Met and Cardinal Players Disagree on Season-Ending Collision

May 17, 1965 - Ron Hunt (left) of the New York Mets and Phil Gagliano of the St. Louis Cardinals still disagree on who hit whom during their collision on the basepaths May 11, but both players agree that the loss of Hunt for the entire season was unfortunate — especially Ron. 

“Right now, I’m mad,” admitted the National League’s all-star second baseman during post-operative press conference from his bed today at Roosevelt Hospital in New York. “I’m afraid I’ll miss the whole season — and just when the guys had a wonderful homestand where they won seven of 11 games.”

Speaking in St. Louis, Gagliano, also a second baseman, said, “I’m sorry the accident will keep Ron out of the lineup so long.”

Hunt suffered a shoulder separation during the collision, which occurred when the Met star charged a slow grounder in a bases-loaded situation. Gagliano, the baserunner at first, broke with the hit, and the two crashed as Hunt bent down to pick up the ball. Gagliano was declared out for interference.

Unfortunately for the Mets, however, Hunt has been declared out for at least three months and possibly the entire season. Peter Lamotte, the New York team physician, said Ron could leave the hospital tomorrow, but he will have to return in six weeks for the removal of two pins which are holding the shoulder together.

“Six weeks from now takes us into July,” Hunt said. “Then there’s four to six weeks of physical therapy, and following that, I must get my body into shape to play again.”Although Hunt and his teammates believe Gagliano rammed Hunt, the Cardinal rookie takes a different view.

“I was in front when I felt him hit me because he hit me on my hip,” Gagliano repeated today in St. Louis. “Hunt has his impression of the accident, I have mine.”

“I don’t believe him,” Hunt charged. “I can’t understand it. If I wanted to hit him, I wouldn’t have left myself exposed to some hard knocks. I was wide open, not even braced, so how could I be at fault?”Gagliano, however, acknowledged that the collision “was an unfortunate accident” that was “nobody’s fault” and added that he had sent Hunt a telegram last Friday telling him he hoped he felt better.

Hunt is expected to spend his recuperative period at his 100-acre farm in Wentsville, Mo., just outside St. Louis.

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