Magic Royals moments, 7-31-72: Nelson, Otis rob Ryan; no-hitter spoiled

By Phil Ellenbecker

  A major reason why the Kansas City Royals became so good so quickly -- a second-place American League West finish in their third year of existence in 1971 -- was a series of swindles general manager Cedric Tallis executed -- trades that netted them such fixtures as Lou Piniella, Amos Otis, Cookie Rojas, Fred Patek, John Mayberry and Hal McRae. In each case the Royals got a lot more than they gave up, even when it looked 

like the other team night be getting something in return.

  A major case in point was the deal that netted them McRae from Cincinnati. The Reds thought they were getting a solid pitcher in Roger Nelson, who was coming off a 11-6 season with a 2.08 ERA, tied for fifth best in the major leagues.

  And helping him toward that sparkling final ledger was the game he pitched July 31 at Anaheim Stadium. Nelson spun a three-hitter with one walk in a 1-0 whitewashing of California, tying his low-hit game at the time, to be exceeded by a one-hitter and two-hitter later in the year.

  But this was perhaps Nelson's most notable performance considering who it came against -- no less than future all-time great Nolan Ryan, in the sixth year of a record 27-season career and his first with the Angels.

  And this just happened to be a night when Ryan made his first serious bid at what would be a stupendous record seven no-hitters. Ryan took a no-no into the eighth inning and gave up one hit before leaving for a pinch hitter in the bottom of the eighth. 

  It took a steal of home by Otis in the fourth inning to make the difference in this game. It came with two out, and it took an error on a pickoff attempt by Ryan at first base after Otis' leadoff walk to make it possible. Otis, who flew out to the warning track in Ryan's first no-hitter on May 15, 1973, took third on Ryan's errant throw, then watched Ed Kirkpatrick strike out and held as Piniella grounded back to Ryan. Otis then took off and beat Ryan and catcher John Stephenson with Mayberry at bat.

 Ryan, in the first of six seasons leading the American League in walks in the 1970s, had all kinds of control problems this night, and not just at home plate. Besides walking six batters, he committed three errors on pickoff attempts at first -- besides the fateful one in the fourth, also after a walk to Otis in the first and after Patek reached on an error in the fifth. Each advanced to second but no farther, and those were the Royals' only ventures into scoring territory against Ryan besides the fourth.

  Steve Hovley spoiled Ryan's no-hitter with a single leading off the eighth and was stranded there.

  The Royals wasted an opportunity to pad their lead in the ninth. Piniella started the inning with a double, and stayed there when Paul Schaal's fly to Leroy Stanton in right fell for a double with one out. Patek was intentionally walked, loading the bases, but Piniella was retired at home on Nelson's bunt to Ryan. Hovley ended the threat with a ground out.

  Nelson then polished off his gem by getting Vada Pinson and Leo Cardenas to fly out, then striking out Andy Kosco batting for No. 3 hitter Ken Berry.

  (Berry, a lifetime .255 hitter with never more than 12 homers in a season, was hitting No. 3 for one of five times this season. He was usually the Angels' No. 2 hitter.)

  Nelson's 1-2-3 ninth capped a perfect final five innings, as he set down the final 15 batters he faced after Ken McMullen's leadoff double in the fifth. Nelson recovered from that by fanning Billy Parker and Ryan around a ground out by Sandy Alomar.

  Nelson finished with nine strikeouts, tying an earlier outing in 1972 for his second-best career strikeout game behind one of 13 he had in his fourth major league start, in 1968 while with Baltimore.

  So he nearly matched the all-time K king K for K, as Ryan, who dropped to 12-9, finished with 11 strikeouts.

  Except for McMullen in the fifth, Nelson allowed only one other Angel in scoring position. Pinson singled and stole second with two out in the second. Pinson had the Angels' other hit off Nelson with a leadoff single in the first.

  Nelson's shutout, which evened his record at 4-4, came on top of a four-hit 3-0 blanking of Chicago four days earlier. It was his eighth start of the season, not seeing his first start until July 4. He'd had to scramble to make the team in spring training after being limited to 44 innings the previous two seasons because of shoulder problems. He didn't get his first win until June 25. But by the end of the year he'd tossed a team-record six shutouts, good for fourth in the AL. His 2.08 ERA also set a team record, and his marks for shutouts and ERA still top the Royals' single-season lists. His walks plus hits per nine innings (WHIP) of .871 led the AL.

  On Aug. 23 against Boston, Nelson took a no-hitter into the eighth inning before Ben Oglivie broke it up with a two-out single. He settled for a one-hitter in a 3-0 win and struck out nine.

  To top off the year, Nelson two-hit Texas on Oct. 4 in the final game the Royals played at Municipal Stadium, won by the Royals 4-0. That's fitting because Nelson, whom the Royals had picked No. 1 overall in the 1968 expansion draft, had been the Royals' starting pitcher in their second game played at Municipal, in their inaugural season of 1969. Nelson took a no-decision that night in a game won by the Royals over Minnesota 4-3 in 17 innings.

  So Nelson, who finished with 173 innings, did plenty to make up for lost time after not entering the 1972 starting rotation until three months into the season.

  "For those three months in the summer of 1972, Roger Nelson was as good as any Kansas City pitcher has ever been," Bradford Lee wrote in an article for the Royals Review website, speaking of the way Nelson finished up the season.

