July 20, 1965: Yankees pitcher Mel Stottlemyre hits inside-the-park grand slam

Thirteen years before Yankee Stadium opened, Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Deacon Phillippe hit a second inning inside-the-park grand slam in Forbes Field during a 14-1 rout of the Brooklyn Superbas.1 Phillippe remained the only pitcher to achieve the feat until 55 years later, when right-hander Mel Stottlemyre lined Bill Monbouquette’s first pitch between Red Sox left fielder Carl Yastrzemski and center fielder Jim Gosger during a Tuesday afternoon game at Yankee Stadium.2

By the third week of July 1965, it must have been painfully obvious to the Yankees faithful that their beloved perennial-winner Bronx Bombers were no longer invincible. Fresh off a seven-game World Series loss to the St. Louis Cardinals in 1964, Johnny Keane (the 1964 Cardinals manager) had replaced Yogi Berra as Yankees manager. Coming into the July 20 contest, the Yankees had a record of 44-48, and were mired in sixth place, 13½ games behind the Minnesota Twins. The Red Sox, having beaten the Yankees 3-1 behind Jim Lonborg in the first game of a two-game series, were worse. Their 33-54 record found them in ninth place, 22 games behind the league-leading Twins. Boston had not had a winning season since 1958.

Monbouquette got the start for the Red Sox. The veteran right-hander came into the game with a 7-10 record. In 1963 he was a 20-game winner. He had a 16-12 lifetime record against the Yankees, and a 1.40 ERA against them in 1965.3 The Yankees starter was 23-year-old Stottlemyre, sporting a 9-5 record. He had five consecutive wins over Boston. In his first season in New York, the year before, Stottlemyre appeared in 13 games and finished with a 9-3 record and a 2.06 ERA. He worked in three games of the 1964 World Series against the Cardinals, winning one and losing one. Now he was on the way to a terrific season. Despite a mediocre Yankees team that finished in sixth place (77-85), Stottlemyre compiled a 20-9 record with a 2.63 ERA. His 18 complete games led the American League.

The game began with a bang. Leadoff hitter Gosger hit Stottlemyre’s fifth pitch for a home run into the third row of the right-field grandstand. New York took the lead in the bottom of the fourth inning. Bobby Richardson opened the frame with an infield single. Tony Kubek, attempting to sacrifice Richardson to second, failed twice, then lined a pitch that curled around the right-field foul pole into the lower deck for a two-run home run.

The historic fifth inning began with the Yankees ahead, 2-1. Joe Pepitone walked. Clete Boyer bunted and beat the throw from first baseman Lee Thomas to second baseman Felix Mantilla covering first. Roger Repoz, battling a 0-for-23 slump, walked to load the bases. That brought up Stottlemyre. Although not a great hitter (lifetime .160 average with 7 home runs in 11 seasons), he had connected for a home run on June 5 off Gary Peters of the White Sox. And in a September 26, 1964, game against the Washington Senators, Stottlemyre went 5-for-5. The three Red Sox outfielders – Gosger, Yastrzemski, and Tony Conigliaro – moved in about five yards. Stottlemyre recalled, “I guess they thought I was going to bunt to squeeze in a run. Anyway, he threw me a high fastball.”4 Stottlemyre drilled Monbouquette’s first pitch between Yastrzemski and Gosger. The ball rolled toward the 475-foot mark on the bleacher wall in left-center field, in what Mickey Mantle had called “death valley.” Yastrzemski retrieved it and fired to cutoff man Rico Petrocelli. The Red Sox shortstop’s throw home was “strong and about five feet up the first base line.”5 The ball skipped past catcher Bob Tillman and Stottlemyre was safe. “The play would have been close if the catcher got the ball,” manager Keane said.6

The outcome surprised Stottlemyre. “I thought [third base coach Frank Crosetti] was going to stop me, but I was running as fast as I could and kept going.”7 The exertion worried Keane. “We were very much concerned about that,” he said after the game.8

Stottlemyre gave up a single and a walk in the top of the sixth inning, but escaped without allowing a run. He stranded two runners in the seventh, and ran into trouble in the eighth inning. Frank Malzone opened the inning with a single. Yastrzemski followed with a base hit, sending Malzone to third. Mantilla hit a groundball to Kubek that appeared to be a certain double play, but five-time Gold Glover Richardson dropped the ball at second base. Malzone scored, and the Red Sox had runners on first and second with no out. Mantilla was forced out at second base on Thomas’s groundball. Yastrzemski advanced to third on the play and scored on Conigliaro’s sacrifice fly. Stottlemyre retired Tillman to end the inning. The score stood at 6-3.

The Red Sox went down in order in the ninth inning. Gosger, who led off the game with a home run, made the final out. Boston outhit New York, 10-7, but the game and the day belonged to the Yankees and to Stottlemyre. Improving his record to 10–5, Stottlemyre went the distance, giving up three runs (two earned), walking one, and fanning five. The grand slam was his only hit of the day. He struck out against Monbouquette in the third inning and again against reliever Bob Duliba in the seventh.

Stottlemyre was a five-time All-Star. During an 11-year career, all with the Yankees, he finished with a 164-139 won-lost record and a 2.97 ERA. He struck out 1,257 in 2,661⅓ innings pitched. With his inside-the-park grand slam, Stottlemyre joined an exclusive, heady list of hitters, including Hall of Famers Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Lou Gehrig, Zack Wheat, Rabbit Maranville, Rogers Hornsby, Roberto Clemente, Tony Gwynn, and Willie Mays.9 Given today’s DH, it is likely the 24,594 Yankee Stadium fans saw the last inside-the-park grand slam hit by a pitcher.10

Sources 

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org for pertinent information, including the box score and play-by-play.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYA/NYA196507200.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1965/B07200NYA1965.htm

Notes

1 The Phillippe grand slam was hit on July 22, 1910.

2 Although not inside-the-park, Yankees pitchers Red Ruffing (Yankee Stadium, April 14, 1933), Spud Chandler (Comiskey Park, July 26, 1940), and Don Larsen (Yankee Stadium, April 22, 1956) hit grand slams before Stottlemyre’s blast.

3 On May 31, 1967, the Yankees signed Monbouquette as a free agent.

4 Joe Durso, “Stottlemyre’s Grand Slam for Yanks Beats Red Sox, 6-3,” New York Times, July 21, 1965: 27.

5 Joe Trimble, “Stott’s Inside Grand Slam in 5th Batters Bosox, 6-3,” New York Daily News, July 21, 1965: 80, 85.

6 Trimble, 80.

7 “Stottlemyre Socks Himself into Yanks’ Slugging Book,” The Sporting News, July 31, 1965: 30.

8 Durso, 27.

9 For a comprehensive list compiled in 2002, see: https://www.baseball-fever.com/forum/baseball-almanac-baseball-fever-website/baseball-fever-exclusives/175-inside-the-park-grand-slams. See also Derek Bain, “Fun Facts About Inside-the-Park Home Runs,” June 8, 2016. Among other facts, his listing includes inside-the-park grand slams between 1950 – 2015: https://seamheads.com/blog/2016/06/08/fun-facts-about-inside-the-park-home-runs/.

10 The New York Daily News reported the attendance at 14,745.