September 22, 1969: Willie Mays hits his 600th homer and Frank Torre can go home now

Willie Mays began the 1969 season with 587 home runs and hit No. 600 on September 22, 1969. (National Baseball Hall of Fame Library)

He wanted to go home.

Frank Torre had been on the road for weeks, waiting for Willie Mays to hit his 600th homer so Torre could shower him with gifts and go home. Once his baseball career ended, Torre became the manager of the professional division for the Adirondack Bat Company, whose bats Mays used. Torre “estimated he had seen 40 games, covered 12,000 miles and spent $4200 in travel costs, waiting for the historic blow.”1 Before the first of a three-game series between the Giants and Padres at San Diego Stadium on Monday evening, September 22, Torre took his seat behind the Giants dugout. Maybe this was the night.

Mays was stuck on 599 homers, second only to the revered 714. The race to 600 was taxing on Mays: “I had been trying too hard to hit home runs.”2 Mays wished to hit the historic homer at home in Candlestick Park. He started the season with 587 career homers and “[S]ince he needed only 13 to reach the magic mark, it was reasonable to assume that he’d be there by Mother’s Day or at least by the Fourth of July.”3

Although he was muscular and fit, time was creeping up on the 38-year-old Mays.4 His five-tool supremacy was fading. He played the season with minor injuries, notably an injured left knee suffered in a home plate collision against the Cubs on July 29. The San Francisco Chronicle’s Bob Stevens observed, “[P]eople cringed in sympathy when (Mays) went on defense and stumbled and wobbled and did not get to some baseballs he would have gobbled up two years ago.”5 After hitting his 11th homer of the season on August 17, Mays hit his 12th (and his 599th career homer off the Atlanta Braves’ Pat Jarvis on September 15.

The Giants and the Braves were in a fight for first place in the National League West and a playoff berth. The Giants were 86-67, in first place by a half-game (.004) over Atlanta. Mays told manager Clyde King that he could not start but was available to pinch-hit. Manager Preston Gomez’s expansion Padres were in last place at 48-105, 38 games back, the worst record in baseball. “We can still be a spoiler,” Gomez said.6

Selected from the Giants in the expansion draft, rookie right-hander Mike Corkins was on the rubber for the Padres in his fourth and last start of the season.7 Left-handed prospect Ron Bryant was making his eighth start of the season for the Giants. The pitchers were roommates in the minors.8

The Giants took a 2-0 lead in the third inning. Bobby Bonds made the record books that frame when he struck out for the 176th time in the season, breaking the season strikeout record set in 1963 by Dave Nicholson of the Chicago White Sox.9 The Padres responded with a single tally in the bottom of the third.

Early in the game, the Padres’ scoreboard lit up with a promotional message: “Come tomorrow night and see Willie Mays hit no. 600.”10 Mays noticed, telling his teammates “Tomorrow night? I’m going to hit it tonight.”11

The Padres tied the game in the bottom of the sixth. King replaced Jim Ray Hart in left (bruised right shoulder) with George Foster.12 Bryant pulled a right rib-cage muscle on a pitch to the leadoff hitter Roberto Peña.13 Don McMahon came in for relief and gave up the lead. Peña “walloped McMahon’s first pitch to deep center for a double.”14 Peña attempted to stretch the hit into a triple but was thrown out after Ken Henderson fielded the ball and fired it to second baseman Ron Hunt, who threw to Tito Fuentes. Ollie Brown doubled to the wall in center. Al Ferrera struck out for the second out.

The next batter, Nate Colbert, laced a low liner down the right-field line toward the Giants’ bullpen, driving in Brown to tie the game. Henderson attempted to catch the ball with a diving effort. He lay “stunned on the grass[;] the ball rolled” toward the fence.15 Colbert rounded third with an apparent inside-the-park home run, when he suddenly retreated back to third after being given the stop sign by third-base coach George “Sparky” Anderson.16

“By dashing to the extremities of right field,” Hunt caught up to the ball where one rarely sees a second baseman.17 Hunt tossed the ball toward first base. Instinctively, from his shortstop position, Hal Lanier raced behind first base and threw home after catching Hunt’s relay. Hunt and Lanier “did something outstanding on the spot thinking and made two fine relay throws to limit the Padres to one run in the sixth inning when they could have just as well scored three, or probably more runs.”18

Hunt led off the top of the Giants’ seventh and beat out a grounder for a single. King met Mays’ eye and said, “[G]rab a bat” and pinch-hit for the rookie Foster.19 “We didn’t want to put too much pressure on the kid,” Mays said.”20

Mays knew little about Corkins: “Heck, he had been five years old when I broke in with the Giants.”21 Gomez and Corkins, though, recalled Mays hitting a homer off Corkins in spring training.22 Press reports indicated that the first pitch to Mays was a low and outside fastball. Mays wrote that it was a belt-high fastball.23 Mays “swung prodigiously and blasted the ball into the left field stands, 391 feet from the plate.”24 The baseball “arched toward the left-field seats, a tiny blur beneath the lights, the roar of the crowd swelled as Mays, his head lifted slightly, followed the flight of the historic bomb he had launched.”25 Hunt tracked the ball “going into the stands, he threw up his arms and started to dance in from second.”26 Mays jogged “shoulders sagged slightly and he dog-trotted, limping on his painful left knee. …”27 It was Mays’ second pinch-hit blast of the season.28

