May 4, 1964 - The cellar-dwelling Mets, swept up by the heat of the hectic pennant race, exploded tonight in a game-ending free-for-all with the battling Braves at Milwaukee County Stadium. And who was in the middle of the flailing and on the bottom? Casey Stengel, that wrinkled 73-year-old man of muscle.
The Mets had just lost their third straight, 2-1, to Denny Lemaster’s two-hitter, with the potential tying run knocked off at the plate in a crunching play for the final out — and here came the riot.
Catcher Ed Bailey, bowled over by Ron Hunt’s stand-up bulldozing tactics, managed to hold onto the ball. But as he sprang up, Bailey tossed the ball to the ground and charged at Hunt. Before he could make it, umpire Billy Williams had him fast around the waist — and here came the troops.
They poured out of both dugouts, arms flailing and bodies flying. In the center, quickly, was New York’s Rod Kanehl — and there, suddenly, was Len Gabrielson, a monster of a Milwaukeean, riding Kanehl’s back to the ground.
Then, just as suddenly, there was Stengel knocked to the turf nearby, with people stepping obliviously over him.
The whole scrimmage lasted perhaps two minutes. In the clubhouse afterward, slugger Stengel tried to deny he had been knocked down. When confronted with too much evidence to the contrary, Stengel grinned sheepishly and said: “I slipped.” Then he broke down and gave his true account: “I see this fellow with his fist raised about to pop Kanehl, so I reach out and grab him by the shoulder, and he swings around and down I go.”
Tracy Stallard, who loves the old geezer, broke into uninhibited laughter as he recalled the scene: “I’m stepping over a body to get to the action,” said Trace, “and I look down, and who is it but Casey!”
Tracy laughed again. “I know one thing,” he said. “I had less teeth than anybody out there. I put these in my pocket as I ran out” — and he held his upper plate in the air.
Over in the Milwaukee clubhouse, Dennis Menke, the fine young shortstop, admitted to being the one who floored Stengel. It was inadvertent, Menke explained, and he was apologetic.
“I felt somebody grab my shoulder,” Menke reported, “and I whirled around to brush him off — and there was Casey on the ground.”
“The least you could have done,” someone kidded, “was pick him up.”
“I would have,” he said, “but two or three other guys were helping him.”
The Braves’ anger seemed directed more Kanehl than at Hunt. Kanehl, who hadn’t been playing, bolted out of the dugout ahead of the pack and headed straight for Bailey. Then, Gabrielson, Menke, and Gene Oliver all went for Kanehl.
“All I know,” said Kanehl with satisfaction, “is that the only one with a bloody nose was Oliver.”
Kanehl is Hunt’s roomie. “Ron and I have sat in our room and talked about Oliver,” Kanehl said. “We decided he’s the kind of guy who will go out of his way to hurt you. Two years ago, he about broke my leg on a play.”
Bobby Bragan, the Braves’ manager, was bitterly critical of the Mets. “They’re a bunch of performers,” he said. “They can’t play ball, so they perform. They oughta get a bunch of actors’ cards.”
Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s
Comments