May 23, 1962 - Maybe it was the sight of Mickey Mantle. Maybe it was Kansas City pitching. Attribute it to what you may, the Yankees snapped out of their scoring lethargy today with a resounding boom at Yankee Stadium. In their biggest inning of the season, the Bombers poured nine runs across the plate in the eighth. The thrust of the explosion projected them from three runs behind into a 13-7 victory over the Athletics. By winning, they preserved their narrow American League lead over the Minnesota Twins and the Cleveland Indians. Joe Pepitone (pictured) hit two home runs in the rally, in which the Yankees tormented four pitchers. Pepitone opened the inning by clouting a towering drive deep into the right-field stand. The second time around, he produced a duplicate wallop with two teammates on base. The 21-year-old rookie from Brooklyn thereby tied a major league record. Starting with Charles Jones of the Boston Nationals in 1880, only 14 players had hit two homers in one inning. The last to do it before Pepitone was Jim Lemon of the Washington Senators in 1959. The only other Yankee on the list is Joe DiMaggio, who accomplished the feat in 1936.
