1960s Timeline

June 22, 1962 - Stan Musial set a major league record for career total bases today as the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Philadelphia Phillies, 7-3, in the first game of a twilight-night doubleheader. The Phils won the second game, 11-3. In the opener, Musial hit a home run and two singles to break the late Ty Cobb’s major league record of 5,863 total bases. Musial raised his count to 5,866 by getting a single in the second game. “For some reason I never paid much attention

June 19, 1962 - Frank Howard (pictured) drove in 2 runs with a first-inning homer and scored the deciding run on a misplayed grounder in the seventh inning today as the league-leading Dodgers defeated the Cardinals, 3-2, before 33,986 in Los Angeles. Don Drysdale went the distance for the Dodgers, allowing 9 hits, and picked up his 11th victory in 15 decisions. Howard opened the Dodger seventh with a double and advanced when Curt Simmons, the pitcher, fielded a bunt by Ron Fa

June 18, 1962 - Tommy Davis broke up the game with a ninth-inning home run tonight as the Dodgers defeated the Cardinals, 1-0, before 33,477 fans in Los Angeles. Davis’s homer brought Sandy Koufax his 10th victory in 12 decisions and wrecked an otherwise brilliant pitching performance by the St. Louis right-hander Bob Gibson. Until the ninth, Gibson had given up only two hits and allowed only two Dodgers to get as far as second base. Koufax, touched for five singles, struck o

June 4, 1962 - It is now Dr. Stan Musial. Musial, the 41-year-old St. Louis Cardinal star, received an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree from Monmouth College in Illinois today during graduation ceremonies. In presenting the degree, the school president, Robert W. Gibson, said Musial represented “the highest type of excellence in your profession.” Despite the degree, Musial’s thoughts apparently were still on baseball. He said the National League pennant race was still a t

May 31, 1962 - Bob Friend (picturing signing an autograph in March), with ninth-inning relief from Elroy Face and Diomedes Olivo, beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-4, tonight as the Pittsburgh Pirates completed a four-game sweep. The Cards played the game under protest from the third inning. Bill White was on third when Ken Boyer lofted a high fly. Don Hoak, the Pirates’ third baseman, dropped the ball after bumping into White. Umpire Tony Venzon called Boyer out. Manager Johnn

May 17, 1962 - St. Louis scored an unearned run off Billy O’Dell in the ninth inning today and beat San Francisco, 1-0, behind the 6-hit pitching of Bob Gibson. It was Gibson’s fifth victory against two losses. He struck out 10 Giants and often had them swinging late at his fastball. O’Dell survived Cardinal threats in four innings. In the ninth, however, Red Schoendienst singled to left with none out. Julian Javier, running for Schoendienst, stole second with one out and mov

May 16, 1962 - Stan Musial of the Cardinals tied the National League total-hit record today, but league-leading San Francisco trounced St. Louis, 7-2, with a 5-run seventh inning. The 41-year-old Musial singled off Juan Marichal in the sixth inning for the 3,430th hit of his career, equaling a record set by Honus Wagner. Musial joined the Cards in 1941. Wagner played with Louisville from 1897 to 1899 and with the Pirates from 1900 through 1917. Since getting his 3,429th hit a

May 14, 1962 - Minnie Minoso, the St. Louis Cardinals outfielder who suffered a skull fracture and a broken right wrist Friday, was put on the Cards’ disabled list today. The 39-year-old Minoso was said to be approaching the “danger period” at Jewish Hospital in St. Louis. Dr. I.C. Middleman, the Cards’ physician, said doctors were watching for the possibility of a blood clot. Dr. Middleman said the Cuban would pass that danger period after tomorrow. Baseball Commissioner For

May 11, 1962 - Minnie Minoso (pictured with Stan Musial in March), left fielder for the Cardinals, suffered a skull fracture in St. Louis tonight when he crashed against a concrete fence while chasing a pinch-hit drive by Duke Snider of the Dodgers. The sixth-inning drive went for a triple, knocking in 3 runs and helping the Dodgers beat the Cards, 8-5. Dr. Stan London said Minoso’s fracture was three to four inches above the right ear. He said that there was no pressure on t

May 10, 1962 - Unbeaten Billy O’Dell (pictured), pitching in wind gusting over 40 miles an hour, set down the St. Louis Cardinals on four hits tonight, 6-0, and restored the San Francisco Giants’ first-place lead to four games. The victory was O’Dell’s fifth this season and his eighth straight, including three last season. The Giants went ahead on Felipe Alou’s two-run double off Bob Gibson in the fourth. They clinched the game in the fifth on Willie McCovey’s three-run homer

