April 21, 1959: Henry Aaron belts out 3 hits to continue season-opening surge

It was already a month into spring, but the April cold probably kept fans at home. Only 6,869 customers showed up in the 40-degree weather to watch the Cincinnati Reds play the Milwaukee Braves on April 21, 1959, at Milwaukee’s County Stadium, making it the smallest home crowd in three seasons.1 Those that did brave the elements were treated to an offensive outburst by Henry Aaron. It was the seventh straight game in which Aaron collected at least two hits to start the season.

Warren Spahn started for Milwaukee, which had begun the season with four wins in five games. The Braves were tied with the Los Angeles Dodgers (6-3) for the top spot in the NL. The 38-year-old lefty, a 10-time All-Star, had led the National League in both victories and complete games in each of the past two seasons and was in quest of his 10th career 20-win season. On Opening Day, Spahn had pitched another complete game, shutting out the Pittsburgh Pirates 8-0 on seven hits. He was particularly dominant over the Reds. Coming into this game, Spahn had won 50 of 65 decisions against Cincinnati. About his dominance over the Reds, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported, “If he had to pitch against the Reds every four days, he’d attain that goal [20 wins] by Independence Day.”2

Cincinnati (4-3) sent right-hander Bob Purkey to the mound to oppose Spahn. Purkey was in his second season pitching for the Reds, after four years in Pittsburgh. In 1958 he transitioned into more of a starter’s role, but manager Mayo Smith occasionally used him in relief. Purkey had won his first two starts of the season (both against Pittsburgh), pitching complete games.

After winning the NL’s Most Valuable Player Award in 1957, Aaron put up solid numbers in the 1958 campaign, just not as good as Ernie Banks or Willie Mays. But in 1959 Hammerin’ Hank gave players and fans no doubts about his offensive capabilities. In his first six games of the season, the 25-year-old Aaron was batting .538 (14-for-26), with 2 home runs, 4 doubles, 5 RBIs, and 7 runs scored. He continued with the hot bat against the Reds.

The first two innings passed without incident. Each side sent six batters to the plate, who were all retired. However, with two outs in the top of the third, Purkey hit a single past first base. Johnny Temple followed with a single into left field. Cincinnati rookie Vada Pinson battled Spahn to a full count before driving a pitch to right-center. The ball banged off the 394-foot marker on the wall. Both runners scored and Pinson reached third for his second triple of the early season.

The Reds’ lead did not last long. The Braves responded in the bottom of the third. Johnny Logan led off with a line-drive single to center and advanced to third on Chuck Cottier’s single to right-center. Spahn lifted a fly ball out to left, which was deep enough for Logan to tag and score. Bill Bruton singled, and after Eddie Mathews flied out, Aaron lined a triple deep down the left-field line, driving in two runs and putting the Braves ahead. After the game, a puzzled Purkey said, “The ball he hit was a foot inside.”3

Milwaukee continued its attack in the next frame, the fourth. Purkey walked Frank Torre and then gave up a single to Del Crandall. (Torre continued to third base, and Crandall advanced to second when Pinson threw to third in an attempt to get Torre.) Torre scored on Logan’s sacrifice fly and Crandall tallied on a double by Cottier. Right-hander Tom Acker was summoned from the Cincinnati bullpen to relieve Purkey. He struck out both Spahn and Jim Pisoni4 to end the inning, keeping the score 5-2.

Cincinnati threatened again in the fifth. Back-to-back singles by Roy McMillan and Jim Pendleton (pinch-hitting for Acker) put runners at the corners with no outs. Temple popped out to short center before Pinson singled to right-center. McMillan scored easily and Pendleton continued to third base, but Pinson rounded first base and stumbled. Braves center fielder Pisoni threw the ball to second baseman Cottier. He fired to first baseman Torre, who tagged out Pinson. Spahn retired Pete Whisenant on a lazy infield pop fly to end the inning and limit the damage to one run.

Rookie southpaw Mike Cuellar was on the mound for the Reds in the bottom of the fifth. (It was just his second major-league appearance.) Mathews singled to lead off and went to third on a double by Aaron, his second extra-base hit of the game. Torre’s sacrifice fly to deep right brought Mathews home and sent Aaron to third. Aaron then jogged home on Crandall’s second single of the game. The Braves now had a 7-3 lead.

