Common Denominator: Haddix And Burdette

 "Opposed each other on May 26, 1959. Pitched at least once in game seven vs, the Yankees in the World Series. Won one of the game sevens they pitched vs. the mighty Bronx Bombers."

Lew Burdette gave up 12 hits over 13 innings pitcher for the Milwaukee Braves vs. The Pittsburgh Pirates on May 26, 1959. Harvey Haddix retired the first 36 batters to face him. He ended the game with 12 2/3 IP.

And poor Harvey lost the game.

The Braves had just come off back-to-back seven game Fall Classics with the mighty New York Yankees, who don't lose too many game sevens, you see. Lew Burdette was masterful in 1957 vs. the Yankees. The scored just two runs off him his first start, none in his second.

So that brings us to game seven at Yankee Stadium. Don Larsen, who like Harvey Haddix knows a thing or two about perfect games (Well, at least what was considered one at the time) started for New York. But he was over-matched.

Don left early. Lew carried a 5-0 lead into the bottom of the ninth. And there was a "4" under the hit total on the scoreboard for the home team. The Yankees went down fighting, getting three hits in their last at-bats, including one by pitcher Tommy Byrne.

However, with two down, it was Eddie Mathews taking Moose Skowron's grounder, stepping on third and ending the 1957 World Series. The Yankees took their revenge the next year, beating Burdette 6-2 at County Stadium. The Braves were up 3-1 at one point, only to see the Yankees, behind Bob Turley (2 wins and a save) battle back.

The Braves did not make it back to the Fall Classic in 1959. They lost a two-of-three playoff to the Dodgers, who were now in Los Angeles. However, they weren't the only team missing from the World Series that year. The Yankees couldn't catch the Chicago White Sox, so for just the second time in the 1950s, they weren't around in October.

It was the Pittsburgh Pirates turn the next season to make it. Harvey Haddix got to pitch. But New York looked too strong. They won game two 16-3 in Pittsburgh. Game three, 10-0 at home. Game six, 12-0 right there at Forbes Field.

Haddix put the Buckos up three games to two with a 5-2 win in game five, despite a solo home run from Roger Maris. Game seven saw Pittsburgh lead 4-0, trailed 7-4, regain the lead 9-7. Oh, they scored five runs in the bottom of the eight frame! The Pirates needed just three more outs for the championship, but no pitcher could hold the fort. Bobby Richardson got it all started with a single. While Haddix came in and got Maris this time, Mickey Mantle singled home a run to put the Yankees to within a run. A grounder by Yogi Berra scored the tying run. Haddix, the lefty, got out with no further damage.

Bill Mazeroski stepped in to begin the bottom of the ninth. The series was tied at three, the game at nine. But two pitches later, it was all over. Maz belted Ralph Terry's second offering over Berra's head in left for a dramatic finish to a wild World Series. Haddix may have lost a heartbreaker to Burdette, but the record book also shows that they were right next to each other (Chronologically) when it came to the winning pitcher in game seven against the great New York Yankees.

References

Enders, Eric. 100 years of the World Series. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. 2005. Print.

Golenbock, Peter. Dynasty: The New York Yankees, 1949-1964. Lincolnwood, IL: Contemporary, 2000. Print.

Neft, David S., Richard M. Cohen, and Michael L. Neft. The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball, 1992. 12th ed. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992. Print.

Neft, David S., and Richard M. Cohen. The World Series: Complete Play-by-play of Every Game, 1903-1989. 4th ed. New York: St. Martin's, 1990. Print.

Nemec, David et all. 20th Century Baseball Chronicle: A Year-by-year History of Major League Baseball. Collector's Edition. Lincolnwood, Ill: Publications International, 1993. Print.

Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 28 July. 2016.

Haddix: Was His 1960 Contribution Better Than 1959?

Harvey Haddix had the 12 inning perfect game (at least is was considered one at the time). It was 1959.

But the Pirates finished 78-76, for only 4th in the NL. In 1960, the Pirates finished first.

Haddix's performance dropped off. Although only 11-11 in 1959 (11-10 in 1960), he finished first in the NL in H/9 (7.6) and WHIP (1.061). Compare that to 9.9 H/9 and 1.317 WHIP in 1960, which wasn't even good enough for a top ten finish.

