 pitches. Marichal threw 227.

Both pitched a complete game, Juan for 16 innings and Warren for 15 and 1/3.

Game ended in bottom of 16th, with one out, when Willie Mays (who else!) hit a home run.

Final score, 1-0.

What a game!!!!

 

[grizz36]

Warren Spahn always was, and always will be my #1 sports hero. He won far more lifetime games than any other southpaw. You might be interested, Kib, that after pitching half a year for the Braves, Spahn went into the army and later won the Bronze Star and earned a battlefield commission at the Bulge. If he had not lost 2 1/2 years in the service, he undoubtedly would have won over 400 games.

 

[MilfordHusky]

When I was about 11, I was visiting my aunt and uncle in Reading, PA. They were big Phillies fans, so we often watched the games. One summer night, they had an away game at San Francisco and faced a highly touted rookie. I stayed up until nearly 2 AM listening on the radio. I believe it was Juan Marichal's MLB debut. He shut the Phils out on either 1 or 2 hits and simply dominated. And he continued dominating the league for years.

Edit: It was July 19, 1960. I was 12. It was a 1-hitter with 12 Ks. He had a no-hitter through 7 innings.

 

[MilfordHusky]

In the game that Kib cites, Hank Aaron was 0-6.

 

[meyers7]

Spahn was a little before my time, but I do remember Marichal and his high leg windup. I remember trying to pitch like him.

 

[uconnfan68]

Warren Spahn always was, and always will be my #1 sports hero. He won far more lifetime games than any other southpaw. You might be interested, Kib, that after pitching half a year for the Braves, Spahn went into the army and later won the Bronze Star and earned a battlefield commission at the Bulge. If he had not lost 2 1/2 years in the service, he undoubtedly would have won over 400 games.

And Ted Williams might be the HR king... he lost time in WWII and in Korea. Can't even imagine a player today sacrificing like that. Pat Tillman was special.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Spahn was a little before my time, but I do remember Marichal and his high leg windup. I remember trying to pitch like him.

How did it go? The high leg kick, his signature, would seem hard to replicate. His balance must have been phenomenal.

 

[UConnCat]

I loved Juan Marichal as a little girl (it was the leg kick) and I recall being devastated after the incident with Johnny Roseboro. Marichal would become as defined by the photo of him wielding the bat as he was by the photo of the famous leg kick. Many years later, Roseboro campaigned for Marichal's admission to the HOF and Marichal spoke at Roseboro's funeral. Roseboro said that after Sandy Koufax refused to throw at Marichal the batter (in retaliation for Marichal throwing at Dodger hitters) Roseboro decided to take matters in to his own hands and came very close to Marichal's head when throwing the ball back to Koufax. The rest is history.

 

[meyers7]

How did it go? The high leg kick, his signature, would seem hard to replicate. His balance must have been phenomenal.

I was about 7 or 8, in my mind it was like looking in a mirror.

 

[HiDribble]

I grew up in Wisconsin and my dad always took us to see the Braves at the Milwaukee Count Stadium. Spahn, Burdette, Aaron, Matthews, Pafko, Logan and on and on filled with great players. At the time the Brooklyn Dodgers were the big draw. A double header would usually allow us to see all (seven?) the pitchers on the team.

 

[DobbsRover2]

Roseboro said that after Sandy Koufax refused to throw at Marichal the batter (in retaliation for Marichal throwing at Dodger hitters) Roseboro decided to take matters in to his own hands and came very close to Marichal's head when throwing the ball back to Koufax. The rest is history.

Though a rabid Dodger fan then and now and shocked about Marichal's action, I did wonder why Roseboro was upset about the Dodger batters getting hit. That was one of their chief ways of getting on base and scoring runs that season. Gilliam, Wills, Parker, Johnson -- how did you expect them to get on?

And it was an extraordinary year, with the Dodgers, Braves, Giants, and Reds all battling for the top on Aug. 22 when the game happened and LA was up by a half game, and the Pirates got close a few weeks later. The Giants went on a 17-1 tear from Sept. 4 through Sept. 20 to put them up 4 games and seemingly take control, but the Dodgers got their revenge and the pennant when they closed out the seasons on a 15-1 run and Marichal went 0-3 in his last 4 starts.

 

[sparky]

Pitchers today are lucky to go 6 innings. Those were the days my friend...............

 

[DobbsRover2]

How did it go? The high leg kick, his signature, would seem hard to replicate. His balance must have been phenomenal.

Yeah, you had to perfect good balance to pitch that way, but the benefit for Marichal and Spahn and for other funky delivery guys like Hideo Nomo and Fernando Valenzuela was that the ball is hidden much longer and the batter is less able to figure out what type of pitch will be coming. Plus with Marichal, you did know that every third pitch was going to be aimed at ringing your bell.

