Aug. 4, 1964 - It was 1957, and the Milwaukee Braves had just beaten the New York Yankees in the World Series, with Lew Burdette gaining his third victory in the seventh game.
Casey Stengel was the proud manager of the Yankees then, and he had nothing but respect for the pitcher who had beaten him.
“That Burdette’s one of those rubber-armed men,” said Casey. “There’s been a lot of talk whether that fellow throws a spitter. I don’t know, although I might say some of those pitches go places you don’t expect ‘em to. But I’ll tell you this — it ain’t what he throws that gets my fellows out. It’s how he throws. That fellow’s a pitcher.”
“That fellow” was a pitcher again tonight. Burdette gave up 10 hits — at least one every inning — but pitched his first shutout in more than a year for a 4-0 victory by the Chicago Cubs as the Cardinals left 10 runners on base at Busch Stadium.
Burdette did such a job on righthanded hitters that the Cubs’ left fielder, Billy Williams, did not make a putout.
Williams wasn’t left out of things, though. It was his 25th homer, an explosive shot that cleared the pavilion roof, that broke up Burdette’s scoreless duel with Ray Sadecki in the sixth.
“That home run must have been the hardest anyone has hit off me this year,” said Sadecki, who has given up nine, “and I think it’s the first one that has beaten me.”
Burdette was 1-0 for eight appearances, all in relief, for the Cards before he went to the Cubs in exchange for Glen Hobbie. With the Cubs, Lew has been a regular starter and now has an 8-4 record. This was his fifth complete game in nine tries.
“I’ve been pitching with men on base all my life,” said Burdette, who gave credit for tonight’s success to catcher Dick Bertell. “He called the shots. I didn’t shake him off once,” said Lew. “I missed the target 10 times, and they got 10 hits.”
Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s
Commentaires