A TALE OF THREE CITIES: NEW YORK, L.A. AND SAN FRANCISCO IN OCTOBER OF ‘62 (74 page)

Marichal always seemed to have maladies and small
injuries, and after 1971 they became debilitating. He pitched until
1975, finishing with Boston and, like Sal Maglie going to Brooklyn,
he wore Dodger blue in 1975. He finished with a 243-142 record and
a 2.89 earned run average, and was elected to the Hall of Fame in
1983. However, his failure to win any Cy Young awards, falling well
short of 300 career victories, the fact he was not a strikeout
pitcher, and the lack of any lasting image - as with Koufax and
Drysdale - of him victorious on the World Series stage, reduce
Marichal in the minds of many when comparing him to the all-time
greats, including contemporaries Koufax, Gibson, Seaver, and Steve
Carlton. While he was undoubtedly the ace of a staff that included
Gaylord Perry, Perry's longevity (and 300 wins) may have pushed him
ahead of Marichal in the pantheon.

Marichal remains an iconic figure on the Dominican
island, and has successfully straddled his role there with his role
as a baseball hero in America. In this respect, he is a cultural
ambassador.

In the wake of the Cuban Missile Crisis of October,
1962, Cuba and Fidel Castro were public enemy number one in
America. Ford Frick banned big leaguers from playing in any games
against Cubans. Felipe Alou appeared in an exhibition game against
a Cuban team in Santo Domingo. He feared reprisals in his home
country if did not help them beat the Cubans. He was fined, and
said it proved Latinos "were, are, and will always be foreigners in
America and we cannot hope that we will ever be totally
accepted."

He played in San Francisco through the 1964 season,
then with the Braves through 1969. Alou returned to the Bay Area
with the Oakland A's in 1970, hitting .271 on a second place club.
From there Alou played for the New York Yankees, Montreal Expos and
Milwaukee Brewers, retiring after the 1974 season with a .286
lifetime average and 206 homers. He became a coach, then a well
respected manager of the Expos. When Dusty Baker left after the
2002 season, Alou was hired as manager of the Giants, where he
handled Barry Bonds as well as his own son, an excellent
outfielder, Moises Alou.

The respect he received from players, fans and media
during his managerial career proved that his 1962-63 off-season
statement that Latinos "were, are, and will always be foreigners in
America and we cannot hope that we will ever be totally accepted,"
was not a truthful statement, although he honestly felt it to be at
the time.

Alou remained deeply Christian, outspoken and
erudite. In Montreal he dealt with French-speaking reporters and
mastered the repartee. He was a thinking man's manager, but despite
achieving things he may have thought unavailable to him in the
1960s, kept his distance and was sensitive. A sportstalk host on
the "Giant 68," radio station KNBR, complained that Giants hitters
on Alou's team swung at everything instead of showing plate
discipline. They were "brain dead Caribbean" hitters, said the
radio host.

Alou went ballistic and called the radio host
"Satan." It all might have blown over except that KNBR made fun of
Alou's use of the term "Satan," re-playing an old
Saturday Night
Live
skit in which a "Church Lady" character blames all ills on
"Sataaaan!"
Alou took all of it the wrong way, and in a
matter of major Political Correctness the radio host was fired
while Alou acted as if the KKK had burned a cross on his lawn. When
the Giants stumbled Alou left managing altogether.

Tom Haller played for San Francisco through the 1967
season. His best year was 1966, when he hit 27 home runs. He played
four years in Los Angeles, where he was a mainstay, then went to
the Tigers in 1972. He hit 134 career homers and batted .257,
coached for the Giants, then became their vice president of
baseball operations from 1981-86. He died at the age of 67.

Ed Bailey made the All-Star Game in 1963, and was
traded to the Braves in 1964, where he was involved in a big fight
with the Mets. He came back to San Francisco in 1965, and retired
in 1966 with 155 home runs and a .256 average.

Chuck Hiller was traded to the Mets in 1965 and
later played for the Phillies and Pirates, retiring with a .243
average. He later was a coach with several teams, including the
Giants.

Jim Davenport played his whole career with the San
Francisco Giants and was a fan favorite. He retired after the 1970
campaign with 77 home runs and a .258 average, but his longball
numbers were a big drop after the 14 he hit in 1962. He hit only
four in 1963, and never reached double figures again. Davenport
managed San Francisco in 1985 and was a coach at Philadelphia and
Cleveland. His son played at the University of Santa Clara. In a
game in which I was one out away from a complete game victory
against the Broncos, young Davenport hit a home run to break up my
shutout.