  Alas, Nelson couldn't keep it up when he joined Cincinnati. The arm woes that had hindered him in '70 and '72 returned, and after his career year in 1972, he won only seven more the rest of his career, bowing out after 1976 with a 29-32 record and 3.06 ERA over nine seasons. He was 3-2 with a 3.46 ERA with the Reds in 1972. He finished up with three appearances for the Royals in 1976.

  Besides 1972, the only other season he logged more than 100 innings was 1969, when he went 7-13 with a 3.31 ERA in 193 innings.

  But as his lifetime ERA of 3.06 attests, when Nelson could pitch, he could really pitch. Especially in 1972.

  And because of that, Nelson made a great contribution to the Royals' success of the latter half of the 1970s and early 1980s -- seven division titles, two World Series appearances, one World Series title -- by getting himself traded for Hal McRae.

Sources

Box score, play-by-play: https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1972/B07310CAL1972.htm

Roger Nelson biographical info: https://www.royalsreview.com/2019/5/6/18525967/a-look-back-at-roger-nelson

Swoonin' A's, 8-16-66: Campy takes it upon himself

Bert "Campy" Campaneris went 4-for-4 and scored all of the Kansas City Athletics' runs Aug. 16, 1966, in their 4-2 victory over the Chicago White Sox. Campaneris stole two bases and didn't need any teammates to drive him in, as he scored off two errors, a wild pitch and a passed ball.

By Phil Ellenbecker

  Among the many fun things about the writings of Bill James are his memories of the Kansas City Athletics, most notably his history of being a Kansas City A's fan in his "Baseball Abstract" following their first world championship year of 1985. That's almost worth the price of the book if you're a Kansas City baseball fan -- A's, Royals or whatever.

  In his historical abstract, James has this to say about shortstop Bert Campaneris, who was one of the few bright spots for the A's in the years just before they moved to Oakland, and who was a catalyst at shortstop on those Oakland teams who eventually won three World Series.:
  "When Campaneris arrived in 1964, he looked like the future," James wrote. "He wasn't actually the only good player on the team; we had (Rocky) Colavito and (Jim) Gentile and Ed Charles and Wayne Causey and John Wyatt. Dick Green, who would be a spear carrier for the Oakland dynasty, actually arrived before Campaneris. Even bad teams have four or five players who are as good as some of the players on the good teams. Campy was the one guy who mattered, the cornerstone.
  "There was one game in 1966 that symbolized what he meant to the organization. Nobody else in the lineup got a hit; nobody else, as I recall, even reached base, but Campy went 4-for-4, stole several bases, and scored 4 runs. The A's won the game, I think 4-2 or 4-3. There was a feeling of 'hang-on' Campy, we'll get you some help.' "

  Among the fun things James likes to do, he and his former partner Rob Neyer, is to take old accounts of games by players or other baseball personnel, dig into them and pick them apart to see how true they are.

  So let's have some fun with Bill with his tale about this game involving Dagoberto Campaneris.

  Campaneris had one game where he went 4-for-4 in 1966, according to retrosheet.org. He had two other games when he had four hits, both 4-for-5s, but those are out since the scores were 11-4 and 9-8.

  So we have this one 4-for-4 game, played Aug. 16, and James didn't have all the facts right, but he certainly had the sense of the game nailed.

  Campy wasn't the only A's player to get a hit or reach base. Ossie Chavarria and Joe Nossek singled, while Danny Cater drew a walk. And Campaneris didn't steal several bases, just two. But the score was 4-2, A's over the Chicago White Sox at Comiskey Park, before 12,712 on a Tuesday night.

  It certainly was a do-it-all performance, which shouldn't have been too surprising since the previous September, Campy had played 'em all -- becoming the first player in major league history to cover all nine positions in a game.

  Campaneris beat the White Sox at their own game this night. Known off and on through the '50s and '60s as the "Go Go Sox," specializing in speed, defense and pitching, the ChiSox had become renowned for their ability to squeeze the most out of a minimum of offense.

  That's exactly what the A's did this night, mainly Dagoberto. Campy scored each of Kansas City's runs without the aid of being driven in by a teammate. Neither of the other two hits by A's players figured in the scoring. And a lot of what Campaneris got done, he got done with his legs. Perhaps rattling the White Sox with his presence on the bases, he scored off two errors, a wild pitch and a passed ball.

  Campy's peskiness started right off the bat when he led off the game by beating out an infield single to shortstop. Mike Hershberger bunted him over to second, and then he stole third. Cater drew his walk and then he stole second. When third baseman Don Buford made an error on the play, Campaneris scored. (Don't ask me how this happened, all I've got to go by is the play-by-play from retrosheet.org and baseballreference.com, and this is how they described it.)

  Two innings later Campaneris tripled with one out and scored on Tommy John's wild pitch. The triple was Campy's eighth of the year. He finished with 10, one behind American League leader Bobby Knoop.

  Campaneris singled with two out in the fifth but appeared to be caught short on the bases this time when John had him picked off. But John had a throwing error on the play, and Campaneris came around to score from first, giving K.C. a 3-0 lead.

  After Chicago had cut the margin to 3-2 in the seventh, Campaneris gave the A's some insurance in the eighth. He led off the inning with a single off Hoyt Wilhelm, who'd just relieved John, White Sox manager Eddie Stanky having pinch hit for John the inning before.

