The portions dealing with the Giants in the 60s are especially cogent, particularly with respect to the Civil Rights movement (and Willie's oblique relationship to all of that). Highly recommended...
WE pick up in Cincinnati again, where the Pirates' Earl Francis melts down in the second inning, receiving a quick hook from Danny Murtaugh in hopes of staying in the game (3-0 Reds at this point). But Dick Groat's error in the sixth paves the way for two unearned runs to score and Cincy holds on for a 6-4 win. Eddie Kasko has three RBI for the Reds.
BACK to Willie: he and the Giants are still in Houston, and it's a good pitching matchup--Jack Sanford vs. Turk Farrell. But this is one of those games where Mays takes charge of things, even in cavernous Colt Stadium: he hits two solo homers (numbers 30 and 31) off Farrell, which is just enough for the Giants to take down the offensively-challenged Colts. Sanford and Don Larsen combine on a five-hitter, with Mister World Series Perfect Game especially sharp, fanning four in 2 1/3 innings. Final score: Giants 3, Colts 1.
That two-homer-in-a-game thing struck our fancy, though, so we looked up just how many two-homer games that Mays had in his career. That number is, oddly enough, Ruthian (60). So then we decided to look up the same information for the two other "inner circle" Hall of Fame slugging outfielders whose careers intersected with Willie: Hank Aaron (a Maris-like 61 two-homer games) and Frank Robinson (53...which, one supposes, is Pete Alonzo-like).
As always, we went further, and captured the two-homer games on a year-by-year basis (in the table above), highlighting the years where these mega-stars had 6 or more such games in a season. (Note: we aren't capturing any three or four-homer games here.) We highlighted the years in which these three won their MVP awards by showing the two-homer totals for those years in red type. Only one MVP award--Frank Robby, in 1966--has a lot of two-homer action in it.
IN St. Louis, Ernie Broglio outdueled Stan Williams, with Broglio himself scoring the winning run in the game when he reached base in the sixth inning on a throwing error by Johnny Roseboro and then was brought home by Curt Flood's opposite-field double. Final score: Cardinals 3, Dodgers 2.
SEASON RECORDS: LAD 67-35, SFG 66-36, PIT 60-39, CIN 56-41, STL 56-44