Jose Pagan was traded to Pittsburgh in 1965, stayed
through 1972, playing for the 1970 and 1972 division champions, and
the 1971 World Champions. He finished with Philadelphia, a .250
hitter, and later was a coach with the Pirates.

Harvey Kuenn was with the Giants through the middle
of the 1965 season, when he was traded to the Chicago Cubs. He was
the last out of Sandy Koufax's '65 perfect game at Dodger Stadium.
Vin Scully's famed description of that out, his sing-song delivery
as he says, "two-and-two to Harvey Kuenn, Sandy one strike away,"
may have made Kuenn more famous than anything else he did in his
outstanding career. He retired after the 1966 season with a .303
average and from 1971-82 was a coach with his home state Milwaukee
Brewers. In the middle of the 1982 season he was named manager of
the Brewers, a heavy-hitting crew led by Robin Yount known as
"Harvey's Wallbangers," after the cocktail. The Brewers rallied to
defeat Gene Mauch's California Angels in the play-offs but lost a
thrilling World Series to St. Louis. He left Milwaukee after the
1983 season and died in 1988 at the age of 57.

Matty Alou played for the Giants until 1965 and was
part of the famed "three brothers outfield," consisting of Felipe,
brother Jesus and himself, in 1963. He led the National League with
a .342 average at Pittsburgh in 1966, and was a perennial batting
title contender in the late 1960s. Matty played at St. Louis in
1971, but late that season Charlie O. Finley acquired him. He was
instrumental down the stretch, helping the Oakland A's win the 1972
World Series title. He retire after the 1974 season with a .307
average. Brother Jesus, known for his neck contortions before
taking his place in the batter's box, was a productive Giant hitter
through 1968, and played in the big leagues until 1979, including
two A's World Champions (1973-74).

Carl Boles played in the minors for three years,
then in Japan before retiring after the 1971 season, having hit 117
homers with a .265 average over there. Ernie Bowman played one more
year in San Francisco. His career ended with a .190 average.

Manny Mota was sent to Houston at the end of 1962,
then traded to the Pirates, where he played from 1963 until 1969.
He joined the Dodgers, where he was a pinch-hitter de luxe until
1982. His 1,560 pinch-hits are the most in history. Mota batted
.312 in his career, and became the Los Angeles batting coach. His
son played at Cal State Fullerton and became a sportscaster.

Jack Sanford stayed with San Francisco through the
middle of the 1965 season, when he was dealt to the Angels, then
the A's, finishing 137-101 with a 3.69 ERA. He was a coach with the
Indians.

Billy O'Dell was a Giant through 1964, then went to
the Braves prior to a mid-1966 trade to the Pirates, retiring at
the end of the 1967 season with a 105-100 record and 3.29 ERA.

Billy Pierce pitched two more years in San
Francisco. He retired after the 1964 season having won 211 games
against 169 defeats with a 3.27 earned run average.

Mike McCormick was traded to Baltimore after his
sub-par year, and dealt with strange arm problems. He went to the
Senators in 1965 but returned to the Giants, where he blossomed for
one season, 1967. With both Juan Marichal and Bob Gibson hurt that
season, McCormick's 22 wins earned him the National League Cy Young
award. He stayed in San Francisco until mid-1970, then concluded
his career with the Yankees and Royals. His record was 134-128 with
a 3.73 earned run average.

Stu Miller went to Baltimore. "I did not have a very
good outing in a clutch situation during the play-offs, and I think
that had a lot to do with it," he assessed. Miller lasted five more
years with the Orioles and Braves, retiring at the end of 1968 with
a 105-103 record, 154 saves and a 3.24 ERA.

Bob Bolin pitched for San Francisco through the 1969
season, and later with Milwaukee and Boston, retiring after 1973
with a 88-75 record and 3.40 ERA. Don Larsen was traded to Houston
in 1964, then played for the Orioles and Cubs. He retired in 1967,
81-91 with a 3.78 ERA. He continued to maintain some heroic status
in New York because of his perfect game in 1956; cheered when he
was on hand in 1998 the day fellow Point Loma High School graduate
David Wells pitched
his
perfect game at Yankee Stadium. Bob
Garibaldi never reached his potential. He became a basketball
referee.

