1960s Timeline

June 28, 1962 - Following the Dodgers’ 5-4 victory over the Mets this evening in a 13-inning game at the Chavez Ravine Stadium in Los Angeles, Dodger center fielder Willie Davis (pictured) was fined $25 as a “reprimand for losing his temper.” Davis, angered at a third strike called against him in the sixth inning, hurled his bat at the Dodger dugout along the third-base line. The bat skipped over the top of the dugout, grazed a second-row patron in the left temple, and droppe

June 28, 1962 - The New York Mets, who have no past and are dismally bogged down in the present, invested a substantial sum in the future today by signing Ed Kranepool (right), a 17-year-old first baseman from James Monroe High School in the Bronx. Kranepool received a bonus estimated to be $75,000. Kranepool, a 6-foot-3-inch, 205-pound left-hander, is expected to join the Mets in Los Angeles today to begin a cram course under the expert guidance of Gil Hodges, the Mets’ slic

June 28, 1962 - Mickey Cochrane, one of baseball’s great figures, died today in Lake Forest Hospital in Illinois. He was 59 years old. A spokesman at the hospital said death came after a long illness. Black Mike, a nickname given Cochrane because of his fiery, competitive nature, became linked with the phrase “greatest catcher in the game.” Thirteen seasons as a player with the Philadelphia Athletics and as player and manager of the Detroit Tigers bore out the phrase. Cochran

June 28, 1962 - The management of the Radio City Music Hall announced that the two opening weeks of “That Touch of Mink,” ending on Wednesday night, drew $408,505, a record for that period of time in the 30-year history of the Music Hall. The film stars Cary Grant and Doris Day. Featured in the supporting cast are Gig Young and Audrey Meadows. New York Yankees players Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, and Yogi Berra, playing themselves, appear in one comical scene. #MLB #baseball #

June 27, 1962 - A single over third base by Bob Skinner in the tenth inning gave the Pittsburgh Pirates a 6-5 victory over the Mets today in a taut, 3-hour contest at Forbes Field. Eclipsed were fine Met performances: a strong effort by Roger Craig (right), the losing pitcher; Richie Ashburn’s 2,500th base hit; and Frank Thomas’s 14th home run. Ashburn became the 39th major leaguer to make 2,500 or more hits. He was on base with No. 2,501, a single (as was No. 2,500), when Th

June 27, 1962 - In the first two innings today at Yankee Stadium, the Bombers gained a five-run lead over the Minnesota Twins with a typical display of expertise and power. What followed was, for the most part, a dull affair. Before acute boredom set in among the more demanding spectators, the Bombers struck hard against fat left-handed pitches delivered by Jim Kaat. Tom Tresh (pictured) led off in the first inning with his fourth homer of the season, a drive deep into the le

June 27, 1962 - Opening in local theatres today is “Safe at Home,” a comedy film starring Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris of the New York Yankees. The film also stars William Frawley and Don Collier, with appearances by Yankees Whitey Ford and Ralph Houk. The film is about a young Florida boy who lies to his Little League teammates, telling them he knows Mantle and Maris and will bring them to their team banquet. His attempts to meet his heroes during spring training by sneakin

June 26, 1962 - Orlando Cepeda’s single to right in the tenth inning today sent Felipe Alou home from first and gave San Francisco a 6-5 victory over Cincinnati. The victory put the Giants back in first place as the Los Angeles Dodgers bowed to the Braves and fell a half-game behind. The safe call on Alou by the plate umpire, Ed Sudol, was greeted by a wild protest by the entire Reds team. Alou, running for Willie McCovey, who had singled, rounded third on Cepeda’s single at

June 26, 1962 - Earl Wilson (pictured left with catcher Bob Tillman), a big right-handed pitcher, became the toast of the Boston Red Sox and the entire baseball-speaking world tonight. The 26-year-old Wilson beat the Los Angeles Angels, 2-0, on a no-hitter at Fenway Park. In the third inning, he gave the Red Sox (and himself) the only run they needed with a homer into the screen atop the left-field fence. For Wilson, who was earmarked to be traded last spring, it was his firs