  But while Wilhelm was a handy guy to turn to -- he was the first pitcher who was mainly a reliever to be elected to the Hall of Fame -- the knuckleballer wasn't the most handy guy to have in there with a guy like Campaneris on the bases.

  After getting his fourth hit Campaneris stole second. Then Jerry McNertney, who'd just come into the game for John Romano ostensibly to catch Wilhelm's knuckler, gave up back-to-back passed balls that allowed Campaneris to third and home for the game's final run.
  Campaneris' two steals gave him 35 of his 51 on the year, which helped nip Buford by one theft at the end of the year for the AL crown. It was the second of four straight steal titles he would win. He had six in all between 1965 and 1972.

Jack Aker nailed down the Kansas City Athletics' 4-2 victory Aug. 16, 1966, over the Chicago White Sox with 2 1/3 innings of shutout relief. He picked up his 26th save en route to leading the major leagues with 32.

   While Wilhelm's knuckler opened the door for the A's to add another unearned run, Jack Aker's relief work slammed the door on Chicago. He took over for John "Blue Moon" Odom in the seventh and threw 2 1/3 innings of shutout ball, allowing one hit while walking one and striking out one.

  He did have to survive some anxious moments in the bottom of the eighth. The White Sox put runners at second and third on a Pete Ward single, a walk to McNertney and a sacrifice by Tom McCraw. But Aker got Bill "Moose" Skowron and Jerry Adair to tap back to him, and the threat was erased. Skowron, the former New York Yankees campaigner in the next-to-last season of his career, had been 2-for-3 going into his at-bat.

  Aker went on to post his 26th save. He had 32 on the season, best in the major leagues.

  Odom had a three-hit shutout going through six frames, but shaky control led to Buford's breaking it up with a two-run double. After Adair singled with one out, he was wild-pitched to second and pinch hitter Wayne Causey walked. Buford's two-bagger scored Adair and Lee Elia, running for Causey. Aker was summoned and fanned Tommy Agee looking to keep K.C.'s lead at 3-2.

  (Elia was in the first of a two-year playing career in which he batted .203. But what he's noted, or notorious, for is his postgame tirade while a manager of the Cubs in 1983 in which he ripped the team's fans for, among other things, not having jobs.)

  The help Odam got from Aker helped him, in the first full season of a 13-year career, square his record at 2-2 with two earned runs allowed, with five strikeouts and four walks.

  John fell to 11-7 but didn't pitch that badly, as only one of the three runs he allowed was earned. He gave up five hits, walked one and struck out five in his seven innings.

  Campy's four runs scored tied his career high. He'd already had one four-run game this year on June 2, and he also scored four once in 1965 and twice in 1970.

  His four hits were one shy of his career high, accomplished twice. He had 23 four-hit games.

  And always, as on the night of Aug. 16, 1966, an instigator. As his old boss and former A's owner Charlie Finley put it in 1980 on Campaneris' contribution to his championship teams: “You can talk about Reggie Jackson, Catfish Hunter and Sal Bando, all those great players, but it was Campy who made everything go.” 

Sources:

Box scores and play-by-play:  https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1966/B08160CHA1966.htm and https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHA/CHA196608160.shtml

Lee Elia tirade: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/28/sports/baseball/the-day-a-cubs-manager-told-fans-at-wrigley-to-get-a-job.html
Bill James quote on Campaneris: https://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=campabe01 

  

  

Swoonin' A's, 5-4-68: 'Catfish' makes it no no-nos no more, in Oakland

Jim “Catfish” Hunter Hunter in action for the Oakland Athletics as he pitches a perfect game May 8, 1968, against the Minnesota Twins. It was the first regular-season perfect game pitched in the American League in 46 years. Hunter also drove in three runs as the A's won 4-0 in Oakland. (AP photo)

Harmon Killebrew hits a home run during the 1965 All Star Game on July 13 at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, Minnesota. Killebrew wasn't connecting May 8, 1968, in Oakland, as he struck out three times in the Twins' 4-0 loss to the Athletics. The other Twins didn' t have much more luck as Jim "Catfish" Hunter pitched a perfect game with 11 strikeouts. (John Croft/Minneapolis Tribune photo)

