Say It Ain’t So… Juan. While the Giants’ Juan Marichal is reducing his ERA from 2.54 to 2.44 in the course of a 2 – 1 win over Bob Veale and the Pirates, Willie Mays and Roberto Clemente resume their personal war for National League hitting honors. Clemente singles twice, drives in the Pirates’ only run, and finishes at .349. Mays doesn’t have much of a chance to close ground; after his first-inning home run, the Bucs’ moundsmen walk him the next three times up. However, the one hit jumps him from .344 to .347. Ironically, the Pirates’ only run is driven in by Clemente when Marichal resorts to a quick pitch with the bases loaded in the fifth. Clemente speaks with Giants beat writer Bob Stevens: “‘I was trying to smooth out the dirt around the plate,’ Clemente said, ‘not looking, when I hear someone on the bench yell at me. I look up and see the ball, and I try to just punch at it with one hand.’ He got just enough of it to drive it into the ground in front of the plate and bounce it so high that Orlando Cepeda had to wait helplessly for it to come down as the run scored and Clemente fled across the base. Clemente laughed in reminiscence. ‘I don’t remember anybody try to quick-pitch me since Don Bessent do it with Brooklyn. ‘I punch it for double.'”

This Day In Baseball

On july 1, 1964 Say It Ain’t So… Juan. While the Giants’ Juan Marichal is reducing his ERA from 2.54 to 2.44 in the course of a 2 – 1 win over Bob Veale and the Pirates, Willie Mays and Roberto Clemente resume their personal war for National League hitting honors. Clemente singles twice, drives in the Pirates’ only run, and finishes at .349. Mays doesn’t have much of a chance to close ground; after his first-inning home run, the Bucs’ moundsmen walk him the next three times up. However, the one hit jumps him from .344 to .347. Ironically, the Pirates’ only run is driven in by Clemente when Marichal resorts to a quick pitch with the bases loaded in the fifth. Clemente speaks with Giants beat writer Bob Stevens: “‘I was trying to smooth out the dirt around the plate,’ Clemente said, ‘not looking, when I hear someone on the bench yell at me. I look up and see the ball, and I try to just punch at it with one hand.’ He got just enough of it to drive it into the ground in front of the plate and bounce it so high that Orlando Cepeda had to wait helplessly for it to come down as the run scored and Clemente fled across the base. Clemente laughed in reminiscence. ‘I don’t remember anybody try to quick-pitch me since Don Bessent do it with Brooklyn. ‘I punch it for double.'”

Source
Baseball Reference July 1