May 8, 1963: Willie Stargell hits first career home run, but Cubs win after 4-run rally

Willie Stargell’s path to the top of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ home-run charts began from the bench in 1963, his first full major-league season. Filling in for first baseman Donn Clendenon, Stargell hit his first big-league homer, a three-run shot off Chicago Cubs fireman Lindy McDaniel, in a five-run, game-tying eighth-inning rally on May 8 at Wrigley Field. The Cubs quickly answered with four runs of their own for a 9-5 win, but Stargell was on his way to a franchise-best 475 home runs over 21 seasons in Pittsburgh.

The Pirates signed Wilver Dornel Stargell after his graduation from a California high school in 1958. He progressed through the minors as an outfielder and first baseman over the next four seasons, increasing his home-run total each year.1 A 27-homer campaign at Triple A in 1962 earned a September call-up to Pittsburgh.2 In the left-handed-batting Stargell’s fourth game with the Pirates, he tripled against Bob Purkey of the Cincinnati Reds for his first hit in the majors – and was thrown out trying for an inside-the-park home run.3

Now 23 years old, Stargell made Pittsburgh’s Opening Day roster in 1963, but avenues for playing time were limited.4 Left fielder Bob Skinner, center fielder Bill Virdon, and right fielder Roberto Clemente had patrolled the Pirates’ outfield since the second half of the 1957 season.5 First baseman Dick Stuart – like Skinner, Virdon, and Clemente, a regular on Pittsburgh’s 1960 World Series champions – had been traded to the Boston Red Sox,6 but the 27-year-old Clendenon outranked Stargell on manager Danny Murtaugh’s depth chart.7

Stargell saw no action until the ninth inning of the Pirates’ ninth game,8 when Murtaugh put him in right after Clemente was ejected for tossing his bat in response to a called third strike.9 Pittsburgh’s 14-8 record through May 6 was tied for first in the National League, and Stargell’s starts – twice in right to rest Clemente in late April and a handful of early-May games against right-handed pitchers in hopes of shaking Clendenon from a slump – occurred only when Murtaugh wanted to give regulars a break.10

“I believe Murtaugh was the perfect manager for me at the time,” Stargell wrote in his autobiography. “He wanted me to adjust to the surroundings slowly. … When he felt that I was ready, he’d start me.”11

Batting .391 with two three-hit games in six starts,12 Stargell was Pittsburgh’s cleanup hitter and first baseman for the middle game of a three-game set at Wrigley Field.13 The Cubs – who had named Bob Kennedy manager after two woebegone seasons under a committee called the “College of Coaches”14 – had won four in a row and seven of eight, including a 5-4 decision in the series opener.15

Right fielder Lou Brock’s bat and feet had frustrated the Pirates in their early-season encounters. The 23-year-old Brock hit an inside-the-park homer in Chicago’s win at Forbes Field on April 23.16 In the first game in Chicago, Brock tied the score with a seventh-inning double, then evaded a rundown for the run that put the Cubs ahead to stay.17

Against right-hander Al McBean, Brock led off the first with a single. He moved to second on McBean’s wild pickoff and took third on Ken Hubbs’ groundout. Billy Williams hit a long fly ball to center. What the Chicago Tribune described as a “swirling wind current” pushed it out of the reach of Ted Savage,18 starting for an injured Virdon,19 and Brock scored on the triple.

Veteran righty Bob Buhl faced just nine Pirates through three innings, as Smoky Burgess followed Clemente’s second-inning infield single by grounding into a double play. Stargell was robbed of a hit in the second when second baseman Hubbs made a lunging catch of his popup in short center.

Brock produced another run in the third by singling, stealing second, going to third on Hubbs’ double, and scoring on Burgess’s passed ball. Pittsburgh had runners on the corners with one out in the fourth, but Stargell grounded into an inning-ending double play.

In the bottom of the fourth, 21-year-old Cubs’ center fielder Nelson Mathews landed a wind-blown fly ball into shallow right-center and reached third with a triple.20

One out later, Pittsburgh’s infield was in and Mathews on third for Buhl, whose groundout in the second left him hitless in 87 at-bats since September 1961.21 Buhl hit a popup to shallow left, and the wind carried it out of the reach of shortstop Dick Schofield. Mathews scored on the unlikely single, giving Chicago a 3-0 lead.