By Phil Ellenbecker                                                                                                                    I've kept these "Swoonin' A's" accounts to stories about games involving the Kansas City Athletics because, well, it's supposed to be about the Kansas City Athletics.
  But in one prior instance I ventured back into the Philadelphia existence of the A's, for their final game in Philly (https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/5021738065653311661/7419902167098503987). And in this instance I'm venturing into their next existence, in Oakland, because this tale so describes their haplessness in K.C. and their change in fortunes once they left town.
  No pitcher threw a no-hitter for the A's in the 13 years they were in Kansas City. But move them to Oakland, as Charlie Finley did in 1968, and sure enough, one month into their residence in the Bay Area, an A's pitcher had thrown a no-hitter.
  Not only a no-hitter, but a perfect game no less, by Jim "Catfish" Hunter the Wednesday night of May 8. He sent the star-studded Minnesota lineup 27 up, 27 down before a "crowd" of 6,298 at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.
  Hunter, improving to 3-2, threw the first no-hitter for an Athletics pitcher since rookie Bill McCahan in 1947, and the first regular-season perfect game by an American League pitcher since Chicago's Charlie Robertson in 1922.
  The 1987 Hall of Fame selection was a veritable one-man show, not only on the mound but at bat, going 3-for-4 with three RBIs.
  The Twins included future Hall of Famers Harmon Killebrew and Rod Carew, maybe-should be-a Hall of Famer Tony Oliva and other potent hitters. In this "Year of the Pitcher" they ranked second at the end of the year in team batting in the American League at .237.
  They could do nothing with Hunter this night. He struck out 11 batters and got seven apiece on fly outs and ground outs. Two went out on unassisted balls on the infield. Hunter needed 107 pitches, or four per batter, in a game that lasted 2 hours, 28 minutes.
  "I just felt nobody could hit me," Hunter told A.J. Carr of The Raleigh (North Carolina) News and Observer, in an article reprinted in the September 1981 Baseball Digest. "I had all the confidence in the world I could get 'em out. I was just hitting the spots."
  But it wasn't that easy. He went to a 3-2 count on six batters. Oliva had him 3-0 in the second inning, then fanned on "three straight fastballs," according to Carr.
  Although not known as a power pitcher, Hunter did get those 11 Ks. Five of them were of the backward, looking, variety, indicating he was working the corners quite convincingly to home-plate umpire Jerry Neudecker. Neudecker is best remembered for being the last umpire to use a balloon (outside) chest protector.
  Hunter came within one of his career high for strikeouts, pitched in 1967. Two other times he had 11 -- in 1965 and 1972.
  Killebrew was a vivid example of the Twins' futility, striking out each of his three times up, twice looking. Bruce Look also fanned three times, but only once, ahem, Looking.
  Hunter struck out the side in the sixth and whiffed two in the second and ninth.
  Finishing with a flourish, he got Look and pinch hitter Rich Reese to watch strike three to end the game.
  That last at-bat included some drama, as Reese ran the count to 2-2 and fouled off five pitches.
  And it may or may not have went according to the way Hunter recalled it. Play-by-play at retrosheet.org and baseballreference.com have Reese striking out looking. Catfish ...
  "He swung and missed for the third strike on a pitch that might have been a ball had he let it go," he told Carr.
  Sounds good, Catfish.
  Dave Boswell matched goose eggs with Hunter through six innings before the A's pitcher took matters into his own hands.
  With Rick Monday on third in the bottom of the seventh, Hunter laid down a bunt that was good enough for a single and to score Monday with all he needed. Monday had doubled leading off for the game's second and last extra-base hit, Hunter getting the other with a two-bagger in the third. Monday moved up 90 feet on Boswell's second wild pitch. Joe Rudi struck out before Hunter made it 1-0.
  Hunter gave himself the final 4-0 cushion with a two-run single to cap a three-run eighth. Sal Bando and Ramon Webster singled back-to-back leading off the inning. Twins catcher John Roseboro pounced on a John Donaldson bunt and threw out Bando at third, and Jim Pagliaroni kept runners at first and second by hitting into a fielder's choice.
  Boswell then walked Monday and Rudi to bring in Donaldson, ending his night and bringing on Ron Perranoski. Hunter greeted him with a single that plated Pagliaroni and Monday. Leadoff batter Bert Campaneris hit into a fielder's choice, keeping it at 4-0, and Hunter then went out and kept it perfect.
  Oakland's best threat to score before the seventh came in the fifth, when Campaneris singled with two out and went to third on Boswell's throwing error after the pitcher had Campy picked off. But Reggie Jackson struck out looking, and the score remained 0-0.
 Jackson went 0-for-4 on the night, so between him, Killebrew and Carew, Hall of Fame hitters went 0-for-10 this night. Included in Jackson's collar were two strikeouts for the all-time leader in whiffs.
 Ironically, by going 3-for-4 Hunter matched his plate performance in his previous start, when he'd driven in two runs and scored two in a 7-2 win over Boston on May 3. Hunter also had a 3-for-4 game in 1965 and had three more in 1971.
  More digging into Hunter's batting record indicates a solid sender with the stick who didn't so much need the in the designated hitter the AL introduced in 1972. His three-RBI game this night was one of three he had in his career, and he drove in four in a game in 1971.
 Hunter had a lifetime batting average of .226. Not too much worse than Oakland's No. 4 and No. 5 hitters this night, Webster (.244) and Donaldson (.238).
 Hunter, who came to the A's straight out of high school in North Carolina as a 19-year-old, $75,000 bonus baby in 1965, went on to finish 13-13 with a 3.35 ERA in 1968, tying for his best win total in a still-fledgling career. He began to emerge with an 18-14, 3.81 season in 1970, followed by five straight 20-win seasons, a Cy Young Award in 1974 and status as the bell cow of A's teams that won the World Series each year from 1972 through '74.
  Before achieving immortality this night in 1968, Hunter had become a part of history the year before in the All-Star Game. He pitched five innings and was shutting out the NL until Tony Perez homered in the 15th inning, giving the senior circuit a 2-1 win in what's tied with the 2008 game as the longest in All-Star history. Hunter's innings were the most in any All-Star Game behind Lefty Gomez's six in 1935.

