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Dodgers Club Cards, 11-5, after 11-1 Victory Last Night

May 8, 1963 - Willie Davis (pictured) hit two home runs and a triple as the Los Angeles Dodgers clubbed Cardinal relief pitching for 6 runs in the last two innings to take an 11-5 victory today before 10,918 fans at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. This followed an 11-1 victory for Los Angeles over St. Louis last night as Sandy Koufax made a successful return to the mound after a shoulder injury suffered April 23 had sidelined him. In today’s contest, Stan Musial’s fourth-inning home run broke Babe Ruth’s major league record for extra-base hits. Musial now has 1,357 extra-base hits for his career. The 42-year-old slugger holds more batting records than all the other active major leaguers combined. Today’s loss kept the Cardinals in a nosedive. They have lost five of their last six games. Ron Perranoski racked up his fifth victory in relief, while Bobby Shantz was the loser. Jim Gilliam clinched the victory with a three-run homer in a five-run eighth inning. “It’s lots more fun if we win the game when I break a record,” Musial said after sitting in the quiet clubhouse with head down. “I’m glad many of my records have come in winning games.” Then The Man allowed himself a smile as he said, “Just like the Babe —that’s the way the Babe would have liked to see his record broken, with a good home run.” Musial never saw Ruth play. The only time they met was in Rochester, N.Y., in 1941, not long before Stan was to head for the majors. “Ruth was in Rochester to put on a hitting exhibition, and I talked with him on the bench,” Musial recalled. “It took him a little while to get going — after all, he was 47 at the time — but he knocked several balls out of the park.”

 

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