 

[Icebear]

Luis Tiant, too.

 

[DobbsRover2]

Luis Tiant, too.

And talk about a young guys' dream team, Marichal grew up playing ball with the three Alou brothers, and I believe they were all together in SF for a while. I have Christian baseball cards for the Alou brothers that my grandmother gave me, and I'm waiting for these rare items to go up just a little more in value so that I can finance my retirement home in Monte Carlo.

 

[Icebear]

. . . when Juan Marichal and Warren Spahn hooked up in a game for the ages. Milwaukee Braves vs. San Francisco Giants.

The game went 16 innings, 4 hours and 10 minutes.

Spahn was 42 years old, Marichal, 25.

Spahn threw 201 pitches. Marichal threw 227.

Both pitched a complete game, Juan for 16 innings and Warren for 15 and 1/3.

Game ended in bottom of 16th, with one out, when Willie Mays (who else!) hit a home run.

Final score, 1-0.

What a game!!!!

It was "truly epic" as the kids say.

 

[Kibitzer]

Pitchers today are lucky to go 6 innings. Those were the days my friend...............

In that same Milwaukee County Stadium a few years before the Spahn-Marichal duel, there was another pitching masterpiece (1959), never matched or exceeded.

Harvey Haddix, left hand pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates, not only pitched a no-hitter, he actually pitched a perfect game for 12 innings. He retired 36 consecutive batters before one got on by an error, another got a base on balls, and another got the first hit of the game for Milwaukee (double) in the bottom of the 13th to enable the Braves to win, 1-0.

I have no idea what Haddix's pitch count was.

Neither did he.

 

[DobbsRover2]

Another legendary pitcher's duel of the era was the one-game series between the Dodgers and Cubs on Sept. 9, 1965 when Sandy Koufax threw his perfect no-hitter and Bob Hendley gave up one hit, though it was not involved in the game's 1-0 outcome. Another one of those games where no pitcher deserved to lose.

 

[Icebear]

Homer Bailey threw his second no-no last night, his first being Sept. 28th and beat SF and Tim Lincecum 3-0 last night.

 

[Olde Coach]

Another legendary pitcher's duel of the era was the one-game series between the Dodgers and Cubs on Sept. 9, 1965 when Sandy Koufax threw his perfect no-hitter and Bob Hendley gave up one hit, though it was not involved in the game's 1-0 outcome. Another one of those games where no pitcher deserved to lose.

The last time I saw the Braves play was in the 1948 World Series vs Cleveland.

And the Braves were from Boston.

I was 14, and had two great aunts who lived in Cleveland.

They provided my round trip train ticket from Albany (NY) and tickets for all the games in Cleveland. The Indians had Bob Feller, and Bob Lemon and Satchel Paige pitching.

Cleveland won the series; and I still have a base ball from one of the games that is autographed by Bob Feller.

I played hooky from school for ten days in order to attend all the games.

There were 87,000+ people in Cleveland Stadium for one of the games. That was (and still is) the largest crowd ever to attend a MLB game.

Sweet memories.

 

[Husky1964]

Spahn won a ton of games after age 35 Friend of mine was talking about the 48 race in the NL---- Spahn ansd Sain and pray for rain!!!!

 

[meyers7]

The last time I saw the Braves play was in the 1948 World Series vs Cleveland.

I used to live near Atlanta many years ago (not as long as some of you though). Saw the Braves many times. Every time we were there and Hank Aaron started, he hit a home run. Also at the time saw Davey Johnson and Darrell Evans (Dusty Baker too I think). I remember in 1973 they hit 43, 41, and 40 HRs (Johnson, Evans, Aaron) respectively.

 

[Phil]

. . . when Juan Marichal and Warren Spahn hooked up in a game for the ages. Milwaukee Braves vs. San Francisco Giants.

Plate o' shrimp

I was just thinking about Warren Spahn this morning, which is slightly odd, since I know almost nothing about him.

The one thing I know is the quote his manager made, commenting on the fact he had two great pitchers and not much more, and described his rotation as "Spahn and Sain and a day of rain".

Edit Heh, to Husky1964, who hadn't posted when I started my response.

 

[Kibitzer]

We know that Spahn lost a few years in WW II, but he still won 363 games. Perhaps even more remarkable, he had 382 complete games, a total that I would bet exceeds the total CG's of every single active MLB pitcher today.

And over 5,200 innings pitched.

And, as mentioned, a Bronze Star and a battlefield commission in the Battle of the Bulge.