The Giants led 4-2. His teammates darted to home plate, greeting Mays in joy “screaming, hauling, tugging, laughing…”29 “That was my biggest thrill. Seeing my teammates” gather at home to greet him, Mays said.30 The 4,779 fans “clapped, stomped and cheered” with “[W]e Want Mays” chants.31 Mays was “summoned twice from the dugout for encore bows.”32 He tipped his cap to the cheering Padres fans. Torre had been about to leave “[A]nd then it happened so suddenly … I didn’t expect him to pinch-hit,” and raced “to meet [Mays] by the time he circled the bases.”33 Giants utilityman Bob Burda snapped photos.34

After Willie McCovey singled to center off Corkins, Gomez brought in Frank Reberger to close out the inning. Play was halted at the end of the Giants’ half of the seventh. Torre walked with Mays to home plate and presented him a huge trophy commemorating Mays’ accomplishment. The San Francisco Chronicle editorial page wrote, “[T]his is the sort of performance to which we are accustomed but which also makes men into legends.”35

Reberger pitched three scoreless relief innings. Mays led off the top of the ninth with a popup to Colbert at first.36 The Padres were silenced by McMahon, who set them down in order in the last two innings, pitching four innings for his sixth win against six losses.

Corkins asked Gomez, “Why did it have to be me?”37 Gomez, who had seen his share of Mays as a coach with the Dodgers, consoled him: “Just remember that the same thing has happened to a lot of other pitchers – and some great ones.”38 Corkins suffered his third loss against one win, pitching six uneven innings.39

In a game lasting 2:51, Mays’ homer gave the Giants a 4-2 victory. Hunt and Lanier’s defensive play prevented two Padres runs and a devastating loss during a pennant race on the night of Mays’ 600th homer. If not for them, “Mays’ homer might have meant no more than a personal achievement.”40

After the game, Mays would not offer any words on how many home runs he had left in his bat or regarding Babe Ruth’s 714: “I don’t know how much longer I can play, but I think I’m playing all right now. If I stay healthy, I’ll hit a few more home runs.”41 As it transpired, Mays had 60 homers left to hit.42 On who would next reach 600, “The next one should be Henry Aaron (of the Braves),” Mays predicted.43

Mays said he did not care about personal achievements. The win mattered: “It was more of a thrill because the home run won the game.”44 “I knew I’d hit 600, but I was beginning to wonder when,” Mays said.45

Mays said to the beat writers that his “600th homer means more than any other he had hit. ‘It has to. It’s worth about $30,000.’”46 Adirondack gave Mays the trophy, a De Tomaso Mangusta Italian sports car, and 391 shares of company stock for the 391 feet Mays’ homer trekked. At $9 a share, the stock was worth $3,519.47 Mays noted: “For one thing, Frank Torre can go home now.”48

SOURCES

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, YouTube.com, and mlb.com.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SDN/SDN196909220.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1969/B09220SDN1969.htm

NOTES

1  James K. McGee, “Mays: ‘600th Worth 30 G’s,’” San Francisco Examiner, September 23, 1969: 56.

2  Associated Press, “Pinch Blast Breaks Tie, Saves Half-Game Margin,” Sacramento Bee, September 23, 1969: B4.

3  Arthur Daley, “Sports of the Times: An Epic Home Run,” New York Times, October 1, 1969: 50.

4  Mays was once asked what his proudest achievement in baseball was. It was his durability: “I came into the league with a 32-inch waist, and I retired with a 32-inch waist.” See James S. Hirsch, “Willie Mays Carries the Torch for His Generation,” New York Times, May 5, 2021 (Online).

5  James S. Hirsch, Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend (New York: Scribner, 2010), 485. In 1998 Bob Stevens was awarded the J.G. Taylor Spink Award by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America for outstanding contributions to baseball writing. See http://baseballhall.org/discover/awards/j-g-taylor-spink/bob-stevens, accessed December 6, 2022.

6  Paul Cour, “Giants Bats Pose Woe in Series,” Evening Tribune (San Diego, California), September 22, 1969: C-1.

7  Mike Corkins was signed by the San Francisco Giants as an amateur free agent before the 1965 season. He was drafted by the San Diego Padres from the Giants as the 31st pick in the 1968 expansion draft. He played for the Padres from 1969 to 1974. Prior to his call-up from the Eastern League Elmira Pioneers on August 12, 1969, Corkins tossed a 16-strikeout no-hitter against the Manchester Yankees. See “Corkins No-Hits Manchester,” Elmira (New York)Star-Gazette, August 13, 1969: 31.

8  Corkins and Bryant were roommates in the Giants’ minor-league system at Amarillo of the Texas League and Fresno of the California League.

