August 7, 1965: Willie Mays homers twice, drives in 5 runs to spark Giants over Cardinals

Engulfed in a 1965 National League pennant race with less than three games separating the top four teams, the second-place San Francisco Giants faced the St. Louis Cardinals on August 7 at Busch Stadium. The Saturday afternoon game was the Giants’ next-to-last of an 11-game midwestern road trip to Milwaukee, Cincinnati, and St. Louis. When the trip began, the Giants stood 3½ games out of first place, but six wins in nine games had moved them to within two games of the top spot.

In the series opener with the Cardinals on August 6, Willie Mays had walked and scored to start the Giants’ decisive three-run fourth inning.1 The game continued his rebound from a bruised thigh caused by a July 10 home-plate collision with Philadelphia Phillies catcher Pat Corrales.2 The 34-year-old Mays had batted .125 in his first 14 games after the injury, dropping 31 points from his .339 batting average. He endured a seven-game hitless streak that included an 0-for-22 stretch. Before Mays’ July 30 home run at Milwaukee that broke the hitless streak, his previous RBI occurred 22 days earlier.3

Mays connected on two more homers on August 5 in Cincinnati, giving him 27 for the season. A night later in St. Louis, Mays led off the fourth with a walk against Ray Sadecki and scored on Hal Lanier’s two-run double. San Francisco went on to a 3-2 win, its fourth in a row.

The second-place Giants were 59-46, trailing only the Los Angeles Dodgers by two games and percentage points in front of the 61-48 Cincinnati Reds, whom they had swept at Crosley Field before their series in St. Louis. San Francisco boasted six future Hall of Famers: Mays, Orlando Cepeda, Juan Marichal, Willie McCovey, Gaylord Perry, and Warren Spahn.4 Second-year third baseman Jim Ray Hart built upon his rookie campaign as one of the National League’s top young sluggers. Frank Linzy, Ron Herbel, and Bobby Bolin solidified the pitching staff.

The defending World Series champion Cardinals were in seventh place at 55-44, eight games behind Los Angeles. Future Hall of Famer Bob Gibson anchored the pitching staff. Lou Brock and Curt Flood patrolled the outfield, while veterans Bill White and Ken Boyer cornered the infield. A 10-25 slide from May 27 to June 29 had dropped the Cardinals eight games under .500, but they had moved into the fringes of the pennant race by winning 14 of 21 games after the All-Star break.

Bob Shaw started for San Francisco. The veteran right-hander had an 11-6 record, including wins in his past four decisions, and a 2.23 ERA. Primarily a reliever during his previous two years with the Giants, the 32-year-old Shaw returned to San Francisco’s rotation in mid-May, hoping to win 20 games for the first time in his career.5 On July 7, during the Giants’ most recent visit to St. Louis, Shaw had dueled Gibson into extra innings; he received a no-decision after allowing just one run over 9⅓ innings.6 His pitching repertoire included a fastball, slider, curveball, and changeup. Teammate – and prominent spitballer – Perry alleged that Shaw also threw a spitball.7

Opposing Shaw was St. Louis’s Tracy Stallard, during what turned out to be the best season of his seven-year career. After losing 37 games with the New York Mets during 1963 and 1964, including a 20-loss season in ’64, Stallard had come to the Cardinals in an offseason deal.8 Splitting his time between St. Louis’s rotation and bullpen, the 27-year-old Stallard was 8-4 with a 3.22 ERA. The Giants had knocked him out in the second inning on July 28 in San Francisco, racking up five runs during what a disgusted Stallard labeled afterward “the worst showing of my life.”9 He threw two primary pitches: curveball and fastball.10

Once again the Giants scored quicky against Stallard. Dick Schofield walked on four pitches to start the game. Jesús Alou singled on a perfectly executed hit-and-run, sending Schofield to third. Mays blooped a single into right field to score Schofield. The single extended Mays’ hitting streak to eight games,11 as he continued breaking out of his recent slump. San Francisco led 1-0 after one inning.

Mays batted again during the third inning and drew a two-out walk. McCovey blasted a two-run home run, his 25th homer of the season, into the right-field pavilion seats near the 405-foot mark,12 and San Francisco led 3-0.

Shaw started out with three scoreless innings, but the Cardinals rallied during the fourth. Flood walked with one out. White’s single bounced over McCovey’s head and into right; Flood advanced to third. Boyer launched his 10th home run of the season, high into the left-field bleachers.13 The three-run homer tied the game 3-3 and increased Boyer’s hitting streak to nine games.

Aided by a St. Louis error, the Giants went back ahead in the fifth. Schofield led off by reaching on first baseman White’s fielding error. One out later, Mays deposited a two-run home run over the center-field fence, traveling about 430 feet.14 Mays’ 28th homer of the season gave San Francisco a 5-3 lead.

Rookie right-hander Nelson Briles relieved Stallard for the sixth inning and kept the Cardinals within striking distance with a scoreless frame. But Mays and the Giants struck again in the seventh. Jesús Alou doubled to right field with two outs. Mays hit the next pitch to deep left for his second homer of the game. His clout – the 482nd of his career – gave the Giants a 7-3 lead..15

The Cardinals attempted to rally during their half of the seventh. Boyer singled and moved to second one out later when Bob Uecker reached on San Francisco third baseman Hart’s error.