Yawning in Oakland

  The  total of 6,298 who showed up in Oakland to watch Hunter's perfect game was no fluke. After threatening for years to move the A's out of Kansas City, Finley upon taking them to the West Coast was greeted with indifference even as the A's jumped from 10th and last in the AL to sixth in 1968. After drawing 50,164 for their home opener, their attendance had been mainly around 10,000 leading up to this night.
   The A's drew 837,466 for the year, a bump of 110,827 over what they'd drawn the year before in Kansas City. But the next two years attendance dropped back down to 778,232 and 778,355, even as baseball began divisional play for the first time and the A's finished second two years in a row in the AL West. Those were the best finishes for an Athletics team since a fourth-place finish in the eight-team AL in Philly in 1952. Compare those crowd figures with 726,639 in 1967 and 773,629 in '66 for the franchise's last two years in Kansas City.
  Now, the Kansas City Royals who Ewing Kauffman brought in to replace the A's when baseball expanded in 1969 weren't drawing that much better when they began play. They drew 902,414, 693,047 and 910,784 from '69 through '71. But they brought in 1,345,341 when they moved in 1973 from Municipal Stadium, where the A's and Royals had always played, to Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium). They've drawn over a million ever since.
  Meanwhile, the A's of Oakland finally passed 1 million with 1,000,763 in 1973, when they were winning the second of three straight world titles. But it would take until 1981, a year after Finley sold the team, before they passed a million again.
  Now, compare the Oakland attendance and the Royals attendance with the A's attendance their first few years in Kansas City. The turnstiles tallied 1,393,054, 1,015,154 and 901,067 the team's first three years in K.C. -- better than Oakland its first three years and better than the Royals in their first two years. It took until '73 for the Royals to outdraw what the A's drew in their first years.
  And it took the A's until 1987, with 1,678,921, for them to outdraw what they did in their first year in K.C.
  So sorry Charlie, you really blew it when you took the team out of town. Kansas Citians grew to love the Royals, but in the meantime you denied them the chance to watch one of the best teams of the 1970s. And we can surmise there would have been a more appreciative audience than there was in Oakland.
Breaking through
  To give Finley credit, even as he was preparing to leave Kansas City, while the team was still there the A's were definitely building for the future with their product on the field. It wasn't just Hunter and Campaneris who he was snapping up as the nucleus of a mini-dynasty.
  As cited by Alan Hoskins in an article for the Kansas City Baseball Historical Society, Finley paid $662,000 to sign 80 players in 1964, the most spent by one team in a single season. He paid $100,00 to Monday next year when he was the first player selected overall in baseball's first-ever free agent amateur draft (K.C. benefiting from their woeful performance on the field with the first pick). Sal Bando, Gene Tenace and Rollie Fingers were other players picked and signed in 1965. Jackson came aboard in 1966, Vida Blue in 1967. All these players were fixtures on their title teams of the 1970s.

Formative stages

  Even as the A's were acquiring their dynastic look of the 1970s, the team that took the field for Hunter's perfect game didn't quite resemble the one winning world titles a few years later. Manager Bob Kennedy's batting order that night reflects that.
  For one thing, Jackson was batting second, and that wasn't an isolated incident. That's where he would hit more than at any other slot in 1968. Rudi, who'd just been called up from Vancouver and would be a part-time player this year, was hitting No. 8.
  Reggie was entrenched at the No. 3 spot by 1969 and Rudi had assumed the No. 2 spot by 1971. Bando, No. 3 on May 8, 1968, took over No. 4 in 1969.
  And as noted, Oakland's cleanup hitter for Hunter's perfecto was Webster, who was hitting in the lower reaches of the order by the end of a year in which he batted .214 with three homers and 23 RBIs. He'd "earned" that No. 4 spot by hitting .256-11-51 the year before. Such were the A's in their state of transition.

The umpire

  So what was the significance of Jerry Neudecker, the last umpire to use a balloon (outside) chest protector, being behind the plate for Hunter's perfect game?
  First of all, the reason he was the last is because he was allowed to keep using the balloon after the AL had decided to join the NL in requiring the inside protector. When the two leagues used different protectors, the American League umpires became known for calling more high strikes and the National League for calling more low strikes.That's because the inside protectors allowed umps to crouch down lower behind the catcher.
  As Hunter was noted for having a high ratio of fly-ball outs to ground outs -- he ranked in the top 10 in the AL 10 times in homers given up, leading twice -- perhaps Neudecker was giving him some high strikes this night, helping to explain his high number of strikeouts.
  Just a theory.

Sources:

Box score and play-by-play: https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1968/B05080OAK1968.htm and  https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/OAK/OAK196805080.shtml
More on the game: "When Catfish Hunter Set Down 27 Batters in a Row," Baseball Digest, September 1981, Century Publishing Co.
Jerry Neudecker and umpiring info: https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Jerry_Neudecker, http://www.stevetheump.com/umpiring_history.htm and https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Chest_protector
Athletics no-hitters: https://www.mlb.com/news/a-s-no-hitters-c273338994
Building the A's: http://www.kansascitybaseballhistoricalsociety.com/jan%20article.pdf
Hunter's pitching style: "The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract," Simon & Schuster, 2003
  

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9-28-47: Dogged Dean backs up talk in comeback

Six years removed from his last pitching appearance with the St. Louis Cardinals, Dizzy Dean came back for one last game Sept. 28, 1947, as a St. Louis Brown. Responding to a challenge from fans to take the mound after some disparaging comments he'd made about the Browns as a broadcaster, Dean threw four shutout innings in a game the Browns lost 5-2 to the Chicago White Sox.