When the Pirates threatened to narrow the gap over the next few innings, the Cubs turned them away with double plays. Clemente’s walk and Burgess’s single opened the fifth, but one out later Williams – at age 24 Chicago’s oldest outfield starter – caught Bob Bailey’s liner to left and doubled Clemente off second. In the seventh, the Pirates again had two runners on with none out on Skinner’s walk and Stargell’s single, only to see the rally go flat when Buhl turned Clemente’s comebacker into another double play.

Meanwhile, Chicago increased its lead with power and speed. With one out in the fifth, the wind carried Ron Santo’s foul popup safely beyond Stargell’s grasp for a strike. Santo then pulled McBean’s pitch over the wall in left for his fifth homer of the season.

Lefty Joe Gibbon was on the mound in the seventh when Brock reached on second baseman Bill Mazeroski’s throwing error, swiped second, and scored on Williams’s single.

Buhl took the 5-0 lead and a five-hitter to the eighth, but André Rodgers bobbled Bailey’s leadoff grounder to short for an error. With the pitcher’s spot due, Murtaugh sent up longtime Boston and Milwaukee Braves shortstop Johnny Logan, whose four previous 1963 plate appearances, all as a pinch-hitter, had yielded three singles.22

The 37-year-old Logan singled again, sending Bailey to second. Kennedy summoned McDaniel, the two-time Sporting News NL Fireman of the Year who had joined the Cubs in an offseason trade with the St. Louis Cardinals.23 The right-hander had not been charged with a run in nine outings.

But on this day McDaniel was hindered by what pitching coach Fred Martin afterward called tight muscles in his arm.24 Schofield hit his first pitch for a single; Bailey scored the Pirates’ first run and Logan advanced to second.

Savage hit a high chopper near third. Retreating to the bag, Santo caught the ball, stepped on third to retire Logan, and fired to Ernie Banks at first for the double play. Third-base umpire Frank Walsh signaled “foul ball” with the play in progress, but home-plate umpire Jocko Conlan ruled that Santo had fielded it in fair territory.25 The Cubs had their fifth double play of the game.

Pittsburgh’s hopes seemed withered again, but Skinner walked, bringing up Stargell for his 65th major-league plate appearance.

Stargell pulled McDaniel’s pitch over the ivy-covered right-field wall and into the seats. His first major-league homer cut the Cubs’ lead to 5-4.

Kennedy replaced McDaniel with right-hander Don Elston, likewise with an impeccable record in eight appearances. Two batters later – Clemente’s single and Burgess’s double into the right-field corner – Pittsburgh had a five-run inning, and the game was tied.

As he had done nearly 350 times since becoming Pittsburgh’s manager in August 1957, Murtaugh called on his own fireman, Elroy Face. The 35-year-old Face, in his 10th season in the Pirates’ bullpen, had been charged with runs only once in seven appearances, and his ERA was 1.04.

This time, however, Face could not stop the Cubs. Mathews fell behind with two strikes, then used his 6-foot-4 frame to drive Face’s pitch over the ivy-covered wall in straightway center and into the first row of bleachers for a tiebreaking home run.

Chicago rapidly rebuilt its lead after Mathews’ blast. Catcher Jimmie Schaffer doubled to left-center.26 Elston bunted and everyone was safe. Brock doubled past first, scoring Schaffer with the Cubs’ seventh run.

Elston and Brock, who scored four runs in a game for the first time in his career,27 came home three batters later, when Santo bounced a double past third against Earl Francis.28 Chicago had eight extra-base hits and a 9-5 lead, and Elston closed out the Cubs’ fifth win in a row with a one-two-three ninth.29

Stargell’s cluster of starts ended the day after his home run; Clendenon was back in the lineup against a lefty.30 For most of the season, Stargell started several games in a row only in a teammate’s absence: Clemente’s injury and suspension in May, Virdon’s injury in June.31 Even Skinner’s May 23 trade to the Reds did not lead to immediate playing time.32

As the calendar reached late August, with the Pirates out of the race,33 Stargell started 19 of Pittsburgh’s final 22 games against right-handers. He finished with 11 homers and a .243 batting average in 108 games.

An Opening Day start, an All-Star selection, and 21 more home runs followed in 1964.34 Stargell continued blasting homers in Pittsburgh for the next two decades, passing Ralph Kiner for the club record in 1973 and hitting his 475th and final homer in July 1982.35

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Thomas E. Merrick and copy-edited by Len Levin. SABR members Gary Belleville and Kurt Blumenau contributed insightful comments on an earlier draft of this article.

