1960s Timeline

Apr. 30, 1962 - The Giants vaulted over Pittsburgh into first place in the National League today by beating the Pirates, 4-1. Willie Mays and Orlando Cepeda hit home runs as a rookie right-hander, Gaylord Perry, won his second straight start from the Bucs. Perry, knocked out of the box in the sixth inning while beating the Pirates last Wednesday, kept them hitting on the ground this time. He scattered 4 hits and walked only 2 in running his record to 2-0. It was his first com

Apr. 25, 1962 - Orlando Cepeda (pictured) drove in four runs and Don Larsen turned in a sparkling relief job today to give the San Francisco Giants an 8-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates and a split of their two-game series. Cepeda hit a run-scoring double and a three-run homer, his fourth of the season, off Bob Friend to lift his RBI total to 16. Larsen entered the game in the sixth inning with two men on and none out. He struck out the next 3 batters on 10 pitches. He f

Apr. 24, 1962 - Sandy Koufax of the Los Angeles Dodgers struck out 18 batters today and matched the modern major league mark he already shared with Bob Feller. The 26-year-old left-hander accomplished the feat in beating the Chicago Cubs, 10-2. Feller struck out 18 for the Cleveland Indians in a losing game against the Tigers on Oct. 2, 1938, and Koufax did the same against the Giants on Aug. 31, 1959. Each game went nine innings. The major league record for strikeouts is 19.

Apr. 14, 1962 - The Cincinnati Reds fell apart today in a 13-6 loss to the San Francisco Giants. The Reds made six errors in the first three innings and threw in two balks as the league-leading Giants swept to their fifth triumph in five games. Cincinnati has lost five of six. Orlando Cepeda and Felipe Alou hit two homers each in the 13-hit San Francisco attack against the defending National League champions. The first three innings, in which the Giants scored 10 runs, took o

Apr. 10, 1962 - Juan Marichal (pictured right with Willie Mays) hurled a three-hit shutout today and his bat helped send Warren Spahn to the showers early as the Giants whipped the Milwaukee Braves, 6-0, in their National League opener. A crowd of 39,177 in sunny Candlestick Park watched the 24-year-old righty from the Dominican Republic, who had seven hits for a .119 average in 1961, double and single off Spahn. Marichal scored two runs and drove in two. Willie Mays sent the

Apr. 1, 1962 - Felipe Alou (pictured) drove in four runs with two homers today as the San Francisco Giants defeated the Boston Red Sox in an exhibition game, 7-4. It was the Giants’ first victory over the Red Sox in four spring games. Alou’s home runs were his sixth and seventh of the spring. One came with two runners aboard. Orlando Cepeda, in a three-for-three afternoon at the plate, also connected for the Giants. Juan Marichal was the winning pitcher. #MLB #baseball #OTD #

Mar. 23, 1962 - A chagrined Bobby Thomson said today “it positively isn’t so” that a secret signal from center field triggered his famous home run that won the 1951 National League pennant for the New York Giants. He challenged the man who made the charge to “show some character — come out in the open and reveal yourself.” “It was a high inside fastball and nobody called the pitch,” the former Giant outfielder said. “That’s the most ridiculous thing I ever heard. If I’d been

Aug. 22, 1961 - The slogans, placards, and banners that are heard and seen throughout pennant-starved Cincinnati these days may help jam 29,383 frantic fans into Crosley Field, as they did today. However, as the league-leading Reds learned while dropping both ends of a doubleheader to the third-place Giants, 12-2 and 5-3, there never has been a slogan that fanned a batter, a placard that pivoted for a double play, or a banner that came up with a game-winning hit. "Rally 'roun

Aug. 5, 1961 - Slugging Henry Aaron tore San Francisco pitching apart again today, slamming two triples in a 9-3 Milwaukee victory that lifted the Braves into a tie with the Giants for third place in the National League. Aaron, who beat the Giants, 2-1, with a pair of home runs last night, knocked in Milwaukee's first run today and scored three others. Both his triples came off the Giant starter and loser, Sam Jones, and made a winner of Bob Buhl. #MLB #baseball #sports #brav

July 22, 1961 - The six-hit pitching of Jack Sanford, backed by a hitting spree headed by Jim Davenport's homer, gave San Francisco an 8-3 victory today over the Reds. Only Frank Robinson, who hit a homer in the ninth, and Don Blasingame could do much with Sanford's offerings. The loss was the National League leaders' sixth in a row. The Dodgers now trail the Reds by a single game, and the Giants are six games back. #MLB #baseball #sports #giants #sfgiants #reds

July 11, 1961 - The 30th all-star game made a colorful debut in San Francisco's Candlestick Park today - marked by a record turnout of 44,115 and a near-record number of heat prostration cases. 95 persons fell in the heat, which reached a high of 81 degrees, unusual for San Francisco. As for the physical layout of Candlestick Park, at least one player was impressed. Mickey Mantle said he thought it was "a beautiful park. The ushers are also very nice." Candlestick Park has al

July 11, 1961 - In as loosely played a game as baseball's midsummer classic has ever known, the National League today defeated the American League in the first of 1961's two all-star games before a roaring San Francisco crowd of 44,115. Seven errors were committed, five by the Nationals, two by the Americans. The National Leaguers won it in the last of the 10th, 5-4. A double by the Giants' unstoppable Willie Mays (pictured) drove in the first tally and a single by Roberto Cl