August 3, 1969: The birth of the Big Red Machine

The Philadelphia Phillies could not have picked a better day for a batting-helmet giveaway than Sunday, August 3, 1969. The 13,181 in attendance at Connie Mack Stadium witnessed one of the highest-scoring games in the ballpark’s fabled history and, unbeknownst to them, the birth of the Cincinnati Reds’ fabled Big Red Machine.

The 1968 season had been regarded as “The Year of the Pitcher,” so Major League Baseball made some subtle changes in order to inject more offense into the game in 1969, including as lowering the pitcher’s mound from 15 inches to 10 inches. The Phillies moved in the outfield fences at Connie Mack Stadium, shortening the distance from home plate to center field from 447 feet to 410 feet so as to allow for more home runs. As a result of expansion, baseball also welcomed four new teams. Their relatively weak pitching staffs had a propitious effect on batting averages in both leagues.

The August 3 game against Cincinnati came in the middle of a long homestand that began with back-to-back doubleheaders against the Atlanta Braves. The previous week had few dull moments, thanks to an ongoing feud between slugger Dick Allen and manager Bob Skinner. Allen, recently reinstated from a 26-game suspension, had moved his belongings out of the Phillies’ locker room and into a private storage closet and had begun to scrawl messages in the dirt around first base. All of this took attention away from the poor play of the Phillies, who were mired in fifth place in the National League East with a dismal 43-61 record. The Reds (54-44), meanwhile, were in the middle of a tense pennant race in the newly-formed National League West, and trailed the first-place Braves by one game.

The Phillies sent rookie Billy Champion to the mound against veteran Camilo Pascual for the Reds. The Reds opened the scoring with a run in the first, but the Phillies countered with three in their first on three consecutive doubles by Allen, Johnny Callison, and Deron Johnson. That finished Pascual, who lasted one-third of an inning. He was replaced by veteran Jack Fisher.

Each team scored a run in the second, then Cincinnati got three in the third and went ahead 5-4. Champion left the game with a blister on a pitching finger and was relieved by Al Raffo. In the bottom of the third the Phillies erupted for five runs off Fisher and Clay Carroll, highlighted by a bases loaded-triple by Cookie Rojas. At the end of three innings the Phillies led 9-5.

After scratching out a run in the fourth, the Reds rolled out the thunder in the fifth, the inning the Big Red Machine was launched. Chico Ruiz (the bane of the Phillies’ existence since his steal of home triggered their ignominious collapse in 1964) began the scoring blitz by reaching base on a bad throw by Phillies’ pitcher John Boozer on a comebacker. Carroll singled, and Boozer was relieved by Turk Farrell, who allowed a single to Pete Rose to load the bases. With one out, Alex Johnson hit a two-run single. Tony Perez doubled home another run. With Johnson on third and Perez at second, Lee May blasted a tape measure three-run homer onto the left-field roof, his 30th round-tripper of the season. Johnny Bench followed with a double and scored on a single by Woodie Woodward. Farrell (charged with six runs in a third of an inning pitched) was replaced by Lowell Palmer. Ruiz greeted the rookie pitcher with a single. Two batters later, Rose blasted a three-run homer. The Reds had scored 10 runs and led 16-9. Palmer finally ended the carnage by retiring Bobby Tolan on a fly ball. Cincinnati added two more runs off Palmer in the sixth and increased their lead to a seemingly secure 18-9.

The bizarre game featured another message in the dirt around first base by Dick Allen. He scratched LEE and RICHIE ALLEN NO 15 with his spikes. The LEE was a tribute to first base ump Lee Weyer and Reds first baseman Lee May.

The Phillies mounted a spirited comeback in the bottom of the sixth inning. Larry Hisle led off with a walk. With one out, Callison singled. Johnson drove Hisle home with a single, and Ron Stone singled to load the bases. Reds manager Dave Bristol brought in Pedro Ramos to relieve Carroll. Don Money greeted the veteran right-hander with a single, scoring Callison and Johnson. Pinch-hitter Rich Barry singled, and the bases were loaded again. Tony Taylor unloaded them by belting his first major-league grand slam and making the score a suddenly close 18-16.

Allen hit his 23rd homer of the season, a solo shot into the upper left-field bleachers, off Ramos in the seventh and it was 18-17. The Reds added an insurance run in the eighth on Perez’s home run off Billy Wilson. In the bottom of the ninth the Phillies, trailing 19-17, mounted a last-ditch rally. Reds reliever Wayne Granger got two quick outs, but walked Callison and gave up a single to Johnson. With the tying runs on base, Ron Stone worked the count to 2-and-0 before hitting a line drive to right field. Rose lunged and made a shoetop catch to end the game.

There was evidence that the teams used juiced baseballs during the game. The previous afternoon, the Eastern League All-Stars played the Reading Phillies at Connie Mack Stadium after the Phillies-Reds game. The Eastern League president Tommy Richardson said the game was to be played with a ball that was 5 percent livelier. “We’re using experimental ball Five Triple X. The players don’t know it.”1 During the game, one of the minor-league all-stars hit a home run over the Cadillac sign on the left-field roof, a target that was normally only reached by hitters like Allen and Hank Aaron. Phillies manager Skinner, watching the game from a box seat, turned to GM John Quinn and said, “What kind of ball are they using?”2 On Sunday, the Reds put on a display in batting practice “that had the crowd buzzing as ball after ball flew out of the park.”3 Bench hit a ball far over the left-field roof and several others that landed in the upper deck.

Reds manager Dave Bristol swore that when he went out to remove a pitcher, he noticed that the ball was lopsided. Losing pitcher Farrell claimed that the ball being used felt like a watermelon. After Taylor’s grand slam, Quinn joked, “We may be using the same balls we used in that exhibition game last night. I better check.”4 Bench also complained that despite a good pitch by Ramos, Taylor was able to hit a slam: “It was a curve, low and away. A helluva pitch. … It’s no fun to sit back there and think you called a good pitch and they hit it. You know what? My roomie (Pat Corrales) walked up to me after the last out and said, ‘Congratulations. You called a nice game.’”5

Despite all of the offense, the game, which took 3 hours and 29 minutes to complete, did not break any National League records. The Reds’ victory, their sixth in seven games, moved them past the Braves and into first place in the National League West. When the Reds arrived back in Cincinnati later that evening, they were greeted by a crowd of 500 fans. In his game account in the Cincinnati Enquirer, Bob Hertzel referred to the Reds as “The Big Red Machine.”

Perhaps the most fitting comment on this game came from Skinner, who said, “Normally, once a season, every team goes crazy with the bat. Today, two teams did it at the same time. When you score 17 runs and lose, something’s got to be wrong.”6 Skinner’s frustration with the Phillies’ losing ways and dealing with Allen would culminate in his resignation four days later.

SOURCES

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author used the Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org websites.

NOTES

1 Frank Dolson, “Phils, Reds Didn’t Use Experimental Ball-Or Did They?” Philadelphia Inquirer, August 4, 1969: 19.

2 Dolson.

3 Dolson.

4 Dolson.

5 Dolson.

6 Associated Press, “What’s the Name of This Game?” (Cincinnati 19, Philadelphia 17), Allentown (Pennsylvania) Morning Call, August 4, 1969: 17.