July 15, 1963: Pirates beat Giants in game featuring seven future Hall of Famers in starting lineups

The fans at Pittsburgh’s Forbes Field on a beautiful July night in 1963 saw a total of seven future Hall of Famers in the starting lineups for the first game of a twilight-night doubleheader between the Pittsburgh Pirates and San Francisco Giants. The most junior of those Cooperstown-bound players – Pirates rookie left fielder Willie Stargell – hit a two-run ninth-inning single to turn Giants ace Juan Marichal’s shutout into a 2-1 Pittsburgh win.

The Giants were fresh off a 1962 World Series appearance, having fallen to the New York Yankees in seven games. For the hometown Pirates, their 93 victories in ’62 still left them in fourth place, eight games off the pace of the Giants. Entering the game, the Pirates were in seventh place, 10½ games behind the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers. The second-place Giants trailed the Dodgers by 6½ games.

Four future Hall of Famers were in Alvin Dark’s Giants lineup. Starting in center field was Willie Mays. Six days earlier, on July 9, the “Say Hey Kid” had earned MVP honors at the All-Star Game at Cleveland Stadium. Willie McCovey was in left field, Orlando Cepeda held down first base, and Marichal was the starting pitcher.

Marichal had a 14-4 record, a winner of 10 of his last 11 decisions, and a 2.21 ERA.1 Earlier in the month the 25-year-old Dominican native battled Warren Spahn of the Milwaukee Braves in a legendary pitchers’ duel at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.2 With both starters still in the game, Mays ended the marathon with a 16th-inning walk-off home run against Spahn to give Marichal a 1-0 win.3

Facing Marichal, the Pirates had three players who were future Hall of Famers. Roberto Clemente was in his usual position in right field and batting third. Slick-fielding Bill Mazeroski, hero of the 1960 World Series, anchored second base. Stargell, in his first full major-league season at age 23, started in left field.4

The 32-year-old Bob Friend was Pirates manager Danny Murtaugh’s choice as the starting pitcher. Friend had a 10-8 record and a 1.99 ERA so far in the season. His two most recent starts had been hard-luck complete-game losses: a 1-0 10-inning decision to the Philadelphia Phillies on July 4 and a 2-0 defeat by the Houston Colt .45s on July 10.

The game began quietly as the twilight-night crowd settled into their seats.5 In the top of the first, Friend induced Matty Alou to ground out, Chuck Hiller hit a foul pop to Donn Clendenon at first, and McCovey flied to Bill Virdon in center. Marichal responded by also setting the Pirates down in order. A Virdon groundout was sandwiched between strikeouts by shortstop Dick Schofield and Clemente.

Both Friend and Marichal faced the minimum number of batters through three innings. Both pitchers surrendered singles, but the baserunners were erased by double-play balls.

The Giants had a scoring threat brewing in the fourth. Matty Alou singled to begin the inning and advanced to second on Hiller’s groundout. McCovey then singled to right,6 extending his hitting streak to 18 games, and Alou took third. McCovey, however, decided to test the arm of Clemente. Clemente was in the midst of 12 consecutive Gold Glove seasons. On this occasion, he did not disappoint the Forbes Field faithful. When McCovey overslid second trying to stretch his single into a double, Clemente’s strike to Schofield covering second nabbed McCovey with Alou holding third.7

Instead of runners at the corners (or second and third) with one out, San Francisco had a runner at third with two outs. Mays lifted a fly ball to Stargell in left, and the Giants’ rally was over.

With two outs in the home fourth, Clemente lined a single through the box that nearly decommissioned Marichal.8 But Clemente never advanced beyond first base as Marichal composed himself and struck out Mazeroski. The fifth and sixth innings confirmed what onlookers and radio listeners knew to be true – this was a genuine pitchers’ duel. The only baserunner during these innings was Pirates catcher Smokey Burgess via a single.

In the seventh, the Giants drew first blood. Friend gave up a leadoff double to Hiller. McCovey popped out to first and Mays grounded to short, but catcher Ed Bailey – who had been voted the starting catcher for the 1963 NL All-Star team – singled to center, scoring Hiller to break the scoreless tie. After Cepeda’s single moved Bailey into scoring position, Jim Davenport flied out to Clemente to end the inning. As the Forbes Field crowd stretched, the visiting Giants led the Pirates 1-0.