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. He also reviewed game coverage from the Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Tribune, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and Pittsburgh Press newspapers. The Newspapers & Periodicals Staff at the Chicago Public Library provided helpful research assistance on Chicago Sun-Times coverage.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHN/CHN196305080.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1963/B05080CHN1963.htm

Notes

1 During spring training in 1962, Pirates manager Danny Murtaugh had praised Stargell to legendary sportswriter Red Smith, who reported Murtaugh’s assessment in his syndicated column. “[T]he good thing is that [Stargell’s] improved his record every year moving up a classification,” Murtaugh said. “He can hit a ball about as far as anybody on our club. He runs like a striped ape. His arm is just a shade below Clemente’s, which is just a shade below the Mercury rocket.” Red Smith, Views of Sports, York (Pennsylvania) Dispatch, March 19, 1962: 15.

2 “Pirates Buy Priddy, Stargell From Jets,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, September 8, 1962: 13.

3 Les Biederman, “Pirate Rookies Beat Reds, 4-3, in Ninth: Bailey’s Double and Clendenon’s Speed Result in Victory in Two-Out Rally,” Pittsburgh Press, September 21, 1962: 30.

4 “Stargell will remain with the Pirates as both outfield and first base replacements and also for pinch-hitting duty,” the Pittsburgh Press reported. “The lefthander has made a good impression this spring with his .385 average.” Les Biederman, “Herrera, Five Other Pirates Farmed Out: Clendenon Rates First Base Job; Cards Win, 6-4,” Pittsburgh Press, March 16, 1963: 6.

5 “The toughest place for a newcomer to win a job on the Pirates is in the outfield and nobody knows it better than Ted Savage [who had come to the Pirates in a November 1962 trade that sent starting third baseman Don Hoak to the Philadelphia Phillies], Willie Stargell and Howie Goss [a Pirates reserve outfielder as a rookie in 1962], the men who are chasing Bob Skinner, Bill Virdon, and Roberto Clemente,” the Pittsburgh Press concluded during spring training. Les Biederman, “Pirate Outfield Rated Solid: Others Find Vets Hard to Dislodge,” Pittsburgh Press, March 7, 1963: 42.

6 On November 20, 1962, the Pirates traded Stuart and pitcher Jack Lamabe to the Boston Red Sox for catcher Jim Pagliaroni and pitcher Don Schwall. It was the second of three November 1962 trades involving members of the Pirates’ 1960 starting infield. Shortstop Dick Groat, 1960 NL MVP and batting champion, had gone to the St. Louis Cardinals on November 19 in a four-player deal. On November 28, third baseman Don Hoak – NL MVP runner-up to Groat in ’60 – was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies for two players. The trades of Groat and Hoak resulted in Dick Schofield, a longtime reserve infielder, becoming Pittsburgh’s shortstop and 20-year-old rookie Bob Bailey starting at third. Jack Hernon, “Groat and Olivo Traded for Cardwell and Gotay: Bucs, Cardinals in Straight Player Swap; Brown Promises More Deals,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, November 20, 1962: 1; Jack Hernon, “Pirates Trade Stuart, Lamabe to Redsox [sic],” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, November 22, 1962: 54; Jack Hernon, “Pirates Trade Don Hoak to Phillies,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, November 29, 1962: 34.

7 “Donn Clendenon’s work in the final six weeks of 1962 made Dick Stuart expendable, and the first base job belongs to Clendenon,” the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported after the Stuart trade. Jack Hernon, “Bucs’ Potential Greater for ’63,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, November 23, 1962: 24.

8 Stargell had appeared in exhibition games in the two days preceding Pittsburgh’s April 9 season opener, and newspaper coverage gives no indication that he was injured during this time. Les Biederman, “Nats’ Six in Sixth Sink Pirates, 9 to 5: Stenhouse’s Strikeouts Strangle Bucs,” Pittsburgh Press, April 7, 1963: 4,1; Jack Hernon, “Bucs Lose Exhibition Final, 5-1: Nats’ Mound Trio Allows Only 7 Hits,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 8, 1963: 25.

9 Jim Ferguson, “Hutch, Clemente Discover Ump Harvey Has Iron Hand: Sophomore Arbiter Ousts Both; Maloney Faces Pirates Today,” Dayton Daily News, April 21, 1963: 4,4.

