May 5, 1964 - The St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Philadelphia Phillies, 9-2, yesterday in a game in which opposing pitchers tossed beanballs and Bob Gibson was ejected for tossing his bat at a Philadelphia hurler, Jack Baldschun.
A violent argument broke out in the Cardinal fourth when Baldschun hit Gibson in the back with a pitched ball. Gibson got off the ground and flung his bat into Baldschun’s hands.
The Cards’ right-hander was ejected. He had a 5-1 lead, but he was unable to get credit for the victory because he failed to go five complete innings.
As players and coaches milled about and argued, Vern Benson, a Cardinal coach, placed both hands on umpire Jocko Conlan and pushed him, but Benson remained to coach at first base.
It was the third incident of beanball tossing. In the second inning, Julian Javier dropped to the ground to avoid a pitch by Dennis Bennett.
When the Phils came to bat in the third, Gibson’s first pitch went high and in back of Bennett, who didn’t move. Gibson’s second pitch made Bennett move aside, and the Phillie pitcher walked toward Gibson, followed by plate umpire Doug Harvey, who waved a finger at Gibson in warning, which automatically brought a $50 fine.
After the game, Bennett referred to Gibson as “chicken” because of the bat tossing.
“If Gibson wants to fight, he ought to put up his fists instead of throwing his bat,” Bennett said.
Gibson insisted his bat-flipping was unintentional. “If I was really throwing the bat, I’d have thrown a boomerang,” Gibson said. “Sure I dusted off Bennett, but he threw right at Javier’s head. I just wanted to protect our own players by throwing back. Their manager, Gene Mauch, is always telling his pitchers to throw at hitters.”
Cardinal manager Johnny Keane said umpire Harvey should have called the two managers together earlier and warned them.
“They should stop something like this before it gets started and not wait until someone gets killed,” Keane said. “I’ve seen batters lying there nearly dead. I was one of them.”
Keane was referring to a pitch from Sig Jakucki that him on the head when he was playing in the Texas League in 1935. The near-fatal beaning put Keane in a coma and shortened his playing career.
After Gibson’s removal, Jerry Buchek ran for him and scored on Carl Warwick’s homer.
Curt Flood also hit a third home run for the Cardinals in the second, and Ken Boyer’s triple scored two of three runs in the third.
Tim McCarver hit an inside-the-park home run in the eighth.
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