April 12, 1960: Chuck Essegian repeats World Series magic for Dodgers on Opening Day

The saying “Lightning never strikes twice in the same place” may not be true, but few of the record 67,550 spectators at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum would have expected it to strike for a third time when the 1959 World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers opened their 1960 season at home against the Chicago Cubs.1

Los Angeles had surprised the experts in 1959 by finishing the regular season tied with the Milwaukee Braves for first place, winning a two-game playoff over the Braves for the National League pennant, and defeating the Chicago White Sox in the World Series, four games to two.2 

Chuck Essegian hit two pinch-hit home runs for Los Angeles in the 1959 World Series but wasn’t assured of a roster spot in 1960 until the end of spring training.3 The 28-year-old reserve outfielder wasn’t even listed in the opening game’s official program,4 yet when his manager needed a late-game long-ball threat on Opening Day, he turned to Essegian.

The Cubs had posted their seventh straight losing season in 1959, finishing fifth in the eight-team NL despite shortstop Ernie Banks’ second consecutive MVP performance.5 In the offseason Chicago added three veterans to their lineup, trading for left fielder Frank Thomas of the Cincinnati Reds, center fielder Richie Ashburn of the Philadelphia Phillies, and third baseman Don Zimmer of the Dodgers.6

Pregame festivities for Opening Day 1960 started the night before with the third annual Los Angeles Baseball Writers Dinner, held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Emceed by comedian Jerry Lewis, the ballroom was at capacity with 1,200 attendees. After an awards ceremony, the players of each team were introduced. Zimmer, who had spent the past six years with the Dodgers, received a standing ovation from his former teammates.7

The next day the Dodgers were bused to a ceremony on the steps of City Hall, where Mayor Norris Poulson and city officials honored the champions in front of 2,000 fans. At 1 P.M. the players were loaded into convertibles for a ticker-tape parade through the city to the Coliseum.8

NL President Warren Giles attended the San Francisco Giants’ opener earlier that day, the first game played in Candlestick Park. Leaving in the seventh inning, he flew to Los Angeles and arrived at the Coliseum before the 8 P.M. start time to throw out the ceremonial first pitch.9

Los Angeles’ Don Drysdale (17-13, 3.46 ERA in 1959) was making his third straight Opening Day start and held the Cubs hitless in the first two innings.10 Leading off the top of the third, the Cubs’ Zimmer hit a 2-and-2 pitch over the left-field screen for a home run.11 One out later, a single, a wild pitch, and another single put runners at first and third. Tony Taylor lined a double to center, scoring starting pitcher Bob Anderson from third. After a foul out, Banks was intentionally walked, loading the bases. Drysdale struck out Frank Thomas, limiting the damage to two runs.

The Cubs threatened again in the top of the fifth. Two singles, a failed bunt attempt and a groundout put runners at second and third with two outs. Banks was again intentionally walked. Thomas grounded into a force out.

Anderson (12-13, 4.13 ERA in 1959) kept the Dodgers scoreless on two hits through the first four innings, striking out six, walking two, and hitting one batter.12 In the bottom of the fifth, he walked Maury Wills, struck out Drysdale, and walked Jim Gilliam. On a grounder by Bob Lillis,  Wills was caught in a rundown between third and home for the second out. With Lillis at first and Gilliam at second, Wally Moon doubled off the left-field screen, scoring both runners and tying the game, 2-2.13

Neither pitcher allowed another baserunner until Drysdale smashed a one-out, 410-foot triple to center in the seventh.14 He was stranded on third after a fly out to short left, a walk, and Moon’s groundout. Both teams failed to score in the eighth. John Roseboro, who singled with two outs in the bottom half of the frame, was the only baserunner either team could muster.

