Sept. 1, 1964 - It was batting practice time in Chavez Ravine tonight. Mickey Mantle was putting on an awesome display of right-handed power. On Mantle’s last three practice swings, he cracked each of Spud Murray’s pitches over 400 feet.
“I pity that lefthander tonight,” said Joe Pepitone as practice ended. Mantle batted four times, didn’t get the ball out of the infield, and yet — because of Mickey — the Yanks still wound up “pitying” lefthanded Angel starter George Brunet in New York’s 4-1 victory.
Mantle’s hustle on his gimpy right knee opened the way for a four-run sixth inning. Brunet had handled the Yanks easily through five scoreless innings. Pedro Gonzalez opened the sixth with a single and was sacrificed to second by Tom Tresh.
Mantle then hit a soft hopper to third. Vic Power came in, and the smooth fielder seemed a little lackadaisical. You couldn’t really fault him. Power reads the papers from cover to cover and, among other things, he’s read that Mantle has slowed up.
Power started his throw a little too easily, and when he tried to hurry it up it was too late. A sprinting Mantle received the safe call, and while Angel first baseman Joe Adcock and Power gave the umpire disenchanted looks, they didn’t argue.
So, instead of a runner on third and two out, Brunet was ripe for the kill. Elston Howard sliced a single to right for the lead run, and Mantle raced painfully to third. He stood there bent over with his hands on his hips.
“I thought maybe he was in pain,” coach Jimmy Gleeson said. “The look on his face when he came to the base and then the way he stood bend over. But when I went over to him and said, ‘Mick, you okay?’ he said he was.”
Mantle was hurting. Because he doesn’t like to discuss his aches and pains, most Yankees respect his wishes and refuse to discuss it. “I was okay,” Mantle said. “Just write what you saw. And I wasn’t hurting.”
What should have been the third out was a sacrifice fly to center by Hector Lopez. Joe Pepitone followed with a single, and Clete Boyer’s triple scored two more and made it 4-0.
Al Downing got the win. The Bombers now trail the league-leading Orioles by a mere two games.
Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s
Comments