Ed Lopat, who became a pitching mainstay for the New York Yankees when they won consecutive World Series titles from 1949 to 1953, was matched against Dizzy Dean when Dean returned to the mound Sept. 28, 1947. Lopat scattered 14 hits as his Chicago White Sox beat the St. Louis Browns 5-2.

By Phil Ellenbecker
  “It ain't braggin' if you can back it up” was one of many things Dizzy Dean was known for saying, and say what you will about Ol' Diz, most of the time he could back up his big mouth.

  A notable example of his braggadocio coming to the forefront and actions following came on Sept. 28, 1947, supposedly six years after Dean had pitched his last major league game.
  But Dean, 37, came back to pitch one final game that day because of something he said. By that time starting to build a reputation as a colorful and opinionated announcer for the St. Louis Browns, Dean had some choice comments about the Brownies' ability, or lack thereof. Something to the effect that he could do better.
  “Doggone it, brother, get the ball over the plate,” Dean said on one broadcast, according to an article by Michael Clair at mlb.com. “Don’t walk that guy. Doggone it, I swear I could do better than a lot of those guys pitching these days.”
 Catching wind of such comments, Browns fans called on Dean to prove exactly that. And the Browns, desperate for anything to drum up interest in their woebegone team, took them up on that idea by signing him to a contract Sept. 18. Browns manager Muddy Ruel was less than enthused.
  "On the same day that Dean’s contract was inked, Ruel said he had heard nothing about it other than it seemed like the fans were excited," Clair wrote. "When asked if Dean would pitch, he offered a simple 'no comment.' ” 
  But Ruel, with his team headed to a 59-95 season, certainly had nothing to lose by using him. So here came Diz that Sunday afternoon, strolling to the mound at Sportsman's Park to start against the Chicago White Sox. It was the final day of the regular season, and 15,910 no-doubt curious fans came out to see teams who would finish sixth (Chicago), and eighth and last (St. Louis) in the American League. It was the Browns' third-largest attendance of the season, largest since June 8 and 15,605 more than they'd drawn for a game three days before (that's 315 for Sept. 25 if you're doing the math.)
  What they saw was quite a solid performance from Dean. Although not nearly the fireballer he'd been since he'd taken the National League by storm in the 1930s, Dean used his guile to hold the White Sox scoreless on three hits and one walk in his four-inning stint, in a game eventually won by the White Sox 5-2.
  It wasn't because his arm gave out that he had to leave. No, it was his legs.
  On top of his successful return to the mound, Dean had singled in his first time up to bat, on the first pitch from Eddie Lopat leading off the bottom of the third.  But he pulled a muscle while running to second on a fielder's choice grounder by Bob Dillinger.
  Dean came back out for the fourth and retired the White Sox in order, giving him a string of five straight batters he'd retired. But then he had to retire, this time for good, because of the pulled muscle.
  Some typical Dean horseplay had accompanied that first at-bat. According to the play-by-play at Retrosheet, "Dean came to the plate with a miniature bat, striped black and white; plate umpire Cal Hubbard told him he could not use it, so he then batted with a regulation size bat striped black and orange."
  But Diz was all business on the mound. He yielded a sharp single to left field by Don Kolloway leading off the game. But a hard grounder by Bob Kennedy to Vern Stephens at shortstop led to a double play, and Dean then got Dave Philley out to escape the first inning unscathed.
   The ChiSox put runners at first and second with one out in the second on a single by Thurman Tucker and a walk to Jack Wallaesa. But Dean again summoned a 6-4-3 double play. He worked around a single by Lopat in the third.
  In battling to a brief scoreless duel with Lopat, Dean held his own against a pitcher who went 16-13 this season and would go on to become a mainstay on New York Yankees teams that would win a record five straight World Series titles from 1949 to 1953. He survived 14 hits on this day as the Browns stranded 11 runners. Lopat walked one and struck out one in going the distance.
  Lopat shut out the Browns until Paul Lehner and Johnny Berardino drove in runs with singles in the bottom of the ninth.
  Meanwhile, the Browns had a shutout of their own behind Dean and Glen Moulder until Chicago busted loose with five runs in its half of the ninth. Cass Michaels provided the big blow with a three-run double.

Johnny Berardino, who became known as Dr. Steve Hardy on "General Hospital," did some surgery with the bat on the Chicago White Sox on Sept. 28, 1947. He went 4-for-5 for the St. Louis Browns in their 5-2 loss.

  Berardino, who later became known during a 1963-1996 run as Dr. Steve Hardy on the soap opera "General Hospital," went 4-for-5 on the day. It was the last of five four-hit games he had in his 11-year career. (He had a five-hit game in 1940.) (And by the way, long before he became a major league baseball player, at age 6, Berardino appeared as an extra in three early Hal Roach “Our Gang” films, before sound came to film.)
  Although Dean hadn't pitched a game in six years, he wasn't a graybeard in baseball terms. In fact, at age 37, he was only two years older than the Browns' next-oldest player, Nels Potter. And the White Sox had four older players -- Luke Appling, Earl Caldwell, Thornton Lee and Red Ruffing -- available for duty that day.
  But Dean's career had come to a premature end because of arm woes he continually suffered after Earl Averill whacked a line drive off a toe during the 1937 All-Star Game. The  toe injury forced him to alter his delivery, and he was never the same after that.
  Before that, there were hardly any better. The 1934 National League MVP when he led the "Gas House Gang" Cardinals to a world title, he topped the league four straight years in strikeouts and twice led in wins and shutouts. He also led three times in innings pitched and complete games, and by taking turns between starts he was able to lead the NL in saves in 1936 and place in the top 10 in that category four times.
  Yes, he was always willing to take the hill, right up to that one last time in 1947 for one final hurrah.
  And then it was back to the booth, and plenty of hoo-hahs as he became one of the most well-known announcers of all time on national Game of the Week TV broadcasts during the '50s and '60s. On the mound or in the booth, Ol' Diz could deliver.