Spahn was “back in hot water briefly in the seventh.”5 With two outs, Temple and Pinson hit back-to-back doubles that accounted for the Reds’ fourth run. Spahn recovered and got Whisenant to fly out. He retired six of the final seven Cincinnati players to finish the complete game.

In leading his team to a 7-4 victory, Aaron finished just a home run short of hitting for the cycle. He “kicked his batting average up to a gaudy .567”6 and helped Spahn earn his second win of the season and his 248th major-league victory.7 Despite allowing 11 hits, Spahn had pitched another complete game.

Through the first seven games of the season, Aaron had banged out 17 hits, eight of which were for extra bases. Besides improving his batting average, his slugging percentage shot up to an even 1.000 (giving him an OPS of 1.581).

Pinson, the Reds’ 20-year-old center fielder, matched Aaron’s production in the losing cause (3-for-4, with a triple, double, and single). Pinson drove in all of the Reds’ four runs. Cincinnati’s big bats of Whisenant, Frank Robinson, and Frank Thomas went a combined 1-for-12 against Spahn. Robinson failed to hit the ball out of the infield, telling reporters, “Outside of one curve, [Spahn] threw me all screwballs.”8

Milwaukee won its fifth game of the season against only one defeat.9 Spahn went on to win 21 games in 1959. The only teams that gave him a losing record that season were the Reds. Despite his 21 total victories, Spahn lost five of eight decisions against Cincinnati and the Dodgers (0-5).

Aaron also liked facing the Reds. For his career, he batted .319 against Cincinnati with a .993 OPS. He had more total base hits (848), doubles (81), and home runs (97) against the Reds than against any other franchise. In 1959 Aaron batted .415 vs. Cincinnati pitching, his best mark against any NL team. He spread out his extra-base hits, garnering at least 11 against every other team in the league.

Aaron continued to be the hot hitter throughout the season, winning his second league batting title and posting a 1.037 OPS with 400 total bases. Although his major-league-leading batting average (.355) bested both Ernie Banks and Eddie Mathews by an average of 50 points, Aaron came in third in the NL Most Valuable Player Award voting.10

In the early part of his career, Aaron began several seasons with hitting streaks of at least seven games. However, only in 1959 did the streak consist of uniquely multihit games. In 1970, his 17th major-league season, Aaron had five multihit games in an eight-game hitting streak to start the season.

SOURCES

In addition to the sources mentioned in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, MLB.com, Retrosheet.org, and SABR.org.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/MLN/MLN195904210.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1959/B04210MLN1959.htm

NOTES

1  Three seasons earlier, on April 30, 1956, a crowd of 6,090 “shivered their way through a Milwaukee-St. Louis” contest. See “Spahn, Shaky at Times, Gains Second Victory,” Wisconsin State Journal (Madison), April 22, 1959: 29.

2  Bill Ford, “Reds ‘Touch’ Spahn for 11 Hits But He Still Masters ’Em, 7-4,” Cincinnati Enquirer, April 22, 1959: 29.

3  Earl Lawson, “Season’s Official – Spahn Whips the Reds,” Cincinnati Post, April 22, 1959: 52.

4  Pisoni had replaced Bruton in center field at the start of the fourth inning. According to the Wisconsin State Journal, Bruton needed to rest his injured leg after his single. See “Spahn, Shaky at Times, Gains Second Victory.”

5  “Spahn, Shaky at Times, Gains Second Victory.”

6  “Spahn, Shaky at Times, Gains Second Victory.”

7  The win was Spahn’s 51st career victory over the Reds, giving him a winning percentage of 77.3 percent. For his career, Spahn won 62 of 91 decision against Cincinnati (68.1 percent).

8  Lawson.

9  The Braves did have a tie game (2-2 against Pittsburgh on April 17).

10  Banks led the majors with 143 RBIs with a 10.2 WAR, while Mathews slugged a major-league-leading 46 home runs to accompany his 8.2 WAR. Aaron’s 223 hits, .355 batting average, and 1.037 OPS topped all players, and his 8.6 WAR was tied for second best (with Washington pitcher Camilo Pascual).