10 Jack Hernon, “Pirates, Earl Francis Shut Out Cubs, 2-0: Unearned Tallies Provide Margin,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 23, 1963: 21; Lester J. Biederman, “Pirates Snap Batting Slump: Bailey’s Two Homers Lead 15-Hit Attack,” Pittsburgh Press, May 4, 1963: 6. Clendenon had started the season with a 10-game hitting streak and .361 batting average, but he hit just .172 in his next eight games, leading to Stargell’s first start at first base on May 3.

11 Willie Stargell and Tom Bird, Willie Stargell: An Autobiography (New York: Harper & Row, 1984), 101.

12 Stargell had three-hit games against the Cubs on April 23 and the Dodgers on May 6.

13 Stargell started against right-handers Larry Sherry, Bob Miller, and Don Drysdale of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Larry Jackson and Bob Buhl of the Cubs. The only left-handed starter the Pirates faced during this stretch was Los Angeles’ Pete Richert on May 5; Clendenon was at first for that game.

14 Edward Prell, “Cub Coaching Staff Stops Revolving! Bob Kennedy to ‘Manage’ Full Season,” Chicago Tribune, February 21, 1963: 3,1.

15 Edward Prell, “North-Siders Take Fourth in Row; Beat Pirates, 5 to 4: Brock and Banks Spark Jackson, Ranew Battery,” Chicago Tribune, May 8, 1963: 3, 1.

16 Edward Prell, “Cubs Beat Pirates; Home Today: Jackson Fans 10 in 7-2 Victory,” Chicago Tribune, April 24, 1963: 3,1.

17 Ed Sainsbury (United Press International), “Adventurous Traveler Excites Cubs,” Evansville (Indiana) Press, May 8, 1963: 20.

18 Edward Prell, “North Siders Defeat Pirates 2d in Row, 9 to 5: Rebound After Giving Away 5 Runs in 8th,” Chicago Tribune, May 9, 1963: 3,1.

19 Jack Hernon, “Roamin’ Around,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 9, 1963: 35.

20 A Pittsburgh Post-Gazette column critical of Savage’s defense asserted that Williams’s and Mathews’ triples “should have been caught, but both are recorded in the box score as three-baggers.” Hernon, “Roamin’ Around,”

21 “Frankly, I can’t remember much about the ball I hit off Al McBean for the pop-fly single,” Buhl told the Pittsburgh Press afterward. “I closed my eyes but they tell me it was a high fast ball.” In 457 major-league games from 1953 through 1967, Buhl batted .089 with 76 hits in 857 at-bats. A search of Stathead.com, which relies on information from Baseball-Reference.com, indicated that the only longer recorded hitless streak since 1901 was pitcher Karl Drews’ 89 at-bats between a third-inning single as a member of the New York Yankees on May 31, 1947, and a fifth-inning single as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies on September 22, 1951. Associated Press, “Stop the Presses: Buhl Gets a Hit!,” Iowa City Press-Citizen, May 9, 1963: 15; Lester J. Biederman, “Plate Umpire Rules on Ball Hit Down Base Lines – Conlan: Base Umps Take Over After Ball Passes Sacks, Jocko Points Out,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 10, 1963: 36.

22 Les Biederman, “Johnny Logan Bids to Oust Schofield from Shortstop Job: Benchwarmer of Last Two Years Confident He Can Become Regular,” Pittsburgh Press, March 5, 1963: 33.

23 Richard Dozer, “Cubs Deal Altman, Get Larry Jackson: Cardwell and Thacker Are Traded to St. Louis, Chicago Tribune, October 18, 1962: 6,1.

24 “His arm was too tight,” Martin told the Chicago Sun-Times. “He was quitting on his throw too high. He was letting go before he got the snap in his wrist, and when you don’t get the snap you’ve had it.” Jack R. Griffin, “Cubs Plug in an RBI Machine: Old Computer a Punchy Spectator,” Chicago Sun-Times, May 9, 1963, 116.

25 “I didn’t overrule Walsh, it was my call all the way,” Conlan told the media after initial newspaper coverage reported he had overruled Walsh. “The plate umpire has jurisdiction on all balls between home plate and first and third base. When the ball passes the base, the third or first base umpires then take over. … I ran down the third base line 10 feet and saw it was fair and motioned fair and yelled fair. … Danny Murtaugh knows the rules and he knew it was the home plate umpire’s call.” Biederman, “Plate Umpire Rules on Ball Hit Down Base Lines – Conlan.”

