June 23, 1967: Roger Maris’s late home run powers Cardinals’ 3-2 win over Phillies

At the conclusion of the 1966 season, New York Yankees outfielder Roger Maris considered retirement. The Yankees had participated in five consecutive World Series from 1960 to 1964, and the Minnesota-born, North Dakota-raised Maris was one of the cornerstones of the team. During that stretch he slugged 182 home runs, including a record 61 in 1961, and attained back-to-back American League Most Valuable Player Awards. Since losing to the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1964 World Series, however, both the Yankees and Maris were declining.

Injuries during the next two seasons cut into Maris’s playing time and reduced his effectiveness on the field. With Maris not able to perform when the Yankees clearly needed him, the New York press and fans were blaming him for the team’s decline. Frustrated with his situation, the 32-year-old seven-time All-Star was ready to walk away from the game he loved.1 Before he announced his decision, however, the Yankees traded him to the Cardinals for third baseman Charley Smith in December 1966.

Maris reported to spring training in 1967 with a fresh outlook. Returning to his Midwest roots, and with his injuries behind him for the time being, he embraced his role of veteran on a talent-laden team. The trade was beneficial for both Maris and the Cardinals. When St. Louis returned from a Western road trip to start an eight-game homestand in late June, Maris was batting .301 and the Cardinals were in first place.

On Friday, June 23, St. Louis’s Dick Hughes was on the mound for the opener of a four-game series with the seventh-place Philadelphia Phillies. The 29-year-old rookie right-hander was fresh off a complete-game victory over the Giants in San Francisco that boosted his record to 6-2 and lowered his ERA to 2.54. After enduring nine years in the minor leagues and beginning the 1967 season in the bullpen, Hughes had become a mainstay in the Cardinals’ rotation.

Philadelphia scored two first-inning runs to take an early lead. With two outs, 25-year-old third baseman Dick Allen blasted a long home run over the center-field wall. The smash was the 1964 NL Rookie of the Year’s ninth of the season, on his way to a third straight All-Star selection.

Right fielder Johnny Callison followed Allen’s bomb with his ninth round-tripper, clearing the wall in right-center. “I was trying to throw the ball Allen hit to a certain spot,” Hughes said. “I missed. The same thing with Callison. I decided to forget about the spots and just fire.”2

The two home runs provided Phillies starter Rick Wise with his largest lead of the season so far. (Philadelphia had scored a total of three runs for Wise in his first six starts.) In the first inning, Wise walked Maris with two outs, but the Cardinals didn’t score.

In the second, Cardinals catcher Tim McCarver3 stroked a leadoff single to left-center and took second on third baseman Mike Shannon’s grounder back to the mound. Julián Javier walked, then Dal Maxvill lined a run-scoring single to left-center, drawing the Cardinals to within one run.

Hughes stepped to the plate with runners on first and second and tapped a ball to the third-base side of the mound. Wise gloved it and looked to third for the force, but no fielder was there. He turned and threw to first, but the throw was high and Hughes was safe, loading the bases.

Lou Brock’s grounder to first scored Javier with the tying run. “It was a gift,” Phillies manager Gene Mauch grumbled after the game.4

With the score tied, Hughes shut down the Phillies. Clay Dalrymple hit a one-out single in the second but could not advance past first. In the third, with left fielder Brock playing well off the line, Allen hit a bullet to left center. Brock tracked down the screaming line drive to end the inning. “I couldn’t have caught it,” said center fielder Curt Flood. “If Lou were playing him regular, I doubt if even he could have.”5

Hughes retired the Phillies in order in the fourth and fifth. In the sixth, Tony González hit a leadoff single and John Briggs sacrificed him to second. Allen grounded out to third, and after Hughes intentionally walked Callison, former Cardinal Bill White lined out to center to end the threat.

Wise settled down after the two-run second inning and kept the Cardinals at bay through the seventh. McCarver walked in the third, but was stranded. Flood singled with one out in the fifth, reached second on a passed ball, and took third on Maris’s groundout; Orlando Cepeda’s6 lineout left him there. Maxvill slapped his second hit, a single to center, to open the seventh, but Hughes and Brock struck out and Flood flied out to center.

As the eighth inning commenced, Hughes and Wise had both surrendered two runs on four hits. The Phillies went down in order in their half of the inning, then Maris lined a full-count pitch over the right-field wall to lead off the Cardinals’ eighth.

The home run was Maris’s fifth of the season. “I was just trying to get on to lead off an inning,” he said. “I got a good swing at a fastball, made good contact and it went out.”7

Cepeda grounded out, but after McCarver stroked a double into left field, Wise’s day was over. Dick Hall was summoned from the bullpen to secure the final two outs.

Hughes returned for the ninth. Allen, who was hitless since the first inning, struck out. With two outs remaining, Hughes lost his control. He walked Callison and hit White with a pitch. With Tony Taylor batting, Hughes threw a wild pitch, allowing Callison to take third.8

Taylor rolled a slow grounder to first baseman Cepeda. Cepeda stepped on the bag for the second out as Billy Cowan, running for White, took second. Callison held at third. Hughes intentionally walked Dalrymple to load the bases.

Phillies manager Mauch sent left-handed-hitting Doug Clemens to pinch-hit for rookie shortstop Gary Sutherland. Clemens worked the count full, then took a called third strike to end the game. “Any time a pitch is questionable in my mind with two strikes, I have to swing at those pitches,” Clemens said. “I should have swung.”9

Hughes won his fifth straight game and seventh of the season. He ended the year with 16 wins and finished second to Tom Seaver for National League Rookie of the Year honors. He pitched only one more season after injuring his rotator cuff the following spring, and retired with 20 major-league wins.

Maris’s 9 homers and 55 RBIs in 125 games helped propel the Cardinals to 101 wins and a World Series victory over the Boston Red Sox.10 In 1968, Maris’ final season, the Cardinals returned to the World Series for the second straight year.

After a sour end to his New York days, Maris was received warmly by his St. Louis teammates and fans. Early in his Cardinals tenure, Maris was asked how he enjoyed playing in St. Louis. Embodying the team-first approach he always espoused, he said, “It’s nice to be in first place.”11

Acknowledgments 

This article was fact-checked by Kurt Blumenau and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources 

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball Reference and Retrosheet for information including the box score and play-by-play, as well as SABR Biography Project articles on Dick Hughes by Thomas Van Hyning and Roger Maris by Bill Pruden.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SLN/SLN196706230.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1967/B06230SLN1967.htm

Photo credit: Roger Maris, Trading Card Database.

Notes

1 Bill Pruden, “Roger Maris,” SABR Biography Project, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/roger-maris/. Accessed June 27, 2024.

2 Bill Conlin, “Maris’ Handiwork (HR, Natch!) Postpones Mauch’s Rush to Top,” Philadelphia Daily News, June 24, 1967: 29.

4 Neil Russo, “Maris’ Punch Spices Hughes’ Payday,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 24, 1967: 5.

5 Conlin.

6 Cepeda had a career year in 1967 – he led the NL with 111 RBIs and won the only MVP Award of his career.

7 Conlin.

8 After the game Hughes explained his wildness in the ninth: “I got into trouble with my control in the ninth because I was putting too much behind each pitch.” Conlin.

9 Conlin.

11 Associated Press, “Maris’ HR in 8th Defeats Phillies,” Lancaster (Pennsylvania) New Era, June 24, 1967: 11.