Sept. 3, 1964 - A remarkable weekday throng of 49,808 persons gave the San Francisco Giants a roaring sendoff today as they made their farewell appearance of the year in Shea Stadium by defeating the Mets, 3-1.
The Giants won as they had last night, with another first-class pitching performance. This time, a five-hitter by Gaylord Perry (pictured) gave the Mets little opportunity for mischief until the final inning.
Until then, Perry had allowed only three singles and three walks. After Joe Christopher tripled and Jim Hickman singled in the ninth, he left the tying run at the plate by retiring two Met pinch hitters.
When Perry fired a third strike past Charlie Smith, he sent the third-place Giants on to Philadelphia with 27 games to go, three of which they will play this weekend against the league-leading Phillies. San Francisco trails Philadelphia by 6½ games and Cincinnati by one game.
The Giants’ final 72 hours in New York were costly.
Willie Mays, as he does sometimes late in the season, sat out the final game with a case of fatigue. Worse, Jesus Alou, who was spiked during a rundown near second base last night, underwent a two-hour operation in which 75 stitches were made in his foot and ankle.
Alou had played in 114 of the Giants’ 134 games and was hitting .274. He will be lost for the remainder of the season.
Thus depleted, the Giants received a needed dividend today in Perry’s pitching. They also shared in the gate receipts from the huge crowd that gave Shea Stadium its third attendance of more than 31,000 in three days.
The total of 49,808 today included 31,796 paying fans, 3,814 Ladies Day customers, and 13,063 Midget Mets.
The crowd brought the total for the Giant-Met competition in New York this year to 357,485, and for all 55 games in Shea to 1,506,453 — making the cellar-dwelling Mets (45-88) the first New York team to top 1½ million since the 1961 Yankees.
Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s
Comments