26 Schaffer had replaced Merritt Ranew in the lineup after Ranew, who had three hits a day earlier and was batting .542 on the season, broke his jaw when hit by a throw in batting practice. “Ranew’s Jaw Is Fractured: Mishap Halts Batting Splurge at .542,” Chicago Tribune, May 9, 1963: 3,1.

27 Brock’s career high for runs scored in a game was five, with the St. Louis Cardinals in August 1971. Besides this game, he scored four runs in a game twice.

28 The Chicago Sun-Times reported that Bailey “played the ball poorly” on Santo’s double. Jerome Holtzman, “Cubs Win 5th Straight,” Chicago Sun-Times, May 9, 1963: 128.

29 “It’s too early to start calling them a team of destiny, but don’t tell that to the Chicago Cubs,” asserted the Chicago Tribune. “Chicago’s irrepressible Cubs had that magic touch again Wednesday and won another game that in former years they were almost certain to blow,” Jerome Holtzman wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times. The Cubs finished 1963 with an 82-80 record, their first winning season since 1946. Prell, “North Siders Defeat Pirates 2d in Row, 9 to 5”; Holtzman, “Cubs Win 5th Straight.”

30 Dick Ellsworth limited the Pirates to two hits, and the Cubs completed the sweep with a 3-1 win. Edward Prell, “North Siders Win, 3 to 1, and Sweep Pirate Series: Climb From 7th to Runner-Up in 12 Days,” Chicago Tribune, May 10, 1963: 3, 1.

31 Stargell started four games in a row in right from May 19 through 22, with Clemente coming off the bench as a defensive replacement or pinch-hitter in three of the games. On May 24, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, referencing Clemente’s absence from the starting lineup, reported that Murtaugh was “tired of asking Clemente how he felt each day when the club arrived at the park.” Clemente returned to the lineup but was suspended for five days after bumping umpire Bill Jackowski on May 28; Stargell was in right for six games during the suspension, including both halves of two doubleheaders. Virdon then missed 13 games with a rib injury in June, and Stargell started all of those games in left or center field. Jack Hernon, “Report Has Clemente, Murtaugh at Odds,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 24, 1963: 18; Lester J. Biederman, “Phils Th(Ump) Pirates in Wild One: Clemente Fined, Suspended After Rhubarb With Ump,” Pittsburgh Press, May 29, 1963: 22; Lester J. Biederman, “Virdon Back for Series With Cubs: Burgess, Pag Mending; Braves Nip Pirates, 2-1,” Pittsburgh Press, June 21, 1963: 24.

32 Pittsburgh traded Skinner for outfielder Jerry Lynch, previously a Pirate from 1954 through 1956. Lynch started most of the Pirates’ games in left against right-handers until Murtaugh moved Stargell into that role in September. Savage became the righty bat in the left-field platoon until he went on the disabled list with a viral infection in July; Manny Mota, called up from Triple A, handled left field against lefties for the rest of the season. Jack Hernon, “Skinner Traded for Lynch: Brown Hopes Deal Will Add Punch to Attack,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 24, 1963: 1; Lester J. Biederman, “Colts’ Woodeschick Gets ‘Last Chance’ and Is Successful: He Wasn’t Even Listed on Houston Roster – Wound Up in All-Star Game,” Pittsburgh Press, July 12, 1963: 21.

33 By July 10, the first game after the All-Star break, the Pirates were 10 games behind the first-place Dodgers. Pittsburgh had a 67-63 record on August 28 but lost 25 of its last 32 to finish in eighth place with a 74-88 record, 25 games out of first. The .457 winning percentage was the Pirates’ lowest since 1957.

34 Roy McHugh, “On the Hill Will Seems Certain to Get to the Top: Casey Stengel Says Stargell Is Coming Fast And Al Jackson Has Cause to Agree,” Pittsburgh Press, June 21, 1964: 4,3.

35 Kiner hit 301 home runs for the Pirates from 1946 through 1953. Stargell’s 302nd homer came against Steve Arlin of the San Diego Padres on July 11, 1973, and his final home run was against the Reds’ Tom Hume on July 21, 1982. Bob Smizik, “Stargell Has a Ball With Record 302nd Homer,” Pittsburgh Press, July 12, 1973: 32; Russ Franke, “Old Stargell’s Bat Still Has Some Pop,” Pittsburgh Press, July 22, 1982: C-1.