Haddix also finished 1959 8th in ERA (3.13), 6th in BB/9 (2.0), 6th in K/9 (6) and 6th in K's (149). He also finished 14 games, which was good enough for 9th. On the negative side, Harvey allowed 26 homeruns, which was good enough for 4th. His K/BB ratio was 3.0 for 1959, placing him 3rd.

And he made no errors in 43 chances to lead the NL in fielding percentage as a pitcher. This helped earn him his second straight gold glove.

1960, as mentioned above, was a different story for the most part.

His ERA was 3.97, but he did record an almost identical BB/9 (actually it was 1.985, whereas the season before it was actually 1.966). This was good enough for 5th place in the NL in 1960.

But his K/9 dropped from 6.0 to 5.3, and he actually gave up the exact same amount of hits in 1960 that he allowed in the 1959, 189. But he pitched less innings: 172.1 in 1960 compared to 224.1 in 1959. Neither, it should be noted, was enough for a top ten finish.

But Haddix's 13 homeruns allowed was the fewest he ever allowed in a full season. That allowed Harvey to finish 10th in fewest HR/9 in 1960 (0.7). In 1959, he allowed 1.0 HR/9. His K/BB ratio dropped from 3.0 to 2.7, but he managed to finish 6th among National League hurlers in 1960.

But, you know, how about Harvey Haddix's batting and fielding from 1959 and 1960? Here, is where it is better!

Haddix hit only .145 in 1959. In 1960, he hit .254. He drove in, and scored 7 runs. In 1959, Haddix had only 5 RBI and 3 runs scored. And Haddix had 17 more plate appearances in 1959. The .254 batting average was topps among pitchers with 70 or more plate appearances.

Fielding-wise, his Range Factor Per 9 Innings was just 1.73 in 1959. His Range Factor Per Game that season was just 1.39. So had he really fielded that well that year?

He topped both those marks in 1960, as his 2.87 R/9 put together in 1960 placed him 3rd. And Haddix's 1.90 R/G saw him in 5th place. He won another Gold Glove. It was his third straight (and final time) he would win it.

But baseball is a team game. 1959 ended with no postseason for the Pirates. 1960 ended with a World Championship for the Pirates. And it was against the great New York Yankees.

Haddix won 2 games. He pitched one hell of a game in game 5: 6.1 5H 2(E)R, 2BB, 6K. Harvey even got a hit in the game.

He also allowed a homerun by Roger Maris, but that came in the bottom of the third with the Pirates up 4-1. The Yankees would come no closer in the game, as Pittsburgh won it, 5-2.

The would win game 7, but that was in relief.

It had been a back and forth game. One of the best, most exciting game 7's you will ever see in baseball.

The Pirates took an early 4-0 lead. But the Yankees scored a run in the top of the  5th, 4 more in the next inning, and then 2 more in the top of the 8th.

The Pirates came back in the bottom of the frame. They crossed the plate 5 times. That's because a sure double-play ball hit by Bill Virdon, hit a pebble (dislodged from the ground by an earlier base runner) and then hit Tony Kubek in the throat.

Elroy Face had been removed by pinch hitter Gino Cimoli in that big 8th inning. So it was Bob Friend on the hill as the Pirates were just 3 outs away from an amazing upset.

But Bobby Richardson (just stick him into these situations, and what do you get?) led off with a single. And then Dale Long followed it with a pinch-hit single. Oh, those Yankees. They just don't roll over and die, do they? That's what brought Haddix into the game.

The first batter was a left hander, Roger Maris. Although a year away from 61 homeruns, it's not like his 1960 season was chopped liver. No, his 1960 season produced 39 homeruns in only 136 games. And Roger added two more here in the World Series.

So, as mentioned earlier, one of them was off Haddix. Harvey was here to stop Maris from belting another and putting the Yankees back on top. On top for good, in all likelihood.

It seemed to work as Maris popped out to catcher Hal Smith, whose 3 run dinger in the bottom of the eighth led to 3 of the 5 runs. But Mickey Mantle singled to score Richardson. Long made it to third. And then something odd happened.

Long was replaced by pinch-runner Gil McDougald, who was playing in what turned out to be his last game.

