July 4, 1964 - According to baseball tradition, the club leading the parade on July 4th ultimately wins the pennant.
“Never heard of it,” said Philadelphia skipper Gene Mauch with tongue in cheek after his team had wrested the National League lead from the Giants in an exciting 5-2 game at Candlestick Park today.
While his Phillies whooped it up, Mauch said: “I’d rather be up there October 4th.”
That’s the end of the season.
Nonetheless, the Philly skipper was happy over cinching the series — two in a row — and was ready to praise the two men most responsible for it: pitcher Jim Bunning and Richie Allen, rookie third baseman.
Bunning yielded a two-run homer to Duke Snider in the first inning and blanked the Giants for the next nine.
“He went to work,” Mauch observed of the pitcher who had pitched a perfect game June 21st. Bunning will be one of the pitchers — possibly the starter — in the All-Star game Tuesday.
“I hope Walter [Alston] doesn’t use him,” snapped the pennant-minded manager. Then he backtracked. “I don’t care. If Jim wants to pitch, let him pitch. I know he’s toting quite a record into the game.” Bunning now is 9-2.
Bunning might have become a Giant. Detroit manager Charlie Dressen offered him to Horace Stoneham before he did the Phillies for Felipe Alou. Giant scouts who followed the Tigers didn’t recommend him.
Allen is 22 years old and seems destined to be a thorn in the side of the opposition for the next 15 years.
He drove in two runs today, including the winner in the 11th, scored another pair, and led the charge last night with two walks, two singles, and a right field home run.
Allen, who belted a 500-foot homer in Philadelphia, and Bunning have added the extra something that now has the Phils fighting like mad.
“That guy loves baseball,” Mauch said of Allen. “Down in Houston, he had a leg hemorrhaging so badly you couldn’t see it. I was going to take him out. You know what he said? ‘I’m not going out — I might not get my job back.’”
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