9  Bobby Bonds ended the 1969 season with 187 strikeouts. He broke his record the following season with 189. As of 2023 Mark Reynolds held the record, striking out 223 times in 2009. For more about Dave Nicholson, see Mike Kaszuba, “Dave Nicholson Revisited,” SABR Baseball Research Journal, Spring 2021. Willie Mays is the godfather of Bonds’ son, Barry Bonds.

10 United Press International, “Willie Called 600th Homer,” San Francisco Examiner, September 23, 1969: 53.

11 “Willie Called 600th Homer.”

12 Pat Frizzell, “600th Didn’t Come Easy,” Oakland Tribune, September 23, 1969: 42.

13 Bryant pitched in relief in two more games in the season.

14 United Press International, “Mays Belts 600th Homer, S.F. Wins, 4-2,” Argus (Fremont, California), September 23, 1969: 9.

15 James K. McGee, “Hal and Ron Share Giants’ Hero Role,” San Francisco Examiner, September 23, 1968: 53. After the game, Henderson learned that he had bruised his left shoulder on the attempt.

16 Phil Collier, “Mays’ 600th HR Whips Padres, 4-2,” San Diego Union, September 23, 1969: C-4.

17 Pat Frizzel, “Hunt’s Hustle Giant Thing of Wonder,” The Sporting News, October 11, 1969: 7.

18 McGee, “Hal and Ron Share Giants’ Hero Role.”

19 Hirsch, Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend, 486.

20 Ron Fimrite, “End of the Rainbow,” San Francisco Chronicle, September 23, 1969: 45.

21 Willie Mays with Lou Sahadi, “Say Hey” (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1988), 241.

22 Frizzell, “600th Didn’t Come Easy.”

23 Mays, 242.

24 Pat Frizzell, “Willie Saves 4-2 Win,” Oakland Tribune, September 23, 1969: 41.

25 Bob Stevens, “Mays’ 600th HR Levels Padres, 4-2,” San Francisco Chronicle, September 23, 1969: 45.

26 McGee, “Mays: 600th Worth 30 G’s.”

27 Stevens, “Mays’ 600th HR Levels Padres, 4-2.”

28 To watch Mays’ 600th home run, see “Mays Hits His 600th Career Home Run,” 2:30, January 28, 2015, MLB, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=An6KEmXHeEU. Fifteen-year-old Al Frolander Jr. ran through the empty rows and grabbed the Mays ball after it landed. He gave up the ball to stadium ushers. He met Mays and was given a ball autographed by Mays and a new Giants hat. The homer ball was shipped with the bat to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. See Rick Smith, “Youth Ready for Mays’ Rap, Evening Tribune (San Diego, California), September 23, 1969: C1. Also see Fimrite, “End of the Rainbow.”

29 Stevens, “Mays’ 600th HR Levels Padres, 4-2.”

30 Fimrite.

31 McGee, “Mays: 600th Worth 30 G’s.”

32 United Press International. “Mays Belts 600th Homer, S.F. Wins, 4-2.”

33 McGee, “Mays: ‘600th Worth 30 G’s.’”

34 Frizzell, “Willie Saves 4-2 Win.”

35 Editorials, “Willie Mays’ 600th,” San Francisco Chronicle, September 28, 1969: 44.

36 Mays had remained in the game playing center field.

37 Collier, “Mays’ 600th HR Whips Padres, 4-2.”

38 Collier. “It means a lot to me,” Gomez said after the game. He saw an 18-year-old Mays play winter ball in Cuba.

39 Corkins allowed eight hits with five walks and four earned runs against four strikeouts. He appeared in a total of six games for San Diego that year with a record of 1-3 and an 8.47 ERA.

40 McGee, “Hal and Ron Share Giants’ Hero Role.”

41 Frizzell, “600th Didn’t Come Easy.”

42 Mays made it clear in 1966 that Ruth’s 714 was beyond his ability to catch: “[M]an, that’s a lot of home runs. I ain’t trying to set records. I’m just trying to help the team win some games.” See “There’s Hope for Willie,” Ebony, October 1966, Volume 12, Issue 12: 96.

43 Collier.

44 Frizzell, “Willie Saves 4-2 Win.” With the win, the Giants remained in first, maintaining their .004 lead over Atlanta. The Giants failed to win the NL West, finishing second going 3-5 in their last eight games, 90-72 overall. Atlanta surged ahead, winning the division by three games.

45 Daley, “Sports of the Times: An Epic Home Run.”

46 James K. McGee, “Not After Ruth’s Record,” San Francisco Examiner, September 23, 1969: 53.

47 McGee, “Not After Ruth’s Record”; McGee, “Mays: ‘600th Worth 30 G’s.’” For more on the De Tomaso Mangusta, see https://www.autoevolution.com/news/detomaso-mangusta-the-american-powered-italian-supercar-created-to-spite-carroll-shelby-168552.html. In January 2022, a 1969 De Tomaso Mangusta with 6,876 miles was sold for $400,000. See https://www.classic.com/m/de-tomaso/mangusta/, accessed December 16, 2022.

48 Frizzell, “600th Didn’t Come Easy.”