Oct. 8, 1964 - Tom stayed hidden today in the corner of Tim McCarver’s locker. When the Cardinals win, Tom is allowed out. “When we lose, I don’t let him out,” said the Cardinals catcher.
Tom is a monster monkey mask. When the Cards win, McCarver pulls Tom over his head and frisks around the dressing room. The Yankees beat the Cardinals, 8-3, today at Busch Stadium, and nobody frisked in the dressing room. The Series is now knotted at 1-1.
“I’m bringing him to New York,” McCarver promised. “I think he’ll get some exercise there.”
There were two topics of conversation in the quiet Cardinal dressing room. The Cards talked about the two turning points of the game. One was when Yankee starter Mel Stottlemyre was recalled from Richmond. That had a lot to do with today.
Stottlemyre, who joined the Yanks Aug. 11, scored nine victories during their late-season revival and watched his first World Series game in person yesterday, during which he made notes on the Cardinals’ strengths. He did his homework well. Today, in his first World Series game, he allowed just seven hits and defeated the Cards’ best pitcher, Bob Gibson.
“You don’t have to be established to have good stuff,” Gibson said after the game. “He looks like a real good pitcher.”
The other turning point came in the sixth inning when plate umpire Bill McKinley ruled that Yankee Joe Pepitone was hit by a pitch.
The call moved Mickey Mantle to second base. After some friendly persuasion by the Cardinals failed to move McKinley, Tom Tresh singled to break the tie. “Sure, it was a big play,” St. Louis manager Johnny Keane sighed. “It changed things around.”
The argument by pitcher Gibson, McCarver, Keane, and shortstop Dick Groat was that Pepitone had tipped the ball with his bat. If it then hit Pepitone, it was still a foul ball. McKinley insisted that the ball hit only Pepitone.
“There was a definite, clear click,” McCarver said. “The only way you hear that is when the ball hits the bat — unless Pepitone has a wooden leg. And I don’t think he has a wooden leg.
“I was so sure; that’s why I argued. I followed it real good, and I could see it hit the bat. Then maybe it hit Pepitone — I don’t know. I know it hit the bat.”
Gibson, 60 feet and six inches away from Pepitone, heard the same click. “You don’t hear the crowd, but you can hear things on the field,” he said. “If it hit the batter, I wouldn’t hear a noise. I heard a click.”
After the protests had subsided, Tom Tresh hit the first pitch from Gibson to the left of second base and to the right of a sprawling dive by Groat for a single, putting the Yankees ahead, 2-1.
“I don’t think the argument upset me,” Gibson said. But then he reconsidered. “Oh, maybe it has some effect.”
The former Harlem Globetrotter struck out eight men in four innings but struck out only one more batter in the next four. “The last inning I was definitely not strong,” he said. “But I felt good until then.”
Gibson pitched 12 innings over the weekend. “No excuse,” he said. “My arm feels all right.”
The Cards made menacing gestures in the ninth. Groat tripled to right, McCarver singled to center, and the score was 8-3. But the thriving understudy at shortstop, Phil Linz, started a double play on Mike Shannon’s grounder, Charlie James struck out in a pinch hitter’s role, and the Series was tied.
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