May 8, 1962 - The San Francisco Giants broke the Larry Jackson jinx at eight games tonight by beating the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-3. Jackson (pictured left with Stan Musial and Curt Flood in 1959), who was chased in the eighth inning when the Giants scored twice to break a 2-2 tie, had not lost to San Francisco since the Candlestick Park opener in 1960. Successive doubles by Orlando Cepeda and Felipe Alou broke the tie in the eighth. Then Ed Bailey, who had struck out twice wi

May 2, 1962 - Bob Gibson continued his mastery over the Houston Colts tonight by pitching the St. Louis Cardinals to a 5-hit, 4-1 victory and retiring 9 batters via strikeout. The hard-throwing right-hander, in his last effort against the Colts, fashioned a two-hit victory. After Houston’s Jim Pendleton hit a solo home run in the second inning, Gibson retired ten batters in a row before allowing Merritt Ranew to reach base on a bloop single. #MLB #baseball #OTD #anniversary #

Apr. 21, 1962 - Curt Simmons, picked up by St. Louis for almost nothing two years ago, pitched the unbeaten Cardinals to their seventh victory today. Behind his masterly three-hitter, the Cards blanked the Chicago Cubs, 8-0. It was the second straight complete game for the 32-year-old former Philadelphia Phillie Whiz Kid. Both victories were over the hapless Cubs, who have won only one of nine games this season. The Redbirds’ season-opening streak ties the club record set in

Apr. 11, 1962 - History was made tonight by the New York Mets. They broke into the expanded National League at long last, but wound up on the short end of an 11-4 score, beaten conclusively by the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium. In their first official effort, the Mets did much to beat themselves. Four ineffective New York pitchers backed by a loose defense hurt the Mets immeasurably. The season opener before 16,147 half-frozen fans saw the Mets commit three errors and

Jan. 5, 1962 - Stan Musial took a pay cut to about $70,000 today as he signed his 21st contract with the St. Louis Cardinals. “I think this will be my last year as a baseball player, and I’ll try to end up with a good year,” he said. “You can’t go on forever, you know.” Musial, who started at $65 a month in 1938 and worked up to $100,000 in 1958, signed his first Cardinal contract in 1941. But he played only 12 games for the Redbirds that year. He did not play in 1945 because

Nov. 27, 1961 - The Chicago White Sox traded Orestes (Minnie) Minoso, their Cuban outfield star, to the St. Louis Cardinals for Joe Cunningham, a first baseman-outfielder. Minoso, who will be 39 on Wednesday, has been in the majors 12 seasons and has batted under .300 only twice. The second of these under-.300 years was 1961, when he hit .280. However, he batted in 82 runs. Cunningham, 30, has been with the Cardinals 6 years. He had his best year in 1959 when he batted .345,

Aug. 23, 1961 - The Cardinals exploded for 4 runs in the 8th inning today to take an 8-7 decision from the 2nd-place Dodgers. It was the Dodgers' 9th straight loss, their longest losing streak since 1944, when they dropped 15 in a row. Consecutive home runs by Bill White (pictured) and Ken Boyer paced the Cardinals' eighth-inning rally. Don Drysdale, who has never finished a game he started in Busch Stadium, was routed, but the loss went to Ron Perranoski. #MLB #baseball #spo

Aug. 12, 1961 - Johnny Podres (pictured talking with a fan) registered his 15th victory of the season with a five-hitter today as the Dodgers defeated the Cardinals, 5-1. The Dodgers posted their 18th victory in the last 21 games and lifted their league lead to two and a half games. Wally Moon and Frank Howard drove in two runs apiece and also figured in a three-run surge in the seventh. Podres, who never before had won more than 14 games in a season, struck out 4, walked onl

Aug. 3, 1961 - The Pirates bombarded St. Louis with a major league season high of 24 hits today and buried the Cardinals, 19-0. They tied the National League modern record for the highest score in a shutout game. The 19 runs also tied the National League season high, by San Francisco on July 4. Harvey Haddix was the Pirate pitcher and gave only four hits. Roberto Clemente (pictured), Smoky Burgess, Dick Stuart and Bill Mazeroski were the big guns as the Pirates broke out of a

Sept. 17, 1961 - Stan Musial of the St. Louis Cardinals today celebrated the 20th anniversary of his major league debut by hitting a 2-run homer as the Cards beat the Pirates, 3-0. The 40-year-old Musial, a native of Donora, Pa., received a plaque from home-town admirers before today's game. He received a watch from the Cardinals and a desk set from the Pirates. "I often think a man past 40 shouldn't be playing this young man's game," Musial said. "Words can't express how fas