June 25, 1962 - Henry Aaron hit a two-run homer in the sixth inning and drove in the deciding run with a single in the seventh today as the Milwaukee Braves defeated the Dodgers, 6-4. Los Angeles had led by 4-0 at one point. The Braves went ahead, 5-4, with three runs in the seventh. The loss was the fourth for the Dodgers in their last five games and it left them only a half-game ahead of second-place San Francisco in the National League. The Dodgers got to Bob Hendley for t

June 24, 1962 - Jim Bouton (pictured) and Jack Reed, probably the most obscure players on the star-studded Yankees, were latecomers in today’s 7-hour, 22-inning victory over the Tigers. But they were the heroes. “I’ve never seen a run so hard to get,” said Reed, who clouted a 2-run homer for the Yankees’ 9-7 victory. Bouton, a rookie, entered the game in the 16th and held the Tigers to 3 hits through the 22nd. Yogi Berra, the 37-year-old star who should have been one of the m

June 24, 1962 - The Yankees and Tigers battled for 7 hours today, a major league record, before Ralph Houk’s Yanks won, 9-7, in 22 innings. With the score 7-7, Jack Reed (left), a utility outfielder who had entered the game in the 13th for defensive purposes, hit his first major league homer. The blow was struck off Phil Regan, Bob Scheffing’s seventh pitcher of the game, following Roger Maris’s walk. The Tigers strove to fight their way back in the last of the 22nd. But Jim

June 23, 1962 - The Yankees put in a long and arduous day in Detroit battling the Tigers in an afternoon and night program, gaining a split and a half game on the league-leading Indians. Off to a flying start on a first-inning grand slam by Yogi Berra (pictured with outfielder Jack Reed), Ralph Houk’s Bombers went on to win the afternoon game, 8-4, before a crowd of 16,454. But in the night encounter, Bob Scheffing’s Tigers responded to the roars of a crowd of 38,150 and trip

June 23, 1962 - Tommy Davis, who leads the majors in runs batted in, drove in five more today with a triple and three singles as the league-leading Dodgers defeated the Reds, 14-3, before 47,159 fans in Los Angeles. Willie Davis had a double, three singles, and a walk in five trips and scored four times. Don Drysdale, a right-hander who hadn’t beaten the Reds since Aug. 26, 1960, was supported by 19 hits and gained his 12th victory in 16 decisions. Drysdale, who didn’t win hi

June 22, 1962 - When the Mets are good, they are a delightful surprise. But when they are bad, they are horrid. Both of the team’s schizophrenic faces were on display as it split a twilight-night doubleheader with the Houston Colt .45’s at the Polo Grounds today before 11,484 spectators. In the first game, Al Jackson, a 26-year-old left-hander, pitched his (and the Mets’) second shutout of the year. It was a taut, well-played one-hitter. The final score was 2-0. In the second

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 21, 1962 - Whitey Ford, long the bellwether of the Yankees pitching staff, returned today to his familiar role. Making his first start in almost two weeks, Ford gave only three hits in 8 and 2/3 innings as the world champions snuffed out the Orioles, 3-0. Even a crowd of 18,049 rabid Baltimore fans gave the southpaw a generous hand. The victory snapped a five-game losing streak for the Bombers. And with the Indians losing to the Red Sox, the Yanks moved back to within th

June 20, 1962 - The league-leading Cleveland Indians swept a doubleheader from the Boston Red Sox, 6-3 and 3-0, tonight behind the strong pitching of Jim Perry (pictured) and Barry Latman. Perry pitched a seven-hitter in gaining his sixth victory. He was aided by a three-run homer by Bubba Philips in the first game. Latman then blanked the Sox on five hits behind a six-hit attack that included Willie Kirkland’s twelfth homer and Jerry Kindall’s seventh. Mike Fornieles of the

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 19, 1962 - Ralph Houk’s faltering world champion Yankees dropped the opener of a two-game series in Baltimore with the Orioles, 3-1. The crowd of 38,703 was the largest of the year in Baltimore Stadium. With Ralph Terry of the Yanks and Chuck Estrada of the O’s locked in a 1-1 tie, Brooks Robinson (pictured) sent Billy Hitchcock’s club ahead with a homer in the sixth. Two innings later, Robinson drove in another run, this time with a single that scored Estrada from secon