Giants manager Herman Franks replaced Shaw with Linzy, a 24-year-old converted outfielder who had emerged as an effective reliever in his first full major-league season.16 Linzy used his sinkerball to induce Ted Savage to hit into an inning-ending double play, the third twin killing the Giants turned that afternoon.17

San Francisco broke the game open in the eighth. Hart led off with a walk. Matty Alou singled; Hart advanced to third with Alou moving to second on the throw. Haller was intentionally walked.

With the bases loaded, Don Dennis relieved Briles. Hart and Alou scored on Lanier’s single to right. One out later, Haller scored on Schofield’s groundout, and the Giants had a 10-3 lead.

Linzy gave up an eighth-inning run when Flood singled home Bob Skinner, who opened the inning with a double to center, but closed out the 10-4 win by allowing only one run in 2⅓ innings. On his way to a third-place finish in the NL Rookie of the Year voting, Linzy led the 1965 Giants with 57 appearances – all in relief – and 40 games finished, posting a 9-3 record and a 1.43 ERA.18

Shaw won his 12th game of the season and his fifth in a row, while Stallard fell to 8-5.

Mays led San Francisco’s offensive charge with two home runs, five RBIs, and three runs scored. With his 3-for-3 afternoon, he increased his batting average to .323 and his slugging percentage to .625.

A day later, Mays added his 30th homer of the season, off Bob Purkey, as San Francisco completed the sweep with a 6-4 win. For his career, Mays hit .353 with 38 home runs in 140 games at St. Louis’s first Busch Stadium, known as Sportsman’s Park when Mays debuted with the Giants in 1951.19 Specifically during 1965, Mays hit .500 with six home runs and 13 RBIs in nine games and 44 plate appearances at the first Busch Stadium.

Mays went on to establish an NL-record 17-homer month in August 1965.20 The Giants eventually took over first place with a 14-game winning streak in September, only to be overtaken when Los Angeles won 13 in a row of its own. San Francisco finished two games behind the Dodgers, who went on to win the World Series.

Mays won his second MVP Award21 and ninth consecutive Gold Glove Award in 1965. He led all major-league hitters with a career-high 52 homers, a .398 on-base percentage, 360 total bases, and a .645 slugging percentage. He compiled a NL-third best .317 batting average and 112 RBIs. His 11.2 Wins Above Replacement that season topped all players and was more than three wins more than his nearest position-player competitor.

Acknowledgments

The author thanks John Fredland for his thoughtful article recommendations, Kevin Larkin for his fact-checking, and Lisa Gattie for her meaningful input. This article was copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources

Besides the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted AABaseball.com, Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, TheBaseballCube.com, and the following:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SLN/SLN196508070.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1965/B08070SLN1965.htm

Hirsch, James S. Wille Mays: The Life, The Legend (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2011).

Mays, Willie, and Lou Sahadi. Say Hey: The Autobiography of Willie Mays (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1988).

Notes

1 The Giants scored their three runs on Hal Lanier’s double and a throwing error. Mays scored the first run.

2 Mays knocked Corrales unconscious with his left foot while bruising his right hip and thigh when he crash-landed on home plate. Corrales was carted off the field on a stretcher while Mays limped off the field, Harry Jupiter, “Mays Is OK After Collision,” San Francisco Examiner, July 11, 1965: Sec IV, 1.

3 Jack McDonald, “Mays Snaps Skid – Giants Step on Gas,” The Sporting News, August 14, 1965: 16.

4 Spahn joined San Francisco as a free agent on July 19, 1965.

5 Jack McDonald, “Ex-Relief Ace Shaw Eyeing 20-Win Club,” The Sporting News, August 14, 1965: 4.

6 The Giants won the July 7 game 4-2 in 13 innings, with Gibson taking a complete-game loss.

7 Bill James and Rob Neyer, The Neyer/James Guide to Pitchers: An Historical Compendium of Pitching, Pitchers, and Pitches (New York: Fireside Books, 2004), 256.

8 Neal Russo, “Cards Get Stallard for Richardson and Lewis,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, December 8, 1964: 4C.

9 Ed Wilks (Associated Press), “Giants Walk, Tracy Trips,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 29, 1965: 1E.

10 James and Neyer, 393.

11 Harry Jupiter, Sec IV, 5.

12 Neal Russo, “Cards Lose to Giants,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 8, 1965: 1C.

13 Russo, “Cards Lose to Giants.”

14 Russo, “Cards Lose to Giants.”

15 Mays hit his 500th career homer on September 13 against Don Nottebart of the Houston Astros.

16 Bob Stevens, “Giants Ride High as Foes Falter on Linzy’s Sinker,” The Sporting News, August 21, 1965: 7.

17 After the game, backup batterymate Dick Bertell commented that “[Linzy’s] heavy sinker is the best I’ve even seen.” Russo, “Cards Lose to Giants.”

18 The save rule did not exist as an official statistic until 1969, but Linzy is retroactively credited with 20 saves in 1965, the third highest total in the NL.

19 The Cardinals moved to their new Busch Stadium in May 1966, less than a year after this game.

20 Harry Jupiter, “Giants Vault Back to 2nd,” San Francisco Examiner, August 30, 1965: 57. The American League record for most home runs hit in a single month was – and remains – 18 by Rudy York during August 1937. Sammy Sosa established the major-league record of 20 homers in one month during June 1998.

21 United Press International, “Willie Mays Wins MVP Award Again,” San Francisco Examiner, November 10, 1965: 1.