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Title: Sixteen Innings, Two Pitchers, One Run
Source:
Forbes
URL Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/dansch ... pitchers-one-run/#20af0c064399
Published: Jun 26, 2018
Author: Dan Schlossberg
Post Date: 2018-07-29 11:31:11 by Deckard
Ping List: *Baseball* Subscribe to *Baseball*
Keywords: None
Views: 382
Comments: 4
At the 1999 All-Star Game in Fenway Park, a pair of Hall of Fame pitchers recalled their biggest battle. July 2 is the 55th anniversary of that game, which finally ended with a 1-0 score on a Willie Mays solo homer in the last of the 16th inning. San Francisco Giants Warren Spahn and Willie Mays in 1965. (Photo by Sporting News/Sporting News via Getty Images) Both pitchers, Juan Marichal for the Giants and Warren Spahn for the Braves, worked complete games, throwing more than 200 pitches apiece. Marichal, who later became the first Dominican admitted to Cooperstown, was the winning pitcher, increasing his record to 13-3 for the Giants. Spahn, the loser, limped back to the Braves hotel with an 11-4 mark en route to a 23-7 season. A third-year pitcher earning $24,000 in those years before free agency, Marichal held the Braves to eight hits -- one of them a seventh-inning double by Spahn. But he also held heavy hitters Hank Aaron and Eddie Mathews to no hits in eight at-bats. Working three months after his 42nd birthday, Spahn struck out just two but still prevailed against the powerful Giants. He would finish the 1963 season with seven shutouts but the midseason match with Marichal would not be one of them. In fact, both pitchers were almost lifted for pinch-hitters. Warren Spahn was such a Braves icon that a statue honors him at Sun Trust Park, current home of the Braves. (Photo by Mike Zarrilli/Getty Images) In their Fenway Park conversation with reporters, Spahn said Milwaukee manager Bobby Bragan wanted to lift him for a pinch-hitter in the 10th inning. "If that young guy is staying out there, I am too," said the pitcher, then one of the league's best-paid players at $85,000. San Francisco pilot Alvin Dark also wanted to pinch-hit. But Marichal, unaware of Spahn's argument with Bragan, had a similar encounter. "If that old man is staying out there, so will I," said Marichal, 20 years Spahn's junior. San Francisco's defense saved him several times. Norm Larker was thrown out at the plate by Willie Mays and Del Crandall was erased caught stealing after poking a single against the high-kicking righthander. Spahn would go on to win 363 games, more than any lefthander in baseball history, while Marichal would win 243, the most by any Dominican before Bartolo Colon passed him this month. Although he never got a Cy Young Award vote because he worked in the shadow of Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, and Bob Gibson, Marichal posted a fine lifetime earned run average of 2.89. San Francisco Giants' pitcher Juan Marichal went 16 innings to beat Warren Spahn in a battle of future Hall of Famers. (AP Photo) The only big-leaguer to win a battlefield commission in World War 2, Spahn won more games than anyone who pitched in the postwar era. He was an All-Star 17 times, starting such showcase games in three different decades. Spahn's double against Marichal was no fluke; he was one of the game's best-hitting pitchers, with a National League record of 35 home runs by a pitcher. He finished with exactly the same number of hits as wins. The Spahn-Marichal game actually inspired a book by noted baseball author Jim Kaplan. Its title was self-explanatory: The Greatest Game Ever Pitched.
Poster Comment: Marichal had thrown 227 pitches and Spahn had thrown 201. Neither would miss his next start. Two starters throwing over 200 pitches each in a single game? Today, in the age of multiple reliever roles, it is a record that will never be broken. No doubt they'd fire the manager and general manager if they tried that now. But it is interesting to think about. Given the circumstances, who could do it among the current pitchers?
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#3. To: Deckard (#0)
Unbelievable. Over 200 pitches. ONE GAME. And Spahn was 41 years old. Amazing. Tossed 7 shut outs that year. Juan Marichal -- one of the most underrated pitchers ever. He got dinged for bashing John Roseboro (Dodgers catcher) over the head when Marichal thought he was thrown at. The bald, beak-nosed Warren Spahn, 363 game winner. Won 20+ games SIX years in a row! (How much would Spahn or Marichal be worth today? I remember him at the very tail end of his career when he played for the Mets and stunk. But by then he was 44 years old.
There are no replies to Comment # 3. End Trace Mode for Comment # 3.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/LatestMarichal had thrown 227 pitches and Spahn had thrown 201. Neither would miss his next start.
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