Things looked promising for Pittsburgh when Clemente singled to open the bottom of the seventh. After Mazeroski’s sacrifice moved Clemente to second, however, Stargell popped to third and Marichal got Clendenon on a called third strike.

The Giants went down in order in the top of the eighth with Friend striking out two. Friend’s two punchouts were half of his total of four for the game. Likewise, Marichal faced the minimum in the bottom of the eighth, striking out his seventh Pirate of the night.

The seventh punchout for Marichal, against Jerry Lynch, seemed especially cruel to the Pirates and their fans. Not only did Marichal fan a power hitter capable of tying the game with one swing, but Lynch entered the game as a pinch-hitter for Friend. Friend could now only watch from the bench, knowing he had held the reigning NL champs to one run over eight strong innings, throwing only 74 pitches. Friend’s outing extended his tough-luck streak to 27 consecutive innings that the Pirates were scoreless behind him.9

For the top of the ninth, Pirates skipper Murtaugh sent 25-year-old Al McBean to the mound. The lanky right-hander from the Virgin Islands was in his third major-league year and coming off a 15-win season with the Pirates. In 1964 McBean was The Sporting News Fireman of the Year.

McBean allowed a one-out single to McCovey, but Mays grounded into an inning-ending double play. This set the stage for the bottom of the ninth inning with the Giants still leading, 1-0.

Virdon led off against Marichal with a sharp single to center field. Clemente followed with a high bouncer over Cepeda’s head at first. The hit went for a double, with Virdon holding at third base. The two-bagger was Clemente’s third hit of the evening.

Mazeroski was intentionally walked to load the bases. The 26-year-old fielding magician from Wheeling, West Virginia, a number-eight hitter in the lineup for much of his career, was batting fourth for the Pirates. Murtaugh turned to Mazeroski as his choice for the cleanup spot earlier in the season – a job no second-sacker had held since Jackie Robinson. Murtaugh had little choice since rookies like Stargell and third baseman Bob Bailey had yet to develop into bona fide power hitters.10

With no outs, Stargell stepped to the plate with just six hits in his last 40 times at bat.11 Also, Marichal had held Stargell hitless to this point with two strikeouts and a popout.12

With the infield drawn in, Stargell worked the count to 2-and-2, including four foul balls.13 He then cracked a single to right that set off the fireworks for Pirates fans.14 Virdon scored easily from third to tie the game. Felipe Alou, who entered the game as a pinch-runner in the top of the inning, was now playing right field.15 Alou fielded Stargell’s hit cleanly but threw wide of home plate. Clemente scored standing up from second base with the winning run. Final score Pirates 2, Giants 1.

The loss, coupled with a 4-1 defeat in the nightcap, dropped the Giants into third place, seven games behind the Dodgers. The Pirates moved into sixth place, nine games out.16

McBean was the winning pitcher. He raised his record to 9-2. Marichal took the loss and stood at 14-5. For the year, Marichal notched 25 victories, tied for the major-league lead with Cy Young Award winner and NL MVP Sandy Koufax of the rival Dodgers.

Clemente was the first of the seven players from the July 15, 1963, Pirates-Giants game to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. After his tragic death in an airplane accident on New Year’s Eve 1972, the Hall of Fame waived its five-year waiting period and inducted him in August 1973. The Baseball Writers’ Association of America voted in four more players when they became eligible: Mays (1979), Marichal (1983), McCovey (1986), and Stargell (1988). The Veterans Committee selected Cepeda (1999) and Mazeroski (2001).17

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Laura Peebles and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Photo credit: Willie Stargell, Trading Card Database.

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/PIT/PIT196307151.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1963/B07151PIT1963.htm

Notes

1 Jack Hanley, “Marichal Defeated 2-1 in First Game,” San Jose Mercury, July 16, 1963: 8.

2 “Marichal’s 1-0 Gem in Giants’ Showcase,” Pittsburgh Courier, July 13, 1963: 23.

