 Bob Skinner's two-run homer capped Pittsburgh's rally from a 5-0 deficit with six runs in the bottom of the ninth inning for a 6-5 win over Cincinnati on April 17, 1960. It was a portent of comeback, clutch heroics to come in the Pirates' world championship season. |
By Phil Ellenbecker
In Whitestone Publications' issue of Baseball 1961 magazine, Vern Law, Pittsburgh's defending Cy Young Award winner (back when there was only one winner between the two leagues), talked about how the 1960 Pirates came together as a team of destiny to eventually win the World Series.
"We started getting pennant ideas in April, when we first began to win games with late rallies -- like the time we scored six runs in the ninth and beat the Cincinnati Reds at Forbes Field," he told Larry Klein for the article "Vern Law, the gentle Pirate." "Then after we scored five runs with two out in the ninth and beat the Dodgers, I figured we were in."
The only trouble with that account, as with so many recollections of ballplayers -- check out "Rob Neyer’s Big Book of Baseball Legends" for a volume full of examples -- is that although the spirit is right, the facts don't quite fit the narrative.
I couldn't find any game the Pirates played that year when they scored five runs with two out in the ninth to beat the Dodgers.
However, there was a game May 11 at LA Memorial Coliseum, before a crowd of 27,926, that certainly fits that never-say-die '60 Pirates spirit. With two outs in the top of the eighth inning that Wednesday night, the Pirates scored three runs off Sandy Koufax and Larry Sherry to take a 4-3 lead. Then they scored two more in the ninth to polish off a 6-3 victory.
And Law had the game against the Reds nailed. On April 17, Pittsburgh scored six runs in the bottom of the ninth to overtake the Reds 6-5 in the nightcap of a Sunday doubleheader before 16,196 at Forbes Field.
Those two victories, coming over the defending World Series champions and the next year's National League pennant winner, do provide an omen of things to come as the Pirates went on to win their first pennant since 1927 and their first world title since 1925.
Omens? Well, catcher Hal Smith provided the key hits in both of these triumphs, including a three-run homer in the win over Cincinnati. Just like the three-run homer he provided later in the year that helped the Pirates top the Yankees in Game 7 of the World Series.
How's that for a portent?
Here's a closer look at the two games:
Pirates 6, Reds 5
Harold Wayne Smith -- not be confused with the Hal Smith who caught for St. Louis in 1960, nor the Hal Smith who began playing town drunk Otis Campbell on "The Andy Griffith Show" the same year -- would become best supporting hero in the 1960 Series with his homer that gave the Pirates a 9-7 eighth-inning lead in Game 7. Bill Mazeroski assumed the hero's mantle with the tiebreaking homer in the bottom of the ninth in the 10-9 win.
Much the same thing happened on the season's opening weekend, as Smith's three-run dinger pulled the Pirates within 5-4 of the Reds in the bottom of the ninth.
Bob Skinner then finished the comeback from a 5-0 hole entering the frame with a two-run homer as Pittsburgh won 6-5 in the second game of the Sunday twin bill. The Pirates also won the opener, 5-0.
How unlikely was this outcome? According to baseballreference.com, the Pirates had a wWE (win expectancy rating) of 0% coming into their turn at bat in the ninth in that second game. And that didn't change after Roberto Clemente grounded out to begin the inning against Bill Henry, who'd just relieved Raul Sanchez. That made "The Great One" 0-for-4 in the game.
The wWE changed to 1% after Smoky Burgess singled, and it continued to creep up after Bill Virdon and Mazeroski made it back-to-back-to-back singles, all of them to center field. Mazeroski's knock drove in Joe Christopher, running for Burgess, with the Pirates' first run.
Pirates manager Danny Murtaugh then sent Smith up to hit in the pitcher's spot. Smith increased Pittsburgh's chances to 11% after lifting a Henry delivery over the left-field wall to make it 5-4. It was the first of 11 homers Smith would hit on the year in 258 at-bats in a platoon arrangement with Burgess.
Besides making it a brand new ballgame, Smith's blow sent Henry to the showers, after what would be his worst outing of the season. He'd go on to finish third in the NL in saves with 17 and be selected to the All-Star Game. Henry had gotten the save in Cincy's season-opening win April 12, but after this game his ERA sat at 27.00.
