|
It's June 7, 1963. The Mets are 20-34, mired in 10th (10TH!) place, and have little reason more than their human dignity to keep playing.
Fast on their way to their 35th loss, they're being shut out by Ron Taylor, who will one day be half of the two-headed closer for their 1969 championship team, but on this day is a rookie swingman, making one of only nine starts that season. But hey, it's the Mets, and you're pitching for the mighty Cardinals, and you're cruising into the ninth with a 2-0 lead. If you're Ron Taylor, that is. You've only allowed three base runners all evening, and you're practically on autopilot.
But you're not Ron Taylor. You're a Mets fan. And if you're still watching at this point, you see Casey Stengel look down his bench and point a finger at Jim Hickman. Maybe a bubble of hope pops up in you as that whack-job Jimmy Piersall heads back to the dugout and slams his helmet. Hickman's a decent young hitter. But no, Hickman pops out to short. Dr. Taylor is operating nicely.
Casey's locked in, though. And goes to his bench again! This time he sends his best hitter (and future Crane Pooler), the mighty Frank Thomas, up there for Choo-Choo Coleman. "Get a hit, Bub," mumbles Coleman as he yields in the on-deck circle. And that's just what Thomas does! The baserunner-impovershed Mets increase their total on the day by 33% as Thomas whacks a single. HEY! It might not be much, but the tying run is up. It's the Polo Grounds, so anything can happen!
Crazy Casey goes to his bench again. It's Rod Kanehl he's looking to. Is Kanehl going to bat for rookie sensation Ron Hunt? No... no... it looks like he's running out to first. He's pinch-running for Thomas. Casey's thinking isn't what you'd call apparent here. That's not the tying run on first that Thomas represents, but maybe Thomas is hurting or maybe Casey intends to insert Kanehl into the game if we go to extra innings. CASEY HAS HIS REASONS, OK?!
If nothing else, that puts pressure on Taylor. He doesn't want to groove one to Hunt, and ends up giving the young second baseman a free pass. The tying run is on. The winning run at the plate!
Cardinals manager Johnny Keane gets up. He looks out at the on-deck circle and it's Duke Snider striding toward the plate. At this point in his career, Snider has a head like Michael Cuddyer and a gut like Bartolo Colon, but when he gets in the batter's box, 398 career homers are in there with him. He's seen enough., and he lifts Taylor. Does he signal for his lefty stopper Bobby Shantz? For fuck's sake, no! He goes to the young Diomedes Olivo. He's also a lefty, but why not Shantz? I don't know! Olivo's in his second year, but had a nice workmanlike season the year before for Pittsburgh. And Olivo... promptly uncorks a wild pitch AND THE RUNNERS ADVANCE! TYING RUN AT SECOND!
Do you give in to Snider? Or do you pitch around him. If you lose him, it puts the winning run on base, but on deck is another lefty, 18-year-old Ed Kranepool, who will someday give his name to an online forum.
Olivo... or maybe Keane... or maybe catcher Gene Oliver makes the choice. Oliver puts down the signal. Olivo winds... the pitch...
[youtube]_bLVUfw3C4A[/youtube]
MLB is slowly pulling stuff like this from their vaults and putting it online. Today, by the way, is the fifth anniversary of Snider's passing.
| 