Zimmer reached base in the ninth on a one-out error by Gil Hodges, who had shifted from first to third after Norm Larker pinch-hit for Lillis in the seventh.15 Zimmer, the first Cubs baserunner since the fifth inning, took second on a groundout. Drysdale fanned pinch-hitter Irv Noren for the third out.16

Don Elston, the NL’s leader in appearances in both 1958 and 1959, replaced Anderson after 126 pitches for the bottom of the ninth. Wills doubled down the left-field line. Drysdale struck out. Wills held at second on Gilliam’s grounder back to the pitcher. Larker walked. Moon’s groundout sent the contest into extra innings.

Ashburn hit his third single to start the 10th, but the Cubs failed to capitalize. After a force out on a bunt and a fly out, Drysdale struck out Banks. Elston retired the Dodgers in order in the bottom of the inning.

Drysdale struck out Thomas for the fourth time in the 11th but walked the next two batters. Chicago’s Charlie Grimm – back in the Cubs’ dugout at age 61 for the first time since managing the team for 13 seasons between 1932 and 1949 – chose not to pinch-hit for either catcher Del Rice, who entered the game in the ninth, or Elston.17 Rice became Drysdale’s 14th strikeout victim. On Drysdale’s 164th pitch of the game, Elston hit a hard grounder to third that Hodges knocked down. The ball rolled to Wills at short, who threw out Elston at first.18

Elston retired the first two batters in the bottom of the 11th. If either had reached base, Dodgers manager Walter Alston would have sent Sandy Amoros19 to the plate to bat for Drysdale. With two outs and none on, the manager was looking for “the long shot” and called on Essegian.20

Essegian took the first pitch for a ball. He hit Elston’s second pitch, a slider, to deep left for a homer to win the game, 3-2.21 Drysdale, who had been headed down the ramp to the Dodgers clubhouse, raced back to the field to join his teammates’ celebration as Essegian touched home plate. His home run was his third pinch-hit homer in his last three official times at bat.22

Neither the Dodgers nor Essegian could duplicate their 1959 end-of-the-season magic beyond 1960’s opener. Los Angeles finished in fourth place, 13 games behind the first-place Pittsburgh Pirates.23 Essegian, used sparingly, hit only two more homers while posting a .215 batting average. He was sold to Baltimore the following February.

Acknowledgments

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

Photo credit: Chuck Essegian, Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org. for box scores/play-by-play information, player, team, and season pages, pitching and batting game logs, and other data.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/LAN/LAN196004120.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1960/B04120LAN1960.htm

Notes

1 Paul Zimmerman, “Essegian’s Homer in 11th Stops Cubs, 3-2, before 67,550,” Los Angeles Times, April 13, 1960: 1. The crowd was a National League record for a night game.

2 The Dodgers moved to LA from Brooklyn after the 1957 season. The 1958 Dodgers finished their first year on the West Coast in seventh place. The 1959 Dodgers turned out much better than expected, thanks to the addition of outfielder Wally Moon in an offseason trade with the St. Louis Cardinals and the midseason promotions from the minors of shortstop Maury Wills, starting pitcher Roger Craig, and reliever Larry Sherry. Craig had been with the Dodgers for four years, with World Series starts for Brooklyn in 1955 and 1956. He suffered arm problems in 1958 and started the 1959 season at Spokane in the Pacific Coast League. Sherry pitched in five games for the Dodgers in April and May of 1958 before being sent to the minors for the rest of the season. Wills had no major-league experience before being called up in 1959.

3 Bob Hunter. “Fast-Dealing Bavasi Shuffles Dodgers to Flag-Fighting Size,” The Sporting News, April 20, 1960: 11. The Dodgers assigned Carl Warwick, who was competing with Essegian for the last outfield spot, to their Triple-A affiliate in St. Paul at the end of spring training.

4 Braven Dyer, “What if Chuck Was Regular?” Los Angeles Times, April 14, 1960: IV-2.

5 Since 1946 the Cubs had managed to reach the .500 mark only once. In 1952 they finished fifth with a 77-77 record.

6 Chicago traded Bill Henry, Lou Jackson, and Lee Walls to the Reds for Thomas. The Cubs traded John Buzhardt, Al Dark, and Jim Woods to the Phillies for Ashburn. On April 8, 1960, four days before the season opener, they traded Lee Handley, Johnny Goryl, and Ron Perranoski to the Dodgers for Zimmer.