Cincinnati's fourth pitcher of the night, Ted Wieand, temporarily halted Pittsburgh's uprising and dropped its wWE bac down to 4% when he got Don Hoak to ground out to third.
But the Piraters' base-hit brigade resumed when Dick Groat singled, again to Cincy center fielder Vada Pinson.
And Skinner then made it a 100% wWE proposition with a two-run shot to right. It was the first of 15 homers Skinner would hit in 1960, second-best in his 12-year career.
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| Pittsburgh's Joe Gibbon won his major league debut April 17, 1960, when the Pirates rallied for six runs in the bottom of the ninth inning for a 6-5 victory over Cincinnati. He allowed three hits and no runs in two innings. He also came up big in a 6-3 comeback win May 11 over Los Angeles. He retired 10 straight batters after allowing the Dodgers to take a 3-1 lead in the third |
The ninth-inning fireworks made a winner of Joe Gibbon in his major league debut. He allowed three hits and no runs after coming on to start the eighth.
Wieand got the loss and fell to 0-1.
Although he took the collar at bat, Clemente in right field made a defensive play in the eighth that proved ultimately decisive, as he erased a Cincy threat by throwing out Billy Martin at third trying to advance from first on Eddie Kasko's single. Clemente finished the season with 19 assists to lead all NL outfielders for the second time. He'd eventually lead in that category five times, He'd win the first of 12 straight Gold Gloves in 1961.
Martin had led off the inning with a single to make him 3-for-4 on the night. He was in his first year with Cincy, his fifth team in five seasons after being dealt from the Yankees as the scapegoat in the 1957 Copacabana nightclub incident in New York.
Frank Robinson paced the Reds to the early lead with a sacrifice fly in the first and RBI single in the third, following walks to Pinson and Gus Bell. Lee Walls followed Robby with another RBI single to make it 3-0 and prompt an early exit for Pittsburgh starter Benny Daniels, who left with none out in the third having given up seven hits and three runs, all earned.
The Reds increased the lead to 5-0 in the fifth on a double by Ed Bailey and single by Martin off Don Gross, who'd just relieved Fred Green.
Red Witt provided an important bridge to Gibbon and the comeback with two innings of one-hit, shutout relief.
Late heroics aside, the play of the game may have been an unfortunate happening with Bill Virdon at bat against Reds starter Don Newcombe in the fifth. Virdon, who went 3-for-4 in the game, led off the inning with a drive that went off the right wrist of Newcombe, the former Dodgers stalwart now in the final season of his 10-year career. Newcombe had to leave the game amid a shutout, having given up three hits in his four innings of work. (He was back on the mound April 24.)
The Pirates went quietly against Newcombe and Sanchez until the ninth, getting only one runner into scoring position until then.
Besides Virdon, other top hitters in the game for Pittsburgh included Skinner, 2-for-5 with two RBIs, and Burgess, 2-for-4 including the single that started the game-winning rally in the ninth. So with Smith on top of old Smoky, the Pirates got a lot of production out of their catchers.
Joining Martin as top hitters for Cincy were Robinson, 2-for-4, and Gus Bell, 2-for-5.
The Reds went on to finish sixth in the NL with a 67-87 record. The Pirates, meanwhile, were on to much bigger and better things.
Pirates 6, Dodgers 3
Smith provided the big hit in the eighth with a game-tying two-run single.
Groat drew a walk from Koufax to start the eighth on a positive note, but Clemente then grounded to second and into a double play. Dick Stuart followed with a single and went to second on a wild pitch. Koufax then issued his fifth base on balls of the game, to Gene Baker.
Smith made it 3-3 with his single to left that plated Stuart and Baker. That was all for Koufax, with Dodgers manager Walter Alston summoning Sherry, who'd been the MVP of the 1959 World Series with two wins, two saves and a 0.71 ERA over 12 2/3 innings.
Gino Cimoli greeted Sherry with an opposite-field single to right that brought home Roman Mejias, who had pinch run for Smith, with the go-ahead run.
Sherry stemmed the tide by getting Mazeroski on a ball to second for out No. 3.
