Orioles Club Yanks

Apr. 30, 1965 - The Baltimore Orioles clubbed the Yankees, 10-4, tonight in the Bronx, and New York starter Jim Bouton (pictured) didn’t finish the third inning. 

After two were out in the third, the next six batters hit the kind of shots off Jim that make a man wince. The whole thing lasted maybe 10 pitches, and the Orioles were virtually running to the plate to get a swing at Bouton before he left the game.

“Those weren’t grapefruits I was throwing,” Bouton said. “Grapefruits don’t go that far. Those were large golf balls.”

When the smoke had cleared, the Orioles had scored six runs on three-run homers by Boog Powell and Curt Blefary. Bouton’s ERA is now 7.11.

It was merely a typical game for Bouton this year. “Pretty much, only more so,” he said. Spring training was fair at best, and all five starts have followed the pattern. He’s the pitcher who won 18 games last year and two more in the World Series. He’s just 26 years old, and he has a whole career ahead of him — unless.

“I’m in real good shape,” Bouton said. “I can do 40 pushups and 50 sit-ups right now. If we ever have a fight on the field, I’ll be the toughest one out there. If I keep pitching this way, we may have to have a fight.”

In the past, power has been Bouton’s success. Now, he says, “I’ll be half my outs this year have been on changeups. I’d really be horrendous without it. I’m just not throwing as hard as I used to.”

Brooks Robinson of the Orioles calls what Bouton has been doing “flooping it up there.”

“You think I’m through?” Bouton asked reporters in a harsh voice. “Maybe — maybe I’ve burned myself out. My fastball and curve, they’re just not as good as they were.”

Perhaps if the Yanks weren’t doing as poorly all down the lineup, Bouton’s failure could be overlooked, but as Robinson says, “He’s their ace.”

Last year when he was in a rough stretch, Bouton was advised that God evened things out. “I’ll give Him until the All-Star Game,” Bouton had said at that time. And by the All-Star Game, he was straightened out.

“God is on your side — if you’ve got good stuff,” he said tonight. “It’s a good thing He wasn’t out there tonight. He’d have got hurt.”

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