Oct. 14, 1964 - In the center of the Yankee clubhouse, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, and Joe Pepitone, the three home-run hitters today over the Cardinals, were hugging one another for the benefit of photographers.
In a corner of the room, about 15 feet from the trio, sat the still perspiring Jim Bouton (pictured), who had pitched a brilliant game until he tired in the ninth and gave way to Steve Hamilton. Bouton was alone.
“How about that?” the young righthander asked with a grin. “You take one swing with the bat, hit the ball out of the park, and everybody congratulates you. But nobody pays any attention to the pitcher. All I did was work like a Trojan, getting in and out of jams all day.”
Bouton was joking, of course. He was also wrong. Hardly had the words been uttered when reporters clustered around him, plying him with questions.
“Yes, my shoulder and arm tightened up on me in the sixth,” he said. “It bothered me a little. But I don’t think that was the reason Yogi took me out. I was just plain tired.”
Bouton left in the ninth with an 8-2 lead and runners on first and third with one out. Hamilton allowed a run-scoring single to pinch hitter Bob Skinner and then got Curt Flood to hit into a game-ending double play.
Even after Maris and Mantle hit successive homers in the sixth to give him a 3-1 lead, Bouton still felt he didn’t have enough runs.
“But when Pepitone hit the grand slam,” he said, “that was enough.” Pepitone connected in the eighth.
“All three would have been homers in Yankee Stadium,” Berra said. “The way the boys hit today, they wish we’d played here all year.”
The triumph was the second of this Series for Bouton, an 18-game winner during the regular season. The 25-year-old Ridgewood, N.J., star had won the third game, 2-1.
“I got 20 [wins] the hard way,” he said with a laugh. “But I’d rather have it this way than win 20 during the season and none in the World Series. Man, this is great. I guess we can take our bags out of the hotel lobby and back into the rooms now.”

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