The Pirates were at it again with one out in the ninth from the top of their batting order. Skinner doubled to left leading off, and one out later Clemente made it 5-3 with a single to center that chased home Skinner. Sherry uncorked a wild pitch, and Rocky Nelson, a defensive replacement for "Dr. Strangeglove" Stuart at first base, coaxed a walk.
Burgess, who became the all-time leader in pinch hits and currently ranks fourth, batted for Baker and gave Pittsburgh a three-run cushion with an opposite-field single to left that sent Sherry to the showers. Smith's replacement at catcher, Bob Oldis, hit into a fielder's choice against Ed Roebuck to end the inning, but the damage had been done.
Pirates relief ace Roy Face, coming off a historic season in which he'd gone 18-1 for an all-time best winning percentage, then finished the comeback job, although not without a little trouble.
Wally Moon, pinch hitting for Tommy Davis, walked with one out and Duke Snider singled batting for Roebuck. But Jim Gilliam went out to second and Face fanned Charlie Neal to seal the victory.
Face picked up his first win in four decisions, allowing one hit, walking two and striking out two after coming on for Gibbon to start the seventh.
Koufax, one year away from establishing himself as the premier pitcher of the 1960s, fell to 0-3. He gave up six hits and four runs, all earned, in 7 2/3 innings and had five strikeouts to go with his five walks.
Gibbon, making his second major league start, was probably the big hero of the night, settling down to retire 10 straight batters after allowing the Dodgers to take a 3-1 lead in the third. Pirates manager Danny Murtaugh pinch hit for him with two out in the seventh.
Gibbon, 2-1 coming in, allowed five hits and three runs, all earned, with five strikeouts and two walks in six innings.
Another rookie, Bob Aspromente, was bidding for game MVP honors before Gibbon found his stuff. He gave the Dodgers the lead with a two-run single in the first and added an RBI double in the third. But he was silenced the rest of the night as he finished 2-for-4.
Baker gave Pittsburgh the early lead with a single that scored Skinner in the top of the first.
Baker went 2-for-3, Cimoli 2-for-4 and Clemente 2-for 5, while Skinner scored two runs. (Clemente was a .297 lifetime hitter against Koufax.)
The Pirates improved to 15-9, 1 1/2 games behind San Francisco in second place in the NL, on the way to a final record of 95-59. That was good for first by seven games over Milwaukee, which had tied Los Angeles for first the year before and lost to the Dodgers in a tiebreaker playoff. It was the highest win total for a Pittsburgh team since 90-63 and second place in 1944, and just their second 90-win season since 1927.
Meanwhile, the Dodgers sank to 82-72 and fourth place and were definitely a team in transition. That can be seen by a look at their lineup and player moves the night of May 11.
Hitting in the No. 3 and 4 spots were Chuck Essegian and Don Demeter. Essegian had set a record with two pinch-hit homers in the Series in 1959 but finished this season with a .215 batting average and three homers. Demeter hit .274 with nine homers. Those are hardly numbers worthy of the No. 3 and 4 slots. Tommy Davis, who would win batting titles in 1962 and '63, was in his rookie season and was pinch hit for this night. Once-great center fielder Duke Snider was a part-timer by this time. Frank Howard would become this year's NL Rookie of the Year but at this time was down with Spokane in Triple-A ball.
Koufax would see his most work yet in his six-year major league career, 175 innings, but remained mediocre with a final record of 8-13 with a 3.91 ERA. Next year would mark his emergence at 18-13, 3.52. And after that --- Cy Young awards in 1963, 1965 and 1966, corresponding with World Series trips those years for the Dodgers and world titles in '63 and '66.
For the Pirates, the future was now, and after May 11 they went on making their breaks in make-or-break games. Twenty-time times during the regular season they won after trailing through six innings. They were 26-22 in one-run games, winning 15 in their final at-bat, 12 of those with two out.
They kept on keeping on, right through to Game 7 of the Fall Classic at Forbes Field. After trailing 5-4 through six innings. After letting that 9-7 lead after eight slip. Right through to Maz's big bang that will be remembered forever in Bucco lore.
But don't forget Hal Smith.
Sources:
April 17 box score and play-by-play: https://www.
May 11 box and play-by-play: https://www.
Pirates background: Baseball 1961, Whitestone Publications
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