June 20, 1964 - A masterpiece by the Old Master — Whitey Ford — was needed and supplied today. The great lefty fired his sixth shutout of the season to beat the White Sox, 1-0, in 11 innings at Comiskey Park.
Ford fanned 10 and allowed only six hits. His strikeouts earned him the league lead with 92. And the victory was the super-southpaw’s 10th in a row since a 4-3 loss to Boston on a wild pitch opening day. His ERA is a miniscule 1.39.
Elston Howard (pictured), the All-Star catcher, broke up the game with a single — the third in succession in the final inning. The Yanks got only four hits in the first 10 innings.
With one out in the 11th, Roger Maris walked. Mickey Mantle, who is hitting .549 against lefties, singled to left against southpaw Gary Peters. Maris stopped at second, and Pedro Gonzalez ran for him. Tom Tresh lined a sharp single to right, and Mike Hershberger’s superb no-bounce throw to catcher Camilo Carreon beat Maris home by 40 feet. Carreon had to wait to make the tag.
The ladies’ day crowd of 27,366 roared a salute to the wonderful throw, figuring Peters to be off the hook. But Elston stroked a single to center, and Gonzalez scored from third with the winning run.
The shutout was Ford’s third in a row against Chicago this year and extended his scoreless string against the runless Sox to 43, dating back to last Aug. 16.
It was the 40th complete game shutout of the 35-year-old’s remarkable career, tying him with Red Ruffing among all-time Yankee pitchers. He is only three shutouts behind the A.L. record for lefthanders, set by Babe Ruth with the 1916 Red Sox. Sandy Koufax holds the N.L. mark with 11, set last year.
Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s
Comments