Gaylord Perry was in Alvin Dark's "doghouse." Despite
great tools, he continued to disappoint, and was certainly not the
pitcher his brother Jim was. In 1964 Perry entered a game at Shea
Stadium in New York with men all over the bases and the outcome on
the line. According to his autobiography,
Me and the
Spitter
, out of desperation he went to his infamous "spitball,"
pitched out of the jam, and with the staff depleted threw the
equivalent of a complete game in a marathon extra inning win,
completing a double-header sweep.

He finally reached his potential as a 20-game winner
in 1966, and toiled for nine years with San Francisco. After the
1971 campaign, the two-time 20-game winner, one of the best
pitchers in baseball, was traded to Cleveland for the drunken
"Sudden Sam" McDowell. While McDowell was the butt of jokes in San
Francisco, Perry won the 1972 Cy Young award in Cleveland.

In 1974, Perry won 15 straight games and was
approaching the 16 consecutive wins of Jack Sanford in 1962; the
American League record of 16; and the Major League record of 19 by
Rube Marquard of the New York Giants. He was beaten in a ninth
inning rally at Oakland.

Perry won another Cy Young award at San Diego in 1978
and also pitched for the Yankees, Braves, Mariners, and Royals. He
retired after the 1983 season with a 314-265 record, a 3.10 ERA,
and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1991. He and Jim hold all
combined records for brother victories. Jim helped Minnesota win
the 1965 American League pennant and 1969-70 West Division titles.
He was the 1970 A.L. Cy Young award winner and was a minor league
pitching coach in the Oakland A's organization when I played for
them in the 1980s. Despite the trade to Cleveland and his many
travels with different clubs, Gaylord - like a number of Giants who
played for different teams - always considered himself a Giant, and
has long been a favorite at old-timers games.

Horace Stoneham sold the Giants to Bob Lurie and Bob
Short in 1976. He died in 1990 at the age of 86. Chub Feeney almost
became Commissioner of Baseball in 1968, but the job went to Bowie
Kuhn instead. Russ Hodges announced Giants games with Lon Simmons
until he passed away in 1971. He was elected to the Hall of
Fame.

Lon Simmons announced for the Giants and the Oakland
A's, off and on, into the 2000s. When I pitched in a 1982 Major
League Spring Training exhibition game for the Oakland A's against
the San Francisco Giants at Phoenix Municipal Stadium, both Simmons
and the great Bill King announced parts of my three scoreless
innings, a thrill and highlight of my short pro career.

Simmons was the San Francisco 49ers' announcer. His
call of Jim Marshall's
"wrong way run" in 1964 for Minnesota at Kezar Stadium lives
forever in NFL Films. He retired as the 49ers' play-by-play man
prior to the 1981 season, the year the Niners won their first Super
Bowl. Simmons was brought back and was in the booth when the club
won their third World Championship in January of 1989.

When baseball moved into the cable era, Simmons was
able to free lance radio and TV work. He lived in Half Moon Bay and
also in Alameda, and was in the Pac Bell Park booth when Barry
Bonds hit his 73
^rd
home run in 2001, graciously handing
the microphone to a younger colleague. Even after moving to Hawaii,
Simmons was periodically brought back to announce, do guest
appearances, or be the master of ceremonies at events honoring
Giants of the past.

Lon Simmons is one of
the
all-time class acts,
in sports history or any other history. When I was a columnist for
the
San Francisco Examiner
, a newcomer with the Bay Area
sports media in 2001, Lon showed me around, introducing me to
people. I was a nobody, but he treated me as if I was the deciding
vote on his Hall of Fame induction. With no help needed from me,
Simmons is a member in good standing of the broadcaster's wing of
the Baseball Hall of Fame.

****

"Can you imagine Brooklyn and New York players
standing around the batting cage, telling stories?" Roger Craig
asked when he was the San Francisco Giants' manager. "We've got
outfielder Brett Butler coming into our clubhouse.
What would Sal Maglie have said if Jackie Robinson walked into the
Giants' clubhouse? This is what happens with free agency.
Everyone's friends."

Indeed, Craig was right and free agency has since
continued to dilute the Dodgers-Giants rivalry. Many have
speculated that the rivalry is just for the fans now. When Barry
Bonds broke Mark McGwire's home run record in 2001, one of his best
friends in baseball was Garry Sheffield of Los Angeles. The two
palled around before games and went club-hopping afterwards. Bonds,
a native of the Bay Area, even moved to Beverly Hills and never
expressed any particular feeling one way or another about the
Dodgers.