3 For the July 2 game, the pitching line for the winner Marichal was 16.0 innings pitched, 8 hits, 0 runs, 10 strikeouts, and 4 walks. Spahn’s losing performance wasn’t too shabby either – 15 1/3 innings pitched, 9 hits, 1 run, 2 strikeouts, and 1 walk. The victor Marichal threw 227 pitches; in defeat Spahn tossed 201. An article published by the Society for American Baseball Research made the claim that the Marichal-Spahn game was “the greatest pitching duel in baseball history.” Jim Kaplan, “The Best-Pitched Game in Baseball History: Warren Spahn and Juan Marichal,” The National Pastime, Vol. 27 (2007), https://sabr.org/journal/article/the-best-pitched-game-in-baseball-history-warren-spahn-and-juan-marichal/.

4 Stargell played in only 10 games in 1962 as a September call-up.

5 The paid crowd at the doubleheader was 24,357.

6 McCovey went on to hit safely in 24 consecutive games.

7 Lester J. Biederman, “Twin-Bill Sweep, 2-1, 4-1, Extends Win Streak to Five,” Pittsburgh Press, July 16, 1963: 25.

8 Jack Hanley, “McCovey Extends Streak,” San Jose Mercury, July 16, 1963: 11.

9 Lester J. Biederman, “Mays 100% Player,” Pittsburgh Press, July 16, 1963: 26; Emmons Byrne, “Giants Lose Twin Bill to Bucs, Drop to Third Place,” Oakland Tribune, July 16, 1963: 36.  

10 “Clemente’s Annual May-June Spurt Tonic for Bucs,” Pittsburgh Courier, June 1, 1963: 24.

11 Biederman, “Twin-Bill Sweep, 2-1, 4-1, Extends Win Streak to Five.” Stargell’s slump dropped his average from .242 to .220. His average continued to drop after this game, bottoming out at .195 on August 27. Stargell ended the year with a monster September, batting .363 and slugging .600 with four home runs, to finish at .243.

12 Harry Jupiter, “S.F. Now Trails by 7 Games,” San Francisco Examiner, July 16, 1963: 47.

13 Jupiter, “S.F. Now Trails by 7 Games.”

14 Biederman, “Twin-Bill Sweep, 2-1, 4-1, Extends Win Streak to Five.”

15 Newspapers offered conflicting accounts as to why Alou was not in the starting lineup. The Oakland Tribune on July 10, five days before the Pirates-Giants clash, reported that Dark was going to rest Alou due to a batting slump. The Redwood City (California) Tribune on July 10 said that Dark was going to rest Alou and start the hot-hitting Harvey Kuenn in right field (no mention was made of an Alou batting slump). The North Hollywood Valley Times (and numerous other newspapers on July 10) noted that Dark planned to bench Alou due to Alou’s needing more rest (again no mention of an Alou slump or Kuenn). The Siskiyou Daily News (Yreka, California) on July 10 was one of many sources to report that the benching of Alou was due to a swollen elbow. And, on the same day as the previous reports, the Santa Cruz (California) Sentinel simply noted that Dark was going to rest Alou with no other details given. Emmons Byrne, “Giants Start Trip, Phils First Foe,” Oakland Tribune, July 10, 1963: 39; Associated Press, “Giants Open Road Trip,” Redwood City (California) Tribune, June 10, 1963: 14; Associated Press, “Dodgers Open 15-Game Road Tilt Tonight,” North Hollywood Valley Times, July 10, 1963: 23; United Press International, “Giants Hit Trail to Capture 1st Place from L.A.,” Siskiyou (California) Daily News, July 10, 1963: 3; Associated Press, “Toe Almost Among Things Mays Broke in All-Star Tilt Won’t Hurt Giants,” Santa Cruz Sentinel, July 10, 1963: 7.

16 The Giants finished the season in third place, 11 games behind the World Series champion Dodgers. The Pirates were eighth, 25 games out.

17 The Forbes Field crowd actually saw eight future Hall of Famers during the course of evening. Gaylord Perry (HOF 1991), a Giant rookie in 1963, was used as a pinch-runner in the second game of the doubleheader.