Anyways, Yogi Berra grounded to first. Rocky Nelson stepped on first for the second out, then looked at Mantle, who was standing there a little off the bag. Mantle was dead. But with a fake to the left and a slide to the right, Mantle made it under the tag! McDougald scored. Never count the Yankees out.

Moose Skowron grounded to Dick Groat the shortstop. Groat tossed to second basemen Bill Mazeroski for the force of Mantle at second. Bill had no idea what was about to happen to that very ball in his hand.

Ralph Terry, who had finally gotten the Yankees out of the 8th inning, was on to face the bottom of the Pirates. The first batter he faced was Mazeroski.

The first pitch was a high slider, ball one.

But then Terry threw a fat slider. Mazeroski jumped on it, and sent the ball over the left-field wall in left. The Pirates were World Series Champions. This was the first time the Fall Classic had ever ended with a homerun. And, like I said earlier, Harvey Haddix was the game winning pitcher in game 7!

Isn't that how you like to contribute at the end of a season?


References

Golenbock, Peter. Dynasty: The New York Yankees, 1949-1964. Lincolnwood, IL: Contemporary, 2000. Print. pp. 380-381.

Neft, David S., Richard M. Cohen, and Michael L. Neft. The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball, 1992. 12th ed. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992. Print.

Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 03 Sept. 2013.

Baseball: 200,000 Games At The Major League Level

(Disclaimer: I use major league from the birth of the National League in 1876 to the present. For now, The National Association (1871 to 1875), The American Association (1882 to 1891), aren't going to be included.The American League joined the fray in 1901. I will include the Federal League, however, as one of my all time favs, Chief Bender, pitched one season and sported a 4-16 record. Must have been one tough league!)

So baseball approaches 200,000 games played tomorrow.

That many?

Through the years, it has provided some of the greatest excitement ever seen from sports fans.

Here, for your pleasure, is my Top 10 Most Memorable Games EVER In Baseball:

10)  Game 6, 1993 World Series, October 23, 1993. Joe Carter's homerun, I must have jumped so high, I hit my head on my basement ceiling!

9)  September 9, 1965: Poor Bob Hendley. He tosses a 1-hitter over 8 innings. That's enough to beat anyone. Anyone, that is, except for Sandy Koufax, who tosses a perfect game and wins 1-0.

8)  July 2, 1963: Warren Spahn is nearing the end of his career, while Juan Marichal was just sort of starting his. But it was Juan heck of a long game, that ended with Marichal on top 1-0...in 16 innings via Willie Mays' homerun!

7)  May 26, 1959, Harvey Haddix retires 36 straight batters to start the game, then ends up losing it somehow!

6)  Game 5, 1956 World Series, October 8th: Don Larsen commits grand larceny by throwing the only perfect game, or even no-hitter, in World Series history

5)  Game 1, 1954 World Series, September 29th: Mays makes THE CATCH!

4)  Game 6, 1975 World Series, October 21st: First Bernie Carbo's dramatic 3-run pinch hit homerun ties the game, then brilliant plays by George Foster and Dwight Evans keep it tied. And then Carlton Fisk leads off the bottom of the 12 and...

3)  Game 7, 1991 World Series, October 27th: Gene Larkin is sent up to the plate in the bottom of the 10th to pinch hit for DH (?!)  Jarvis Brown and delivers the blow that ended a World Series that, honestly, seemed to have no end in sight!

2)  Game 7, 1960 World Series, October 13th: Bill Mazeroski! Sorry Dad, that game!

1)  Game 3, 1951 National League Playoffs, October 3rd: Need I say more?


References

Anderson, Dave. Pennant Races: Baseball At Its Best. New York: Doubleday, 1994. Print.

Baseball's Greatest Moments. Prod. Major League Baseball Home Video. Perf. Warner Fusselle. Major League Baseball, 1991. Videocassette. Narrated by Warner Fusselle.

Bingley, Phil, et al. Another World: the Toronto Stars Tribute To The’ 93 Blue Jays. Toronto Star for Doubleday Canada, 1993. Print.

Brenner, Richard J. The World Series: The Great Contests. East End Publishing, 1989. Print.

Buckley, James Jr. Unhittable: Reliving The Magic And Drama Of Baseballs Best-Pitched Games. Triumph Books, 2004. Print.