Sources:

Play-by-play and box score: https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1947/B09280SLA1947.htm More on the game: https://www.mlb.com/news/dizzy-dean-unretired-from-the-broadcast-booth and https://onlyinark.com/sports/dizzy-dean's-last-game/  

  

The Dirty '30s

Jimmy Foxx had three top 10 seasons to lead all major league players in the 1930s in a rating system tallying yearly top-five finishes in 12 statistical categories. Foxx finished fourth, seventh and eighth on the top 10 batting lists with 41 points in 1932 and 39 1/2 in '33 with Philadelphia and 38 1/2 in '38, after he'd been traded to Boston.

Lefty Grove led all major league pitchers during the 1930s with three top 10 seasons in a rating system that gives points based on top-five finishes in 12 statistical categories. In consecutive seasons he scored 45 in 1930, 39 1/2 in '31 and 37 1/2 in '32 with Philadelphia to place second, fifth and eighth.

By Phil Ellenbecker

  We'll call them the Dirty '30s because Middle America was coated for much of the decade by the Dust Bowl, a swirl of soil that heaped misery on a country already mired in the Great Depression.

  And inside the ballparks there was a rowdy bunch of St. Louis Cardinals nicknamed "The Gashouse Gang," known for getting their uniforms dirty and keeping them dirty by not bothering to wash them between games.

  And the overall game of major league baseball was dirtied by the continued absence of darker-complected players, kept out by the "gentleman's agreement" among owners since the late 1800s that shut out blacks. There was plenty of great baseball played during the 1930s by many great players, but many of the greatest didn't set foot in a major league stadium unless their Negro League teams played there.

  As for the white boys, the New York Yankees continued their dominance in the 1930s with the likes of Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and Lefty Gomez -- Babe Ruth was beginning to fade at the outset of the decade. But it was a pair of Philadelphia Athletics-turned-Boston Red Sox who stood out the most on the list of the best hitting and pitching seasons.

  Jimmy Foxx had three top 10 batting seasons, while Lefty Grove had three top 10 years on the mound.  

  That's according to this "study" of mine I've been conducting over past baseball decades, the latest the '30s to add to succeeding decades up through and including the '80s.

  It consists of pulling out a Macmillan Baseball Encyclopedia and looking over the listing of league leaders in several categories for each year. The top five were listed in some instances, the top four in others – don’t ask me how that line was drawn. The major categories almost all included the top five. In a couple instances just the top three were listed. Sometimes just two. I think a large number of players tied had something to do with less than four, and space limitations may have come into play.
  I gave five points for the top ranking, four for second and so on down. Where just four were listed, it went 5-4-3-2. If there was a tie, I divided the total number of points between the rankings by the number of players who were tied. Example: Three players tied for second – 4+3+2=9 divided by 3=3 points for each player.

  The categories: hitting -- batting average, total bases, hits, runs, slugging average, RBIs, walks, doubles, homers, steals, homer-percentage, triples; pitching  – winning percentage, saves, hits/nine innings, strikeouts/nine innings, ERA, strikeouts, shutouts, innings pitched, wins, complete games, walks/nine innings, games pitched.
  What I came up with I think gives a fairly representative presentation of the top players and seasons. There are enough categories included to give a balance between the counting stats that reward durability and reliability and the rate stats that address pure performance. Offense takes in power, speed, batting eye and contact; pitching -- power, control, durability and dominance (i.e., shutouts). Mind you, the numbers, other than the rankings I assigned, don’t matter here, just how the players ranked in comparison with their peers. Which I think is the best way to rate players, how they rate relative to others. The 48 homers Schmidt hit to lead the NL in 1980 don't matter any more than the 22 four players hit to tie for the AL lead in 1981 (a year where numbers were shrunk by a midseason strike). Those players were simply the best over their peers in that particular year in that particular category.   

  Here's the list of the top 10 seasons in the 1930s and a closer look at the rankings:  

Chuck Klein had the top single season among major league hitters in the 1930s, according to a rating system that awards points for top-five finishes in 12 statistical categories. Klein's 47 points in 1932, while with the Philadelphia Phillies, was the second-highest of any of the decades surveyed so far, including through the '80s, ranking only behind Ted Williams' 47 1/2 in 1949. Klein placed in the top five in all 12 categories surveyed in '32. 

