60 YEARS AGO/64: A GAME FOR THE AGES

There are, of course, thousands of baseball games played every year--even in the pandemic year of 2020--and out of that massive inventory there are thousands that would qualify in the minds and hearts of baseball fans as being "the greatest game they ever saw." There is no way even for the most aberrant of sabermetricians to rank the greatest games of all time (though we're sure some will do so anyway); for our purposes, we'll focus on one type of game that represents the game's "minimalist purity."

What type of game is that, you ask? It's the 1-0 game, where pitching is supreme (or, at least, hitters are mired in something arguably worse than mediocrity). It combines futility and excellence into a simmering tension that lasts the entire game, with the outcome changeable in every single plate appearance. While we wouldn't want all games to be 1-0 games, we need to see them as a very special manifestation of what makes baseball so unique. 

And such games are magnified when demonstrably great pitchers are pitted against one another. Such an occurrence adds a level of aesthetic satisfaction in that the expectation of such a dual level of mastery is fulfilled. 

Such a game occurred on June 18, 1962 in Los Angeles, when two pitchers--Sandy Koufax and Bob Gibson were matched against each other as the Dodgers and Cardinals faced off at Dodger Stadium. While both men were not quite at their peak of recognition as Hall of Fame performers on that date, this game was a meteoric portent of such status that would shortly be bestowed on both of them. 

And so two great pitchers matched zeroes for eight innings. Gibson's control was a bit spotty in the early going: he walked a man in each of the first three innings. (His fourth walk was intentional, as he quelled a Dodger threat in the seventh through bypassing the Dodgers' Daryl Spencer in order to pitch to Koufax--who did not replicate the home run that he'd recently hit against Warren Spahn.)

Koufax walked no one. He struck out the side in the eighth (bringing his total for the game to nine), then allowed his fifth hit of the game to Ken Boyer with two out in the ninth. With a 1-1 count on Stan Musial, Boyer took off for second--and was thrown out by the Dodgers' backup catcher Doug Camilli. (Boyer was one of only four baserunners Camilli threw out all season.)

Going into the bottom of the ninth, Gibson had allowed only two singles, both to Wally Moon. He retired Ron Fairly on one pitch, inducing a pop-up to second baseman Julian Javier. Moon was in the on-deck circle as Tommy Davis batted. Gibson missed with the first pitch. He took a walk around the mound, and stole a glance at Moon; then he delivered.

Tommy hit Gibson's pitch on a line to left field. Musial charged back toward the wall, thinking he might have a play off the wall to hold Davis to a single. But the ball rose higher in its trajectory as it carried further, and smashed into the fourth row of the bleachers for a home run. Gibson snapped at his glove, rolled his eyes, and walked off the field as Tommy circled the bases. Final score: Dodgers 1, Cardinals 0. 

IN SF, the Giants had an off-day before beginning a two-game series with the Houston Colts.

SEASON RECORDS: LAD 46-23, SFG 44-24