Enders, Eric. 100 Years Of The World Series. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. 2005. Print.

Ford, Whitey, and Phil Pepe. Slick. New York: W. Morrow, 1987. Print.

Gallagher, Mark. Explosion!: Mickey Mantle's Legendary Home Runs. New York: Arbor House, 1987. Print.

Golenbock, Peter. Dynasty: The New York Yankees, 1949-1964. Lincolnwood, IL: Contemporary, 2000. Print.

Golenbock, Peter. Fenway: An Unexpurgated History of the Boston Red Sox. Chicago, IL: Triumph Books, 2005. Print.

Kahn, Roger. The Boys Of Summer. Harper & Row, 1972. Print.

Kaplan, Jim. The Greatest Game Ever Pitched: Juan Marichal, Warren Spahn, and the Pitching Duel of the Century. Chicago, IL: Triumph, 2011. Print.

Mantle, Mickey, and Mickey Herskowitz. All My Octobers: My Memories of Twelve World Series When the Yankees Ruled Baseball. New York: HarperCollins, 1994. Print.

Neft, David S., Richard M. Cohen, and Michael L. Neft. The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball, 1992. 12th ed. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992. Print.

Paper, Lewis J. Perfect: Don Larsen's Miraculous World Series Game And The Men Who Made It Happen. New York, NY: New American Library, 2009. Print.

Seaver, Tom, and Martin Appel. Great Moments in Baseball. New York, NY: Carol Pub. Group, 1992. Print.

Snyder, John S. World Series!: Great Moments and Dubious Achievements. San Francisco: Chronicle, 1995. Print.

Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 23 Sept. 2011.

The Hard Knock Against Harvey Haddix

Harvey Haddix, by all accounts, had a better than average career. He won 20 games with the St Louis Cardinals in 1952, but otherwise was a win one, lose one pitcher.

On the night of May 26, 1959, Harvey Haddix was on the mound against the Milwaukee Braves. The Brave lineup included Hank Aaron (755 lifetime homeruns) Eddie Mathews (548 lifetime homeruns) Joe Adcock (376 lifetime homeruns).

Facing that would he Haddix, whose record at that point was  4-2, but he was coming off a game that, although he won, he was tagged for 10 hits in 9 innings. It was against his old team, St. Louis. His ERA was at 2.16 going into Milwaukee. 19,194 fans took this one in at County Stadium. The game got underway at 8:00 PM.

How did Harv fair?

Haddix came out smoking the ball to Smokey in the first 9 innings! The Braves kept striking out looking (two times), striking out swinging (six times) popping out (one time), flying out (eight times), grounding out (eight times), line out to the infield (two times) . You name it, the Braves couldn’t touch him.

Alas, Haddix's own Pirates did get the hits, but his team wasn't about to score, either. Oh, they had hits, hits and more hits. Eight by the end of nine innings. By the end of the day, they had twelve, but it wasn't enough. Lew Burdette kept pitching out of jams.

The Pirates actually got 3 of those hits in inning #3. Haddix himself getting one of those hits. Seems like Haddix could do no wrong on this night! But on Haddix's single, which was the second hit of the inning for Pittsburgh, Roman Mejias was out trying to go first to third on the hit. Dick Schofield stroked the Bucs' third hit of the inning. This time, the runner (Haddix), made it to third. But no further, alas. This would prove to be the Pittsburgh Pirates' best chance to win the game.

Burdette came up in the bottom of the ninth with two outs and the bases...empty, of course. He fanned. Haddix had the perfect game. But not the win.

With one out in the top of the 10th, Don Hoak singled, but was stranded right there, at first, as pinch hitter Dick Stuart (whose nickname was Dr Stangeglove, due to his poor fielding. That's why he's pinch hitting!) flied out and Haddix himself (Hey! They're not just gonna pull him when he has the stuff!) grounded right back to Burdette.

Joe Christopher, who would later play for the 1962 Mets, replaced Roman Mejias, (who Stuart had pinch hit for) in right for the bottom of the 10th. He got a view of a couple of close calls.

Del Rice came in to pinch hit for second baseman Johnny O'Brien. He lashed the ball to deep center. Bill Virdon made the catch.

