ROBERTO CLEMENTE BREAKS BOB GIBSON’S LEG
July 15, 1967, St. Louis Cardinals ace Bob Gibson suffers a broken leg when he is struck by a line drive hit by another future Hall of Famer, Roberto Clemente. Incredibly, Gibson pitches to two more batters before leaving the game. St. Louis Cardinals will lose the game to Pittsburgh 6 – 3. Gibson will be sidelined until Labor Day.
Roberto Clemente vs Bob Gibson:
“We were ahead 1-0 when my old pal Clemente led off the fourth with the Pirates’ first hit – a line drive off my right shin.
I couldn’t get up right away, and Bob Bauman rushed out to check my leg and spray ethyl chloride on it. I said, ‘I hate to tell you, Doc, but you’re spraying the wrong place.’ He advised me to take a look, and I saw what he saw – a dent in the skin the shape of a baseball. It was odd that I couldn’t feel where I had been struck, but since I couldn’t feel it, I wasn’t particularly worried. I told Doc to put a little tape on it and let me get back to work.
Willie Stargell was the next batter, and I walked him. Then Bill Mazeroski popped out, and the count was three and two on Donn Clendenon when I tried to put a little extra on the payoff pitch and collapsed.
The fibula bone had snapped above the ankle. I was taken to Jewish Hospital, my leg was put in a cast, and I was out of the pennant race for nearly eight weeks..”
Gibson made it back for September and pre injury he was solid 10-6with a 3.52 ERA, post injury he made 5 starts in September and went 4-1 with a 0.96 ERA. A trend that continued into the World Series, where he would go 3-0, complete three games with a 1.00 ERA, and hit a homerun for good measure.
Did you know?
July 15, 1951, the New York Yankees demote struggling rookie Mickey Mantle to their Kansas City farm team in the American Association. Mantle will return to the Yankees in August and finish his first major league season with 13 home runs and 65 RBIs.
TRIVIA
Which slugger said, not without cause, “The distance of every tape-measure home run depends upon your press agent.”?
Hint: #1 As a rookie, he ranked high in the National League Rookie of the Year voting then ten years later twice finished in the Top Five in American League Most Valuable Player voting.
Hint: #2 His first Major league home run was at the expense of a future Hall of Famer.
Hint: #3 At least nine additional Hall of Fame pitchers experienced the same display of power.
July 15, 1932 In the second game of a doubleheader, Satchel Paige pitches the first no-hitter in Greenlee Field as the Pittsburgh Crawfords defeat the New York Black Yankees, 6 – 0. Three Hall of Famers support Paige: Oscar Charleston at first base, Judy Johnson at third, and Josh Gibson in left field. Ted Radcliffe, who pitched in the first game, is behind the plate for Paige’s gem.
Paige will go 4-6 with a 3.81 ERA in 1933 for Pittsburgh, it seems to be a miracle because he only gives up 42 hits and 11 walks in 78 innings, so 33 of the 55 runners who reached scored.
July 15, 1934 Pittsburgh Pirate, Waite Hoyt, coming off a 5-7 season in 1933 picks up his 5th win firing a 5-0 shutout vs the Boston Braves. Enroute to a great comeback season going 15-6, his highest win total since 1928.
July 15, 1936 After an absence of several weeks because of a head injury manager Mickey Cochrane rejoins the Detroit Tigers in New York, as they split a doubleheader with the Yankees. The Tigers take the opener, 5 – 1, then lose, 7 – 4, as New York maintains its 9-game lead. Cochrane will suffer a relapse and coach Del Baker will take over on the 21st
July 15 1960 San Francisco Giants first baseman Willie McCovey’s “invisible triple” causes umpire Frank Dascoli to call a twenty-four minute fog delay at Candlestick Park, but the Los Angeles Dodgers go on to win, 5 – 3
July 15, 1973, Before 41,411 in Detroit, California Angels Nolan Ryan hurls his second no-hitter of the season in taming the Detroit Tigers, 6 – 0. Ryan fans 17 batters, the most ever in a 9-inning no-hitter, including eight straight, but only one over the last two innings. Nolan’s arm stiffens while watching his team rally for five runs in the top of the 8th. With two outs in the 9th, Norm Cash, who had struck out his three other times at bat, comes to bat wielding a piano leg. Umpire Ron Luciano points out the illegality and Cash then pops out using a regulation bat. Ryan’s eight strikeouts in a row ties the American League record he set last year.
July 15, 1978 Pete Rose collects a hit in his 28th straight game, setting a Cincinnati Reds club record (post-1900) as the Reds beat the New York Mets, 7 – 5. His hit comes off Craig Swan. On the 18th, he’ll hit in his 31st straight game to top the all-time Reds record set by Elmer Smith in 1898.
July 15, 1986 At the Houston Astrodome, the American League wins the 1986 All-Star Game, 3 – 2, for its second triumph in the last 15 years. AL starter Roger Clemens pitches three perfect innings to win the game’s MVP Award. Fernando Valenzuela pitches two innings for the National League striking out his first five batters, including Don Mattingly and Cal Ripken, Jr. and his fellow countryman, Teddy Higuera; it will be Higuera’s only at-bat in the major leagues. (Game link above)
July 15, 1990, Bo Jackson of the Kansas City Royals hits home runs in three consecutive at-bats before separating his shoulder trying to make a diving catch against Deion Sanders of the New York Yankees. Jackson’s power surge helps the Royals to a 10-7 victory, but the two-sport star will miss the next six weeks.
July 15, 1994 – In the first inning at Comiskey Park, Chicago White Sox manager Gene Lamont accuses Cleveland Indians slugger Albert Belle of using a corked bat, and umpire Dave Phillips confiscates the bat and stores it in the umps’ dressing room. In a Mission Impossible caper revealed in 1999, the Indians’ Jason Grimsley crawls 100 feet along a ceiling, drops down into the dressing room, and exchanges Belle’s bat for one of Paul Sorrento’s. After the 3 – 2 Indians win, the switch is discovered to the consternation of the umps and the White Sox. The Indians subsequently turn over one of Belle’s bats and Belle is given a 10-day suspension, later reduced to seven games.
Trivia Answer:
Frank Howard
Fortunately, some of the longer ones he hit at RFK were measurable & remained visibly marked for years.
– #1 Howard was the NL ROY in 1960 w/LAD & ranked 4th & 5th in 1969 & 1970 in AL MVP voting, behind winners Harmon Killebrew & Boog Powell.
– #2 Howard’s first round-tripper was off future game-winning, Hall of Famer Robin Roberts on 10-Sep-1958, that year’s NL WAR leader w/6.3.
– #3 Other hurlers headed for Cooperstown who surrendered HRs to Howard were Warren Spahn, Juan Marichal, Bob Gibson, Gaylord Perry, Hoyt Wilhelm, Whitey Ford, Jim Palmer, Catfish Hunter and Jim Kaat.
