60 YEARS AGO/18: DOUBLE-DIPPED

Sunday, April 29, 1962 was the first of six instances in which the Giants and the Dodgers played doubleheaders on the same day. The summary results of those twelve games are shown in the diagram at right; it reminds us that these two teams fought essentially to a draw (though other aspects within the data suggest that the Giants were generally the better team: more on that later). It reminds us that when the two teams met in the third and decisive playoff game on October 3rd, their season record vs. each other was 10-10.

As you can see, April 29th was not a good day for the Dodgers: they found themselves virtually incapable of swinging a bat (or, in this case, multiple bats) over the course of eighteen innings. Over the two games, they managed just eleven hits, all singles. The only run they scored that day came when Pirates catcher Don Leppert threw wildly to third base on a double steal by Maury Wills and Jim Gilliam, allowing Wills to score. On the next pitch, Duke Snider struck out; Tommy Davis ended the inning with a ground out. And the rest was silence...

That lone run had the Dodgers in the lead until the seventh, when right fielder Howie Goss, a journeyman minor league slugger making his first start in place of the injured Roberto Clemente, hit a two-run homer off Johnny Podres. Before the inning was over, the Pirates had scored four runs. Final score: Pirates 6, Dodgers 1. 

In the second game, Joe Moeller summed up the essential plight of his career by pitching a fine game against the Pirates, allowing only one run (a home run by Dick Stuart, who'd be tagged with the sobriquet "Dr. Strangeglove" a couple of years later thanks to the release of a film that featured a man ecstatically riding a nuclear missile into oblivion). It was, as it seemed fated to always be the case for Moeller, just enough to lose. In the bottom of the ninth, trailing 1-0, with Willie Davis on second and the potential winning run at home plate, Andy Carey's long fly was caught at the wall by center fielder Bill Virdon. Final score: Pirates 1, Dodgers 0.

UP in San Francisco, the Chicago Cubs made the Dodgers look like sluggers by managing just six hits in two games, as Jack Sanford and Billy Pierce each fashioned three-hit shutouts. Willie Mays and Ed Bailey each hit their sixth homers of the year, knotting them in a tie for the league lead with Vada Pinson, Eddie Mathews, and Frank Thomas. Giants' reserve Manny Mota, playing in place of the injured Harvey Kuenn, had three hits in the second game, but he would hit only .145 from this point until he was optioned to the minors and traded to the Colt .45s over the offseason. Ironically, Mota would be traded to the Pirates just before Opening Day in 1963 for...Howie Goss. Final scores: Giants 7-6; Cubs 0-0.

SEASON RECORDS: SFG 14-5, LAD 12-8.