Then Eddie Mathews came to bat. He lashed the ball to deep center. Bill Virdon made the catch.

Hank Aaron grounded out. Now 30 straight batters had been retired by Haddix.

In the top of the 11th, Felix Mantilla came in to play second base for the Braves. The inning got off to a promising start as Dick Schofield singled to left.

But once again, the Pirates could do little more. Schofield would be forced at second by Virdon. Then Burgess hit into an inning ending double play.

Haddix was equal to the task in the bottom of the frame, however. Adcock grounded out to Schofield. Wes Covington lined out to Virdon and Del Crandall flied out to Virdon.

The top of the 12th brought up Rocky Nelson, who went out on a fly to left. Bob Skinner then lined out to first baseman Adcock, but second baseman Bill Mazeroski finally got his first hit of the game, in his 5th trip to the plate. Hoak ended the inning by forcing Maz at second, alas!

Haddix made it 36 batters in a row when he retired Andy Pafko by taking his grounder and flipping it to Rocky Nelson at first. Johnny Logan flied out to center, and then Haddix covered first as Nelson took Burdette's grounder, and tossed to Harvey for the third out of the inning.

Top of the 13th! Superstitious time! Can this finally mean the Pirates break through?

Christopher grounded out to Burdette. Then Haddix was retired on a fly to center. Schofield kept the inning alive with a single to left, his third hit of the day and the Pirates twelfth overall in the game. Virdon grounded out to second. Couldn't the Pirates just get one crummy run for Harvey?

One of the reasons they couldn't was the conspicuous absence of two of the Pirates best players, Roberto Clemente and Dick Groat.

The reason was interesting. Clemente, was out with soreness in the shoulder. Groat, was in a bad hitting slump Coming into the game, he was hitting only .248. However, Groat would hit .283 the rest of the way, finishing the season at .275. The next year, Groat would become one of many Pirates to win a batting title when he hit .325.

Another key player for the Pirates, Dick Stuart, didn't even start the game.

Haddix’s perfect game suddenly ended in the bottom of the 13th inning. After getting two strikes on Felix Mantilla, Haddix poured on another pitch that looked like strike three. The umpire didn’t think so. Then Felix hit a bouncer to Hoak at third.

Hoak's throw went in the dirt to Rocky Nelson.

Realizing that they weren't about to get any hits, Mathews sacrificed Mantilla to second, bringing up Aaron. The Pirates would do the smart thing and walk him intentionally. That brought Joe Adcock to the plate.

It was 10:54 PM

Haddix had gotten Adcock out on some fine inside sliders. He threw him one outside for ball one. Then he threw Joe a slider that was too high.

Adcock blasted it out of the park. No-hitter over, game over. 3-0 Milwaukee. But wait a minute!

Aaron thought the ball had hit the ground on the outfield side of the fence, rather than the ground behind the fence. (County Stadium had those see-through chain link fences at the time) When Mantilla touched the plate, Aaron (who touched second) trotted across the field and into the dugout. The second Adcock (with his head down) touched third, he was declared out, his homerun changed to a double. And the final score was officially, 1-0. Haddix had pitched 12 2/3 of an inning in this game despite the fact that the winning run was scored with one out!

References

Web Sites

Chen, Albert. "The Greatest Game Ever Pitched." SI.com. Sports Illustrated, 1 June 2009. Web. 27 May 2011. <http://www.si.com/vault/2009/06/01/105819842/the-greatest-game-ever-pitched>

Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 27 May, 2011.

"Harvey Haddix." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 27 May 2011. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_Haddix>

Books

Buckley, James Jr. Unhittable: Reliving the Magic and Drama of Baseball's Best-pitched Games. Chicago: Triumph, 2004, Print, PP. 64-67 Includes DVD, "No-Hitters, Perfect Games And Near-Misses."

Kaplan, Jim. The Greatest Game Ever Pitched: Juan Marichal, Warren Spahn, And The Pitching Duel Of The Century. Chicago: Triumph, 2011, Print, PP. 136-139.

Reichler, Joseph L. Baseball's Greatest Moments. 1985 ed. New York: Bonanza, 1981, Print, PP. 75-78.

Videos

Baseball's Greatest Moments. Major League Baseball Productions. VHS, 1991.