60 YEARS AGO/102: THE RETURN OF BILLY THE KID + WALLS, NOT WILLS...

Before the "Billy the Kid" nickname was applied to Hall of Fame-worthy reliever Billy Wagner, there was another "little lefty" who was sometimes called that: Billy Pierce. One can make an argument for Pierce as a Hall of Famer, particularly if one is a devotée of Wins Above Replacement (WAR), which suggests (somewhere between fancifully and daffily) that his career is essentially equivalent to Whitey Ford.

Though Pierce had a fine career--119 ERA+, 211 wins--that's a stretch (and we're not talking Willie McCovey when we say that...) but there can be no question but that the trade the Giants made with the White Sox during the 1961-62 season was one of their very best, and was a key element in bringing a pennant to San Francisco. Pierce would be unbeaten in Candlestick Park during 1962 (12-0) and his return from injuries that had sidelined him for much of July (just 6 IP) could not have been better timed for the Giants.

Returning against the Cubs, Pierce gave up a run in the first but then shut down Chicago until the ninth while the Giants--employing their right-handed platoon (sometimes referred to as "three stars and a cloud of dust") knocked out Dick Ellsworth in the fourth to take a 3-1 lead. They added a run in the bottom of the eighth on reserve infielder Ernie Bowman's suicide squeeze bunt (one of only 4 RBI that Bowman had all year). 

Pierce got wobbly in the ninth, allowing back-to-back homers to Billy Williams and ex-Giant André Rodgers, but Don Larsen (who'd also been part of the Giants-White Sox trade over the previous offseason) came in to get the final out. Final score: Giants 4, Cubs 3.

DOWN in LA, another lefty--Johnny Podres--survived a baptism of fire at the hands of Smoky Burgess (two homers and 3 RBI) and the Dodgers rallied from a 3-0 deficit with two runs in the sixth and three more in the seventh (Frank Howard's bases-loaded single snapped the tie). Maury Wills did not steal a base but Lee Walls did, which led to him scoring the tying run in that same seventh inning. (It was Walls' only stolen base of the year.) Final score: Dodgers 5, Pirates 3.

SEASON RECORDS: LAD 72-36, SFG 68-40