September 20, 1967: Steve Carlton’s 16 strikeouts not enough in classic duel with Chris Short

The names Ed Spiezio, Steve Huntz, Dave Ricketts, and Eddie Bressoud dotting manager Red Schoendienst’s lineup on September 20, 1967, at Connie Mack Stadium were not typical ones for the St. Louis Cardinals. Yet, the men whom the strange platoon was replacing – Brock, Javier, McCarver, Maxvill, and others – had already completed their work. With two weeks to spare, Schoendienst’s usual starting nine clinched the National League pennant two nights earlier in Philly as Bob Gibson, rampaging back to form in his third start after being sidelined with a broken leg from a Roberto Clemente line drive in mid-July, registered a 13th victory in his interrupted season. The triumph stretched the Cardinals’ lead over the San Francisco Giants to an impassable chasm of 13 games.

That same insurmountable lead stood by the time Steve Carlton (14-8) took the mound on the 20th as the Cardinals (96-56) were looking to complete a perfect six-game road trip. The journey began with Carlton’s previous start, on the 15th at Crosley Field in Cincinnati – a 4-0 shutout over the Reds’ 19-year-old rookie Gary Nolan, running the left-hander’s scoreless-inning streak to 26. The 22-year-old Carlton, in his first year as a full-time starter for the Cardinals, had struck out 150 entering the game in Philadelphia, second on the team only to fellow youngster Dick Hughes’s total of 155. (Hughes had fanned seven Phillies in a 1-0 shutout the previous evening.) As the white-hot southpaw strode to the center of the Philadelphia stadium, the Cardinals’ pitching staff had permitted a mere four runs in the team’s five contests since leaving St. Louis.

To counter the Cardinals’ talented young southpaw, Philadelphia Phillies’ manager Gene Mauch “rested Tony Gonzalez, Bill White, and John Callison,” Bill Conlin of the Philadelphia Daily News reviewed of the Phillies’ batting order, “going with an all righthanded hitting lineup for the first time since July.”1

Taking the hill for the home team was another left-hander in Chris Short. Despite a strong 2.51 ERA, Short held a record of 7-11, had lost his last three starts, and was winless from the Fourth of July until nearly Labor Day (partly due to the Phillies having scored only 14 runs in his 11 defeats). He had been Mauch’s choice in the season’s home opener on April 14, and was now hurling in the home finale before the Phillies (77-73, sitting in the middle of the NL pack) finished their schedule in Houston and on the West Coast. “In between, there was a lot of blood, sweat, and tears,” wrote Conlin regarding Short’s 1967 expedition. “In between, Short won only six other games, tore ligaments in his right knee, was divorced in Mexico, suffered muscle spasms in his lower back, was married, and lost a brilliantly pitched game on his wedding night.”2 Also “in between” was a scoreless two-inning performance by Short in the All-Star Game on July 11 – having followed Gibson’s own two scoreless innings in the game and four days before Gibson suffered his broken leg.

While the September 20 contest did not impact the pennant race, the mere 8,466 who entered Connie Mack Stadium were treated to perhaps the greatest pitching duel of the season.

Short retired the first nine men he faced, while Carlton struck out the first four Philadelphia batsmen before hits from Bobby Wine, Tony Taylor, and Cookie Rojas plated a run in the third that ended his scoreless inning string at 28⅓. The Phils threatened for more when Rojas and Taylor pulled off a double steal and Don Lock walked to load the bases, but Carlton proceeded to fan Rico Joseph and get Gary Sutherland to loft a fly ball to Curt Flood in center.

The Cardinals answered immediately in the top of fourth as Spiezio broke through against Short with a leadoff home run left field to tie the game, 1-1, a shot that cleared the roof of the ballpark. It would be the only success they mustered against Short all evening.

The Phillies took the lead again with a run in their fourth and added another in the seventh inning for a 3-1 lead. The latter score was aided by a throwing error by Flood, who was firing overhand for the first time in several days, having suffered a sore arm and trying to let the wing heal by throwing side-arm only.

Despite slipping behind, Carlton continued to issue a variety of “stuff” that largely baffled the Phillies. After Sutherland singled to lead off the bottom of the eighth, Carlton fanned Gene Oliver for his 16th strikeout in 7⅓ innings – two shy of the major-league record (shared at the time by Sandy Koufax and Bob Feller) and one short of Dizzy Dean’s Cardinals mark set in 1933. “Suddenly, the crowd was rooting for him,” sportswriter Conlin noted.3

Billy Cowan was next to the plate as Carlton eyed his next strikeout victim. But when he tapped a ball to third baseman Mike Shannon to force Sutherland (and Wine flied out to Alex Johnson in right), the record fell out of Carlton’s reach – unless the Cardinals could mount a comeback in the top of the ninth and force the Phillies to bat again.

Short, however, was equal to the task. A single by Flood was all St. Louis could generate as Short finished the evening with a complete-game four-hitter in a 3-1 win in a game that took 2 hours and 21 minutes. “Under ordinary circumstances, Short’s pitching would have rated notice strikeout-wise too,” noted Allen Lewis in the Philadelphia Inquirer. “The Delaware lefty fanned nine, and the two-club total of 25 came within one of the NL record for a nine-inning game.”4

While Carlton knew he was dominant, he was unaware of his feat “until a fan yelled that I had 15 and I heard Oliver and the umpire talk about the record,” he told St. Louis Post-Dispatch beat writer Neal Russo in the locker room.5 Carlton said he had five or six more chances to notch strikeouts on other two-strike counts, “but I made a bunch of mistakes, and that’s why I lost.”6 Oliver, who managed two hits in the game, was duly impressed. “He struck me out on a great low curve. He’s as good as any lefthander in the league, including Bob Veale and Mike McCormick.”7 Added Lock, “You say he’s only 22 years old? I’d like to trade places with him.”8 It was the most strikeouts by any pitcher at Connie Mack Stadium since Art Mahaffey whiffed 17 in the second game of a Sunday doubleheader on April 23, 1961.

Carlton’s impressive total, however, was not the most he had achieved in professional baseball, as Russo pointed out. “He struck out 17 when he pitched for the Cardinals’ Winnipeg farm club – and he lost the game.”9

To what did Carlton credit his extra power on this evening in Philadelphia? Reliever Hal Woodeshick, who snapped Lou Brock out of a recent slump by suggesting Brock imbibe in pregame milkshakes, had the answer. “Before the game I took Steve out to dinner,” Woodeshick revealed about his hotel roommate, “and I got him to eat cherrystone clams for the first time.”10

The Cardinals returned home to St. Louis with a hero’s welcome at 1:30 the following morning. Hundreds braved an overnight rainstorm to greet the chartered flight of the National League champions as the plane taxied into Lambert Field, while “fans threw fake [World Series] money into the air at Orlando Cepeda, who returned the gesture with a hearty laugh.”11

Chris Short, meanwhile, used the stellar night to help catapult himself into a 19-win season for the Phillies in 1968 – his last strong campaign in the big leagues.

SOURCES

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

NOTES

1 Bill Conlin, “Lousy Night for Short to Look Brilliant,” Philadelphia Daily News, September 21, 1967.

2 Conlin.

3 Conlin.

4 Allen Lewis, “Carlton Fans 16, but Phillies’ Short Beats Cards, 3-1,” Philadelphia Inquirer, September 21, 1967.

5 Neal Russo, “Old Story, Same Ending for Carlton,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 21, 1967.

6 Russo.

7 Russo.

8 Russo.

9 Russo.

10 Russo.

11 Doug Feldmann, El Birdos: The 1967 and 1968 St. Louis Cardinals (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland and Company, 2007), 157.