7 Bob Hunter. “1,200 Serenade Dodgers at L.A. Writers’ Dinner,” The Sporting News, April 20, 1960: 11.

8 Art Ryon, “Thousands Cheer Parading Players During Civic Salute to Champions,” Los Angeles Times, April 13, 1960: IV-4. In 1959 the Dodgers were greeted by over 5.000 fans at Los Angeles International Airport upon returning from Chicago after winning the World Series. Actor Desi Arnaz introduced the players and Mayor Paulson presented manager Alston with a proclamation from the City Council designating the occasion as Dodger Day. “5,000 Roar Welcome to Dodgers,” Los Angeles Times, October 10, 1959: 1.

9 Bob Hunter. “Giles Thinks Hungry Hurlers Can Fatten Up in Friendly ’Frisco,” The Sporting News, April 20, 1960: 10.

10 Drysdale had lost his prior two Opening Day starts; in 1958 at San Francisco, which was the first major-league game played on the West Coast; and in 1959 at Chicago. Bob Anderson, Drysdale’s opponent on Opening Day 1960, was the starter and winning pitcher for the Cubs in the ’59 opener.

11 Zimmerman, “Essegian’s Homer in 11th Stops Cubs, 3-2, before 67,550.”

12 Second baseman Charlie Neal was hit on the right wrist in the third inning and was replaced by Bob Lillis. Neal returned to the lineup the next day. Zimmerman, “Essegian’s Homer in 11th Stops Cubs, 3-2, before 67,550.”

13 “Essegian’s Homer in 11th Stops Cubs, 3-2, before 67,550.”

14 “Essegian’s Homer in 11th Stops Cubs, 3-2, before 67,550.”

15 Hodges played third in his first major-league game, in 1943, but he didn’t appear there again until 1957. In his 2,071 big-league games, he made just 32 appearances at third.

16 Noren was released on June 4 and he signed with the Dodgers three days later. This was his last big-league season.

17 “Tonight’s Line-Ups,” Los Angeles Times, April 12, 1960: IV-2. The Cubs carried five catchers on their 28-man roster. In addition to Cal Neeman, who started the game, Sammy Taylor, who pinch-hit in the ninth, and Rice, they had catchers Earl Averill and Moe Thacker on the bench. Rice had hit a combined .216 over the previous five seasons. Elston came into the game with a .181 career batting average. Grimm made it only 17 games into the 1960 season before swapping roles with broadcaster Lou Boudreau.

18 Richard Dozer, “Dodgers’ Essegian Ends Game Before Record 67,550,” Chicago Tribune, April 13, 1960: 59.

19 The seldom-used Amoros was traded away less than a month after this game.

20 Mal Florence, “Essegian Whiffs When It Comes to Smiles, but What a Socker!” Los Angeles Times, April 13, 1960: IV-3. Acquired from the Cardinals in midseason 1959, Essegian played in only 24 games for the Dodgers before hitting his two World Series home runs.

21 Florence, “Essegian Whiffs When It Comes to Smiles, but What a Socker!”

22 Dozer, “Dodgers’ Essegian Ends Game Before Record 67,550.” Essegian made four appearances in the 1959 World Series, all as a pinch-hitter. He struck out in the Dodgers’ 11-0 loss in Game One. In Game Two he hit a homer to tie the score, 2-2, in the seventh inning. The Dodgers won, 4-3, to even the Series. He did not play in either of the next two games, both Dodgers wins. He walked in Game Five, a 1-0 Dodgers loss. In the sixth and final game, he hit a ninth-inning homer as the Dodgers won, 9-3.

23 The Dodgers had a better Pythagorean Record in 1960 (85-69) than in 1959 (82-74), but their luck ran out in 1960. In 1959 they were 33-22 in one-run games, but in 1960 they were only 20-27.