Top 10 hitting seasons, 1930s

1. Chuck Klein, Philadelphia Phillies, 1932, 47

2. Chuck Klein, Philadelphia Phillies, 1933, 45

3. Joe Medwick, St. Louis Cardinals, 1937, 42 1/2

4. Jimmy Foxx, Philadelphia A's, 1932, 41

5. Lou Gehrig, New York Yankees, 1934, 40 1/2

6. Lou Gehrig, New York Yankees, 1931, 40

7. Jimmie Foxx, Philadelphia A's, 1933, 39 1/2

8. Jimmie Foxx, Boston Red Sox, 1938, 38 1/2

9. Johnny Mize, St. Louis Cardinals, 1939, 38

10. Joe DiMaggio, New York Yankees, 1937, 37 1/2

  Foxx finished fourth, seventh and eighth on the top 10 batting lists with 41 points in 1932 and 39 1/2 in '33 with Philadelphia and 38 1/2 in '38, after he'd been traded to Boston.

  Gehrig was the other player with multiple batting seasons in the top 10, placing fifth with 40 1/2 in 1934 and sixth with 40 in '31.

  While American League players Foxx and  Gehrig took up the most space in the top 10, NLers led the way with the three top seasons, led by Chuck Klein with the two best.

  Klein accumulated 47 points in 1932 and 45 in 1933 for the Philadelphia Phillies, while Joe "Ducky Wucky" Medwick was third with 42 1/2 for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1937.

  Klein's 47 in 1932 was the second-highest of any of the decades surveyed so far, including through the '80s, ranking only behind Ted Williams' 47 1/2 in 1949. Klein placed in the top five in all 12 catagories surveyed in '32. He led the NL in slugging average, total bases, runs scored, hits, stolen bases and homers, tying with Mel Ott for the homer crown; placed second in RBIs, doubles, and home-run percentage; third in batting average and triples; and tied for fifth in walks.

  An asterisk should probably be placed next to Klein's achievements, though, since they came when his home park was the bandbox known as the Baker Bowl, with a 280-foot right-field fence for the lefty-swinging Klein to aim at. After leading the NL from 1930 through 1933, he didn't place in the top five in the rankings after moving over to the Chicago Cubs.

  Medwick placed behind Klein in the NL with three No. 1 seasons, coming in succession from 1935 through '37.

  Gehrig tied Klein for the most league-leading seasons with four in the AL, followed by Foxx with three.

  Two new legends appeared on the scene to lead the American League in the latter part of the decade. DiMaggio's 1937 season cracked the final spot in the top 10, while Ted Williams topped the AL in '39 in his debut season with Boston.

Dizzy Dean, right, shown with Lou Gehrig, had the best season among major league pitchers in the 1930s, according to ratings that tally points for top-five finishes in 12 statistical categories. In leading the 1934 "Gas House Gang" St. Louis Cardinals to the world title, he rang up 46 1/2 points. That tops Bob Feller's 46 in 1940 for the best season surveyed so far. Dean placed in the top five of 11 of the 12 categories tallied for '34. Among major league hitters, Gehrig placed fifth with 40 1/2 in 1934 and sixth with 40 in '31 for the New York Yankees.

Top 10 pitching seasons, 1930s

1. Dizzy Dean, St. Louis Cardinals, 1934, 46 1/2

2. Lefty Grove, Philadelphia A's, 1930, 45

3. Carl Hubbell, New York Giants, 1933, 44 1/2

4. Lefty Gomez, New York Yankees, 1934, 43 1/2

5 (tie). Lefty Grove, Philadelphia A's, 1931, 39 1/2

           Bob Feller, Cleveland Indians, 1939, 39 1/2  

7. Lefty Gomez, New York Yankees, 1937, 39

8. Lefty Grove, Philadelphia A's, 1932, 37 1/2

9. Bill Lee, Chicago Cubs, 36 1/2

10. Bucky Walters, Cincinnati Reds, 1939, 35 1/2 

  A pair of Lefties,or LGs, paced the pitchers in top 10 seasons.

  Lefty Grove, before being traded to Boston, placed second, fifth and eighth while with Philadelphia. In consecutive seasons he scored 45 in 1930, 39 1/2 in '31 and 37 1/2 in '32.

 Yankees southpaw Lefty Gomez placed fourth with 43 1/2 points in 1934 and seventh with 39 in '37.

 Dizzy Dean, most notorious of the Gas House Gang Cardinals, had the best pitching season of the 1930s with 46 1/2 points in 1934 in leading St. Louis to the world title, which tops Bob Feller's 46 in 1940 for the best season so far. Dean's dizzyin' '34 came amid his leading the NL three straight years from '33 through '35.

  Dean placed in the top five of 11 of the 12 categories tallied for '34. He led the league in wins, winning percentage, strikeouts, strikeouts per nine innings and shutouts. He was second in ERA, least hits allowed per nine innings, games pitched, saves and complete games. He took third in innings pitched. He was only ninth in least walks allowed per nine innings.

  "King" Carl Hubbell, the New York Giants' "Meal Ticket," joined Dean as a multi-NL leader with two seasons at No. 1, including a 44 1/2-point season in 1933 that ranks No. 3 on the top 10 list for the '30s.

  Grove led the AL in four straight seasons, from 1930 through '33. Joining him as a multi-AL leader was Detroit's Tommy Bridges with back-to-back seasons in 1935 and '36.

  Probably the most notable non-notable among the league pitching leaders in the 1930s was Cincinnati's Lee Grissom, who topped the NL in 1937 despite a 12-17 record. He did that on the strength of leading the league in shutouts and finishing second in strikeouts, strikeouts per nine innings and least hits allowed per nine, and third in games pitched and saves. He was fourth in the league in losses.