June 16, 1964 - There are some things Ed Roebuck remembers and some things he forgets. He remembers things like the towering home run Doug Clemens once hit off him in spring training, and he forgets things like leaving passes at the ballpark for his brother.
He did both today when he helped pitch the Phillies past the Cubs, 4-2, on the kind of day pitchers dream about because the wind at Wrigley was howling in from center field.
Roebuck relieved Dennis Bennett with the Phillies leading, 3-2, in the seventh and the tying run on first, but he didn’t get a “save” because he didn’t finish.
Jack Baldschun finished, striking out the three men he faced in the ninth inning. But he didn’t get a “save” either because he didn’t face that tying run.
“Nuts,” Roebuck sneered into his post-game beer. “Who made up that rule? We both deserve a save. We both did what we were in the game for. How come they change a rule like that and change the stuff in the box-score and they leave the important rules like the bonus rule and the crooked waiver rule alone?”
Roebuck is an outspoken guy with good control and a tantalizing sinker. His control was off today (“The ball felt like a bar of soap”), and his sinker sank below the knees too often.
In the seventh, he walked Len Gabrielson with two out, then went 3-0 on Billy Williams. Williams lashed at the next pitch and hit it to right-center where Johnny Callison made a backhand catch just shy of a collision with Tony Gonzalez.
“The ball was out and then came back in,” Roebuck admitted. “When the wind blows in, things like that happen. And when it blows out — I can remember George Altman breaking his bat on an inside slider and hitting one into the center-field seats.”
That kind of memory made the game stickier in the eighth. Roebuck walked Ron Santo, then got Ernie Banks to bounce into a force. Billy Cowan grounded out, Banks going to second.
Doug Clemens, part of the deal with the Cardinals, pinch hit. Phillies manager Gene Mauch hustled to the mound.
“He told me not to think about pitching around Clemens to get to a right-handed batter,” Roebuck reported, “because the next guy [Billy Ott] was a switch-hitter. Well, Clemens hit me pretty good in St. Louis, and I remembered a ball he hit in St. Petersburg to the batting cage in center, and that must be 700 feet.”
Cautious and wild, Roebuck walked Clemens. Then he got Ott to ground out to end the inning. In the ninth, Bob Wine blooped a single to center to drive in the fourth Phillies’ run, and Mauch sent Wes Covington up to pinch-hit for Roebuck. Which is why Baldschun finished.
“I don’t like to pitch at Wrigley, but I must be 8-and-2 against this club. Baseball is funny that way,” said Roebuck.
He can remember all those things, but he forgets to leave passes for his brother.
“How could I do that?” he asked out loud. “He kept me out of the coal mines. He made sure I finished high school and gave me a chance to be a ballplayer. He was in a prisoner-of-war camp, and he wrote to me to make sure I finished school.”
Tomorrow, Roebuck will leave passes for his brother.
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